iTunes Movie downloads debuted today with great fanfare. But how good are they? We dig in and test Apple's offering against DVDs, and provide a perspective for the entertainment tech and home theater enthusiast.

Apple is building the infrastructure for the future. However, the lack of true anamorphic DVD quality with 5.1 audio and DVD burning can leave us only hopeful until the iTV and HD movies are released.

We have split our coverage of the event to include the announcement and this review of the iTunes Movie download service.

Read on for our review with a side-by-side quality comparison between iTunes and DVDs.

Taking the Movie Service for a Test Run

As we've previously written , the following are key elements to a successful video download service:

Home Theater Video Download Must Haves

• Anamorphic DVD video quality: like watching an enhanced DVD on an HDTV connected with either a component video connection or DVI/HDMI (theatrical aspect ratio and progressive scan video)
• Audio that is 5.1 AC-3-compatible (Dolby Digital and possibly DTS)
• Videos can be stored on a network drive
• Videos can be stored on a data DVD or other removable media
• Videos can be played on more than one computer and on portable devices by moving the movies across a home network; all without having to re-download the video for each computer
• DRM (digital rights management copy protection) and player must not be so intrusive. While we all know it's there, it shouldn't smack us in the face.
• Rentals must allow unlimited plays over at least a 24-hour period
  
• Purchased videos can be burned on a video-formatted DVD (as opposed to data DVD) and are playable in a standard DVD player (with the right service and hardware device support, this could be a 'nice to have')

Home Theater Video Download Nice to Haves

• Video playback can begin before the full video is downloaded
• Videos can be pushed to another location (an example of this is buying a movie from work and begin downloading at home immediately)
• Rentals can be played an unlimited number of times on multiple machines over a one week period
• Playable on portable devices

My iTunes Movie Experience

I'm currently an iTunes Store customer, therefore upgrading to the latest free iTunes and Quicktime was all I needed to do. I did this on four machines (Mac and Windows). They point to the same library on a shared network-attached storage device and they can all play any media, regardless of which device downloaded the media. Apple will let you play DRM (digital rights management) media on up to five machines. On a Mac, I loaded the new iTunes version. Then I went into the iTunes Store, clicked on movies and chose two: one I hadn't seen (Glory Road) and one I could compare on DVD (The Incredibles). Buying is as easy as ever; one click and the movie starts downloading. iTunes allows you to nearly immediately begin playback. On my network connection, both downloads simultaneously took about 80 minutes, so download can keep up with the playback. These movies were about 1.3GB and 640x480 maximum resolution with letterboxing (no pan and scan).

In the announcement, Steve Jobs called the iTunes Movies near 'DVD-quality'. They're pretty good, but they are absolutely not DVD quality. The following screen capture is an overlay of the iTunes Movie Download and a DVD, both at normal size (100%). The DVD is substantially larger - more pixels.

iTunes & DVD Overlay (click to enlarge)

The following image shows both movies when stretched to fit on a home theater display screen at 720p (1280x720). Note the quality difference between iTunes and DVD. DVD is noticeably better.

iTunes & DVD Comparison @ 1280x720 (720p)

The quality of my two purchased movies, The Incredibles and Glory Road, was about the same, but I noticed a bit more aliasing in Glory Road. Although still pretty minimal, it is probably due to the transfer from film. The quality, overall experience and playback was identical on both Mac and a Windows PC.

Pros

• DRM is Apple-quality. Very unobtrusive use on multiple and cross-platform machines using network storage. Files can be copied to laptops for travel. Quite transparent.
• Buying experience is very easy.
• Dolby Pro-Logic Surround sounds like I remember it, but it's not Dolby Digital.
  
• Can begin watching immediately before download is complete.
• Can download to iPods.
  
• Downloads can be paused and re-prioritized.
• Overall, an extremely convenient and immediate service.

Cons

• No movie rentals.
• Not enough movies - I'm counting on that to be resolved, just as it was in TV shows.
  
• Can't burn movies to a DVD for playback in a DVD player. For home theater experience, a computer must be connected to the TV.
• No 5.1 audio when connected to a home theater receiver.
• Movies are too expensive for the current quality.
  
• Unknown whether purchased movies will be upgraded to HD-quality when iTV comes out.
  
• No portable non-computer devices supported with screens larger than 2.5" are available. If Apple had come out with a wide screen 4-5" iPod, it would have been nice.

What does it all mean?

iTV was by far the most compelling announcement. A $299 HD set-top box that works with PCs, Macs and networks with the easy Apple interface and unobtrusive DRM will be a great product. Until then, iTunes Movie downloads have limited value in my opinion.

So, who does the iTunes Movie Store work for today?

• Those of us who want to watch a movie on our computer when we can't be in front of the TV.
• Those who want movies immediately and have a computer connected to their home theater display -- must be willing to suffer on video quality and lack of 5.1 audio.
• Impulse buyers -- gotta have it now.
• I question whether many people will find it valuable to watch full-length movies on a 2.5" iPod screen. Tell me what you think in the comments below. 

One outstanding question (we have asked Apple Media Relations) is whether movies purchased today will be freely upgraded to HD quality when iTV and HD movies come out. When we get that answer, we'll provide an update here. If Apple won't provide HD movie upgrades when iTV comes out, I recommend you only buy movies if you are satisfied with less-than-DVD quality and only if you fall into one of the categories above. Otherwise, I recommend that you continue to rent or buy DVDs for the time being. I suspect that when Apple launches iTV my grade will change to a Recommended.

So far in the Movie Downloads scorecard: 

Ideal Service: 2

Apple: 1

Amazon: 0  

Grade: Hopeful

http://www.itunes.com/  

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