Recently I went through more data than usual and whilst investigating why, I realised I'd downloaded and watched a number of 99 cent movies. I couldn't help think could these possibly have been the problem.
These movies didn't offer the choice of SD or HD, so I have to assume they ran at HD. HD can consume between 2 to 4 times as much data. A few cheap movies and bang, there goes the data and since I use mobile data, and the cost of mobile data is higher, so the movies perhaps no longer so cheap.
I then went and checked the Apple TV. This is one of the older Apple TV units that has the slim aluminium remote control. I went though a number of new movies and not a single movie now offers the option for SD rental. Previously I'd select SD because to me the lower quality didn't make a difference and the rental was a $1 less. Now it appears Apple may have removed the pricing difference between the SD and HD versions. There's no longer a choice. The lower cost SD rental seems to have vanished from the Apple TV.
It would seem this may be a trend in the industry. A subtle price increase by removing the lower cost SD quality rental option. Google Playstore also only appears to offer movie rentals using HD. The Microsoft Store however at this stage still provides the option of SD or HD on many movies with pricing often being $5.99 and $6.99 respectively.
I did notice with the recent release of Aquaman the rental price was only $7.99 for SD, HD and UHD. I was hoping this isn't a trend towards higher pricing of rented movies. Aquaman is available for $6.99 on the Apple TV and $7.99 on Google's Playstore. It does feel like there's a subtle push to move the lowest streaming price of movie rentals from $5.99 to $6.99. Starts to make those $2 weekly rentals from the video stores look better value for money.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support
Update: 30/04/2019
I performed further testing and whilst the option to rent the SD version is no longer on each movie, if you do wish to use SD to reduce the amount of data used, you can change the video resolution from auto to 720. This doesn't seem to impact the price.
I also checked iTunes on my older MacBook Air and the ability to rent an SD movie at a cheaper price is still generally available. Some movies have a single higher pricing and select SD makes no difference.
These movies didn't offer the choice of SD or HD, so I have to assume they ran at HD. HD can consume between 2 to 4 times as much data. A few cheap movies and bang, there goes the data and since I use mobile data, and the cost of mobile data is higher, so the movies perhaps no longer so cheap.
I then went and checked the Apple TV. This is one of the older Apple TV units that has the slim aluminium remote control. I went though a number of new movies and not a single movie now offers the option for SD rental. Previously I'd select SD because to me the lower quality didn't make a difference and the rental was a $1 less. Now it appears Apple may have removed the pricing difference between the SD and HD versions. There's no longer a choice. The lower cost SD rental seems to have vanished from the Apple TV.
It would seem this may be a trend in the industry. A subtle price increase by removing the lower cost SD quality rental option. Google Playstore also only appears to offer movie rentals using HD. The Microsoft Store however at this stage still provides the option of SD or HD on many movies with pricing often being $5.99 and $6.99 respectively.
I did notice with the recent release of Aquaman the rental price was only $7.99 for SD, HD and UHD. I was hoping this isn't a trend towards higher pricing of rented movies. Aquaman is available for $6.99 on the Apple TV and $7.99 on Google's Playstore. It does feel like there's a subtle push to move the lowest streaming price of movie rentals from $5.99 to $6.99. Starts to make those $2 weekly rentals from the video stores look better value for money.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support
Update: 30/04/2019
I performed further testing and whilst the option to rent the SD version is no longer on each movie, if you do wish to use SD to reduce the amount of data used, you can change the video resolution from auto to 720. This doesn't seem to impact the price.
I also checked iTunes on my older MacBook Air and the ability to rent an SD movie at a cheaper price is still generally available. Some movies have a single higher pricing and select SD makes no difference.
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