Vidity is Coming: Fox Partners With Western Digital for 4K UHD Movies (1 Viewer)

[Towergrove]

Some movement on the Vidity format:

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Western Digital (WD) Aug. 4 announced a deal whereby consumers can acquire movies in full 4K Ultra HD resolution with high dynamic range (HDR) audio to stream on compatible 4K televisions.

4K UHD resolution is the home entertainment industry’s next phase beyond 1080p resolution and audio.

Specifically, Western Digital, a media storage device manufacturer, is rolling out “My Passport Cinema,” a 4K UHD device that enables users to organize and store 4K content. The device, which can be connected via HDMI to any VIDITY-compatible TV, comes preloaded (beginning Aug. 16) with Fox titles, including The Maze Runner, Exodus: Gods and Kings, X-Men: Days of the Future Past, The Wolverine, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Fault in Our Stars, Let's Be Cops and The Other Woman.

The My Passport Cinema UHD movie drive 1TB capacity has a $89.99 MSRP and comes with a one-year limited warranty.

VIDITY, formerly Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA), is a 4K movie service co-founded by Fox, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Samsung, LG, WD, Sandisk, Dolby, DTS, Vudu, M-Go, and Comcast, among others.

Once purchased, 4K movies can be accessed online or offline on any VIDITY-enabled device such as Samsung's 2014 HU series 4K UHD TVs and 2015 JU and JS series 4K UHD and SUHD TVs. Users can also download additional titles via M-Go or other VIDITY retailers.

"Our focus is on creating the highest-quality consumer experience possible," Danny Kaye, EVP of global research and technology strategy for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, said in a statement. "This means the quality of the content as the demand for 4K Ultra HD content continues to increase and evolve, but also the ease of content acquisition and playback on next-generation TVs and other devices."
Beginning this month, the “My Passport Cinema” drive will be included free with the purchase of Samsung JS9000, JS9100 or JS9500 SUHD TV models.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/high-def/fox-partners-western-digital-4k-uhd-movies-36384

 

[Patrick Donahue]

My first thoughts, having not spent really any time looking into Viditybopshubop (I've just renamed it - go with it):

1) I have all of my movies stored on this box, so I don't have to stream over the Internet. I like that it streams locally, but I don't like that I still don't really own anything like I do now. If my Viditybopshubop machine dies and I have to re download content... and that content is no longer available... THAT'S the hump studios still need to get over for consumers to fully embrace it, and this system with its download option does nothing to fix that.

2) Will my current UV collection be able to be put on a Viditybopshubop machine? Because at 925 UV titles, I'm not re-buying.

3) Is this part of the UV ecosystem?

My biggest question:

4) If I can put all of my current digital library onto the Viditybopshubop machine, how do I do that? What I mean is, if I have to hook it up to my wi-fi, then download my entire collection, Charter is probably going to ban me for life AFTER burning my house down. If someone had to work with data caps, I could see people like me with 925 titles to download needing YEARS to get it all on there without blowing my cap.

School me, people!

 

[Towergrove]

My first thoughts, having not spent really any time looking into Viditybopshubop (I've just renamed it - go with it):

1) I have all of my movies stored on this box, so I don't have to stream over the Internet. I like that it streams locally, but I don't like that I still don't really own anything like I do now. If my Viditybopshubop machine dies and I have to re download content... and that content is no longer available... THAT'S the hump studios still need to get over for consumers to fully embrace it, and this system with its download option does nothing to fix that.

2) Will my current UV collection be able to be put on a Viditybopshubop machine? Because at 925 UV titles, I'm not re-buying.

3) Is this part of the UV ecosystem?

My biggest question:

4) If I can put all of my current digital library onto the Viditybopshubop machine, how do I do that? What I mean is, if I have to hook it up to my wi-fi, then download my entire collection, Charter is probably going to ban me for life AFTER burning my house down. If someone had to work with data caps, I could see people like me with 925 titles to download needing YEARS to get it all on there without blowing my cap.

School me, people!

Patrick I think its still very early days on this and lots of questions like yours. I do know from interviews that I have heard from Vidity folks is that it works with UV but how? Also I wonder if we will be able to use some of these vidity drives in our nas servers for the home? This is the first drive to come with this type of Vidity approval and more to come. Seagate will jump in at some time. Lots of supporting member companies: https://www.vidity.com/about-us/


In order for this to be a success it will need to be easy to use not the difficult mess we saw in the early days of the Ultraviolet roll out (they have since fixed the issues thankfully).

 

[Towergrove]

I don't like that I still don't really own anything like I do now. If my Viditybopshubop machine dies and I have to re download content... and that content is no longer available...

Cant this happen already with your 500 plus Ultraviolet library? You say own like you do now but do you own the UV cloud library?? If this is done correctly it will please me as a collector but they have to prove that.

 

[Patrick Donahue]

...and not to mention you never know what Apple is going to do. Ugh it used to be so simple. You drove up to the mall and bought what you want. I'm only 37 but the last year has made me think that I'm getting to old to keep up with all these ecosystems and Term of Service. Now get off my lawn...

 

[Patrick Donahue]

Cant this happen already with your 500 plus Ultraviolet library? You say own like you do now but do you own the UV cloud library?? If this is done correctly it will please me as a collector but they have to prove that.

When I said "I still don't own anything like I do now" it should have been written more like "I still don't own anything, just like I don't own anything now"

What it really comes down to is we need some message from the studios stating how "safe" our purchases are. I don't care about "owning" my movies - but I *do* want some assurance that if I pay $17.99 for a license that I'm going to get my $17.99 worth and get to have access to it for a good long while.

At some point as the business gets bigger I would love there to be some kind of Digital Bill of Rights that offers some consumer protections. It sounds like a small matter, and it is, but hey, everything from the chicken we buy to the toothpaste we use has some kind of it to make sure everything is on the up and up...

 

[Sam Posten]

See, these unanswered questions are why I get so frustrated. You tell me the codes my family has redeemed for UV are granted upgrades to HD and you have my interest. You tell me that NONE of the UV codes are ever going to be upgraded and I say "Why would any sane person continue to invest in UV today other than redeeming free codes?"

 

[[email protected]]

See, these unanswered questions are why I get so frustrated. You tell me the codes my family has redeemed for UV are granted upgrades to HD and you have my interest. You tell me that NONE of the UV codes are ever going to be upgraded and I say "Why would any sane person continue to invest in UV today other than redeeming free codes?"

Free upgrades would be nice but should we really expect that? When bluray came out they didn't upgrade any of my DVDs.

 

[Patrick Donahue]

Free upgrades would be nice but should we really expect that? When bluray came out they didn't upgrade any of my DVDs.

Well, no, we can't expect that, but I look at it this way - Digital HD is so new that any title purchased was only in the last year or so. The studios have to ask themselves what would generate more revenue - us buying all our titles again after such a short amount of time (unlikely) or is paying to upgrade for a nominal fee. Even at $1 each a collection like mine would net them $925. And with DVD they had to press and ship discs and implement an upgrade program - with Digital HD an upgrade would literally be effortless. There is hope...

 

[Sam Posten]

Look, this was the problem UV purported to solve. If you are now undermining that by simply not having answers to simple questions you are submarining your own ships.

 

[[email protected]]

Digital would be much easier for the studios to offer an upgrade program than discs. I don't know if they will but it wouldn't surprise me but, to say a person would have to be insane to invest because they may not upgrade is silly. What's the option? If you just buy blurays is there a better chance they are going to upgrade those?

 

[bruceames]

Excellent news to finally have a true digital download format coming. I wonder if Vividy will get the studios attention more than UHD BD will. They have been oddly quiet about UHD on disc.