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What can UltraViolet do to compete with iTunes and DMA? (1 Viewer)

Joshua Clinard

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I have read the previous thread asking what people like or don't like about UltraViolet. A lot of those arguments have been debated and addressed. Some of the workarounds discussed deserve some additional attention, so maybe a better solution will be implemented.

Many reviews about the launch of Disney Movies Anywhere have said how wonderful it is, how easy it is to use, since Disney decided to partner with iTunes. There are very few consumer complaints about the service. It's become common knowledge how easy it is to watch and download titles with iTunes! It has also been reported that iTunes is responsible for 60% of electronic sales. They really know how to run a digital content store and ecosystem. It's so easy to purchase, redeem, and download movies on their system.That stands in stark contrast to UltraViolet. I have read hundreds of complaints on Amazon forums, Apple Support Forums, Home Video forums, and Tech blogs. Most of them center around the fragmented redemption process, and the lack of a common download format. Vudu customers know that the redemption process on vudu couldn't be easier, in fact it's just as easy as iTunes. But millions of consumers opening physical discs with UV inserts are getting sent to flixster or a studio site for redemption. Their first experience with UltraViolet is with one of these sites, and many of these sites have been criticized as being hard to use. The consumer simply isn't satisfied with the experience. Many people have abandoned UltraViolet because of that. If they knew about alternatives like vudu, then maybe they would continue to use it. That could be helped with better marketing.

Here are some more ideas to help UltraViolet increase its user base, and satisfaction rate.UltraViolet needs to implement a common redemption website that would redeem directly into a users UV account without going through a retailer. After a title is redeemed, the site should present links to the UltraViolet Retailers. I have heard that this is in the works, but I hope to encourage DECE to make sure that it happens soon!The second most common complaint I have seen is that people can't download their films and save them to external hard drives, or copy them to other devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other computers. The Common File Format needs to be deployed very soon!The DECE consortium needs to insist that if content is released with UltraViolet rights, that it will be made available in UV to all UV retailers. Here's looking at you, HBO!The top four EST vendors, which probably make up for 80% of sales, are not UV compatible. They are iTunes, Amazon, Comcast, and xBox video. They need additional partners if UV wants to be a mainstream format.Studios that are partnered with UltraViolet need to offer more of their catalog films with UV rights. Lionsgate alone has hundreds of films that aren't UV. MGM also needs to release hundreds of films with UlraViolet.More TV shows need to have UV rights, and Disc to Digital needs to be available for TV shows.Apps for IOS and Android tablets and smartphones, need to be enhanced with sorting, searching, parental controls, and HD capabilities.If these things are addressed, 90% of the complaints will go away. This will in turn cause good reviews, and millions of new customers!
 

Sam Posten

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Josh I wanna compliment you for a very fair evaluation of the faults in the system. You really hit the essence of what I still see as it's failings. Good on you for that!
UltraViolet needs to implement a common redemption website that would redeem directly into a users UV account without going through a retailer. After a title is redeemed, the site should present links to the UltraViolet Retailers. I have heard that this is in the works, but I hope to encourage DECE to make sure that it happens soon!
Unfortunately I think this is well and truly the heart of the problem. UV is trying to please everyone, but they are starting with the wrong priorities. Studios > Front Ends (Vudu) > Consumers. Disintermediating all of the other players and making single entity the 'face' of UV would go a long way to clearing up the confusion, unfortunately that cuts the legs out from the partners that have the most to gain or lose from that. I don't see how they can unilaterally do that and still keep the system going so anyone but themselves makes a buck from it.The alternative is a messy situation where every studio and all of the indies figure out a way to do what Disney has done. And when that happens only iTunes users will stand at the top and have all of their media available in a single sign on and everyone else (and iTunes users themselves accessing their content OUTSIDE of iTunes) will have a miserable experience.I honestly don't see a way out of the mess and if it were me in charge I would shut it all down, take my lumps, and restart from scratch with a more consumer friendly system from the start. I can't believe they will do that tho, so there is going to be continued pain for a considerable time I think.
 

Ejanss

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Sam Posten said:
The alternative is a messy situation where every studio and all of the indies figure out a way to do what Disney has done. And when that happens only iTunes users will stand at the top and have all of their media available in a single sign on and everyone else (and iTunes users themselves accessing their content OUTSIDE of iTunes) will have a miserable experience.
And problem is, Disney and Apple CAN work hand-in-glove, since they've been partnering up long before Steve Jobs became the biggest Disney shareholder. (That's the one reason Disney helped fight to win the Blu-vs.-HDDVD war, since a win for HD would've been a win for Microsoft that kept Apple out of the picture.)
To work on that integrated a level, another studio would have to buy UV, which would be a mess, as it would probably be iTunes-hating Warner, Sony would go out and create their own competing iTunes-swatter format (again :lol: ), and we'd be in exactly the format-war mess that UV originally set out to try and eliminate.

But since Disney can access Vudu as well, think the industry will just have to gear itself to creating one format, and the usual fact that whatever it is, Disney and Apple ends up doing it better.
 

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Good points but I have also heard the negatives shouted out with Disney. Including lack of access to devices other than apples. The ability to share your library like you can with ultraviolet. Lack of apps on devices connect to tvs.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Towergrove said:
Good points but I have also heard the negatives shouted out with Disney. Including lack of access to devices other than apples. The ability to share your library like you can with ultraviolet. Lack of apps on devices connect to tvs.
The plus with Disney stuff, for me, is that it works easily on all of my Apple devices - no problems downloading it on my computer, on the phone, watching it on the AppleTV, etc. That's really nice.

Unfortunately, as soon as you travel outside the Apple ecosystem, that content is unavailable, and that's troublesome to me. I'm always going to choose to watch a disc over a stream, so when I'm at home, that I can easily access my Disney (or just iTunes) movie collection is pretty much redundant.

What I like about Ultraviolet is that it works on non-Apple devices, which is pretty much what everyone else I know has. So when I go to my girlfriends place, I can watch my Ultraviolet collection on her PS3, which is convenient. Same thing for visiting relatives on holidays, etc.

But it's a little annoying now that we're in that sort of Blu-ray/HD-DVD familiar territory of "If you like movies from one studio, you need this kind of player" and "If you want movies from that other studio, then you need a different player." To me, Disney Movies Anywhere doesn't bring anything at all to the table for me, because it just duplicates what I already have - the ability to play my Disney movies on my Apple device. Already had that capability.

I agree that Vudu does seem to have the best interface of all the Ultraviolet providers. I don't even waste my time logging into Flixster anymore. It turns out that even though Warner discs give you a code and point you to Flixster, you can redeem that same code directly through Vudu as well.

There seems to be some confusion about what Ultraviolet gives you. My understanding is that you get the ability to both stream and download your movie. When I've used it, most of the time I've streamed, but there have been a couple occasons where I downloaded the film to watch later. I keep hearing people complain they cannot download with Ultraviolet, so I'm a little confused why I can do it and so many other people seem to have problems with it. If that kind of confusion is a common experience for people, I can understand why it's going unused and causing frustration.

Ultimately, either iTunes is going to have to make an app for non-Apple devices and Ultraviolet is going to have to make an app for AppleTV, or they're all going to have to join together under one big tent. Since Disney is now letting you redeem your movie as either an iTunes or a Vudu (but not UV-enabled) copy, it seems like they're starting to get that something has to be done. I just don't get how Disney Movies Anywhere is the solution as it seems to be a web-based copy of the iTunes copies, with all of the same non-Apple limitations as a straight-up iTunes copy.

It shouldn't matter what device I'm trying to watch a digital copy on - if it can connect to the internet and display media, it should be able to play it. Anything short of that, long term, is probably going to fail. I think also what we're seeing in terms of trends and sales numbers and such, is that people are perfectly willing to pay for content - provided the process is easy, transparent, and universal. When all of those things aren't available, that's when people seek alternate, not-exactly-legal means of getting things. I'm not condoning that in any way, but that's the reality of what happens. So I think the danger is, while studios and digital distributors get into fights about supporting this service or that service, the pie will continue to shrink as people become accustomed to getting content in alternate ways. I don't think the average consumer feels much loyalty for a particular studio or service - it's the content. The answer to "Why can't I play the content I've purchased on my device of choice?" should be "Of course you can!", not seventeen pages of legalese and terms and conditions.

My holy grail is, I buy the disc, and that's it for purchases at that resolution - so if I buy a Blu-ray, I want to get an HD digital copy that I can access on any internet-enabled video-playing device that's out there. Ultraviolet could potentially be that standard, if only they and Apple could work together and fold it into the same supply chain so that iTunes and Vudu are interchangeable.
 

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Again, from my perspective if they consider this an issue or opportunity, Apple shouldn't make an Android iTunes app, they should make a web front end for iTunes.
 

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Josh Steinberg said:
There seems to be some confusion about what Ultraviolet gives you....Since Disney is now letting you redeem your movie as either an iTunes or a Vudu (but not UV-enabled) copy...
The various online options for getting movies is interesting and confounding. And this snippet, to me, highlights the confusion. (and no slight to Joshua S, who seems to understand and generally explain the system well.)I have no idea what is being explained. I thought UV was Vudu, or Vudu was UV? Complex system with variable rules are not a good way to draw in the mass market.
 

Josh Steinberg

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DaveF said:
The various online options for getting movies is interesting and confounding. And this snippet, to me, highlights the confusion. (and no slight to Joshua S, who seems to understand and generally explain the system well.)I have no idea what is being explained. I thought UV was Vudu, or Vudu was UV? Complex system with variable rules are not a good way to draw in the mass market.
Thanks for the compliment - let me try and see if I can make it clearer, but yeah, it's needlessly confusing, and ultimately consumer unfriendly.

There are essentially two competing systems of digital redemption of movies online: what Apple/iTunes offers (sometimes referred to as "Digital Copy" or "iTunes Digital Copy"), and what Ultraviolt offers (sometimes called "Digital HD" or "UV"). I'm talking solely about the redeption of codes that come with Blu-rays and DVDs, not individual purchases made online separate from a hard copy purchase.

IN GENERAL (because we have to get that out of the way to get to the exceptions to the rule)
- Digital Copy / iTunes Digital Copy: Disney films support iTunes Digital Copy. You get a code with the movie, and redeem it through the iTunes app. You are then given a digital file to download to your hard drive; there's also a version stored in the iTunes cloud. If you have an Apple TV, you can stream the movie to your television. You can also download it to an iDevice (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, etc) using iTunes. iTunes Digital Copies cannot be accessed through non-Apple programs - you can stream on an AppleTV, download on an iDevice, but you cannot play them on a PS3, Roku, or other type of box.

- Ultraviolet - most studios (with the notable exception of Disney) support Ultraviolet. You get a code with the movie, and can redeem it through a variety of online retailers. The idea behind Ultraviolet, and in theory it's genius, is that the system is supposed to accept your code, and allow you to redeem it through whichever store you like, and continue to access it through a variety of locations. Vudu is one retailer that delivers Ultraviolet content to the consumer - of the Ultraviolet sites (Flixster is another, and there are others), I like Vudu the best, but you may have your own preference. To use Ultraviolet, you need at least two registrations - one with Ultraviolet, which keeps track of which movies you own "in the cloud", and one with a retailer (like Vudu) to actually access the content. Let's say I buy "Gravity" on Blu-ray and redeem the UV copy through Vudu - now I can watch the movie on Vudu. However, let's say I'm using a device that doesn't support Vudu, but does support Flixster. Unlike an iTunes Digital Copy, I can access my Ultraviolet content through any retailer. So I just connect my Flixster account to my Ultraviolet account, and now all of that Ultraviolet content is available to me in Flixster too. Some people have had difficulty in playing UV material on iDevices, but I haven't had an issue with that. The only difference is, instead of going through iTunes, you download an app for a retailer like Flixster or Vudu, and download or stream your content using that app, instead of iTunes.


EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE (because it wouldn't be fun if we didn't have these, right?)
- Ultraviolet copies do not play on an AppleTV. Apple doesn't support Ultraviolet, which is a fancy way of saying that they don't allow apps for retailers like Vudu or Flixster to work on their devices. If you have an Ultraviolet copy of a movie (like the above example of "Gravity") you can make it play on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, but you can't make it play on your AppleTV set top box.

- Some studios (Paramount, Universal and Fox come to mind first, but there are others) provide you with both iTunes Digital Copy and Ultraviolet codes. Fox and Universal allow you to use both. Paramount's recent releases say you have to choose one or the other, but in practice I've found that it allows you to redeem the code on both systems. This allows you to get that iTunes Digital Copy to use on your AppleTV or iDevice, but also allows you an UV copy to use on something like a PS3 or Roku. Providing codes for both systems is my current preference.

- Disney (including Marvel and Pixar) have started realizing that the iTunes-only redeption was very limiting, so they've expanded where you can redeem the code. Unfortunately, they haven't fully jumped onboard Ultraviolet. So when you buy a new Disney release, you can now choose to redeem at iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, or the new "Disney Movies Anywhere". My experience of "Disney Movies Anywhere" is that it's compatible with, and has the same limitations of, iTunes Digital Copy. Amazon is not affiliated with UV or iTunes, so if you redeem it on Amazon, it will only play on an Amazon-enabled device, like a Roku. And if you choose Vudu, it will work with Vudu only and not Ultraviolet. So while a redemption of Warner's "Gravity" on Vudu will also work on any UV-related retailer, a redemption of Disney's "Thor: The Dark World" on Vudu will only work on Vudu, and nowhere else. Disney only allows you to use the code once, so once you pick a retailer, you're stuck with that choice.


TO SUM UP:
- It's needlessly confusing.
- It's a little reminiscent of the Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war, where if you wanted content from one studio, you needed one kind of player, but wanted content with another studio, you needed another kind of player
- All studios back Ultraviolet in some way or another EXCEPT Disney
- Ultraviolet refers to the "in the cloud" digital locker that holds your content - you still need to pick a retailer to view the content through.
- Some studios support both Ultraviolet and iTunes Digital Copy by providing you with codes for both, but the services themselves are not connected
- Ultraviolet content can be accessed on all iDevices except AppleTV. Ultraviolet content can also be accessed on most smart TVs, set top boxes, and internet connected BD players using a retailer like Vudu or Flixster.
- iTunes Digital Copy content can be accessed only through the iTunes Store (on PC or Mac), an AppleTV, or iDevice.


I think I more or less have the system figured out, and would be happy to help anyone anyway I can in making it a little easier to understand. I hope this post is a decent first step in that direction.
 

Ejanss

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DaveF said:
The various online options for getting movies is interesting and confounding. And this snippet, to me, highlights the confusion. (and no slight to Joshua S, who seems to understand and generally explain the system well.)

I have no idea what is being explained. I thought UV was Vudu, or Vudu was UV? Complex system with variable rules are not a good way to draw in the mass market.
UV's the format, Vudu's the brand. (As is Flixster, CinemaNow, TargetTicket, etc.)
Josh Steinberg said:
There are essentially two competing systems of digital redemption of movies online: what Apple/iTunes offers (sometimes referred to as "Digital Copy" or "iTunes Digital Copy"), and what Ultraviolt offers (sometimes called "Digital HD" or "UV"). I'm talking solely about the redemption of codes that come with Blu-rays and DVDs, not individual purchases made online separate from a hard copy purchase.

IN GENERAL (because we have to get that out of the way to get to the exceptions to the rule)
- Digital Copy / iTunes Digital Copy: Disney films support iTunes Digital Copy. You get a code with the movie, and redeem it through the iTunes app. You are then given a digital file to download to your hard drive; there's also a version stored in the iTunes cloud. If you have an Apple TV, you can stream the movie to your television. You can also download it to an iDevice (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, etc) using iTunes. iTunes Digital Copies cannot be accessed through non-Apple programs - you can stream on an AppleTV, download on an iDevice, but you cannot play them on a PS3, Roku, or other type of box.

- Ultraviolet - most studios (with the notable exception of Disney) support Ultraviolet. You get a code with the movie, and can redeem it through a variety of online retailers. The idea behind Ultraviolet, and in theory it's genius, is that the system is supposed to accept your code, and allow you to redeem it through whichever store you like, and continue to access it through a variety of locations. Vudu is one retailer that delivers Ultraviolet content to the consumer - of the Ultraviolet sites (Flixster is another, and there are others), I like Vudu the best, but you may have your own preference. To use Ultraviolet, you need at least two registrations - one with Ultraviolet, which keeps track of which movies you own "in the cloud", and one with a retailer (like Vudu) to actually access the content. Let's say I buy "Gravity" on Blu-ray and redeem the UV copy through Vudu - now I can watch the movie on Vudu. However, let's say I'm using a device that doesn't support Vudu, but does support Flixster. Unlike an iTunes Digital Copy, I can access my Ultraviolet content through any retailer. So I just connect my Flixster account to my Ultraviolet account, and now all of that Ultraviolet content is available to me in Flixster too. Some people have had difficulty in playing UV material on iDevices, but I haven't had an issue with that. The only difference is, instead of going through iTunes, you download an app for a retailer like Flixster or Vudu, and download or stream your content using that app, instead of iTunes.


EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE (because it wouldn't be fun if we didn't have these, right?)
- Ultraviolet copies do not play on an AppleTV. Apple doesn't support Ultraviolet, which is a fancy way of saying that they don't allow apps for retailers like Vudu or Flixster to work on their devices. If you have an Ultraviolet copy of a movie (like the above example of "Gravity") you can make it play on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, but you can't make it play on your AppleTV set top box.

- Some studios (Paramount, Universal and Fox come to mind first, but there are others) provide you with both iTunes Digital Copy and Ultraviolet codes. Fox and Universal allow you to use both. Paramount's recent releases say you have to choose one or the other, but in practice I've found that it allows you to redeem the code on both systems. This allows you to get that iTunes Digital Copy to use on your AppleTV or iDevice, but also allows you an UV copy to use on something like a PS3 or Roku. Providing codes for both systems is my current preference.

- Disney (including Marvel and Pixar) have started realizing that the iTunes-only redeption was very limiting, so they've expanded where you can redeem the code. Unfortunately, they haven't fully jumped onboard Ultraviolet. So when you buy a new Disney release, you can now choose to redeem at iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, or the new "Disney Movies Anywhere". My experience of "Disney Movies Anywhere" is that it's compatible with, and has the same limitations of, iTunes Digital Copy. Amazon is not affiliated with UV or iTunes, so if you redeem it on Amazon, it will only play on an Amazon-enabled device, like a Roku. And if you choose Vudu, it will work with Vudu only and not Ultraviolet. So while a redemption of Warner's "Gravity" on Vudu will also work on any UV-related retailer, a redemption of Disney's "Thor: The Dark World" on Vudu will only work on Vudu, and nowhere else. Disney only allows you to use the code once, so once you pick a retailer, you're stuck with that choice.
It's not so much like a Format War, with companies battling to the death to see who will inherit the future, it's more like the competition cable channels had competing for viewers--Such as when Dreamworks says "You can ONLY rent our movies on Netflix!" or Nickelodeon says "You can ONLY rent our shows on Amazon!"
In this case, Disney didn't want to work with UV (they already had insider connection with Apple and offered iTunes copies), but you can still unlock their UV movies on Vudu--Since I chose Vudu from my code-unlock option, I have my DMA-unlocked copy of Mary Poppins sitting right next to my free Warner disk-unlocked copy of The Hobbit, and on my DMA/iTunes list. I have Vudu, Amazon and iTunes/DMA apps on my iPad, so I don't feel as "trapped" watching one format over another, but the purpose of UV was to create one format that every other money-making movie seller (like Vudu or Target) could tap into without doing the hard work of creating a new format themselves. If I prefer to watch one on iTunes, it's because they have a better stream or clearer picture, or whatever my choice is at that moment.
 

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Josh Steinberg said:
- Ultraviolet - most studios (with the notable exception of Disney) support Ultraviolet. You get a code with the movie, and can redeem it through a variety of online retailers. The idea behind Ultraviolet, and in theory it's genius, is that the system is supposed to accept your code, and allow you to redeem it through whichever store you like, and continue to access it through a variety of locations. Vudu is one retailer that delivers Ultraviolet content to the consumer - of the Ultraviolet sites (Flixster is another, and there are others), I like Vudu the best, but you may have your own preference. To use Ultraviolet, you need at least two registrations - one with Ultraviolet, which keeps track of which movies you own "in the cloud", and one with a retailer (like Vudu) to actually access the content. Let's say I buy "Gravity" on Blu-ray and redeem the UV copy through Vudu - now I can watch the movie on Vudu. However, let's say I'm using a device that doesn't support Vudu, but does support Flixster. Unlike an iTunes Digital Copy, I can access my Ultraviolet content through any retailer. So I just connect my Flixster account to my Ultraviolet account, and now all of that Ultraviolet content is available to me in Flixster too. Some people have had difficulty in playing UV material on iDevices, but I haven't had an issue with that. The only difference is, instead of going through iTunes, you download an app for a retailer like Flixster or Vudu, and download or stream your content using that app, instead of iTunes.
Ah. I see the problem now. Ultraviolet is a licensing intermediary for the studios. And rather than caring about customers, both the studios and UV have abdicated the necessary work of creating high-quality apps and websites, and instead deputized a third tier of middlemen to it in scattershot fashion.

Adding insult to injury, UV doesn't control digital distribution; it is still beholden to the studios. So the rules are inconsistent for digital media flowing through UV to Vudu and other tertiary middlemen of its ilk.

Additionally, Apple, Amazon, and Google march to their own drummers with their own stores, etc., and don't embrace UV.

Makes a guy want to download a Torrent client.
 

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Ejanss said:
UV's the format, Vudu's the brand. (As is Flixster, CinemaNow, TargetTicket, etc.)
If UV was the "format" and Vudu is the brand, I could download "UV" movies and watch them in any app on any device. In the same way that "blu-ray" is the format and "Sony" is the brand. But that's not how I understand it here: if I download from Vudu, I have to use Vudu's player(s) and can't watch the Vudu movie in whatever other UV-distributor's app.

Or is that not so: download a UV-format movie from whatever website and watch it in any UV-compatible player?
 

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DaveF said:
If UV was the "format" and Vudu is the brand, I could download "UV" movies and watch them in any app on any device. In the same way that "blu-ray" is the format and "Sony" is the brand. But that's not how I understand it here: if I download from Vudu, I have to use Vudu's player(s) and can't watch the Vudu movie in whatever other UV-distributor's app.Or is that not so: download a UV-format movie from whatever website and watch it in any UV-compatible player?
Right now but UV Common format software players are on the horizon then you will be able to watch that vudu purchase on the UV CFF software you choose. PowerDVD being one of these.
 

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Towergrove said:
Right now but UV Common format software players are on the horizon then you will be able to watch that vudu purchase on the UV CFF software you choose. PowerDVD being one of these.
Is PowerDVD available on the iPad or Kindle Fire or Android tablets?

Because a common player "on the horizon" that only works on Windows boxes is not much use :)

This reminds me of my recurring question: does UV support TV series? Will it? That would get my attention (and dollars).
 

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DaveF said:
If UV was the "format" and Vudu is the brand, I could download "UV" movies and watch them in any app on any device. In the same way that "blu-ray" is the format and "Sony" is the brand. But that's not how I understand it here: if I download from Vudu, I have to use Vudu's player(s) and can't watch the Vudu movie in whatever other UV-distributor's app.

Or is that not so: download a UV-format movie from whatever website and watch it in any UV-compatible player?
If you download a movie in ANY app, the file's going to be sitting there, on your desktop/tablet, in that app. If you want to watch it streaming on the go, you can watch it on any app that can tap into UV, since the file's sitting there on UV's archive, for even Flixster to tap into, if you want to go with that chintzy app.
Be careful you have your definition of "Download" and "Streaming" correct: Some apps, like Vudu, will let you do both, but they're not the same thing. (Ie., Download = Loading the entire 5Gig movie file to sit around your desktop and play without a connection, especially if you're on an airplane and can't use Wi-Fi; Streaming = Watching the movie at the moment in an app browser Instant-Netflix style, over a working Internet connection.)
DaveF said:
This reminds me of my recurring question: does UV support TV series? Will it? That would get my attention (and dollars).
http://www.vudu.com/movies/#browse/tv/, for both download and streaming. (Including "Season passes" to download future current-season episodes, for those who cut the cable, but don't mind spending $30 to watch a TV series.)
 

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Ejanss said:
If you download a movie in ANY app, the file's going to be sitting there, on your desktop/tablet, in that app. If you want to watch it streaming on the go, you can watch it on any app that can tap into UV, since the file's sitting there on UV's archive, for even Flixster to tap into, if you want to go with that chintzy app.
Be careful you have your definition of "Download" and "Streaming" correct: Some apps, like Vudu, will let you do both, but they're not the same thing. (Ie., Download = Loading the entire 5Gig movie file to sit around your desktop and play without a connection, especially if you're on an airplane and can't use Wi-Fi; Streaming = Watching the movie at the moment in an app browser Instant-Netflix style, over a working Internet connection.)
Interesting. Can you download the same movie from multiple sites / apps? If I register a UV show I can stream it with any app of choice? Unfortunately, this whole thing makes the hamster in my head fall off his wheel. It's like Amazon is selling me ebooks but I have to choose one of several third-parties to actually register / download / read it from. The hamster wheel comes to a halt.
http://www.vudu.com/movies/#browse/tv/, for both download and streaming. (Including "Season passes" to download future current-season episodes, for those who cut the cable, but don't mind spending $30 to watch a TV series.)
Sorry, what I meant was, does UV do for TV what it does for movies bought on disc? I checked out Vudu, and the answer remains no. Do that and UV gets my money. Gladly.
 

Ejanss

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DaveF said:
Interesting. Can you download the same movie from multiple sites / apps? If I register a UV show I can stream it with any app of choice? Unfortunately, this whole thing makes the hamster in my head fall off his wheel. It's like Amazon is selling me ebooks but I have to choose one of several third-parties to actually register / download / read it from. The hamster wheel comes to a halt.
Not a good analogy--Amazon will only sell you Kindle books and iTunes will only sell you iBooks, so of course you have to use their apps.Here, UV is one format that holds your movies, and any app you link that account to (Vudu, Flixster, Target) will go and get it for you, but they have no idea what the other programs are doing.
 

Josh Steinberg

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DaveF said:
Sorry, what I meant was, does UV do for TV what it does for movies bought on disc? I checked out Vudu, and the answer remains no. Do that and UV gets my money. Gladly.
It seems like a select few shows have had UV redemptions included with the discs, but not all. I think Warner did it on a few titles, I think I have UV access for one of the Fringe seasons. Might be on the Person Of Interest season sets as well (which I don't have, but remember seeing labeled as coming with UV). Hopefully it's coming on more titles down the line, I can't imagine it costs the studio much to include the option. I never really thought about it before, but now that I am, it does seem more likely that I'd watch an episode of something on the go than it is that I'd watch a full movie.
 

Towergrove

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DaveF said:
Is PowerDVD available on the iPad or Kindle Fire or Android tablets? Because a common player "on the horizon" that only works on Windows boxes is not much use :) This reminds me of my recurring question: does UV support TV series? Will it? That would get my attention (and dollars).
Powerdvd has an ipad app now yes but I was using that as one example. I am getting frustrared with Ultraviolets promise of a Commom file format that they keep saying coming soon...not much longer....wait for it....almost....beta now. I mean how long is this going to take? Someone needs to put fire under the developers heels and get a move on.
 

Towergrove

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DaveF said:
Is PowerDVD available on the iPad or Kindle Fire or Android tablets? Because a common player "on the horizon" that only works on Windows boxes is not much use :) This reminds me of my recurring question: does UV support TV series? Will it? That would get my attention (and dollars).
As far as tv shows Ultraviolet execs and studios say support is coming this year.
 

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