So they want me to go to a web site to stream a movie I already own. If they do it at full quality the viewer had better have a super fast internet connection.
The vast majority of consumers value convenience over quality. It is true not only of streaming media, but is also true of almost every type of consumer good and service.
If you expect high quality, also expect inconvenience. For example, McDonalds and Starbucks sell billions of dollars worth of food and beverages each year. Local farmer's markets don't.
Did you even read the article? You set up one Ultraviolet account to access all of your movies, not a separate account per studio. It's not really much different than what you'd do to access content from the iTunes Store.
The question I have is, if in the future I buy a movie from Target/Wal-Mart/BestBuy where the package says "Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy", will I no longer be able to download that "digital copy" into my iTunes library and watch it on my AppleTV if it's an "UltraViolet" digital download?
If that's the case, I guess I'm back to buying the cheaper DVD-only disc and wasting a half-hour of my time ripping and tagging, or finally just buying it through iTunes (as long as the studios keep their content there). Depressing. I refuse to make an Ultraviolet account and access only certain movies through certain portals. If I can't get it through my AppleTV somehow, from MY iTunes library, forget it.
Hopefully you can choose to manage the digital copy with either iTunes, WMP, or the UltraViolet app/site/whatever.
The bottom line is: Who the fuck wants to pay a premium to own a movie they are going to watch once? It makes no sense.
But having said that, if I open a 'film club' account with 25 of my best Internet buddies (whoever they may be), would we all be allowed to watch the movies we buy legally? Just hypothetically speaking?
If you guys were to trade physical media, you would be covered by the First Sale Doctrine of Copyright law. If you guys sign away your First Sale rights via contract with a DRMed streaming service, you lose.
The First Sale Doctrine has been a thorn in the sides of big media companies ever since the days when they tried to make public libraries illegal. Now, in the digital age, the public is volunteering to waive their rights.
Very few people have ever cared about quality. They have always been the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. Apple used to do a nice little business by targeting them in its marketing campaigns and products. The mass media outlets have always targeted the masses, however.
Apple now also targets its offerings to the masses. They value things different from quality - convenience for example.
Ultraviolet is a great idea and I'm glad it's coming. (I can only give a to many of the posts in this thread: Inane blathering.)
My frustration is that it will take a LONG time for Apple to step in line with it. I don't want to buy a blu-ray and then ALSO buy from Apple to get it streaming on my Apple devices. I have an Apple TV and I'd love for my blu-rays to also stream from UV to it. Don't see that happening soon. MAYBE it will help out disney, but that's questionable, as well. It's frustrating to see this sudden conflict of interest. (I'd love to use Amazon streaming on my Apple TV, too, but that ain't gonna happen.)
I don't buy many blu-rays. Basically, I'm careful to buy only things I expect to watch multiple times like LOTR or especially kid's movies (which get watched dozens of times). For those that I buy, the option to stream them to an iPad would be sublime in some circumstances. Never went for the whole "digital copy" thing. This is basically a much improved version of the "digital copy". You don't have to manage the storage.
I've noticed that Flixter (the Rotten Tomatoes iOS app) supports Ultraviolet in its latest update, so this thing is getting widespread support. Where are you Disney?
UV sounds great to me but only if they get Apple on board. I would still see it as a win for Apple since they have the rest of the ecosystem and I can't see their overall sales doing anything but improving. I'm still old school in that I like to own movies, mainly the classics. I find it ironic though that the film industry wants to encourage more people to purchase movies yet they only offer limited HD content for purchase on the iTunes store. Most HD content is rent only for the ATV and iPad which caused me to leave the iTunes store for movie purchases. I now buy Blurays and rip my own which is a PITA but at least it's HD.
Another thing that's getting old is storing terrabytes worth of data on external drives and then streaming from the Mac to the ATV. When you want to watch a movie, you have to first fire up your mac, log in, launch iTunes, tell everyone to not close iTunes, and then you're finally able to use the ATV. If everything would be available to stream from Apple servers, that hassle could be avoided. If Apple makes iTunes match music available to stream on the ATV along with their TV shows, a deal with UV would be the final piece for all media to be played on one little ATV box, all without a computer.
Hope this works out, maybe we'll get some nice surprises at the end of the month with the iTunes Match launch.
That's coming. As I mentioned above, I would argue the point of Ultraviolet is to move movie ownership from the physical to the digital world.
I hope you're right. I stopped buying DVDs a while ago and now buy/rent all my movies through iTunes. My only concern would be that the studios would use Ultraviolet as a way of reducing the content they supply to iTunes thereby reducing competition and no doubt leading to higher prices. I like iTunes. Everything in one place is very convenient. I buy all my music, movies, books, games and apps through iTunes now.
I hope they realize there is 192 more countries in the world, instead of killing themselves in the USA.
I am so tired of hunting down torrent. Give me something good, easy to access and you will get my money.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
I am a consumer and I disagree. I want my Blu-ray disc and it works great, I get the movie and the storage. I own an AppleTV and I am tired of buying external hard drives to store the DVD's that I rip. Movies and shows from the internet, they should be free like hulu, cbs.com, abc.com. I like that model.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
I'm a consumer too and also disagree. Until streaming or iTunes can get NEAR Blu-Ray quality- count me out. Everyone mentions the video quality, but the audio quality is way worse. Most Blu-Rays offer true lossless (not compressed) audio. Throw on saving private Ryan on a good tv and sound system and tell me you'd rather watch it from iTunes/apple TV.
Not even close...
(although I LOVE digital copies on my iPad for plane trips)
The question I have is, if in the future I buy a movie from Target/Wal-Mart/BestBuy where the package says "Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy", will I no longer be able to download that "digital copy" into my iTunes library and watch it on my AppleTV if it's an "UltraViolet" digital download?
If that's the case, I guess I'm back to buying the cheaper DVD-only disc and wasting a half-hour of my time ripping and tagging, or finally just buying it through iTunes (as long as the studios keep their content there). Depressing. I refuse to make an Ultraviolet account and access only certain movies through certain portals. If I can't get it through my AppleTV somehow, from MY iTunes library, forget it.
Hopefully you can choose to manage the digital copy with either iTunes, WMP, or the UltraViolet app/site/whatever.
I think the best you can hope for is either (a) Movies include both an iTunes code and an Ultraviolet code and allow you to use both or (b) Apple opens up the AppleTV to apps so you can download a UV app for it.
You're just pointing out one of the main reasons I don't want to get stuck in the iTunes ecosystem for video: I only have one device choice for playing in on my TV, the AppleTV. At least with Ultraviolet, I'll have a range of devices to choose from including most likely the PS3 I already own.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
I'm not sure you know what you want, Apples download movies have DRM
"We are in a preservation game," said James McQuivey, media technology analyst at Forrester Research. "We are trying to preserve an eroding base of DVD and Blu-ray spend."
They still have no idea what the customer wants! They're trying to preserve a dying media format. They may as well try hanging onto cassette tape while they're at it! Geebuz!
I can't speak for everyone, but I no longer purchase physical discs. I much prefer having digital copies stored on a hard drive or have the option to stream them. I never thought i'd pay for movies via iTunes or AppleTV but the truth is it's so quick and easy I find myself doing it fairly often. How is it that these companies still don't understand this is the way to move forward??? It's working right in front of them!
The only thing I think is wrong with the current cloud-based offerings is that the releases lag too far behind the Theatre or Television release dates. They think they're protecting theatre spend but the truth is if I want to watch something I can download it elsewhere anyway. I still go to the theatre if I know it's a good movie or for social occasions, and iTunes or downloading early releases has not stopped me from doing that. (or anyone else I know)
If television shows and movies were available online simultaneously and at a reasonable price they would seriously increase the studios profit and Pirating would decrease.
I have no issue paying for digital content, and I know many who say the same thing. The problem is that studios treat us like the enemy and fight against the way we want to spend our money. A great example is the Mac App Store, I have purchased so much software through that over the past year (even re-purchased software I had previously pirated) because it was quick, easy and very affordable and I feel good about doing it.
Having all these separate proprietary formats/services that do exactly the same thing is bad for business and consumers. Consumers are going to get the shits and return to pirating because as soon as things get confusing or complicated they will drop it in a blink of an eye.
The movie studios and networks should stop trying to rescue DVD and BR sales and embrace iTunes/Netflix and just negotiate better deals if that's what they're worried about.
Of course, 'perpetual' in this context means until they decide to shut it down in a couple of years.
Of course, that will always be an issue with DRM'd digital media. If you're worried about continued access to digital content your only choice has always been (and will continue to be) the purchase of physical disks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun, UK
I hope you're right. I stopped buying DVDs a while ago and now buy/rent all my movies through iTunes. My only concern would be that the studios would use Ultraviolet as a way of reducing the content they supply to iTunes thereby reducing competition and no doubt leading to higher prices.
I think that's almost guaranteed to happen. Amazon and Google will likely have the same problem.
The solution provided to these companies will be a simple (albeit contentious) one... they need to join the Ultraviolet Alliance.
Comments
So they want me to go to a web site to stream a movie I already own. If they do it at full quality the viewer had better have a super fast internet connection.
The vast majority of consumers value convenience over quality. It is true not only of streaming media, but is also true of almost every type of consumer good and service.
If you expect high quality, also expect inconvenience. For example, McDonalds and Starbucks sell billions of dollars worth of food and beverages each year. Local farmer's markets don't.
Did you even read the article? You set up one Ultraviolet account to access all of your movies, not a separate account per studio. It's not really much different than what you'd do to access content from the iTunes Store.
The question I have is, if in the future I buy a movie from Target/Wal-Mart/BestBuy where the package says "Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy", will I no longer be able to download that "digital copy" into my iTunes library and watch it on my AppleTV if it's an "UltraViolet" digital download?
If that's the case, I guess I'm back to buying the cheaper DVD-only disc and wasting a half-hour of my time ripping and tagging, or finally just buying it through iTunes (as long as the studios keep their content there). Depressing. I refuse to make an Ultraviolet account and access only certain movies through certain portals. If I can't get it through my AppleTV somehow, from MY iTunes library, forget it.
Hopefully you can choose to manage the digital copy with either iTunes, WMP, or the UltraViolet app/site/whatever.
The bottom line is: Who the fuck wants to pay a premium to own a movie they are going to watch once? It makes no sense.
But having said that, if I open a 'film club' account with 25 of my best Internet buddies (whoever they may be), would we all be allowed to watch the movies we buy legally? Just hypothetically speaking?
If you guys were to trade physical media, you would be covered by the First Sale Doctrine of Copyright law. If you guys sign away your First Sale rights via contract with a DRMed streaming service, you lose.
The First Sale Doctrine has been a thorn in the sides of big media companies ever since the days when they tried to make public libraries illegal. Now, in the digital age, the public is volunteering to waive their rights.
Very sad state of affairs. I say Fuck DRM.
Even 16:9 is horrible for tablets, and that's exactly what most Android tablets use! It's terrible for anything other than watching a movie on.
Most websites seem to assume that the user has a normal-sized, 16:9 monitor. IMO, anything other than 16:9 is suboptimal for web surfing.
Does ANYONE care about quality anymore????????
Very few people have ever cared about quality. They have always been the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. Apple used to do a nice little business by targeting them in its marketing campaigns and products. The mass media outlets have always targeted the masses, however.
Apple now also targets its offerings to the masses. They value things different from quality - convenience for example.
My frustration is that it will take a LONG time for Apple to step in line with it. I don't want to buy a blu-ray and then ALSO buy from Apple to get it streaming on my Apple devices. I have an Apple TV and I'd love for my blu-rays to also stream from UV to it. Don't see that happening soon. MAYBE it will help out disney, but that's questionable, as well. It's frustrating to see this sudden conflict of interest. (I'd love to use Amazon streaming on my Apple TV, too, but that ain't gonna happen.)
I don't buy many blu-rays. Basically, I'm careful to buy only things I expect to watch multiple times like LOTR or especially kid's movies (which get watched dozens of times). For those that I buy, the option to stream them to an iPad would be sublime in some circumstances. Never went for the whole "digital copy" thing. This is basically a much improved version of the "digital copy". You don't have to manage the storage.
I've noticed that Flixter (the Rotten Tomatoes iOS app) supports Ultraviolet in its latest update, so this thing is getting widespread support. Where are you Disney?
Another thing that's getting old is storing terrabytes worth of data on external drives and then streaming from the Mac to the ATV. When you want to watch a movie, you have to first fire up your mac, log in, launch iTunes, tell everyone to not close iTunes, and then you're finally able to use the ATV. If everything would be available to stream from Apple servers, that hassle could be avoided. If Apple makes iTunes match music available to stream on the ATV along with their TV shows, a deal with UV would be the final piece for all media to be played on one little ATV box, all without a computer.
Hope this works out, maybe we'll get some nice surprises at the end of the month with the iTunes Match launch.
That's coming. As I mentioned above, I would argue the point of Ultraviolet is to move movie ownership from the physical to the digital world.
I hope you're right. I stopped buying DVDs a while ago and now buy/rent all my movies through iTunes. My only concern would be that the studios would use Ultraviolet as a way of reducing the content they supply to iTunes thereby reducing competition and no doubt leading to higher prices. I like iTunes. Everything in one place is very convenient. I buy all my music, movies, books, games and apps through iTunes now.
I hope they realize there is 192 more countries in the world, instead of killing themselves in the USA.
I am so tired of hunting down torrent. Give me something good, easy to access and you will get my money.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
Most websites seem to assume that the user has a normal-sized, 16:9 monitor. IMO, anything other than 16:9 is suboptimal for web surfing.
Coulda fooled me. I'm looking at websites all day in portrait mode on the iPhone and iPad. There's nothing suboptimal about it.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
I am a consumer and I disagree. I want my Blu-ray disc and it works great, I get the movie and the storage. I own an AppleTV and I am tired of buying external hard drives to store the DVD's that I rip. Movies and shows from the internet, they should be free like hulu, cbs.com, abc.com. I like that model.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
So Movie Execs, please get your head out of your bum and give me what I want and I'll gladly pay for it. Oh, by the way... you should just use Apple since they have that figured all this out already.
I'm a consumer too and also disagree. Until streaming or iTunes can get NEAR Blu-Ray quality- count me out. Everyone mentions the video quality, but the audio quality is way worse. Most Blu-Rays offer true lossless (not compressed) audio. Throw on saving private Ryan on a good tv and sound system and tell me you'd rather watch it from iTunes/apple TV.
Not even close...
(although I LOVE digital copies on my iPad for plane trips)
The question I have is, if in the future I buy a movie from Target/Wal-Mart/BestBuy where the package says "Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy", will I no longer be able to download that "digital copy" into my iTunes library and watch it on my AppleTV if it's an "UltraViolet" digital download?
If that's the case, I guess I'm back to buying the cheaper DVD-only disc and wasting a half-hour of my time ripping and tagging, or finally just buying it through iTunes (as long as the studios keep their content there). Depressing. I refuse to make an Ultraviolet account and access only certain movies through certain portals. If I can't get it through my AppleTV somehow, from MY iTunes library, forget it.
Hopefully you can choose to manage the digital copy with either iTunes, WMP, or the UltraViolet app/site/whatever.
I think the best you can hope for is either (a) Movies include both an iTunes code and an Ultraviolet code and allow you to use both or (b) Apple opens up the AppleTV to apps so you can download a UV app for it.
You're just pointing out one of the main reasons I don't want to get stuck in the iTunes ecosystem for video: I only have one device choice for playing in on my TV, the AppleTV. At least with Ultraviolet, I'll have a range of devices to choose from including most likely the PS3 I already own.
That's why consumers like iTunes... because Apple thinks about what the consumer wants and gives them just that. Personally, I DON'T WANT TO BUY DVDs OR BLUERAY DISCS. The modal is broken. Please stop with the physical media and let's go digital and DRM-free. I just want my entertainment and will pay you it.
I'm not sure you know what you want, Apples download movies have DRM
"We are in a preservation game," said James McQuivey, media technology analyst at Forrester Research. "We are trying to preserve an eroding base of DVD and Blu-ray spend."
They still have no idea what the customer wants! They're trying to preserve a dying media format. They may as well try hanging onto cassette tape while they're at it! Geebuz!
I can't speak for everyone, but I no longer purchase physical discs. I much prefer having digital copies stored on a hard drive or have the option to stream them. I never thought i'd pay for movies via iTunes or AppleTV but the truth is it's so quick and easy I find myself doing it fairly often. How is it that these companies still don't understand this is the way to move forward??? It's working right in front of them!
The only thing I think is wrong with the current cloud-based offerings is that the releases lag too far behind the Theatre or Television release dates. They think they're protecting theatre spend but the truth is if I want to watch something I can download it elsewhere anyway. I still go to the theatre if I know it's a good movie or for social occasions, and iTunes or downloading early releases has not stopped me from doing that. (or anyone else I know)
If television shows and movies were available online simultaneously and at a reasonable price they would seriously increase the studios profit and Pirating would decrease.
I have no issue paying for digital content, and I know many who say the same thing. The problem is that studios treat us like the enemy and fight against the way we want to spend our money. A great example is the Mac App Store, I have purchased so much software through that over the past year (even re-purchased software I had previously pirated) because it was quick, easy and very affordable and I feel good about doing it.
Having all these separate proprietary formats/services that do exactly the same thing is bad for business and consumers. Consumers are going to get the shits and return to pirating because as soon as things get confusing or complicated they will drop it in a blink of an eye.
The movie studios and networks should stop trying to rescue DVD and BR sales and embrace iTunes/Netflix and just negotiate better deals if that's what they're worried about.
Of course, 'perpetual' in this context means until they decide to shut it down in a couple of years.
Of course, that will always be an issue with DRM'd digital media. If you're worried about continued access to digital content your only choice has always been (and will continue to be) the purchase of physical disks.
I hope you're right. I stopped buying DVDs a while ago and now buy/rent all my movies through iTunes. My only concern would be that the studios would use Ultraviolet as a way of reducing the content they supply to iTunes thereby reducing competition and no doubt leading to higher prices.
I think that's almost guaranteed to happen. Amazon and Google will likely have the same problem.
The solution provided to these companies will be a simple (albeit contentious) one... they need to join the Ultraviolet Alliance.