External hard drive

[Citizen Erased]

Re: External hard drive

i wish they would actually use card in the box like Xbox uses Gamertags, that way you could watch content you purchased on any box as long as you have the card.

Actually there is a smart card in the box but I wouldn't like to speculate as to what implications that has for portability of accounts and associated content.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: External hard drive

As for the whole External HDD issue, I'm not personally concerned as I only rent, but many valid complaints are being raised here. If Vudu plan to keep making money of sales they need to allow external storage.

Technically I'm sure it's not hard to do. Maybe keeping track in the gui of which films are stored (or 'archived') onto external devices is one issue, but again, not hard to solve ("watch now" becomes "Plug in USB drive 0 to watch now"). Maybe they want to sell external server box (with built in HDDs) that integrate better with the main vudu box, I don't know.

But if I had to guess, I would say licensing is the biggest barrier to releasing external storage support. The studios really don't quite know what to do with this stuff yet, and let's be honest, Vudu is a little ahead of it's time.

Add to that the whole "Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem" stuff that keeps getting talked up but never delivers any proposals for how this is meant to work. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes until January for this to go public.

[HeadHodge]

Re: External hard drive

But if I had to guess, I would say licensing is the biggest barrier to releasing external storage support. The studios really don't quite know what to do with this stuff yet, and let's be honest, Vudu is a little ahead of it's time.

This is this point I try to keep bringing up.

VUDU already has archive abilities. But if it can't be used to archive movies depending on licensing issues, what makes anyone think that it would be any different if you had an external hard drive hooked up to the box??

Maybe it would be better if you could do the same as I can with my notebook computer where I can unscrew an access lid on the bottom of my laptop and swap it out with a larger drive as capacity price points drop over time.

[aaronwt]

Re: External hard drive

Actually there is a smart card in the box but I wouldn't like to speculate as to what implications that has for portability of accounts and associated content.

I couldn't remember what it was called. Smart Card. It just seems like it was designed for the purpose of having the card removed but at some point they must have changed it. Otherwise why have a card that is removable?
link everything to the card, like the Xbox Gamertags, then once it's purchased you could watch it on any box. it's still just as secure since without the card it was purchased with, you can't watch it, just like with the Xbox gamertags..

But then i'm sure people would lose their card which would open up another can of worms. of course if you only have one VUDU box then it isn't a problem either. But with multiple boxes it would be nice to be able to watch any purchased content on any box you own.

[NA9D]

Re: External hard drive

I couldn't remember what it was called. Smart Card. It just seems like it was designed for the purpose of having the card removed but at some point they must have changed it. Otherwise why have a card that is removable?
link everything to the card, like the Xbox Gamertags, then once it's purchased you could watch it on any box. it's still just as secure since without the card it was purchased with, you can't watch it, just like with the Xbox gamertags..

But then i'm sure people would lose their card which would open up another can of worms. of course if you only have one VUDU box then it isn't a problem either. But with multiple boxes it would be nice to be able to watch any purchased content on any box you own.

Originally, these first came out with satellite boxes and I think the original idea was that card would carry all your subscription info. Take your card to your friend's house and viola! you can view your channels at his place. But when I got my Dish boxes a few years ago, all the smart cards were tied to the boxes and had to be used to activate the boxes. Same goes for Vudu.

I think there's reason why the cards are used by manufacturers. First of all, you don't have to program boxes with encryption codes when they are being built. You just build them and box them and ship them. Then you use another set of equipment to program the smart cards with the codes. I think it's really more economical that way. Also, if Vudu decided they needed to use a new set of encryption keys and changed the way the encryption works, they could probably just issue a completely new set of cards to users. That would be an easy way to do it. I am sure there are other reasons also.

The real problem is that DRM is just needed at all. I'm all for letting Hollywood keep what is theirs but there's a reason for why piracy happens. If all movie purchases cost $500, no one would buy them and nearly everyone would pirate them. If movies cost $2.00 to buy, probably everyone would buy them and no one pirate them. There's a balance somewhere between the cost barrier for a movie and one's desire to pirate. If it's cheap enough, people will buy the movie because then they have a "real" copy. Make it easy and convenient to get and cheap enough and there's no market for piracy. The music industry is finding this out now with DRM free songs. Back in 2000 when I got married, Napster was in full swing. I tried to find some of our wedding/reception music on Napster. Half the songs were poor quality or I couldn't download them, etc. I got a few. But I had to buy a number of CDs for just one song which ****ed me off. Enter iTunes a couple years later - now I can buy just one song and easily. No need to pirate. I think the same would go for movies.

Anyhow, I am WAY off topic here. Anyhow, I am looking forward to both HDX purchases and external storage (hopefully with something other than a USB drive). This is the future...

[aaronwt]

Re: External hard drive

Crap!!

Well one of my boxes is now full. I wanted to purchase Riddick(after already purchasing Pitch black for that box) but it says I need to delete/archive content.
i also wanted to purchase the 24: redemption movie for that box but I guess I'll have to wait.



I have my USB enclosure ready with a 750GB drive. If I'm able to use it if/when external storage is activated, I guess I'll be putting a 1TB drive in since they are only $99 now for the Western Digital green drives.

[HeadHodge]

Re: External hard drive

Crap!!

Well one of my boxes is now full. I wanted to purchase Riddick(after already purchasing Pitch black for that box) but it says I need to delete/archive content.

So you're not able to archive any of your movies?? If not how many are on your box??

[aaronwt]

Re: External hard drive

So you're not able to archive any of your movies?? If not how many are on your box??

I'm at work and was adding the titles to download from the online site. When I get home tonight(or tomorrow morning ) I'll see what I can archive.
I do have several HDX titles I rented and haven't watched yet so that is probably why the box is full. Plus I have a bunch of the first episode TV shows.

[aaronwt]

Re: External hard drive

Those HDX titles really take up some space. I archived all my SD content and now have the three Bourne movies in HD and a few HDX rentals plus the Pitch Black, Riddick and 24: Redemption HDX titles.
I tried to add the Unleashed HDX title and it said there was not enough space.

So with the HDX titles, external storage becomes even more important. Since they seem to take up alot of space. I can't add anything else until I watch one of my HDX rentals or delete one of my purchased HDX or HD titles, which I'm not going to do, since once you delete it, it's gone. And since I paid for ownership I have no desire to delete it, and it won't let you archive it.

[redwein]

Re: External hard drive

So with the HDX titles, external storage becomes even more important. Since they seem to take up alot of space. I can't add anything else until I watch one of my HDX rentals or delete one of my purchased HDX or HD titles, which I'm not going to do, since once you delete it, it's gone. And since I paid for ownership I have no desire to delete it, and it won't let you archive it.

This makes me wonder if maybe they should have waited for external storage support before doing this. There were already some who are getting quite upset about the storage situation and this will upset them more and perhaps bring others into that "upset" category.

[HeadHodge]

Re: External hard drive

This makes me wonder if maybe they should have waited for external storage support before doing this.

I hope you don't mean providing HDX rentals.

If people are having problems with HDX storage it's just an indication how popular it is.

It seems like the path of least resistance is to allow the user to delete rented movies after they are viewed (or an auto FIFO approach would work too). And work on correcting the issue for archiving purchased movies.

I would not want to wait for the day to get external storage functionality before HDX, because when it comes I don't plan on using anyways. I'm perfectly fine with renting 4 to 6 HDX movies and then ordering more after I watch them. I just wish I could get rid of them after I'm done watching them.

[Rusdude]

Re: External hard drive

This is actually what I mentioned while back -- even if studios changed their restrictions, HD and, especially, HDX wouldn't be widely purchaseable until external storage or more lax cloud archive is available.

Just like Aaron, I'll have 3 Bourne flicks in HD and 24 and Riddicks in HDX on top of some SD titles. This doesn't leave too much room for queing up rentals.

[HeadHodge]

Re: External hard drive

I don't purchase movies, but for reason I'm thinking about the problem. (I must be bored)

I've purchased several versions of Windows online and lot's of eBooks online for my Sony book reader.

If something happens to my purchases, for whatever reason, I'm able to re-download my purchases from their respective websites. They keep track of my purchases and I select one or more of them for download at any time.

So why can't VUDU do the same?? Keep the Delete function and get rid of the Archive function altogether. Then if you delete a purchased movie from your box or if the drive crashes or if you upgrade to a larger drive at some point, then just log on to your VUDU account and select an option to repopulate your box with one or more of your purchased movies????

It's kind of like a warranty issue then and I can't see a problem with that approach.

It seems obvious to the most casual observer.

[redwein]

Re: External hard drive

I hope you don't mean providing HDX rentals.

No, I was referring to the fact that there are several HDX movies for purchase now.

[redwein]

Re: External hard drive

I don't purchase movies, but for reason I'm thinking about the problem. (I must be bored)

I've purchased several versions of Windows online and lot's of eBooks online for my Sony book reader.

If something happens to my purchases, for whatever reason, I'm able to re-download my purchases from their respective websites. They keep track of my purchases and I select one or more of them for download at any time.

So why can't VUDU do the same?? Keep the Delete function and get rid of the Archive function altogether. Then if you delete a purchased movie from your box or if the drive crashes or if you upgrade to a larger drive at some point, then just log on to your VUDU account and select an option to repopulate your box with one or more of your purchased movies????

It's kind of like a warranty issue then and I can't see a problem with that approach.

It seems obvious to the most casual observer.

This is how apps work on the iTunes App Store as well. I'm sure it has to do with licensing and nothing technical whatsoever. That means that, with the stroke of a pen, it could all be fixed some day.