Apple Preparing To Launch 1080p iTunes Movie Services This Fall

According to AppleInsider, Apple may be readying to make 1080p movies available in the iTunes Store later this year, based on information from film studios sending films in a new "HD+" format to Apple.

Thus far, 1080p HD content has largely eluded users of Apple products, with HD versions of videos on the company's digital download service maxing out 720p (1280x720) and chief executive Steve Jobs balking at adoption of Blu-ray on Macs due to licensing сomplications and other challenges that he said threatened to translate into a "bag of hurt."

But that could begin to change later this year, as a handful of feature films being submitted to the iTunes store for a release in the September and October timeframe are being sent with documentation for an optional 1920x1080 resolution, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to information from AppleInsider's sources, at least three out of five major film studios have submitted titles planned for release in fall, which have optional resolution of 1920x1080 and bitrate encoding of 10,000 kbps.

Also sources point to rumors about updated Apple TV with 1080p support that will nicely match the updated 1080p-capable iOS5, which is scheduled to release around the same month.

Apple have already implemented the capability to stream video in 1080p format, but the company is aware that many users don’t have speeds high enough to stream "HD+" content without long delay for data buffering.

In order to resolve this mismatch, Apple could provide 1080p only for downloadable movie, although this would complicate the Apple TV, which streams all movie content and uses only limited storage for caching purposes. Alternatively, the company could make the 1080p movie content available only for streaming only if the user’s speed is fast enough to transfer data without delays.