Article: Free Higher Resolution Upgrades*

[mrvco]

1. Apple sells hardware.  A 'free' upgrade to 4k/UHD streaming for content that you've already purchased will drive sales of the '4k' AppleTV.
2. Apple knows exactly what you bought and when.  All their video content (streaming and download) includes DRM.  There is no resale market for content bought from iTunes.
3. I'm assuming that any 4k streaming from iTunes will be utilizing the h.265 / HEVC codec, which will help minimize Apple's increased streaming costs relative to HD streaming using h.264 / AVC (with the bonus of no legacy ATV support issues).
4. Hollywood needs more and better ways to sell / rent 4k / UHD content.  Lots of people have 4k / UHD televisions, but very limited ways to access 4k / UHD content.  I expect that whatever negotiation Apple had to do with Hollywood to upgrade existing purchases to 4k / UHD streaming were pretty straightforward and mutually beneficial.
5. Anyone buying a new 4k / UHD panel are probably buying a much larger panel than what they bought for HD, which will benefit from actual UHD content in multiple facets (e.g. resolution, HDR and color palette).  High resolution audio could potentially be more impactful if increasing the 'size' of you overall system (e.g. larger room, larger speakers, stronger amplification) simultaneously.

 

Regardless, I think the Tidal / MQA comparison is apt (and Pono (RIP) for the most part as well).  Certainly all of Tidal's streams are DRM protected and the relationship between Tidal and MQA is mutually beneficial since it is introducing Tidal subscribers to MQA in far larger numbers across a far larger library of content than could be done otherwise.

 

The one critical aspect that MQA hardware does that UHD televisions do as well is notify you visually of the content's resolution.  It doesn't matter if someone can't visually tell the difference between HD and UHD, if the television UI doesn't tell them that it is receiving 4k / UHD content then they aren't going to believe they are getting what they paid for... same goes for MQA.