Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2018/08/31/use-movies-anywhere-to-take-advantage-of-bargains/
If you’ve been buying movies from iTunes so you can play them on your Apple devices, you may be paying more than necessary. With the Movies Anywhere service, you can shop around and buy from the digital retailer with the best price.
I think I’ll continue to buy DVDs, offload them to MP4 files on my computer, or copy to DVDs for as long as my equipment continues to function. It’s even more service and device independent.
How do DVDs compare in price to the digital versions?
I have a high grade BluRAY player. Most BluRay prices are close in price to digital only releases and, for popular films, usually include codes to get access to digital copies. For most releases these days, that includes Movies Anywhere. So, for most releases, I purchase the BluRay so that I have the highest quality picture and sound available, but also have the ability to stream a version when I am away from home, or too lazy to load the BluRay player. The only caveat is that the BluRay release date may be a week or so after the streaming version is available.
I only buy standard DVDs of movies or TV series I want to watch at least twice. TV series are a good price to hour ratio. Movies on DVD I buy usually cost $5-10. The DVD quality is good enough for me. Streaming is cheaper if the title is available and you have access to capture equipment and software. The quality is not as good as DVD but is adequate. I don’t usually buy straight digital because the files tend to have DRM restrictions. Many movies and shows are not available in any format sadly.
One issue that the article doesn’t mention is that while iTunes will upgrade HD movie purchases or code redemptions made on iTunes to 4k when available, it doesn’t do that for movies transferred in via Movies Anywhere unless the purchase in the other store was for the 4k version.
I haven’t seen this. If you own the HD version of a movie, you get the 4K version. In fact, the SD movies I own in iTunes have synced to other services, where I unlocked the HD versions, which then synced back to iTunes.
I recommend two sites. One is JustWatch. This site allows you to search for content and where that content will appear and what price. It includes streaming services as well as iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and other major sites. Many times I was about to buy a movie only to find it’s already streaming for free.
The other is called Next Episode. This will let you know when a new episode drops for services like Netflix or broadcasting channels like ABC, NBC, and PBS. It’ll also let you know as soon as possible for episodes on iTunes and other services which can help you plan a bit. Even better, it’ll tell you when the next season of a show starts up. Something iTunes is unable to do.
Both are available as apps. You can create an account if you like or use these services as a guest. (I don’t have a JustWatch account because I can only use Facebook or Google and I’d rather have an independent account. I do have a JustWatch account to get notifications).