Is UltraViolet Finally Catching On with Consumers - Blu-ray Forum

huskerbear · 06-13-2014, 04:55 PM

I hadn't seen this before. Maybe there is more est purchases going on than I thought? Is nice to hear there is such a high satisfaction rate.

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news...rs-1201189265/

sodapop · 06-13-2014, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huskerbear

I hadn't seen this before. Maybe there is more est purchases going on than I thought? Is nice to hear there is such a high satisfaction rate.

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news...rs-1201189265/

Kind of light on the details. Just saying 82% percent of the users plan on continuing to use the service doesn't mean people are satisfied. Hell, I fall into that bucket too but I wouldn't say that I'm satisfied with UV.

huskerbear · 06-13-2014, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sodapop

Kind of light on the details. Just saying 82% percent of the users plan on continuing to use the service doesn't mean people are satisfied. Hell, I fall into that bucket too but I wouldn't say that I'm satisfied with UV.

Actually it says 90%....

" In a major sign of support for UltraViolet, satisfaction with the digital locker service is at nearly 90% from users, according to a new study from NPD Group."

AZBrowncoat · 06-13-2014, 05:44 PM

If the only car available for you to drive is a Pinto, but you don't really like driving the Pinto, do you continue to drive or walk?

OI8T12 · 06-13-2014, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZBrowncoat

If the only car available for you to drive is a Pinto, but you don't really like driving the Pinto, do you continue to drive or walk?

I would walk.

AZBrowncoat · 06-13-2014, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OI8T12

I would walk.

LOL - I live too far out. I'd have to drive the Pinto but hopefully not the same one I used to own a LONG time ago. A 1972 Pinto with the "exploding option"

Andysol · 06-13-2014, 06:09 PM

Sure. It's catching on with consumers of UV... Although it's not catching on with the general population and their wallets.

It's unfortunate that there will likely never be a standard. I'm a huge iTunes can, but I'm not going full digital yet because it's so fractured. Who will be HDDVD and Betamax. Who will be VHS? No way in hitching my wagon early with my wallet. The digital world is fractured- UV, iTunes, google, amazon. And UV is fractured within the fracture. What a mess.
Of course, it seems like it will go the way of digital music- one big player and a handful of small players. If video would be DRM free, like music, it would grow the business by a mile overnight. Of course, the studios won't let that happen- they want you locked into their digital media (UV). I repeat- what a mess.

sodapop · 06-13-2014, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andysol

Sure. It's catching on with consumers of UV... Although it's not catching on with the general population and their wallets.

It's unfortunate that there will likely never be a standard. I'm a huge iTunes can, but I'm not going full digital yet because it's so fractured. Who will be HDDVD and Betamax. Who will be VHS? No way in hitching my wagon early with my wallet. The digital world is fractured- UV, iTunes, google, amazon. And UV is fractured within the fracture. What a mess.
Of course, it seems like it will go the way of digital music- one big player and a handful of small players. If video would be DRM free, like music, it would grow the business by a mile overnight. Of course, the studios won't let that happen- they want you locked into their digital media (UV). I repeat- what a mess.

My thoughts exactly but I'm not waiting to see who will be victorious in the format war. I've gone completely digital and I rip my own DRM free movies regardless of where or in what format I purchased them.

huskerbear · 06-13-2014, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZBrowncoat

If the only car available for you to drive is a Pinto, but you don't really like driving the Pinto, do you continue to drive or walk?

Alot of people around here complain about UV but, for most of us its the best, if not only option.

minister_x · 06-13-2014, 09:04 PM

I'd say it's impressive that 90% of the people who actually use the service like it, but it doesn't say much overall - most of the people I know don't use UV because it has been for them a horrible experience. (They don't use iTunes either.)

I've not experienced UV enough to make a reasoned call, but every time I consider venturing there there's something that puts me off. Usually it's because I can download 1080p HD videos from iTunes on any device I can run iTunes, whereas with UV, most of the devices I own can only download SD because "rights issues" or some such BS. DRM is bad enough, but not even allowing HD downloads to common devices? What a joke! Pirated versions therefore win on cost, availability and quality. With iTunes, I at least have some of the availability [more if I remove the DRM] and the quality.

I hear vudu is good, but as a non-US customer that doesn't help me much. So I'm not a user of UV. Hence the original statistic is probably heavily skewed - those who actually use UV are probably those who have one or more devices that work well with it - and are people who are far more likely to enjoy the service in the first place.

huskerbear · 06-13-2014, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minister_x

I'd say it's impressive that 90% of the people who actually use the service like it, but it doesn't say much overall - most of the people I know don't use UV because it has been for them a horrible experience. (They don't use iTunes either.)

I've not experienced UV enough to make a reasoned call, but every time I consider venturing there there's something that puts me off. Usually it's because I can download 1080p HD videos from iTunes on any device I can run iTunes, whereas with UV, most of the devices I own can only download SD because "rights issues" or some such BS. DRM is bad enough, but not even allowing HD downloads to common devices? What a joke! Pirated versions therefore win on cost, availability and quality. With iTunes, I at least have some of the availability [more if I remove the DRM] and the quality.

I hear vudu is good, but as a non-US customer that doesn't help me much. So I'm not a user of UV. Hence the original statistic is probably heavily skewed - those who actually use UV are probably those who have one or more devices that work well with it - and are people who are far more likely to enjoy the service in the first place.

Of course, if you polled the same people how well itunes worked for them you would probably get something like....

" I can download 1080p HD videos from UV on any device I can run UV, whereas with itunes, most of the devices I own can't run it at all, some "rights issues" or some such BS. DRM is bad enough, but not even allowing HD downloads to common devices? What a joke!"

minister_x · 06-13-2014, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huskerbear

Of course, if you polled the same people how well itunes worked for them you would probably get something like....

" I can download 1080p HD videos from UV on any device I can run UV, whereas with itunes, most of the devices I own can't run it at all, some "rights issues" or some such BS. DRM is bad enough, but not even allowing HD downloads to common devices? What a joke!"

I see your point, but I don't think it's entirely mirrored like that. Apple is much more restricted than UV, I'm happy to accept that. But the devices that can't run iTunes, with the exception of Windows Phone (not much market share) are predominantly Android-based devices - and the fragmentation of what is supported is awful on these (the trouble of having a large market share with many different vendors). I can't download HD UV on my Android devices. In terms of streaming, I think UV wins hands down - more device support, better HD support. But I don't want to stream purchases; I want to download and keep them. So iTunes wins for me. (Not to mention I happily invested because I use Requiem, which means my files aren't tied to Apple devices.)

BlakkMajik3000 · 06-13-2014, 09:57 PM

My 0.02.

For me, UV is the best because it works with the most devices and has the support of every major besides Disney. Also, most, if not all, of the mini-majors support UV as well.

I refuse to support any video format from a company with hardware to sell, simply because they will use whatever they can to lock you to their hardware (just makes good business sense).

Does UV use DRM? Yes. However, at least they had the decency to support what's already out there, as opposed to coming up with yet another one. What this should mean is that as DRMs fall in and out of favor, you won't have to worry about your movies, as they will be able to remove/add support for different DRMs over time, whereas other formats (Google, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) aren't as flexible.

Really, the only advantage any other store has over UV right now is the ability to download HD files and swap them between various devices.

I would say the three biggest things hindering UV adoption are:
1. Lack of a common redemption site. Depending on the insert, you may be directed to a studio site, Flixster, Vudu, etc. Since UV manages the rights, it would make sense for them to have a place to redeem, so that providers do not have to bother with it.
2. Lack of CFF files (release date keeps getting pushed back).
3. Disney support.

I think 1 and 2 will be resolved in the near future, but 3 is completely unknown. I don't think Disney will ever support UV in the sense of allowing you to redeem digital copies through a UV provider. The best hope, at this point, is that they allow UV to talk to DMA and get the license information, which can then be consumed by the providers.

I've made a many digital copy myself in the past. Having it DRM free is definitely a good thing, but I will tell you that going through the process of ripping and encoding can become a tedious task, especially if you have a large collection. In particular with blu-rays, the encodes can take many hours (even days) to get the best size/quality ratio and then you have to watch the entire movie to make sure the encode is good. At least with a digital movie, I can at least assume the encode has already been reviewed and approved. I will admit, there is risk that the encode is borked because of bad source (ex. Total Recall UV) or because the aspect ratio is weird (Ben-Hur UV). It really comes down to how much you value your time. My free-time is very valuable, so I reserve DIY to pretty much those movies that are either A.) Favorites that I don't want to kill my bandwidth cap by streaming from VUDU all the time or B.) Movies not available on UV.

In the end, choosing a video provider is just like choosing a politician to vote for. You're pretty sure they will all screw you in the end, but you will probably end up with the one that at least appears to support your interests.

06-13-2014, 04:55 PM	#1
huskerbear Senior Member Member since:Jul 2011 Blu-ray collection:1 Trading Score:84	Is UltraViolet Finally Catching On with Consumers I hadn't seen this before. Maybe there is more est purchases going on than I thought? Is nice to hear there is such a high satisfaction rate. http://variety.com/2014/digital/news...rs-1201189265/

06-13-2014, 06:09 PM	#7
Andysol Power Member Member since:Mar 2010 Location:McKinney, TX Blu-ray collection:642 iTunes collection:169 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:334	Sure. It's catching on with consumers of UV... Although it's not catching on with the general population and their wallets. It's unfortunate that there will likely never be a standard. I'm a huge iTunes can, but I'm not going full digital yet because it's so fractured. Who will be HDDVD and Betamax. Who will be VHS? No way in hitching my wagon early with my wallet. The digital world is fractured- UV, iTunes, google, amazon. And UV is fractured within the fracture. What a mess. Of course, it seems like it will go the way of digital music- one big player and a handful of small players. If video would be DRM free, like music, it would grow the business by a mile overnight. Of course, the studios won't let that happen- they want you locked into their digital media (UV). I repeat- what a mess. Last edited by Andysol; 06-13-2014 at 06:13 PM.

06-13-2014, 05:44 PM	#4
AZBrowncoat Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Mar 2013 Location:Sahuarita, AZ Blu-ray collection:126 DVD collection:8 MA collection:6 Digital collection:8 iTunes collection:7 Prime collection:10 Trading Score:1062	If the only car available for you to drive is a Pinto, but you don't really like driving the Pinto, do you continue to drive or walk?

06-13-2014, 09:04 PM	#10
minister_x Contributor Top contributor Member since:Mar 2013 Location:Dinas Powys, UK 4K collection:177 Blu-ray collection:666 Trading Score:293	I'd say it's impressive that 90% of the people who actually use the service like it, but it doesn't say much overall - most of the people I know don't use UV because it has been for them a horrible experience. (They don't use iTunes either.) I've not experienced UV enough to make a reasoned call, but every time I consider venturing there there's something that puts me off. Usually it's because I can download 1080p HD videos from iTunes on any device I can run iTunes, whereas with UV, most of the devices I own can only download SD because "rights issues" or some such BS. DRM is bad enough, but not even allowing HD downloads to common devices? What a joke! Pirated versions therefore win on cost, availability and quality. With iTunes, I at least have some of the availability [more if I remove the DRM] and the quality. I hear vudu is good, but as a non-US customer that doesn't help me much. So I'm not a user of UV. Hence the original statistic is probably heavily skewed - those who actually use UV are probably those who have one or more devices that work well with it - and are people who are far more likely to enjoy the service in the first place.

06-13-2014, 09:57 PM	#13
BlakkMajik3000 Expert Member Member since:Apr 2014 Location:479 via 318 4K collection:12 Blu-ray collection:481 DVD collection:89 MA collection:1004 Digital collection:12 iTunes collection:418 Trading Score:97	My 0.02. For me, UV is the best because it works with the most devices and has the support of every major besides Disney. Also, most, if not all, of the mini-majors support UV as well. I refuse to support any video format from a company with hardware to sell, simply because they will use whatever they can to lock you to their hardware (just makes good business sense). Does UV use DRM? Yes. However, at least they had the decency to support what's already out there, as opposed to coming up with yet another one. What this should mean is that as DRMs fall in and out of favor, you won't have to worry about your movies, as they will be able to remove/add support for different DRMs over time, whereas other formats (Google, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) aren't as flexible. Really, the only advantage any other store has over UV right now is the ability to download HD files and swap them between various devices. I would say the three biggest things hindering UV adoption are: 1. Lack of a common redemption site. Depending on the insert, you may be directed to a studio site, Flixster, Vudu, etc. Since UV manages the rights, it would make sense for them to have a place to redeem, so that providers do not have to bother with it. 2. Lack of CFF files (release date keeps getting pushed back). 3. Disney support. I think 1 and 2 will be resolved in the near future, but 3 is completely unknown. I don't think Disney will ever support UV in the sense of allowing you to redeem digital copies through a UV provider. The best hope, at this point, is that they allow UV to talk to DMA and get the license information, which can then be consumed by the providers. I've made a many digital copy myself in the past. Having it DRM free is definitely a good thing, but I will tell you that going through the process of ripping and encoding can become a tedious task, especially if you have a large collection. In particular with blu-rays, the encodes can take many hours (even days) to get the best size/quality ratio and then you have to watch the entire movie to make sure the encode is good. At least with a digital movie, I can at least assume the encode has already been reviewed and approved. I will admit, there is risk that the encode is borked because of bad source (ex. Total Recall UV) or because the aspect ratio is weird (Ben-Hur UV). It really comes down to how much you value your time. My free-time is very valuable, so I reserve DIY to pretty much those movies that are either A.) Favorites that I don't want to kill my bandwidth cap by streaming from VUDU all the time or B.) Movies not available on UV. In the end, choosing a video provider is just like choosing a politician to vote for. You're pretty sure they will all screw you in the end, but you will probably end up with the one that at least appears to support your interests.

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