Update On Apple TV Rental Problems
This is a follow up to my previous post about having issues with renting movies through Apple TV. For what it’s worth, my problem was eventually solved when Apple refunded my money, but it seems as though this problem goes a little deeper. What you are about to read is a posted comment from site member CHASH. It seems to deal with the typical problem everyone is having, but this time he gets Apple Support to reveal some interesting information about why movies may be disappearing.
” I have a rather disturbing update on this issue… Here’s the background:
I first attempted to rent the title, “Volcano” in HD. Upon authorizing
the rental, AppleTV tried to talk to the iTunes Store which resulted in
a, “Cannot contact iTunes Store”. Thereafter, each time I attempted to
get it to download from the Settings menu, I got, “Unable to check for
downloads”… Foolishly, I then tried to rent another movie that I
hadn’t seen, “U.S. Marshalls”, with the exact same result. I waited for 12
hours, 24 and then 48 — no change. So, I contacted AppleCare this
morning…
OK, so here’s the final result:
AppleCare level 1 support went through all the obvious stuff. They then
talked to the iTunes Store who reported that the movies in question
had been removed from iTunes all together. They then dumped the movies
from my queue and issued a refund. As an aside, the reason the iTunes
Store rep gave for having removed the movies from iTunes was because they
didn’t get rented enough. This is obviously bogus since they had just
been added to the database just a day or so prior.
Anyway, here is where the disturbing part comes in… Level 1 sent me
to level 2 since he was concerned that movies appear on AppleTV that are
actually not available – should not happen. Level 2 said that the
movies are not available and that they appear on AppleTV as artifacts of
sorts. That is, the AppleTV database gets synchronized from the iTunes
Store, and it may be overnight before they fail to appear on the device.
Now, I told him that this has the makings of a major problem, since I
rented the movies last Thursday and they still to this day appear on
AppleTV for rent. And, if I go to the iTunes Store on my Mac, sure enough
the movies are nowhere to be found. And to prove my point to Level 2, I
again rented, “U.S. Marshalls” in HD and got the very same symptom,
whereas the iTunes Store group had to dump my queue one more time…
The question is, this chasm between the databases — how big
(time-wise) is it? In this case, it is at least five (5) days and counting. And
the problem is exacerbated by the iTunes Store (or the content
providers) perchant for playing musical chairs with these movie files. This is
not at all good for our customer experience… ”
Just another element to take into consideration when wondering why
movies disappear. All though I would LOVE to know who the hell is renting
up Police Academy 3 in HD and keeping that title around?
CommentsView Comments
View Commentssundog
June 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
For a “video store” that has only 373 HD movies to date, I would think they should not be removing any films due to low rentals.
ccunning
June 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
No kidding. I would think the resources required to keep the movies available would be far lower than the resources required to remove them. Especially if removing them is causing these kind of problems. Also, I don’t see how they’re going to compete with Netflix if they’re going to be taking movies with low rental numbers “off the shelf”. Isn’t depth of catalog supposed to be one of the big selling points of digital distribution?
offbasis
June 10th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I’ve seen this exact same lag in the podcasts. Where the store is up to date but my AppleTV is 4-5 days behind. It happens every couple weeks. May not be related but it sounds similar in a lot of ways.
CHASH
June 10th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I would like to again emphasize that the line fed by the iTunes Store rep was, IMO, a bunch of bunk… As far as I’m concerned, the one and only reason for a movie to be pulled is because that’s what the license owner wants to happen (the studios or content providers). Now, in this case they may have a rash of corrupted movie files, but no one can convince me that Apple is pulling titles for lack of interest.
So, I would take what the iTunes Store rep said with a grain of salt… I have spent many years in technical and customer services, and quite a few of them running support centers. And I can tell you that when cornered, and unarmed with real answers, support reps under pressure are quite capable of becoming creative with the facts. This is what I think we’re witnessing here.
tvtechdir
June 11th, 2008 at 7:44 am
What’s the deal? Something crazy is happening…
This past weekend, I wanted to rent Transformers, but couldn’t find it. I swear it was there before. Well, you can see it in the Apple TV Junkie graphics at the top of the website. I checked on iTunes too, and it seems to have been removed. Why? I don’t buy the “not getting rented enough” line.
Now I can’t find Ocean’s 13, and Ratatouille is available for purchase only!
Different production companies, too.
Something bad is happening.
Eddie V.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:07 am
tvtechdir -
I see you are new to the site, welcome. The issue you are commenting about is not a new one. This site has been covering the case of the disappearing rentals since Apple TV 2.0 premiered. Instead of rehashing all of the who’s and why’s of this subject, I would suggest listening to the second half of Episode 1 of the Apple TV Junkie Podcast. I cover this particular subject in detail. Second, I would also refer to our movie list which keeps track of all current HD rentals. If you need me to get into more specifics please let me know and I will do my best to cover this subject with you.
FYI. Our header graphic represents what Apple TV was offering 2 months ago. If anyone feels it is confusing in any way please let us know and we will switch it out as Apple updates their graphics.
Eddie V.
drumpat01
June 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
You know I never thought about the header graphic being a little misleading, but I suppose that if I was new and I was keen enough notice what movies were there I might be a little confused. Well, I dont think its a big enough deal to change the graphic, but it is an interesting point I think.
matrix6028
June 11th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I had the same issue with Superman, (like Eddie did). Here is Apple’s response. Sounds little ‘canned’ to me……(I not new to Apple TV – Apple. I’m a Apple TV Junkie!!)
Dear Greg,
I’m sorry that you’ve had difficulty downloading the movie you rented. I have removed the movie from your downloads and have reversed the charge for the rental.
You will see a credit of $2.99, plus any applicable taxes, in three to five business days. If store credit was used for this rental, you should see the credit after you sign out of the iTunes Store and sign back in.
The average file size of a movie on the iTunes Store is 1 GB to 1.5 GB. Because of the size, a broadband Internet connection is required.
I suggest that you contact AppleCare technical support for technical troubleshooting of your device. This will help you determine if there is an issue with it or not.
Sincerely,
Andrew
CHASH
June 12th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Although Apple has never let on the true cause (they never do, do they?), I’m convinced they have (had) a rash of corrupt files. But they were nice enough this evening to reward me with three free movies for my persistence (or for being a pain in the ass)…
We’ll see how it goes from here. Hopefully the problem is finally resolved (knock on wood)… But the real test will be for me to summon the huevos rancheros and attempt to re-rent the movies in question…
CHASH
June 12th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
UPDATE: Well at least my problem appears to be solved… Apple iTunes Store support pushed the files into my download queue and notified me by email. I checked for downloads and down they came…
gdawge
June 13th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I agree with you out there. I get very upset that they take movies away!! Even though there is low movie rental on a movie that doesn’t mean to remove it. There have been countless movies I wanted to watch but they have been removed. What’s up with this? We pay good money to have selection of movies at our finger tips to be given a small selection of movies to rent from!!! Something has to be done about this!!!
CHASH
June 13th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
FINAL UPDATE: …I AM COMPELLED TO RESTATE *MY* POINT
Since, Eddie reposted my personal little narrative about a download problem, everyone seems to have chimed in with their disapproval over what I will call, the ‘vanishing’ of movies from AppleTV… At the time I saw the repost, his injected ‘editorial’ comment did catch my attention:
“…but this time he gets Apple Support to reveal some interesting information about why movies may be disappearing.”
Now, I must admit that I should have spoken up right then and there to clarify my position on the matter, but I was just too damn busy… And in hindsight, I kind of wish that I hadn’t even offered it, even though it was said… I mean, who knew that some of you would make such a fuss about it? But now I want to make it clear that the claim from the iTunes Store rep I regard as ersatz-speak. That is, useless disinformation that is spoken for lack of anything else (knowledgeable) to say.
My opinion (FWIW) is that some have lost their perspective on this issue… Yes, it’s true that some titles have been changed to purchase only, and some have gone altogether. But that number is low — it’s just that those that do change are ones we notice. I mean, who the heck would give a whip if any of the “Police Academy” movies were deep-sixed, or for that matter, any of the countless (insipid) sequels to “American Pie”? No, it’s the ones like “Transformers” that get our goat.
But, I should point out that the problem I’ve just been through is one with problem files and has nothing whatsoever to do with movies ‘vanishing’ from AppleTV (even though the idiot at the iTunes Store said it did…). The movies in question are still there — they never went anywhere. They just wouldn’t download… But it’s postings like the one I just read from gdawge that make it seem like our basic human rights are being violated by Apple. I mean, get a grip people. I know we want our movies, when we want them……but this is ridiculous.
So for the record, my point was about what seemed to be a widespread download problem. It was not about vanishing titles.
I think it would be best if we kept in mind the following:
Apple is a licensee of content, just like Vudu is (and all the other purveyors of downloaded or streamed movie content).
The licensors are:
20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema…
Just my two cents…
Leave a reply