I was very interested in getting the new Apple TV 4K. I wanted to be able to view 4K movies on my 4K TV. I can already do this to some extent with Amazon Prime Video, and the quality is impressive. However, Apple has published a support document that explains the requirements for accessing 4K content.
You won’t be able to download 4K movies; you’ll only be able to stream them.
You can download a local copy of an HD movie, and you might be able to download HDR and Dolby Vision versions, but you can’t download a 4K version.
And you’ll need a 25 Mbps connection to get 4K content. Otherwise you’ll just get HD or SD:
The higher the quality of the video that you’re trying to stream, the faster your Internet connection has to be. (Apple recommends a minimum speed of 25 Mbps for 4K streaming.) Your Apple devices automatically switch the video quality to a lower quality version if your Internet connection isn’t fast enough.
Yet again, Apple hits users without fast internet connections. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to download a movie, even if I do so overnight because my connection isn’t fast enough to do in when I want to watch it. And what about people with bandwidth caps? If they want to watch a movie several times, I assume the content will be stored in the Apple TV until more content is streamed overwriting it. But if you want to watch a movie again after you’ve watched a few others, then it won’t be local.
I assume these restrictions have something to do with Apple’s agreement with movie studios. But they do highlight he fact that you don’t own the movies you buy from the iTunes Store; you are merely renting them. You can’t do what you want with them, you can’t even back them up in case they are removed from the store.