iTunes movies on Samsung tv’s!!

[darthpepsi]

Apparently Samsung and Apple have to come to an agreement to add iTunes movies to samsung tv’s as an app. The first time for Apple.
This is very interesting.....

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...lay-2.2163953/

[Fiffy]

This is major news. Looks like a strategy shift for Apple (although it isn't completely unprecedented, given that Apple Music is available on 3rd party devices).

[IndyMLVC]

My jaw hath dropped. Floored.

[Sayonara808]

Not for me since I still have a 3 year old Samsung tv & I'm sure this will see the Apple App.

[Steedeel]

Next announcement (in my opinion) will be a Apple Streaming stick. This year at some point and not much more expensive than the likes of Roku and Amazon.

[Jumpman]

Here’s my problem with this announcement; Smart TVs are still not the way to go because normally, what’s the first thing to break down on these smart TVs? It’s the smart part. It’s more convient and one less box is added to your equipment but will this app run better on the TV or on an Apple TV?

Having said that, it is also clear that Apple is moving over to services like everyone else and with the Apple streaming service on the way, what better way to get more eyeballs on your content than this?

[kwr212]

This is great news. Of course, time will tell what the A/V difference is between an Apple TV and the Apple app, but currently the other apps run very well on my 2018 Samsung. I’d much prefer Apple’s 4K selection and pricing, so I’m exited for this.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by papamarg

I have a Samsung 2017 model, but I don't particularly mind since I already own an Apple TV 4K. Apple will probably add support for more devices soon and launch their own streaming stick (I doubt they will offer 4K playback outside their own devices)

With the new iTunes Movies and TV Shows app on Samsung Smart TVs, Samsung customers can access their existing iTunes library and browse the iTunes Store to buy or rent from a selection of hundreds of thousands of movies and TV episodes — including the largest selection of 4K HDR movies.

LINK

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

LINK

iTunes has the largest choice of 4K movies and you can buy them but playback is a different matter. That doesn’t confirm playback; FandangoNow only allows 4K playback on select devices despite offering 4K. I have an AppleTV Gen 3 and can access the iTunes store but playback is limited to 1080p. Same on my iPhone 8 Plus which shows me which titles are 4K.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

iTunes has the largest choice of 4K movies and you can buy them but playback is a different matter. That doesn’t confirm playback; FandangoNow only allows 4K playback on select devices despite offering 4K. I have an AppleTV Gen 3 and can access the iTunes store but playback is limited to 1080p. Same on my iPhone 8 Plus which shows me which titles are 4K.

Good point, but my money is on (most) UHDTVs having 4K playback, and most HDTVS having 1080p playback. A few exceptions possible.

I'm less sure about HDR playback though. How will that be handled?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Good point, but my money is on (most) UHDTVs having 4K playback, and most HDTVS having 1080p playback. A few exceptions possible.

I'm less sure about HDR playback though. How will that be handled?

Bog standard HDR-10

[cmcclure16]

LG and Vizio also announced that their 2019 TVs will have Airplay 2 support, no mention of an app though.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cmcclure16

LG and Vizio also announced that their 2019 TVs will have Airplay 2 support, no mention of an app though.

Yeah, odd.

[Alan Gordon]

The models currently announced to support AirPlay 2 (note that I'm not saying iTunes, but rather AirPlay 2, and most probably HomeKit):

• LG OLED (2019)
• LG NanoCell SM9X series (2019)
• LG NanoCell SM8X series (2019)
• LG UHD UM7X series (2019)
• Samsung QLED Series (2019 and 2018)
• Samsung 8 Series (2019 and 2018)
• Samsung 7 Series (2019 and 2018)
• Samsung 6 Series (2019 and 2018)
• Samsung 5 Series (2019 and 2018)
• Samsung 4 Series (2019 and 2018)
• Sony Z9G Series (2019)
• Sony A9G Series (2019)
• Sony X950G Series (2019)
• Sony X850G Series (2019 85″, 75″, 65″ and 55″ models)
• Vizio P-Series Quantum (2019 and 2018)
• Vizio P-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)
• Vizio M-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)
• Vizio E-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)
• Vizio D-series (2019, 2018 and 2017)

[homevideogeek]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

Here’s my problem with this announcement; Smart TVs are still not the way to go because normally, what’s the first thing to break down on these smart TVs? It’s the smart part. It’s more convient and one less box is added to your equipment but will this app run better on the TV or on an Apple TV?

Funny you mention this, as I literally took a TV/VCR for recycling this morning. That was always my thing about those and the TV/DVD combos they used to (and probably still do) sell. Always thought they were the most worthless things you can buy.

I am pretty much of the same mind these days about smart TVs. I'm definitely in the minority, but give me a good old fashioned dumb TV any day. The problem is you can barely find them anymore. Of the smart TV platforms I've seen, the only one I like is Roku TV, but I'm a Roku devotee (have one on every TV I own). Not really impressed with Android TV, LG WebOS or any of the other ones. A lot of devices like Blu-ray players that have streaming apps built-in are extremely clunky, slow implementations. I would definitely go for a good, dumb TV with ample inputs, then give me a good, solid Roku streaming stick or Roku Ultra (or Apple TV if that's your thing).

I've been contemplating getting a new 4K TV recently and I've been bouncing back and forth between a Roku TV, a Samsung TV or a Vizio. While I love Roku, I still do hesitate buying a Roku TV because I tend to hang onto TVs for a while and I typically upgrade my Roku boxes every 12-18 months to get the newest, fastest ones. Don't know how I feel about having a TV with fixed Roku hardware baked in that make feel obsolete after a few years (same hesitation goes for any smart TV really). Admittedly I do find the Samsung news with iTunes tempting as I do have a number of movies in iTunes (including 4K HDR titles) but have never owned a TV, Apple TV or other device with AirPlay. Yet I find myself leaning to a Vizio with SmartCast because it seems to me the closest I'll find to a dumb TV. The SmartCast apps implementation appears to me (at least in the model I'm looking at) to be essentially treated like its own "input" and unless I call it up it could just sit in the background gathering dust while I use all my other devices instead (Roku, Chromecast, TiVo, etc).

[Fiffy]

The reason why you can barely find "dumb" TVs anymore is that the manufacturers are trying to create after-sale revenue streams based on datamining peoples' viewing habits and offering their own over-the-top services. I recently read an interview with a Visio executive who basically said that dumb TVs would have to be more expensive than smart TVs for that reason ...

Personally I couldn't care less whether a TV is smart or not. I'll not connect it to the network anyway. So when choosing a TV to buy, "smart" functions are not even a consideration for me as long as the TV's UI gets out of the way (ideally I should never see it) and HDMI-CEC works well, so I can turn it on and off and switch inputs automatically through the connected Apple TV or disc player.

In any case, I would not recommend to base a TV purchase decision on something like iTunes support, since you can simply use a real Apple TV if necessary.

[Steedeel]

They seem to be making a huge deal about the AirPlay 2 deal with various tv manufacturers (not the built in iTunes app exclusive to Samsung which is a big deal) ) but it’s not going to be half as reliable as a dedicated Apple TV set top box. Not to mention very limited, as you can’t do other stuff on your phone or tablet while watching something on your tv screen.