AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

[NA9D]

I was going to post this in the AppleTV thread but thought it deserved its own because it is really important and blockbuster news:

Tonight I received a phone call from Vudu's VP of Marketing, Patrick Cosson. Patrick has asked me to tell everyone:

"What Apple is doing is completely in violation of their contracts with the studios. It is ****ing off the studios and it is likely to be remedied shortly."

What anyone considering buying an AppleTV needs to realize is that buying an AppleTV will not solve the 24 hour rental problem.

[NA9D]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Someone told me I should clarify this a little for people who might not know the situation:

With Vudu if you start watching a rented movie and say pause it and come back the next day to finish, the movie will just outright stop at the 24 hour point.

With AppleTV, if you pause a movie and come back after 24 hours, you can continue watching that movie. You can continue the movie for as long as you'd like, provided you do not leave the movie.

We'd hoped that Apple has this allowance in their contracts and perhaps that Vudu could get the same sort of treatment. Not the case. Apple is in violation.

[aaronwt]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Hopefully the studios will one day realize that the rental window needs to be longer than 24 hours.

[MaxH]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Well, I think we'd all be quite happy if the studios decided that the 800 lb. gorilla (Apple) should keep their "unintended feature", and allowed everyone else (like Vudu) to do so, too. Probably won't happen, as the studios are not in the habit of deviating one iota from their plan to keep absolute control (hah!) over THEIR content, but as long as things are equal between content carriers like Vudu and Apple, I guess that's as fair as we have a right to hope for.

[Rusdude]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Well, I think we'd all be quite happy if the studios decided that the 800 lb. gorilla (Apple) should keep their "unintended feature", and allowed everyone else (like Vudu) to do so, too. Probably won't happen, as the studios are not in the habit of deviating one iota from their plan to keep absolute control (hah!) over THEIR content, but as long as things are equal between content carriers like Vudu and Apple, I guess that's as fair as we have a right to hope for.

+1.

[Nded]

Whipping the Gorilla into formation

Just saw this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread....0948&tstart=45 on the ATV discussion forum about the "pause" trick failing after 6 hours (30 hours into a 24 hour rental). Could be signs of Apple moving to conformity with the law.

P.S. The Apple discussion/support forum environment sucks.

[HeadHodge]

Re: Whipping the Gorilla into formation

P.S. The Apple discussion/support forum environment sucks.

Amen brother!! I thought it was just me.

[DVader]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

A larger than 24hr viewing window would be nice but I don't think its a big deal. When I go to the movies and plunk down $8.50 a ticket I'm obligated to watch the whole movie in one sitting I can't come back at another date. At 4-5 dollars a rental I'm willing to re-rent if needed or even buy the movie - it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than seeing one movie in a crappy theater.

[jleavens]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Interesting that DirecTV is buckling to the same pressure:

DirecTV DVR owners got some bad news from the satellite TV provider recently when the company announced that it will break some of the existing functionality of the DVRs. Effective April 15, subscribers will only have 24 hours to watch pay-per-view movies recorded to their DVRs. Once the movies are purchased, the clock starts ticking, and after 24 hours, the PPV movie saved to your DVR will become nothing more than an unreadable collection of zeros and ones.

In its announcement, the company laid the blame for the new policy at the feet of Big Content. "Major movie studios have required that satellite and cable providers alike may no longer allow their customers to view these recordings for longer than 24 hours," reads the announcement. "During the 24-hour viewing period, you will continue to enjoy all of your DVR features such as pause and rewind."

[NA9D]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

When I had Dish Network, for a while, I could record a PPV and leave it on the box for weeks or months. Then they did a software upgrade that broke all that great functionality. :-( I forget how long it let you have the movie, but it did seem longer than 24 hours.

Word has it that the major studios really want to have a consistent playing field among all electronic distribution methods..

[HeadHodge]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

When I had Dish Network, for a while, I could record a PPV and leave it on the box for weeks or months. Then they did a software upgrade that broke all that great functionality. :-( I forget how long it let you have the movie, but it did seem longer than 24 hours.

Word has it that the major studios really want to have a consistent playing field among all electronic distribution methods..

I promised not to talk about Directv for 24 hours, so forgive me Master.

But we just watched Game Plan on our DVR that we recorded about 1 week ago.

Unless they are going to change something, the way it works now is that you record the movie to the DVR and it stays there as long as you want or until your drive runs out of space then on a FIFO basis it will remove it to create more space.

Then when you decide to watch it and press play, it will then ask if you want to purchase (really means rent) the movie. If you select yes, then it uses the broadband connection to pay for it and then the movie starts.

Then you have 24 hours to watch it. The 24 hours doesn't start after you record it, but after you start watching it from your DVR.

So I think that's a slightly different approach than VUDU, in that you can choose to download the movie before you actually decide to watch it. That's why we can download a lot of content and take it on the road with us, as long as there is an internet connection in the hotel room to allow us to pay for it when we want to watch it.

In some cases we've downloaded movies to the DVR that we never ended up watching and eventually deleted them (or the DVR deleted it for us).

Regards

[HeadHodge]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Interesting that DirecTV is buckling to the same pressure:

DirecTV DVR owners got some bad news from the satellite TV provider recently when the company announced that it will break some of the existing functionality of the DVRs. Effective April 15, subscribers will only have 24 hours to watch pay-per-view movies recorded to their DVRs. Once the movies are purchased, the clock starts ticking, and after 24 hours, the PPV movie saved to your DVR will become nothing more than an unreadable collection of zeros and ones.

In its announcement, the company laid the blame for the new policy at the feet of Big Content. "Major movie studios have required that satellite and cable providers alike may no longer allow their customers to view these recordings for longer than 24 hours," reads the announcement. "During the 24-hour viewing period, you will continue to enjoy all of your DVR features such as pause and rewind."

Do you have a link for this?

Thanks

[redwein]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Here is one I found by Googling:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...suckitude.html

It seems to have the text of the previous post verbatim.

[HeadHodge]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Here is one I found by Googling:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...suckitude.html

It seems to have the text of the previous post verbatim.

Thanks!!

I always wanted to visit suckitude.

[HeadHodge]

Re: AppleTV and 24 Hour Viewing Window

Here is one I found by Googling:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...suckitude.html

It seems to have the text of the previous post verbatim.

The following is an excerpt from the text. It pretty much nearly describes my current viewing experience with PPV movies. The one thing I've never done though is to pay for a rental and then try to watch later than 24 hours from when I actually hit the button to pay for it. So I guess I could see it as a possible problem for some people but wouldn't affect me.

The one thing I was worried about was paying for and recording live events (like a boxing match etc.). But that's seems to be an exception to the rule, so that doesn't cause me a problem either.

So overall for me, no biggy.

Here's the excerpt:

How long will selections Ive opted to record/buy later be on my playlist?

When you opt to record/buy later the movie will stay on your DVR playlist for a longer period of time. Your 24 hour clock begins when you actually buy your PPV movie selection.

Does this new policy apply to Pay Per View events?

This new 24 hour policy only applies to Pay Per View movies.

Could a Pay Per View movie expire from my playlist before I get around to watching it?

Yes, the 24 hour viewing period is triggered by your purchase of the Pay Per View movie, so make sure to plan accordingly. If you are not sure you will be able to watch your selection within the 24 hour viewing period, use your record/buy later function available on DIRECTV Plus DVR or DIRECTV Plus HD DVR receivers.