Is iCloud going to compete against the upcoming "Ultraviolet" experience?

[laurim]

Just heard about this coming soon:

http://www.uvvu.com/index.php

Apparently, if you buy a Blu-Ray disc with Ultraviolet service on it, you have rights to that movie via their cloud so you can access it digitally as well (i.e. no need to rip it). You'll also be able to skip the physical disk by buying the content from various outlets and maintaining it in the cloud.

Interesting concept. Wonder what amount of content they'll have...

 

[Omne666]

Yes, iTunes via iCloud certainly looks to be the same concept....buy and keep it in the cloud, stream to any device you own.

 

[blevins321]

Doesn't look like Apple is one of their Alliance members. I'd wonder if they'll support their DRM technology on iOS. Mobile streaming probably, but stored media for offline use.

Looks cool though. I don't like having to probably get an Ultraviolet device though. I'll stick to ripping my purchased blue rays

 

[CylonGlitch]

I like the fact that none of the items displayed as streaming the service is an Apple device. No laptops, no iPhones, no iPads, no aTV, nada. I get a bad feeling it isn't going to happen and thus, they are really eliminating a lot of people from their service. I cannot consider it until it supports Mac and iOS natively . . . but I'll just continue to rip my stuff and not have to worry about any DRM or limitations.

 

[ftaok]

Interesting to note that many of the big movie studios are on board, but the big ones that are missing are Disney and Dreamworks. Also, I don't see Viacom from the TV side.

I wonder if this service will take off at all. I do remember hearing a similar service to this that had Disney's support.

Just what we need, competing entertainment cloud services.

 

[krburrell]

Looks interesting.

 

[moster78]

Ultraviolet Sucks!

I actually just got my first Blu Ray that came with a digital copy in the form of UltraViolet, and I have to admit, it really sucks. I pre-ordered Green Lantern fully expecting that the digital copy promised on it was what I was used to. Either a disc or a code that I would punch into iTunes and the digital copy of the movie would be transferred into my iTunes library. This UltraViolet crap does not work that way.

First, to get the digital copy on my MacBook Pro's hard drive, I had to install Adobe AIR just to then install this Flixster Collection software, which would then allow me to download the digital copy of the movie. However, once it's downloaded I'm forced to use this crappy Flixster software to watch the movie. The movie comes down in an mp4 format that seems to be proprietary as I couldn't open it in QuickTime or VLC.

So then it says I can stream the movie to my iPhone or iPad using the Flixster app, but its just that, a stream. What good does a stream of a movie to my phone do for me? Most of the time when I'm watching a movie on my phone, its because I have no other choice, like when I'm on the train heading to work. So I'm supposed to stream the movie over 3G? It just makes no sense to me and I just wish it would go back to the way things were beforehand.

I will say this, its going to severely impact my frequency and choice of Blu Ray purchases if this service catches on. I plan on avoiding it like the plague, and I suggest you do too!

 

[SqB]

Just got the latest Harry Potter movie and unfortunately it has this same Ultraviolet garbage for the digital download. I really don't want anything to do with ultraviolet, and I didn't buy the more expensive triple-disk version, but even the plain blu-ray copies came with a code for it. I tried to use it once before for Green Lantern and it didn't work then. Just tried it again for this movie and it doesn't work for this either. The Flixster and UV accounts apparently won't sync up. Flixster keeps telling me I have to confirm my UV account, which I've done 5 times.

This whole thing is a pain in the backside. If this is the way the studios are going to handle the digital content in the future, I'll just go back to ripping.

 

[Kadman]

Not a fan of the Ultraviolet model. In fact, I'm so furious that I (as someone who isn't a torrent freak) decided to simply download a quality torrent version of the movie to "claim" my more usable digital copy instead of this new garbage model. Screw them...

 

[brentsg]

Let's not forget that the UV model also has an expiration date for each movie you can stream.

As far as I'm concerned this doesn't exist. The old model of digital copies was nice when it was iTunes compatible. With this one I'll just be inconvenienced a bit while I rip the movie and encode it for iTunes.

There's little doubt about UV though, as it will fail for sure. The only question is how long it will take.