I looked at the files iTunes was downloading with and without the “Download full-size HD videos” option checked. If you didn’t realise iTunes’ quirks, and you’re watching your film in full screen mode, you might not even notice that the movie you downloaded has a resolution of 720p instead of 1080p. This solves the confusing quality issue-something you can always check by right-clicking on the movie, selecting “Movie Info,” selecting “File,” and looking for the movie’s “video quality” line. There’s another setting within iTunes’ that actually controls the quality of movies you download-and it’s not the setting in “Playback.” Under the Downloads section of your settings (naturally), you’ll want to uncheck “Download high-quality SD videos” and check “Download full-size HD videos” if you want to download and view 1080p versions of your movies.

That’s not too confusing, but we’re not done yet. Unlike other streaming services, which give you a full-sized player at a lesser quality, Apple’s implementation gives you a smaller player (if you’re too trigger-happy with “actual size”) until your stream switches over to 1080p. This isn’t really a problem if you enlarge the player or full-screen it as soon as you start watching, but it’s a quirky sizing issue worth highlighting for those watching in a window. You have to wait for the movie to play for a bit before you pick “actual size,” which will then allow you to watch it in a 1080p-sized window. If you’re streaming your movie in iTunes, this smaller-sized player is as big as the movie gets if you’re too quick to pick the “actual size” option.

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