Anyway many people tell me if you buy a film on apple TV or other digital platforms, you never really own them. Just simply a license, which I understand.
That largely goes for physical media too. You would own the carrier (disc) but not the content. You can’t play it in public without an additional license. You can’t charge people for watching it at your place. You can’t legally alter any of the content, which you could if you were the owner. The rights holder (distributor studio) can still revoke unwanted/unlicensed use.
Anyway, later I have then moved the files to an external SSD, but I then realized I have no idea what a MOVPKG file is..so I did some research and found out that its a locked file which can only be played on an Apple device only. iPhone, apple TV box, mac etc...
Not only that, it is locked to the Apple Account with which it was purchased.
I was thinking of buying an Apple TV BOX,
I am guessing it is better to buy the 128GB one, which means I can download and store my purchased films there, right?
The storage on the box is used for system software, apps, settings, cache files — but not content. All content will be streamed through the home network (from a local computer or from a remote server).
But what happens if Apple ever did go bankrupt? that would mean I would never be able to watch those films again right?
First off, Apple seems to be a healthy company with no signs of going away.
Playback of purchased movies will need to be authorized for the Apple Account. That means that a business must be active to do that authorization part. Similar for any streaming reseller. In case of bankruptcy, another company might take over clients and honor past purchases a.m.a.p. in some way or form, as there is value in that.
I wondered if someone could explain to me a little more about this file type
Before Apple started using .movpkg (HLS), they used .m4v (an .mp4 variant). So the actual format doesn’t matter, but the purchase will be locked (DRM) in all cases.
You can download purchased media to each of your Apple devices, but not transfer between devices, if that makes sense. Each device that you want to have a local copy for, should do its own download. AirPlay would still allow for local streaming to an Apple TV box.
.movpkg as Apple uses it, is technically a “bundle”, a folder disguised as a file, which contains hundreds of fragments of the content.
and is it a good investment for me to purchase these films?
User comments here shouldn’t be seen as investment advice. Digital movie purchases are consumer goods, in that there is no resale value for you as buyer. Purchases are yours ‘forever‘.
If you think that loss of internet connectivity in the near future is likely, then physical media has an advantage there.
If you think that the reseller might go out of business in the near future, then physical media has an advantage there.
Physical media has limited production runs, and may be out of print. Some titles might be available on the second hand market only. Availability is less stable than streaming.
If you think that rights holder might withdraw a title from the Store, then online streaming may no longer be possible (but previous downloads would still be playable). That wouldn’t happen with physical media.
If you like convenience (including startup speed), then streaming purchases are much, much better.
Personally, I buy streaming titles, but also keep my movie discs. And I still buy discs for S-tier movies (Dune, etc.).
I also heard that if you do not download them or back them up..sometimes Apple removes a film from their server and it is not possible to find them or play them again.
Rights holders (usually studios; i.e. not Apple) may choose to not sell a title anymore. More likely, former rights holders (takeover or bankruptcy) may have a need to sell their assets to a different company, which would disrupt the reselling on streaming. Such disruption may be temporary or permanent.
If that happens, then that would affect users that want to stream content directly from Apple’s servers. Apple’s authentication servers would still allow users to play their already downloaded media. So it depends if you made a local download or not.
