Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

[CWolf]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

The digital format could be much more palatable if they began to include dvd extras instead of just the feature or reduce the prices of their films. I have a few digital films, they are convenient however I feel a bit ripped off paying the same price for just the feature as I would for say an additional disk worth of extras.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Walter, thank you for your continued thoughts on the subject. I am obviously a loyal Vudu user, which is why I frequent this forum. It was a bit amusing to pull up that post and see it be a link to something I'd written a while ago. I too have discovered that Vudu is the optimal movie service of the moment. I also have requested that Vudu provide the ability to upgrade my various licenses to 1080p on multiple occasions. Here's hoping that the option is provided to Vudu customers soon. (Hint hint, Jake)

Judging from your Handbrake comments, I suspect that we are quite similar with regards to our movie behavior. I have so many TiVo files and Handbrake rips that we have roughly 21 TB of external hard drives filled with stuff. I am now gradually cleaning out those drives as I purchase the titles via UV. This is the elegant nature of cloud, or as Jake would prefer Digital Rights Locker-based services. The process is impressively streamlined relative to older practices such as DVD purchases/rips and VHS tape archiving prior to that.

As a lifetime movie lover, all I have ever wanted is to have instant access to a movie. Not that long ago, we had a pair of 400-DVD changers that were filled with discs we had to rotate constantly. Between Amazon and Vudu, we now possess more files in an easier manner. I cannot state in finite terms how much time this has saved my wife and I in terms of alphabetizing discs, loading/unloading them from the player and updating spreadsheets with current collection information. If Disney ever joined UV, it would be the perfect solution.

Thank you for reading BOP. You are exactly the sort of intelligent reader we have attempted to attract/cultivate over the years.

Damn, DVD-jukebox? you are hard core. Glad that technology didn't take. I held my breath on that one and waited for it to pass. I figured streaming would erase the need for a consumer electronic solution. It just surprised me the speed with which it hit.

We can now all gleefully sort through our video entertainment library with a remote and using nothing but ubiquitous broadband.

Ahh...

In the words of Victor Hugo, "No army can stop an idea whose time has come"

[MaxH]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

There is absolutely no need for an apology. I've been writing on the internet for 15 years. That passes for a compliment a lot of times.

With regards to the cloud aspect, as long as 51% of people believe that stormy weather impacts the cloud, it's best not to confuse the reader by explaining such esoteric differences.

Yes...and no. I see how simplifying it might get more people interested, and Vudu can't assume that all or even most users will care to make the distinction, but these "technicalities" can make the difference between consumers blaming Vudu for an incorrect ALID and blaming the issuer, or blaming UV or Vudu for not being able to stream their movie on Flixster. Sure, your average consumer shouldn't have to worry about those things, just like your average driver shouldn't have to worry about what the catalytic converter or distributor cap does, but having just a very basic idea of what those things are and what they do can help keep the consumer from making costly mistakes with their car, and with VOD, can help them avoid frustration and get it fixed sooner.

[goneviral]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Apologies if my comment on your article was overly harsh...

There is absolutely no need for an apology. I've been writing on the internet for 15 years. That passes for a compliment a lot of times.

With regards to the cloud aspect, as long as 51% of people believe that stormy weather impacts the cloud, it's best not to confuse the reader by explaining such esoteric differences.

[Jake]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

It was a bit amusing to pull up that post and see it be a link to something I'd written a while ago.

Apologies if my comment on your article was overly harsh... it was a detailed writeup of UV progress, I mostly just disagreed with the idea it was an attempt to get rid of the "middleman," and that it's really an "ecosystem" that more clearly defines a middleman's role Hopefully a leaner, less expensive role, which is probably what you meant... (the alternative is every studio attempting to sell and stream movies themselves, which sounds terrifying).

I also have requested that Vudu provide the ability to upgrade my various licenses to 1080p on multiple occasions. Here's hoping that the option is provided to Vudu customers soon. (Hint hint, Jake)

Completely agree, depends on other involved parties, of course...

This is the elegant nature of cloud, or as Jake would prefer Digital Rights Locker-based services.

Well... I wasn't debating the "cloud", just that the idea UV "is the cloud"... UV is the locker, and VUDU (and CinemaNow, and probably any other provider using UV) exists independently from UV - any movie you buy on VUDU you own on VUDU regardless of your UV account linking...

But of course, we'd love all movies to be offered as UV, since we believe VUDU has the best service overall to purchase and stream them!

Ok, I think I will go back to providing occasional unofficial tech support instead of UV opinions

[MaxH]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

I kind of like how many players can pull metadata from Gracenote or IMDB. It means there can be corrections and updatesalthough if the device can't cache that info, it also means that all the metadata is unavailable if the device is offline.

[Jake]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

I have a 2TB NAS waiting for CFF to launch, and I'm hoping that the container will support a good amount of metadata including thumbnails and descriptions, and preferably everything listed on a movie's tab in Vudu. Having that info pre-loaded would save a lot of time and hassle.

From what I have seen the CFF has a fair bit of metadata inside the file (just for the movie, of course - not anything like ratings, reviews, similars, etc). Also not as many thumbnails as VUDU, but at least the basic chapters.

Again for those who want the gory details, it is available

http://www.uvvu.com/docs/public/tspe...data-1.0.5.pdf

[goneviral]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Funny you should mention, and 'Yes' I do personally think that would be a better comparison.

On a side note, I have an AppleTV box in my home on the downstairs flatscreen. Awhile ago I...

1) Ripped each of my DVDs
2) Did a Handbreak conversion on them to Apple's M4V format
3) Loaded them into iTunes

This took just a COLOSSAL amount of time. Plus, I am running a 1.2Tb USB drive on my laptop to store the ripped media.

I can say, for the amount of time and effort and money (I had to buy a 1.2Tb USB drive), Vudu is a much better option. I do not have to loose sleep over the USB drive crashing and having to go through the process again. If memory serves, it took about 2-3 months to rip the collection. Then adding all the artwork and descriptions took about another month. Yuck!

...

With Vudu, I need ZERO storage. That is a service I would gladly pay $2 for and to be able to bump my DVD into 1080p for an additional $3 is a great deal in my estimation.

...

Also, there is the Disney portion of my DVD library (that is, until Disney gets religion).

Walter, thank you for your continued thoughts on the subject. I am obviously a loyal Vudu user, which is why I frequent this forum. It was a bit amusing to pull up that post and see it be a link to something I'd written a while ago. I too have discovered that Vudu is the optimal movie service of the moment. I also have requested that Vudu provide the ability to upgrade my various licenses to 1080p on multiple occasions. Here's hoping that the option is provided to Vudu customers soon. (Hint hint, Jake)

Judging from your Handbrake comments, I suspect that we are quite similar with regards to our movie behavior. I have so many TiVo files and Handbrake rips that we have roughly 21 TB of external hard drives filled with stuff. I am now gradually cleaning out those drives as I purchase the titles via UV. This is the elegant nature of cloud, or as Jake would prefer Digital Rights Locker-based services. The process is impressively streamlined relative to older practices such as DVD purchases/rips and VHS tape archiving prior to that.

As a lifetime movie lover, all I have ever wanted is to have instant access to a movie. Not that long ago, we had a pair of 400-DVD changers that were filled with discs we had to rotate constantly. Between Amazon and Vudu, we now possess more files in an easier manner. I cannot state in finite terms how much time this has saved my wife and I in terms of alphabetizing discs, loading/unloading them from the player and updating spreadsheets with current collection information. If Disney ever joined UV, it would be the perfect solution.

Thank you for reading BOP. You are exactly the sort of intelligent reader we have attempted to attract/cultivate over the years.

[Speedaddict81]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

I even took the time to get artwork for each title and update the descriptions. With those two things, the AppleTV interface is a very slick way to have your DVD collection at your fingertips. But again, it took an amazing amount of time to get to that stage.

I can say, for the amount of time and effort and money (I had to buy a 1.2Tb USB drive), Vudu is a much better option. I do not have to loose sleep over the USB drive crashing and having to go through the process again. If memory serves, it took about 2-3 months to rip the collection. Then adding all the artwork and descriptions took about another month.

I have a 2TB NAS waiting for CFF to launch, and I'm hoping that the container will support a good amount of metadata including thumbnails and descriptions, and preferably everything listed on a movie's tab in Vudu. Having that info pre-loaded would save a lot of time and hassle.

I have never purchased a movie from AppleTV. I felt it would be a bad idea to be stuck with Apple. For some reason, I do not have the same pause with Vudu. I buy movies from them all the time. In fact, I have about 50 titles in my Wishlist waiting for funds to buy. This time next week, I will be trotting back to Walmart to add some more titles from my DVD collection via D2D. Each time I do, I delete the ripped files from my iTunes Library.

I do the same thing, and I am less hesitant to buy on Vudu knowing that if a title becomes UV enabled it will be added to my UV library.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Wouldn't a better comparison between UV and Apple be UV account activation against Apple TV sales? http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/23/apple-tv-awkwardness/

Seems like if you're serious about collecting movies through Apple's ecosystem, you'd spring for at least one Apple TV.

Having seen both of these ecosystems in action, for me, UV is the clear choice. I share with remote family members, and it works through devices I already own.

Funny you should mention, and 'Yes' I do personally think that would be a better comparison.

On a side note, I have an AppleTV box in my home on the downstairs flatscreen. Awhile ago I...

1) Ripped each of my DVDs
2) Did a Handbreak conversion on them to Apple's M4V format
3) Loaded them into iTunes

This took just a COLOSSAL amount of time. Plus, I am running a 1.2Tb USB drive on my laptop to store the ripped media.

The AppleTV interface is slick. I figured since I owned the media, no harm in doing so for my own personal use.

I even took the time to get artwork for each title and update the descriptions. With those two things, the AppleTV interface is a very slick way to have your DVD collection at your fingertips. But again, it took an amazing amount of time to get to that stage.

I have a Roku-XD upstairs. I can view these movies via the Roku PLEX app. This is not as slick of a setup as the AppleTV, but still not too bad.

On both TVs I can view Vudu. The Roku has it native. Downstairs, I use a PS3 with HDMI out.

I can say, for the amount of time and effort and money (I had to buy a 1.2Tb USB drive), Vudu is a much better option. I do not have to loose sleep over the USB drive crashing and having to go through the process again. If memory serves, it took about 2-3 months to rip the collection. Then adding all the artwork and descriptions took about another month. Yuck!

With Vudu, I need ZERO storage. That is a service I would gladly pay $2 for and to be able to bump my DVD into 1080p for an additional $3 is a great deal in my estimation.

I have never purchased a movie from AppleTV. I felt it would be a bad idea to be stuck with Apple. For some reason, I do not have the same pause with Vudu. I buy movies from them all the time. In fact, I have about 50 titles in my Wishlist waiting for funds to buy. This time next week, I will be trotting back to Walmart to add some more titles from my DVD collection via D2D. Each time I do, I delete the ripped files from my iTunes Library.

Eventually, I will have everything safely in Vudu. That will be about a year though.

After that, the AppleTV box will just be used to access pod-casts.

Also, there is the Disney portion of my DVD library (that is, until Disney gets religion).

Anyway....

[nyunole]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Wouldn't a better comparison between UV and Apple be UV account activation against Apple TV sales? http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/23/apple-tv-awkwardness/

Seems like if you're serious about collecting movies through Apple's ecosystem, you'd spring for at least one Apple TV.

Having seen both of these ecosystems in action, for me, UV is the clear choice. I share with remote family members, and it works through devices I already own.

[canadien37]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Probably a better way of thinking about UV *itself* (rather than a cloud service or market to corner) is (as described in the UV docs) an "ecosystem" of consumer, app/device manufacturer, retailer, streaming provider, and content owner. Really anyone not the consumer or content owner is a middleman at some level (and they all want their cut, of course!) I agree digital distribution eliminates many of the inefficiencies of physical media, hopefully allowing lower prices in the end. But the concepts are the same...

If you are *really* interested in the gory details of UltraViolet and are technically minded, almost all of the specs are actually publicly available:

http://www.uvvu.com/techspec-archive.php (start with the "System" doc for a high level overview, and "CFF Media Format" for when you have severe insomnia

Jake, I just took a look at the CFF stuff and man, my head blew up..........Took me back to calculus class for cryin' out loud.....I am waiting for that part of UV to be deployed......

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Probably a better way of thinking about UV *itself* (rather than a cloud service or market to corner) is (as described in the UV docs) an "ecosystem" of consumer, app/device manufacturer, retailer, streaming provider, and content owner. Really anyone not the consumer or content owner is a middleman at some level (and they all want their cut, of course!) I agree digital distribution eliminates many of the inefficiencies of physical media, hopefully allowing lower prices in the end. But the concepts are the same...

If you are *really* interested in the gory details of UltraViolet and are technically minded, almost all of the specs are actually publicly available:

http://www.uvvu.com/techspec-archive.php (start with the "System" doc for a high level overview, and "CFF Media Format" for when you have severe insomnia

thx for the light reading. I also reach for the RFC's for the same purpose. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz



I do think we (You, me, & Mr. Mumpower) all understand what UV is and how it operates.

When a movie company wishes to distribute a title digitally, there are few options. UV has all but cornered this decision.

In my view, checkmate can be called.

This to me is the same as saying they have cornered the market. You may disagree, but the way of describing it is an exercise in semantics.

sincerely,

-Walter

[lujan]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

This method would require signing out of their account and signing in with yours. When I'm sitting in front of my PS3, the last thing I want to do is have to enter another username and password with my harmony remote. It would be nice if accounts could be merged somehow. For instance, if I were single and got married to someone who had her own UV account, it would be nice if one email/password combo could access both of our accounts.

For all I know, that is allowed now? Can't one vudu account access more than one UV locker?

Not true in my case as I'm the only one in my family with a Vudu account.

[Jake]

Re: Ultraviolet's Attempt to Corner the Market

Probably a better way of thinking about UV *itself* (rather than a cloud service or market to corner) is (as described in the UV docs) an "ecosystem" of consumer, app/device manufacturer, retailer, streaming provider, and content owner. Really anyone not the consumer or content owner is a middleman at some level (and they all want their cut, of course!) I agree digital distribution eliminates many of the inefficiencies of physical media, hopefully allowing lower prices in the end. But the concepts are the same...

If you are *really* interested in the gory details of UltraViolet and are technically minded, almost all of the specs are actually publicly available:

http://www.uvvu.com/techspec-archive.php (start with the "System" doc for a high level overview, and "CFF Media Format" for when you have severe insomnia