iTunes HD movie question

never noticed until today's announcement, but I see that iTunes has HD movies for sale. I'm curious if that also means "HD" sound. I buy BluRay disks now primarily for the improved sound quality (I only have 720p TVs...until they die) due to the uncompressed audio tracks. Wondering if iTunes HD movies are the same or if they are compressed (to enhance download/streaming).

Any idea?

EXTREMELY unlikely to have uncompressed audio. Surround sound, yes ... uncompressed? Not a chance.

Yep. I've already been there and no DTS-HD Master Audio for you or me..strictly 5.1 only.
You are fine with 720p which is itself a HDTV signal.

Yeah it's all about the bandwidth. Good enough for most people makes them the most money. Try listening to music uncompressed and then at various lower and lower compressed settings. If you have decent near field speakers or buds/headphones it will be apparent. Less so in the car with the windows down lol.

Well, first lets take a look at how big those "uncompressed sound" streams would be, considering the data on a Blu-Ray is pushing 25GB. After the 3rd or 4th movie, most ISP's would be cutting off your account quoting acceptable use policy.

Next, unless you are a trained audiophile and you have thousands of dollars tied up in audio processing equipment and thousands of dollars in speakers, I really doubt the difference in the "compressed" and "uncompressed" audio.

I have been in a recording studio in the last couple weeks to get help in editing some sound bytes and even sitting there listening on high-end equipment I had trouble finding difference between high-quality (5.1 Surround) compressed and uncompressed sounds. Took an oscilloscope to show me the difference, and that was because the guy was showing off.

I respectfully disagree with your assessment that only audiophiles with high end gear can tell the difference. I'm retired Air Force and spent much of my adult life around jets. Hence my hearing is far from perfect. Plus my gear, while not entry level, is no where near top of the line. Yet I can tell the difference. Not all the time...but there are certain sounds that simply don't compress well. Same with music. I ripped a CD once at normal compression and an instrument vanished. I had to triple the bit rate to hear it.

Is it a showstopper? Not for stuff my wife watches but for me maybe. Problem is you don't know what is missing until you do a comparison. I'd just as soon go with the best and not worry about it.

You're absolutely right that some sounds don't compress well, though I've found that AAC format mitigates the problem better than MP3.

For the best quality sound available in home setups, you want a Blu-Ray (although that sound is compressed as well, as is the picture).

Here is my subjective opinion on audio given my set-up

Blu-Ray- Excellent with either DTS-HD Master or 5.1 it doesn't matter to me though DTS-HD gives bigger bang though the sub it can seem a bit thin at times and lacks warmth.

DVD - On the Blu-Ray player 5.1 Excellent..barely discernible from DTS- HD Master

Sky Movies HD Satellite 5.1 Very good to good. Attenuated. Have to listen at -8db to -10db from reference to float my boat.

iTunes Movies ATV2 passing thru AV Receiver @ 5.1 Good to reasonable but again having to listen at -8db to -10db centre channel poor.