Thinking of buying a Apple TV - general question

[marknicholls]

Hey

I am very much thinking of purchasing an Apple TV.

One question i have is when a film or season is purchased, if i loose/delete them can i download them for free? Whether this year or in 10 years, will it always be available as i have already paid for it? This is quite important as it would mean i wouldnt need to worry about backups

Also, if i had 2 apple TVs (one in my house and one in my girlfrends house) could i log into both with my ID and access the same seasons and films?

Many Thanks

 

[godslabrat]

One question i have is when a film or season is purchased, if i loose/delete them can i download them for free? Whether this year or in 10 years, will it always be available as i have already paid for it? This is quite important as it would mean i wouldnt need to worry about backups

On paper, no. Apple insists that you are responsible for your own backups, and that all iTunes downloads are one-time-only. In truth, if you have a disaster and you call them up and cry and snivvel, they'll let you re-download your purchases. So, you do have an option, but it's far from a guarantee and probably doesn't extend much farther than the good mood of the CSR you happen to talk to.

Also, if i had 2 apple TVs (one in my house and one in my girlfrends house) could i log into both with my ID and access the same seasons and films?

Yes.

[Disclaimer: I do not own an AppleTV.]

 

[marknicholls]

On paper, no. Apple insists that you are responsible for your own backups, and that all iTunes downloads are one-time-only. In truth, if you have a disaster and you call them up and cry and snivvel, they'll let you re-download your purchases. So, you do have an option, but it's far from a guarantee and probably doesn't extend much farther than the good mood of the CSR you happen to talk to.



Yes.

[Disclaimer: I do not own an AppleTV.]

Interesting

What is the official stance in apps in the App store and mp3s?

 

[fpnc]

Also, if i had 2 apple TVs (one in my house and one in my girlfrends house) could i log into both with my ID and access the same seasons and films?

Many Thanks

I'm not certain what you mean by that question. You can only access or stream movies that you own from within a single local network. You can't stream or access your content over the internet from house to house. Thus the content that you own has to either be on the Apple TV or on a computer that is synced with the Apple TV and physically present on the same local network.

However, you can have more than one Apple TV under the same Apple ID. You can also rent content from the iTunes Store or watch podcasts or YouTube under your Apple ID from multiple Apple TVs (which could reside in different houses or locations).

 

[marknicholls]

I'm not certain what you mean by that question. You can only access or stream movies that you own from within a single local network. You can't stream or access your content over the internet from house to house. Thus the content that you own has to either be on the Apple TV or on a computer that is synced with the Apple TV and physically present on the same local network.

However, you can have more than one Apple TV under the same Apple ID. You can also rent content from the iTunes Store or watch podcasts or YouTube under your Apple ID from multiple Apple TVs (which could reside in different houses or locations).

Sorry, i meant could i download the same film twice, one to each Apple TV with my login

 

[marknicholls]

On paper, no. Apple insists that you are responsible for your own backups, and that all iTunes downloads are one-time-only

[Disclaimer: I do not own an AppleTV.]

I am surprised apple don't offer some sort of insurance policy, £10 a month for example to guarantee your entire collection could be re downloaded if needs be

It would save users a lot of time and one of payments for infrastructure to backup potentially TB's of data and offer Apple more revenue

 

[fpnc]

I am surprised apple don't offer some sort of insurance policy, £10 a month for example to guarantee your entire collection could be re downloaded if needs be

It would save users a lot of time and one of payments for infrastructure to backup potentially TB's of data and offer Apple more revenue

Apple can't do that because they have no way of knowing whether that same movie/content will even be available when you need it. Movies/TV shows and music come and go on the iTunes Store, the distributors/studios may decide that they don't want that content on iTunes anymore and thus Apple may lose the rights to allow future access/download.

Sorry, i meant could i download the same film twice, one to each Apple TV with my login

I'm pretty certain that it won't download to multiple Apple TVs that are at different locations. However, if you have multiple Apple TVs on the same local network they can all access the same content as long as they are linked or synced to the same computer. The only time the iTunes Store will provide downloads to multiple units is when you purchase HD content on the Apple TV. In that case when you open iTunes on the computer that is synced to that Apple TV the iTunes Store will download a standard definition version of that content to the computer so that you can use that version on your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad.

 

[marknicholls]

one more thing:

Are the episodes available on iTunes ever ahead of Sky1 for example? Are they more in line with the American release dates for TV?

If America is on S07E17 of 24 but UK is only on E12 could iTunes be on E17 for download? Or are the iTunes release's always up to date with the UK TV release?

Thanks

 

[fpnc]

one more thing:

Are the episodes available on iTunes ever ahead of Sky1 for example? Are they more in line with the American release dates for TV?

If America is on S07E17 of 24 but UK is only on E12 could iTunes be on E17 for download? Or are the iTunes release's always up to date with the UK TV release?

Thanks

You can't buy content from the U.S. iTunes Store unless you have a credit card with a U.S. billing address. To get around this issue you might be able to use an iTunes Gift card (from the U.S.) but generally speaking you can only buy content in one country (the country where you have residence). You can preview content in other iTunes Stores (countries), but you can't buy it. Similarly, you can't buy content from the U.K. iTunes Store if you have residence in the U.S. Apple can't do anything about this, it's under the control of the content providers.

As for iTunes release dates, I'm pretty certain they are timed to when they are broadcast in the respective country where you purchase the content. Thus, a BBC/UK show will generally not be available in the U.S. until after it has been shown on U.S. TV or until it has been released to the U.S. market (and that would usually be after the time when it is available in the U.K.).

 

[marknicholls]

As for iTunes release dates, I'm pretty certain they are timed to when they are broadcast in the respective country where you purchase the content. Thus, a BBC/UK show will generally not be available in the U.S. until after it has been shown on U.S. TV or until it has been released to the U.S. market (and that would usually be after the time when it is available in the U.K.).

Thats a shame, i was expecting to be able to legally get American seasons quicker than in the UK - If its going to be the same release dates i dont think ill bother getting one now. May as well just use my sky+ box

 

[marknicholls]

im still considering my options, there is just something about it which seems very good

I currently have 1000's of episodes of seasons all with correct meta data, DVD art etc all MKVs

Converting everything isnt an issue, but iTunes cant read meta data can it?

How will iTunes get all season and film info? DVD art etc? is there a way?

Many Thanks

 

[DirtWarden]

I've had the experience you describe above, where I've purchased a movie only to lose it later. I emailed Apple (should have called) and they refused to enable a "re-download" of the movie. The simple solution was to turn to my friend whose initials are "bit" and "torrent." In my biased opinion, I was in the right since I had paid for the right to hold a license to the digital version of the film.

 

[marknicholls]

im still considering my options, there is just something about it which seems very good

I currently have 1000's of episodes of seasons all with correct meta data, DVD art etc all MKVs

Converting everything isnt an issue, but iTunes cant read meta data can it?

How will iTunes get all season and film info? DVD art etc? is there a way?

Many Thanks

ive just played around with a free fawlty towers download within iTunes and it seems that that artwork is embedded in the m4v

Is there an easy and quick way to convert my MKV's but also embed any existing album art into the new .mov or which ever format is best?