Anyone heard of this new Ultraviolet/Universal Video thing?

[ringemaster]

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/artic...olet-all-platform-video-player-19363?page=0,0

Just saw this and curious as to how its going affect home theater setups in the next year or two.

I'm skeptical it will be released/mature by next year, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[jcschlic]

It doesn't surprise me that the article knocks Apple for not taking part in this new consortium so far. I think Apple is a company that is more in tune with what consumers want: simplicity that works. I can't stand how the entertainment industry runs amok with all these formats...it ultimately takes away from the end user. In the process, it confuses the market (I feel 3D has been the most recent iterration of marketing that ultimately confuses the regular Joe consumer). Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD was another example of this, and was honestly brought to the market early IMO because Joe consumer was just getting rid of his VHS player and collecting DVDs.

 

[MowingDevil]

It doesn't surprise me that the article knocks Apple for not taking part in this new consortium so far. I think Apple is a company that is more in tune with what consumers want: simplicity that works. I can't stand how the entertainment industry runs amok with all these formats...it ultimately takes away from the end user. In the process, it confuses the market (I feel 3D has been the most recent iterration of marketing that ultimately confuses the regular Joe consumer). Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD was another example of this, and was honestly brought to the market early IMO because Joe consumer was just getting rid of his VHS player and collecting DVDs.

+1

Couldn't agree more. Its all about greed and marketing to consumer mad masses who need to have the latest greatest whether they need it or not. This could be extended to the plethora of protocols for cel phones and how you need to buy a new car adapter every time you get a new phone. At least some of them like Motorola w/ the Razr have tried to go w/ a USB plug but not enough have gotten onboard. A complete waste and a total sham.

To add to your VHS to DVD collection idea, same thing happened when the market decided enough people had bought cassettes and it was time for them to repurchase their library on CD. It is no coincidence that Hollywood is churning out 3-D movies at the same time the 3D sets are hitting the market. Follow the money.

 

[darkgroove]

This will add nothing, and will fizzle if not fail completely. People don't want this crapwear, they don't want to sign up for stuff and they don't want to have to 'check in' just to watch a DVD. The name is also terrible.

If you can buy a DVD or Blu-Ray, nothing will change at all. We will keep ripping them to our media centers and all will go proceed as usual.

Having ripped all my content recently, I had forgotten how HARD it was to just watch a DVD. Trailers, ads, menus, things you couldn't skip. And now my media wants to 'check in' to some server? Yeah right, this is bound to be a success.

 

[Avatar74]

Someone on the comments for the article page made an interesting point, and one that I've seen happening for a long time.

UltraViolet would essentially be an artificial barrier to entry to keep the independent filmmakers from transforming the landscape the way that the internet has threatened to make major distributors nearly obsolete.

that's really what counterpiracy is all about, and ever has been. It's not about the grandma or 12 year old that downloads songs off Limewire or BitTorrent. It's about the huge number of recording artists that are making pennies on the dollar, if at all, from major labels. Both the successful artists, and the indie artists, who rarely ever sell enough albums to break even on the advances owed back to the record labels, have a strong incentive to go independent.

the same holds true for filmmakers who are stuck in a farm team system of film festivals, music video directing gigs, and other thankless jobs where only a tiny fraction of them might ever make it in the current distribution paradigm.

But if that changes, and digital theatrical distribution allows them a direct channel to movie theater exhibition, it's game over for the majors.