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Flixster brings UltraViolet to Panasonic VIERA Connect HDTVs and Blu-ray players

post #1 of 24
1/9/12 at 5:17pm
Thread Starter 

 

FLIXSTER DEVELOPING MOVIE APPLICATION FOR PANASONIC VIERA® CONNECT HDTVs AND BLU-RAY™ PLAYERS ALLOWING CONSUMERS TO EASILY STREAM THEIR MOVIE AND TV SHOWS

THROUGH FLIXSTER APP ULTRAVIOLET™ WILL COME TO THE LIVING ROOM

 

LAS VEGAS, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, January 9, 2012 – Flixster today announced its popular movie application will be available this year on Panasonic’s line of VIERA Connect ™ devices including HDTVs and Blu-ray players.  By simply launching this new Flixster app, consumers will be able to watch and enjoy their UltraViolet movies and TV shows from the comfort of their living room.

 

Flixster is currently the leading movie discovery application on mobile platforms with over 50 million downloads to date, including Android, Blackberry and iPad, and ranks among the most downloaded of iPhone apps of all time. Flixster provides access to UltraViolet, a new industry standard that gives consumers greater flexibility with how and where they watch the movies and TV shows they purchase. UltraViolet also allows consumers to share their entire UltraViolet digital library with other members on their account, and they can even watch the same title simultaneously from different locations.   

 

“Bringing UltraViolet to the living room will make it easy for consumers to enjoy their UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows,” said Steve Polsky, President of Flixster. “One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you’re at a friend’s house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster.” 


VIERA Connect is Panasonic’s Smart TV platform which enables owners of VIERA Connect-enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc Players and Home Theater Systems access to a wide range of internet-based video-on-demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, to social networking and online gaming.  VIERA Connect requires no external box or PC and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control.

 

“Panasonic’s VIERA ConnectTM Smart TV platform’s singular focus to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large-screen HDTVs.  We are delighted to add Flixster to our VIERA Connect Smart TV platform in 2012,” said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic’s Vice President of Interactive Content & Services.  “Partnering with a Hollywood powerhouse like Warner Bros.  Entertainment to integrate their highly popular Flixster movie application into our VIERA Connect platform is another great step in our efforts to continuously drive the connected TV experience to a whole new level for consumers.”

 

About Flixster

Founded in 2006 and based in San Francisco, Flixster Inc. operates one of the world’s most popular movie communities, used by more than 25 million people every month. The company was the first to launch applications that allow consumers to access UltraViolet, an industry standard that gives greater flexibility with how and where consumers watch the movies and TV shows they purchase.  Flixster services include destination websites at Flixster.com andRottenTomatoes.com, as well as leading apps on Facebook, iGoogle, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-powered devices.  A wholly-owned subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Flixster has offices in New York and representatives in Los Angeles and Seattle.

 

About Panasonic Corporation of North America

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America provides a broad line of digital and other electronics products and services for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC), and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was the only Consumer Electronics company to be listed in the top ten brands on the Interbrand Best Global Green Brands 2011 ranking.

As part of its continuing efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, Panasonic Corporation of North America will relocate its operations to a new eco-efficient office tower adjacent to a mass transit hub in Newark, NJ in 2013. Information about Panasonic Eco Ideas initiatives is available at http://panasonic.net/eco/ecoideas/. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com. Additional company information for journalists is also available atwww.panasonic.com/pressroom.

 
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post #2 of 24
1/10/12 at 6:35am
Are you a Flixster fan Ron??
Edited by Sam Posten - 1/10/12 at 4:37pm
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post #3 of 24
1/11/12 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 

Never used it.  Why?

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post #4 of 24
1/11/12 at 6:40pm
Cause it's the worst thing to happen to this hobby and the most blatantly anti-consumer tech since DIVX died?
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post #5 of 24
1/11/12 at 8:27pm

Looking forward to the Panasonic, Samsung and others with this tech.   I was at the Twonky CES trailer today and they were installing a "Proud Supporter of CES" sign.  Guess they are now supporting this technology as well.

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post #6 of 24
1/12/12 at 5:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

Cause it's the worst thing to happen to this hobby and the most blatantly anti-consumer tech since DIVX died?



Why????

 

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post #7 of 24
1/12/12 at 7:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford View Post

Why????

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/315337/ultraviolet-has-soft-launch-today
Quote:
I'm trying to be nice here Joe. I know people like Kevin and Sarah have at least interest if not enthusiasm for this program, and I'm trying not to rain on their launch parade. As Sarah notes, the vendors are doing a good enough job of that themselves. The proof will be in the pudding, I'll reserve judgement for when the system is fully operational.

But what I won't be silent on is on major faults of this scheme:
-Permission based DRM sucks
-Apple and Disney are not on board, although the Flixster app seems to allow streaming. Downloads to iPads? How's that work?
-The vendors are up front about their intent for this to kill rental, This scheme has to be so good that the vast majority of people would prefer it to the system that has worked great in various forms for 40 years since the betamax launch. Supporters of this scheme have to be aware that their gain is the loss of rental for people who prefer that, and once it's gone it's gone. As much as I prefer to buy rather than rent movies over all, if I knew that my buying was going to remove rental choices for others I would be VERY wary.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/316392/looks-like-uv-isnt-satisfying-customers-whats-your-experience

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/311881/what-is-ultraviolet-and-why-should-you-care

http://allthingsd.com/20110804/warner-bros-pulls-back-the-curtains-on-flixster-collections-its-ambitious-digital-video-bet/
Quote:
It's worse than that for me, Russell. The people supporting it will tell you "if you don't like or want it don't use it" but what they won't tell you is that like the idiotic DIVX before it, it is being used to kill a perfectly r easonable way to consume movies because it doesn't maximize their revenues.

It's bullshit smoke and mirrors.

BTW the dumbasses running it decided their website would be uvvu.com, guess who failed/forgot to register @uvvu for a twitter handle.. Duh.

https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/uvvu

http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2011/10/hollywood-hopes-its-ultraviolet-plans-will-quash-cloud-movie-rentals/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miramax-ceo-ultraviolet-we-have-244448
Quote:
NO FING way im letting ANY company and especially NOT WB tie my Amazon Apple Netflix and other accounts together in one convenient spot to be tracked and marketed from.

This is MADNESS (not Sparta!)
http://allthingsd.com/20110804/warner-bros-pulls-back-the-curtains-on-flixster-collections-its-ambitious-digital-video-bet/
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post #8 of 24
1/18/12 at 9:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post


http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/315337/ultraviolet-has-soft-launch-today
Quote:
I'm trying to be nice here Joe. I know people like Kevin and Sarah have at least interest if not enthusiasm for this program, and I'm trying not to rain on their launch parade. As Sarah notes, the vendors are doing a good enough job of that themselves. The proof will be in the pudding, I'll reserve judgement for when the system is fully operational.
But what I won't be silent on is on major faults of this scheme:
-Permission based DRM sucks
-Apple and Disney are not on board, although the Flixster app seems to allow streaming. Downloads to iPads? How's that work?
-The vendors are up front about their intent for this to kill rental, This scheme has to be so good that the vast majority of people would prefer it to the system that has worked great in various forms for 40 years since the betamax launch. Supporters of this scheme have to be aware that their gain is the loss of rental for people who prefer that, and once it's gone it's gone. As much as I prefer to buy rather than rent movies over all, if I knew that my buying was going to remove rental choices for others I would be VERY wary.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/316392/looks-like-uv-isnt-satisfying-customers-whats-your-experience
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/311881/what-is-ultraviolet-and-why-should-you-care
http://allthingsd.com/20110804/warner-bros-pulls-back-the-curtains-on-flixster-collections-its-ambitious-digital-video-bet/
Quote:
It's worse than that for me, Russell. The people supporting it will tell you "if you don't like or want it don't use it" but what they won't tell you is that like the idiotic DIVX before it, it is being used to kill a perfectly r easonable way to consume movies because it doesn't maximize their revenues.
It's bullshit smoke and mirrors.
BTW the dumbasses running it decided their website would be uvvu.com, guess who failed/forgot to register @uvvu for a twitter handle.. Duh.
https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/uvvu
http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2011/10/hollywood-hopes-its-ultraviolet-plans-will-quash-cloud-movie-rentals/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miramax-ceo-ultraviolet-we-have-244448
Quote:
NO FING way im letting ANY company and especially NOT WB tie my Amazon Apple Netflix and other accounts together in one convenient spot to be tracked and marketed from.
This is MADNESS (not Sparta!)
http://allthingsd.com/20110804/warner-bros-pulls-back-the-curtains-on-flixster-collections-its-ambitious-digital-video-bet/


As a movie collector (I dont rent... sorry) I am a fan of the ownership model and I cheer all models including but not limited to distribution via Disc, Itunes, Digital Download, UV.

 

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post #9 of 24
1/18/12 at 8:06pm
UV is not an ownership model.
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post #10 of 24
1/18/12 at 8:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

UV is not an ownership model.


In the land of make believe yes, but in th real world you buy the movie, you download the movie, the file is yours and can be played on any device that can play a UV file.  No different than a regular DVD or optical disc that you own and play on a DVD supported player.

uV is just as much an ownership model as iTunes, digital downloads and DVD.

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post #11 of 24
1/19/12 at 9:14am
Digital Downloads are not an ownership model either. They are a rights model. We can get technical if you want.

DVD is an ownership model, it is governed by the Rights of First Sale. Downloads, UV and other similar licensed content are not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine

UV is clearly in the land of make believe if that's how you want to discuss it...
IANAL and all that, but there ya go.
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post #12 of 24
1/19/12 at 9:25am

Does anyone know if this will be just for new models, or will this get added to existing models via a firmware update?

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post #13 of 24
1/19/12 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

Digital Downloads are not an ownership model either. They are a rights model. We can get technical if you want.
DVD is an ownership model, it is governed by the Rights of First Sale. Downloads, UV and other similar licensed content are not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
UV is clearly in the land of make believe if that's how you want to discuss it...
IANAL and all that, but there ya go.

With both download and Disc you possess the item that is your to keep regardless of what fine print is brought to the table.  BTW.. The first sale doctrine is a US law not a law followed worldwide.

 

I'm also not sure what this has to do with the OP topic of flixster coming to Panasonic Televisions???


Edited by Towergrove - 1/19/12 at 10:35am
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post #14 of 24
1/19/12 at 10:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich View Post

Does anyone know if this will be just for new models, or will this get added to existing models via a firmware update?



Hi Adam,  I was told some of the current models can be upgraded but I was not told which ones when I asked at CES.  Im hoping mine can be!

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post #15 of 24
1/19/12 at 2:10pm
I was asked why I thought it was a bad idea, I answered. The conversation went from there.

You can keep hand waving the differences between ownership and licensing but that doesn't make them any less serious.

I can give my DVDs to a friend, relative or heir. Try doing that with your DRM bound downloads.

I have many pieces of licensed content, including thousands of dollars worth of apps. I however prefer to buy music and movies so that I can keep them for a lifetime, share them with friends in my lifetime, and then pass them on. UV is designed to kill both the rental alternative to owning and owning itself. I don't doubt that there are people who don't care about this distinction, and I don't doubt there are people who pirate.

I have never stolen any peice of digital content in my life but I would rather pirate a movie than ask the studios permission for anything I have paid for to do with it as I please in a legal way.
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post #16 of 24
1/19/12 at 2:21pm
panasonic did do a revamped panasonic connect to 2010/2011 model tvs. its probably possible that older tvs could get it.

Jacob
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post #17 of 24
1/19/12 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

I was asked why I thought it was a bad idea, I answered. The conversation went from there.
You can keep hand waving the differences between ownership and licensing but that doesn't make them any less serious.
I can give my DVDs to a friend, relative or heir. Try doing that with your DRM bound downloads.
I have many pieces of licensed content, including thousands of dollars worth of apps. I however prefer to buy music and movies so that I can keep them for a lifetime, share them with friends in my lifetime, and then pass them on. UV is designed to kill both the rental alternative to owning and owning itself. I don't doubt that there are people who don't care about this distinction, and I don't doubt there are people who pirate.
I have never stolen any peice of digital content in my life but I would rather pirate a movie than ask the studios permission for anything I have paid for to do with it as I please in a legal way.

Great. Good for you.
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post #18 of 24
1/19/12 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBat View Post

panasonic did do a revamped panasonic connect to 2010/2011 model tvs. its probably possible that older tvs could get it.
Jacob


 

I would think so as long as they are the Viera variety sets.

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post #19 of 24
1/26/12 at 7:21pm
True, Ultraviolet isn't ownership, although the original idea was a lot closer to ownership that the eventual result. Actually, I have only ever heard of one real ownership model, the proposed IEEE P1817 Standard for Consumer-ownable Digital Personal Property. If it ever gets completed, it will impose no usage or sharing restrictions, and it will preserve the attributes that real people think of as the rights of private property ownership, like resale, backups, annotating and editing, etc., Not only will Digital Personal Property (DPP) be as convenient and flexible as plain files in practice, but the consumer's rights will be explicitly called out in a boilerplate license agreement (since our laws don't have a definition of consumer-ownership).

Unfortunately, almost no one even knows about the P1817 effort, and some of those who do are nervous, either about compromising the vision of a services-only model with actual ownership or about preserving the concept of copyright in the digital domain. DPP will work for movies, music, books, games, and who knows what other future product types.
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post #20 of 24
1/27/12 at 10:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsweazey View Post

True, Ultraviolet isn't ownership, although the original idea was a lot closer to ownership that the eventual result. Actually, I have only ever heard of one real ownership model, the proposed IEEE P1817 Standard for Consumer-ownable Digital Personal Property. If it ever gets completed, it will impose no usage or sharing restrictions, and it will preserve the attributes that real people think of as the rights of private property ownership, like resale, backups, annotating and editing, etc., Not only will Digital Personal Property (DPP) be as convenient and flexible as plain files in practice, but the consumer's rights will be explicitly called out in a boilerplate license agreement (since our laws don't have a definition of consumer-ownership).
Unfortunately, almost no one even knows about the P1817 effort, and some of those who do are nervous, either about compromising the vision of a services-only model with actual ownership or about preserving the concept of copyright in the digital domain. DPP will work for movies, music, books, games, and who knows what other future product types.


 

Interesting Paul never heard of this!  Thanks for sharing!

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post #21 of 24
2/4/12 at 6:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsweazey View Post

True, Ultraviolet isn't ownership, although the original idea was a lot closer to ownership that the eventual result. Actually, I have only ever heard of one real ownership model, the proposed IEEE P1817 Standard for Consumer-ownable Digital Personal Property.....
DPP will work for movies, music, books, games, and who knows what other future product types.



More DRM is not the solution. We've proved this with music and it's time other media realize it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/02/03/you-will-never-kill-piracy-and-piracy-will-never-kill-you/

When will Apple pen it's "More thoughts on DRM" that seal this for movies the way they did music?
Edited by Sam Posten - 2/4/12 at 2:03pm
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post #22 of 24
2/7/12 at 11:37pm
True, more DRM is not the solution. Neither is abandoning all DRM, or making meaner DRM, or kinder, gentler DRM, or distributing all content as plain files (with or without EULAs or a Creative Commons License), or draconian legislation, or gestapo enforcement, or abandonment of copyright, or better services, or lower prices, or…. There is no one solution, just as there is not just one problem. We don't need to eliminate the options available today; we need more options. The biggest missing option — the one that some suppliers fear most, and that they want you to think is impossible — is big-brother-free consumer ownership.

We synthesized intellectual property rights with copyrights and patents as called for (in the US) by our Constitution. They exist to enhance our general welfare (although they are admittedly often abused). Similarly, we synthesized the concept of monetary currency for the good of society, and we all count on it (although there are counterfeiters and perpetrators of fraud). Even more applicable to the digital content, we synthesized digital money to represent bills and coins that can be protected and exchanged by electronic means via online banking. Our bank balances, once markings on ledgers, are now just a digital sum in a database, protected by banks. We agree to honor these synthetic limits because they are in our collective and individual interest — they empower us far more than they hinder us.

Likewise, there are means by which we can synthesize digital objects (movies, music, books, games) that are de-tethered from their suppliers, that retain all of the advantages of digital copying, storage, processing, and transmission, yet that also preserve the principle that for each purchase there should exist only one singular, resellable product item in the field. Lots of consumers are demanding their rights as purchasers and owners of digital products. It is time for us to consider solutions that do just that, yet also preserve our collective notion of copyright – that for our common welfare we pass to copyright holders the right of redistribution to the public (to strangers), even as we reserve for ourselves the right of unfettered private use and sharing with whomever we choose.

If people could opt to buy and truly own, if there were no big brothers to register with or ask permission of, if sharing were unmonitored and unrestricted, and if giving and reselling represented a true loss by the giver and a true gain by the receiver, then services (including DRM-restricted ones) would just be a way to save money or simplify our lives.
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post #23 of 24
2/8/12 at 8:09am
I disagree in principle but I guess I have come to accept at least one DRM scheme that I haven't completely written off in Steam, so maybe. But even that system has problems including MASSIVE privacy issues and putting all the eggs in one basket, so personally for me the only GOOD DRM is no DRM.

Well this is going to look bad for me, but Paul I had a look at your post history and your two posts were in this thread with no introduction from you to the forum. So I googled you.

It looks like you are actually involved (and not just aware) in this process from the IEEE side, if this is you:
http://mesalliance.org/blog/tag/paul-sweazey/
Quote:
Working group chair Paul Sewazey distinguishes the IEEE effort from studios’ Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem thusly: “DECE is a great project, aimed at erasing as many of the barriers as possible to giving consumers that ownership feeling and sense. It will not, however, give consumers actual ownership of products.”

So, if i read that quote right you aren't exactly following the DECE party line but actively helping IEEE work on the issue?

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1817/pub_docs/TowardDPP_01.pdf
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Group-Seeks-to-Set-Standard-for-ConsumerOwnable-Digital-Property-67854.asp

I applaud organizations like IEEE and ACM and others trying to help create a practical and workable solution but we've been banging our heads on this for 30 years and it simply has not worked to anyone's satisfaction. Demolishing DRM has worked for Music, maybe not to the extend the labels would have liked but it has let them survive in the face of piracy and there is more music actually being sold than ever today. The time where the size of files was the prohibitive factor against film and TV piracy is long over. Those content creators can choose to either adapt and survive or die trying to make DRM work, the longer they try to force these stupid systems down the consumers throats the harder the fall is going to be. When the pirates have a better experience than a paying customer there is something dreadfully wrong. We knew it with music and moved on, it's time for the rest of the content creating world to get on board.
Edited by Sam Posten - 2/8/12 at 8:31am
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post #24 of 24
2/9/12 at 7:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

I disagree in principle but I guess I have come to accept at least one DRM scheme that I haven't completely written off in Steam, so maybe. But even that system has problems including MASSIVE privacy issues and putting all the eggs in one basket, so personally for me the only GOOD DRM is no DRM.
Well this is going to look bad for me, but Paul I had a look at your post history and your two posts were in this thread with no introduction from you to the forum. So I googled you.
It looks like you are actually involved (and not just aware) in this process from the IEEE side, if this is you:
http://mesalliance.org/blog/tag/paul-sweazey/
Quote:
Working group chair Paul Sewazey distinguishes the IEEE effort from studios’ Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem thusly: “DECE is a great project, aimed at erasing as many of the barriers as possible to giving consumers that ownership feeling and sense. It will not, however, give consumers actual ownership of products.”
So, if i read that quote right you aren't exactly following the DECE party line but actively helping IEEE work on the issue?
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1817/pub_docs/TowardDPP_01.pdf
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Group-Seeks-to-Set-Standard-for-ConsumerOwnable-Digital-Property-67854.asp
I applaud organizations like IEEE and ACM and others trying to help create a practical and workable solution but we've been banging our heads on this for 30 years and it simply has not worked to anyone's satisfaction. Demolishing DRM has worked for Music, maybe not to the extend the labels would have liked but it has let them survive in the face of piracy and there is more music actually being sold than ever today. The time where the size of files was the prohibitive factor against film and TV piracy is long over. Those content creators can choose to either adapt and survive or die trying to make DRM work, the longer they try to force these stupid systems down the consumers throats the harder the fall is going to be. When the pirates have a better experience than a paying customer there is something dreadfully wrong. We knew it with music and moved on, it's time for the rest of the content creating world to get on board.


+1 great post Mr Posten!

 

 

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