Error linking Vudu to UV account

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Well, I love to agree with you, Walt, but this is not what most people are thinking with a 'Family' of UV users (and I think you'd agree, 4 wives, to fill out the sub-user quota, is 3-4 to many). I'd wager that the situation you mention would be best served by simply merging the UV accounts (which, right now, would add all UV content to the primary accounts' Vudu).

The problem arises when you add in a couple of kids of different ages with their own TV/device and you want to segregate their content. Even more so, the extended family, including Parents, Siblings, In-laws and the like, which is waht I want to do, but with a limit of two Vudu users linked to the same UV 'family' some would be stuck with the sub-standard CinemaNow or Flixster services. In reality, until there is a way to selectively distribute movies to the sub-users I will not add my Parents to the mix since much of my collection would be unappealing to them (and I'd hate for them to think 'this looks like a good movie' only to be disappointed by the content), likewise I don't want to add my Brother, as he has little ones, and I have no desire to have Thomas the Tank show up in my Vudu list.

This whole thing is like having a car that seats 5 people, but some bogus restriction limiting you to carrying one passenger.

I do understand that most users who are utilizing the linking feature are NOT doing the metro couple --> `burb x-fer, but it is my understanding, that was what the linking feature was designed to accommodate.

To expect it to be able to be used to create personality specific "playlists" add-hoc is asking a lot from a technology which is still in the drive to critical mass.

Further, to volunteer to dismiss the ability to have remote access to the entirety of a personal entertainment library because this one feature is yet to be developed more robustly I find a fickle decision.

In your case, you have to admit that having a working linking feature is a nice thing to be able to use, even if you have to press "Down" on your remote to pass by the "Thomas The Train" collection of your third-nephew's cousin's aunt's day-care library which you have linked to.

[mrhappi79]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

So those 2 members never purchase or add anything through Vudu since they really can't see their content they were to purchase unless they go and manually link first.

What do you mean by their purchases will show if they manually link first?


I'm currently the third member and my newly purchased content does not show for other members even if I go back and link. Since the link does not stay consistent I go back and link, though I cannot check the box and have to settle for the uv to vudu relationship only. Doesn't allow a two way link. Anyway, this still doesn't get my purchases to the others. Furthermore, the vudu link doesn't even appear on my uv account anymore.

As for this issue I've been in talks with UV and today I was told that their next update will correct this issue. I was given no timeframe as to when that would happen.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

What do you mean by their purchases will show if they manually link first?


I'm currently the third member and my newly purchased content does not show for other members even if I go back and link. Since the link does not stay consistent I go back and link, though I cannot check the box and have to settle for the uv to vudu relationship only. Doesn't allow a two way link. Anyway, this still doesn't get my purchases to the others. Furthermore, the vudu link doesn't even appear on my uv account anymore.

As for this issue I've been in talks with UV and today I was told that their next update will correct this issue. I was given no timeframe as to when that would happen.

Thank you for the update.

I had heard of a few other bugs (one major nasty one) with UVVU account linking/un-linking.

I wonder if DECE will have release notes so bug fixes can be identified with each release version. I doubt it though. I suspect this information will be available just to the partners interfacing with their systems via the API they have developed and withheld from the consumer population.

[goneviral]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

I too am experiencing this issue. I am currently setting up a Roku for my 80-year-old father. The other channels worked without a hitch but giving him access to my UV account via Vudu has not gone well. The workarounds suggested on the prior two boards are not working, either. It is frustrating because he will never get this set up on his own. I really need to get it working today.

Do we know if anyone on Vudu's phone service has the ability to fix this?

Edit: I just bullied in a workaround. I don't think it worked the way it was supposed to work but it does work. That's all that matters to me for today. I'll figure out the rest later.

In the interim, my 80-year-old father has hundreds of movies he can watch whenever he wants now, which is an amazing turn of events for a man his age. He is blown away by the modern technology of Vudu streaming.

[vraytchev]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Hi goneviral,
Can you elaborate what you mean when you said you found a workaround? I would love to get it to work as well, even if it is not official. So far, Flixster and CinemaNow both have allowed permanent linking to my vudu Collection to three users each, Vudu is the only one that only allows two, unfortunately, there are movies that I own on Vudu (UV), that do not work on the other retailers and I would love to get Vudu to work.

[goneviral]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

I wish I could give you a better answer on this. Last week was strange and wonderful for me. My 80-year-old father had suffered through double lung pneumonia last Thanksgiving/Christmas. Tough guy that he is, the 15-year cancer survivor somehow recovered from his illness.

My mother, who will live to be a 100 and never be sick once, spent last week with my sister and her children at Disney World. Since I run a couple of web sites for a living and work from home, I was able to spend the week with him so that he didn't have to be alone. If you had told me that would be a possibility late last year, I would have given anything in the world to make it happen.

While I was visiting, I bought him a Roku on a whim. I never expected him to fall in love with it. After a few demonstrations of Amazon Prime's instant video, MLB.tv and Netflix, he was hooked on streaming.

Since I have a few hundred titles in my movie library to share with him, I tried to get him set up with his own Ultraviolet/Vudu account. It was a nightmare. Murphy's Law was in full effect. While I managed to google my way through a few problems, this thread was the only viable solution I could find for the one in question. The suggested steps did not work for me. What I wound up doing was attempting all phases repeatedly. After a couple of hours of frustration, I have no idea what changed but the titles suddenly displaying in Dad's account. I immediately stopped touching everything involved for fear of losing what I had gained.

So my solution was to try all of the steps listed over and over again until I attained the desired result. The programmer in me knows that this shouldn't have worked just as the writer in me knows that nonsense like this is why I don't code for a living.

[goneviral]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

And now I'm ready to throw something through a wall.

Dad called this morning to ask why he wasn't able to play The Godfather. I went through all the steps with him. After about 15 minutes, I asked him how many movies were in his library. He said 10. At some point over the last couple of days, his account was arbitrarily kicked off the system.

In the course of trying to debug the matter today, I unlinked then re-linked my account on UV, seeing if that would correct the matter. I am now locked out of my own UV account. Even though I have had three links for over a year now, the attempt to add the fourth link, something I should be able to do via the grandfathering mentioned previously, has kicked me down to two links. I will either have to ask my webmaster or father-in-law to unlink from my account simply to create the requisite space for me to re-link again. At that point, there is no guarantee that they will be able to add themselves. My 80-year-old father is completely out of luck. I have six UV people on my account. Only two of them can actually watch movies on Vudu despite no announcement of such a restraint.

I am absolutely livid at Vudu and UV for allowing such a horrific issue to exist for this long sans resolution. I am one of the most loyal early adopters of both technologies yet I have been prevented from watching my own library, for which I have spent several thousand dollars. It is *inexcusable*. I'm writing a friend at TechCrunch right now to see if anybody knows any workarounds. If not, the good news is that the issue may go viral over the next few days.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

why not just register his Roku to your account instead of trying to link two accounts?

[vraytchev]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Yes, this was my issue from the get-go (although I have only 3 accounts). All three can permanently link with Flixster and Cinemanow, only two are allowed to permanently link through Vudu, the third one can only link for a day, and then unlinks in Vudu. It totally sucks, as I have over 400 movies and quite a few of them are only available on Vudu, and not through the other retailers (and Flixster is not available on PS3 yet). But it seems that Vudu customer service does not care, why should they, after all they got our money already! It is sad to have a negative experience with a relatively new technology (UV). If vudu would limit people to only permanently linking 2 accounts, they should announce it and not hide behind "Oh, it is UV's problem not ours". If Vudu put's it up front, then it is what it is.

[Squatting Hen]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Are there two different things here?

1) Linking Accounts
2) Sharing Accounts

I am not sure how do do either. So I should be able to link 2 UV accounts and I can share with up to 5 people?

[goneviral]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

why not just register his Roku to your account instead of trying to link two accounts?

This is a solution that is now impossible since I am locked out as well. Earlier today, it would have been a short term fix but it is still not an optimal one. I actually have five devices enabled already and could easily do three more. We have a lot of electronics in the house. Determining which ones gain Vudu access has been a balancing act for a while now. Even if I had done that, I would be giving my father access to my direct account, which means I would run the risk of unauthorized purchases. Since it's Dad, I wouldn't care but that is why I dismissed that solution out of hand.

Now that I am locked out as well, all that would do is give him slightly more movies while still leaving us both locked out of 70% of my library. I have invested thousands of dollars in UV/Vudu. Today's events have left me questioning several aspects of my decision. The first attempt from UV customer service was also not encouraging. All they could suggest was to log out of everything then start from scratch.

[goneviral]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Are there two different things here?

1) Linking Accounts
2) Sharing Accounts

I am not sure how do do either. So I should be able to link 2 UV accounts and I can share with up to 5 people?

I think we need to be careful with the usage of the word account. There is a Vudu account and an Ultraviolet account. On the UV side, the situation is even trickier because up to six users can share one account.

So I am not talking about multiple UV accounts with my issues. I am referencing a single UV account that should provide authorized access for six different people. If they use Vudu as their primary turnkey service, a change has been made sans fanfare that limits the number of linked users on the same account. That number is apparently two although those of us who were grandfathered in should have four.

There are two debates occurring at the moment. The first involves an account issue that is preventing those who should have access from linking accounts. The second is why a service boasting six users on a single account is arbitrarily locking two thirds of those people out of the ability to play the programs in their library. The latter conversation is theoretical. The former concern should have been prioritized the moment it became an issue. I presume that either infrastructural or systemic issues on the part of UV/Vudu or both have created a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents the issue from being resolved conveniently. I am investigating that right now.

[mrhappi79]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

I got an update from the linking issue from Ultraviolet. They said it is still being worked on and they will notify me when it has been fixed. About 3 weeks ago I emailed them regarding this and I was told it would be fixed with the next UV update. No estimate given as to when that will be but at least they told me it's still being worked on.

[MaxH]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

This is beyond ridiculous. I have hyped Vudu and UV to some family and friends, and was planning on setting up a friend so that she could be on my UV account, but now I'm going to have to warn them all away from this Faustian nightmare until this all gets straightened out.

[nyunole]

Re: Error linking Vudu to UV account

Soon we'll be in our third year of this beta.

Nowhere, anywhere outside this thread does Vudu state that permanent account linking only works for 2 of the 6 permitted UV family member accounts. I guess it also never says it works for all 6...what a fun little game.

Does this linking nonsense have something to do with the looming 12 device limit? Who knows. They are still making UV's basic structure up as they go. When will UV be a finished product? Year 3?

I'd love to share Walter's enthusiasm for this format, but sharing my movies with my family members was central to my buy in. A professionally managed digital cloud isn't enough for me. No disrespect to those for whom it is. I'm at 180, but won't get to 200 until this gets sorted. I still hope it will.

Nobody else offers anything like this.