Disney Movies Showing as Available in 4K on iTunes Store in Select Countries

Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.

I have over 400 films in my iTunes library and the only time there has ever been some removed, it was the titles I got from questionable means - buying codes online at a low cost, for instance. There are plenty of movies you can't even get on the iTunes Store for purchase anymore but are still in my library. I was one of those "I'll only ever buy physical!" people until convenience won out.

So are HD purchases remaining as HD?

I see that Marvel and Star Wars movies are now 4K on iTunes, but my previously purchased ones are still showing as HD on my iPad Pro 10.5. This is in Canada.

I didn't check any more aside from Avengers: Endgame, but that is showing as 4K in my library. I would assume they would auto-upgrade you, because iTunes doesn't have a mechanism for paying to upgrade (like HD to 4K for example).

My Star Wars movies (digital copies that came with the UHD) are all upgraded 4k HDR now. Just bought Eps VI and V at $13 each to complete the collection. That's in Canada.

Looks like there's a dedicated section for them in the store now.

//edit: I didn't expand the subtext, but you can clearly see that HD owners are getting a free 4K upgrade.

This is one of the main reasons I kept VUDU as my main digital platform over iTunes for movies and TV. Even if I bought a 4k Disney movie, while I got a 4k digital copy on other services, iTunes was always HD. Plus, Disney was charging more for 4K over other studios who usually priced HD and UHD at the same price.

Hopefully things will change and Disney will make their titles 4k on apple now, and upgrade purchased movies that are 4k in other services to 4k on apple as well. I have a MoviesAnywhere account, and it's been a nice service. Buy once, watch anywhere and any service that's supported.

Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.

Well, with this philosophy, why buy anything? Eventually you will die and it won't be yours either…

The only movies I own on 4K Blu-ray are the ones I really love and want to see in their best form again and again. Everything else can be streamed. No one really needs to see "Caddyshack" or "Airplane" in 4K. But, "Mad Max : Fury Road" or "Avengers : Infinity War" are keepers on disc. And, I think that's what a lot of videophiles are doing these days. The favorites are still disc purchases and their middle of the road films are streamed.

Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.