Ultraviolet Questions?

[Alan Gordon]

I'm not a "newbie" to Ultraviolet as I redeemed my first Ultraviolet copy back in December of 2011. I didn't redeem a lot of my digital copies on iTunes back in the day, so I decided not to make the same mistakes I did back then (I have managed to get back all my digital copies except for some Sony titles, a few FOX/MGM titles, and a couple of Universal titles which I managed to get Ultraviolet copies of).

However, I've never really cared to much about the service, as I'd much rather watch my Blu-ray copies. Several things that may happen soon have gotten me more interested in the Ultraviolet service.

The first being that I have intentions of buying a TiVo Roamio soon. TiVo is adding a new feature this month called OnePass which integrates Vudu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and traditional TV (either over-the-air or via cable). A cloud-based collection is of more interest to me now (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

The second being the rumors that Amazon may soon become an Ultraviolet retailer. Last year, I noticed that Amazon had added digital copies of every album I've ever purchased from them into my cloud. While there is no guarantee that Amazon would add Ultraviolet digital copies of previous movie purchases made by Amazon, the thought excites me. Suddenly, the idea of having my movie collection in the cloud and integrated via TiVo OnePass is VERY exciting (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

The last couple of weeks, I have dealt with customer support from both VUDU and Flixster about a couple of things, which have made me investigate Ultraviolet a little more, and I came across something that surprised me, so I wanted to ask for a little more detail.

I knew that you could share your Ultraviolet collection with friends. I don't do this with anybody, but I could see me adding a friend this year or the next if they decide to get an Ultraviolet account. While researching more about Ultraviolet this past week, I read something about "sharing" that I wanted to clarify as it struck me as being "odd". According to the Ultraviolet website, you can share your Ultraviolet collection with up to five people (I knew this). What hit me as strange though, was it appeared to me to say that even when you "unlink" a user from your account, you still have access to their Ultraviolet library as any "sharing" of accounts literally adds their Ultraviolet titles to your account.

Is this wrong? I'm asking because I would think there would be a lot of people taking advantage of this "loophole". Surely, there are steps the studios have implemented to stop any "abuse" of this? Perhaps, a limit to how many people can be added or deleted in a year?

Please explain this to me. Thanks!

[echopulse]

When you set up sharing, you aren't really sharing two seperate UV collections, you are joining them together into one. Any titles added after the join stays in the sharer's account. Any titles in the sharee's account before the share do not get added to the sharer's account, but the but the sharee will be able to see the titles in the sharer's account. If the shareee ever decides to leave the share, he will lose any titles he put into the sharer's account.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by echopulse

When you set up sharing, you aren't really sharing two seperate UV collections, you are joining them together into one. Any titles added after the join stays in the sharer's account. Any titles in the sharee's account before the share do not get added to the sharer's account, but the but the sharee will be able to see the titles in the sharer's account. If the shareee ever decides to leave the share, he will lose any titles he put into the sharer's account.

That's sort of what I thought, but here's what confused me (taken from the Ultraviolet website):

If a user is deleted, what happens to the movies or TV shows purchased by that user?

Rights stay with the UltraViolet Library. Movies and TV shows purchased by the deleted user will be available to the remaining users as long as parental controls do not restrict them.

So, apparently, those "rights" are for films purchased AFTER the accounts are joined, and not after. It sucks that (if I'm reading your explanation right) the "sharee" would lose content THEY paid for.

[echopulse]

They wouldn't lose the movies they paid for, they would remain in their vudu account, they just wouldn't show up in their individual UV account, so they wouldn't be able to share it with other people.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I'm not a "newbie" to Ultraviolet as I redeemed my first Ultraviolet copy back in December of 2011. I didn't redeem a lot of my digital copies on iTunes back in the day, so I decided not to make the same mistakes I did back then (I have managed to get back all my digital copies except for some Sony titles, a few FOX/MGM titles, and a couple of Universal titles which I managed to get Ultraviolet copies of).

However, I've never really cared to much about the service, as I'd much rather watch my Blu-ray copies. Several things that may happen soon have gotten me more interested in the Ultraviolet service.

The first being that I have intentions of buying a TiVo Roamio soon. TiVo is adding a new feature this month called OnePass which integrates Vudu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and traditional TV (either over-the-air or via cable). A cloud-based collection is of more interest to me now (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

The second being the rumors that Amazon may soon become an Ultraviolet retailer. Last year, I noticed that Amazon had added digital copies of every album I've ever purchased from them into my cloud. While there is no guarantee that Amazon would add Ultraviolet digital copies of previous movie purchases made by Amazon, the thought excites me. Suddenly, the idea of having my movie collection in the cloud and integrated via TiVo OnePass is VERY exciting (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

The last couple of weeks, I have dealt with customer support from both VUDU and Flixster about a couple of things, which have made me investigate Ultraviolet a little more, and I came across something that surprised me, so I wanted to ask for a little more detail.

I knew that you could share your Ultraviolet collection with friends. I don't do this with anybody, but I could see me adding a friend this year or the next if they decide to get an Ultraviolet account. While researching more about Ultraviolet this past week, I read something about "sharing" that I wanted to clarify as it struck me as being "odd". According to the Ultraviolet website, you can share your Ultraviolet collection with up to five people (I knew this). What hit me as strange though, was it appeared to me to say that even when you "unlink" a user from your account, you still have access to their Ultraviolet library as any "sharing" of accounts literally adds their Ultraviolet titles to your account.

Is this wrong? I'm asking because I would think there would be a lot of people taking advantage of this "loophole". Surely, there are steps the studios have implemented to stop any "abuse" of this? Perhaps, a limit to how many people can be added or deleted in a year?

Please explain this to me. Thanks!

How will you deal with the loss of quality issue compared to bluray?

[huskerbear]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

How will you deal with the loss of quality issue compared to bluray?

Doesn't matter. You can't play a bluray on a smart watch!

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

How will you deal with the loss of quality issue compared to bluray?

Um, again, you aren't reading everything. He is not replacing his collection buddy. See below and I bolded and italiced the important pieces.

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

...

...

The first being that I have intentions of buying a TiVo Roamio soon. TiVo is adding a new feature this month called OnePass which integrates Vudu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and traditional TV (either over-the-air or via cable). A cloud-based collection is of more interest to me now (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

The second being the rumors that Amazon may soon become an Ultraviolet retailer. Last year, I noticed that Amazon had added digital copies of every album I've ever purchased from them into my cloud. While there is no guarantee that Amazon would add Ultraviolet digital copies of previous movie purchases made by Amazon, the thought excites me. Suddenly, the idea of having my movie collection in the cloud and integrated via TiVo OnePass is VERY exciting (though I still love my Blu-ray collection).

...

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

How will you deal with the loss of quality issue compared to bluray?

As steve_dave said, I'm not replacing my Blu-ray collection. The quality issues aside, Blu-ray is generally more reliable. Sure, a Blu-ray collection could be wiped out by a natural disaster, theft, etc., but I like having access to it. With a cloud based digital collection, any purchase can be wiped out at any time.

Because of natural disasters, thefts, etc., I do like the idea of having cloud-based backups. The quality might not be as good, but it's better than nothing.

My VUDU account has 162 movies (some Ultraviolet, some DMA, some are sadly free SD titles), and I have a fair collection of TV shows that are Ultraviolet. That's a small portion of my Blu-ray collection. I'm hoping that should Amazon start supporting Ultraviolet, that they'd give you digital copies of your past movie purchases like they did with CD, but nothing has stopped them from doing that with Amazon Instant Video in the past, so there's no guarantee that they'd do that. If they did though (best case scenario), I'd hope to have a better Ultraviolet collection. I was lucky enough last year to get Ultraviolet copies of some of my Universal titles I had with digital copies (sadly, I don't have UV of some of those Universal titles, and one or two are SD only)... I wish I could do that with Warner Bros., Sony, Fox, etc....

I don't have a Blu-ray player in every room, so I could see me streaming some TV show or movie that I've previously seen on my bedroom TV late at night when I'm suffering from insomnia though.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

As steve_dave said, I'm not replacing my Blu-ray collection. The quality issues aside, Blu-ray is generally more reliable. Sure, a Blu-ray collection could be wiped out by a natural disaster, theft, etc., but I like having access to it. With a cloud based digital collection, any purchase can be wiped out at any time.

Because of natural disasters, thefts, etc., I do like the idea of having cloud-based backups. The quality might not be as good, but it's better than nothing.

My VUDU account has 162 movies (some Ultraviolet, some DMA, some are sadly free SD titles), and I have a fair collection of TV shows that are Ultraviolet. That's a small portion of my Blu-ray collection. I'm hoping that should Amazon start supporting Ultraviolet, that they'd give you digital copies of your past movie purchases like they did with CD, but nothing has stopped them from doing that with Amazon Instant Video in the past, so there's no guarantee that they'd do that. If they did though (best case scenario), I'd hope to have a better Ultraviolet collection. I was lucky enough last year to get Ultraviolet copies of some of my Universal titles I had with digital copies (sadly, I don't have UV of some of those Universal titles, and one or two are SD only)... I wish I could do that with Warner Bros., Sony, Fox, etc....

I don't have a Blu-ray player in every room, so I could see me streaming some TV show or movie that I've previously seen on my bedroom TV late at night when I'm suffering from insomnia though.

Thanks for your reply. I used UV out of curiosity once and the whole thing just seems like one big mess to me. Amazon, Disney, Itunes aren't members and until that changes (if ever) I don't see how it could ever work fully. It doesn't help that we don't have Vudu here. We have Flixster and I'm not going to comment on that lol!

Regardless, I'm bluray for life here!

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Thanks for your reply. I used UV out of curiosity once and the whole thing just seems like one big mess to me. Amazon, Disney, Itunes aren't members and until that changes (if ever) I don't see how it could ever work fully. It doesn't help that we don't have Vudu here. We have Flixster and I'm not going to comment on that lol!

Regardless, I'm bluray for life here!

Blu-ray is the far superior choice, both in quality and reliability. I do like the idea of Ultraviolet for backups, or some content that will never make it to Blu-ray.

Ultraviolet is a great idea, but a mess as implemented. I apologize to it's fans, but that's my opinion. If it wasn't for VUDU, I'd consider Ultraviolet codes to be worthless. I too will not comment on Flixster.


I have had multiple instances of contact with VUDU, Flixster, and Ultraviolet, etc. in the past couple of weeks, and most of them have been a pain. This is not a swipe at the people that work there, as most of them have been kind, but Ultraviolet shouldn't be such a pain.

I also find the Ultraviolet "sharing" feature to be overly complicated. Why not simply have an option to "share" your movies with friends, family. If you remove them from the list, they don't have access to your movies, and you don't have access to theirs? If they're worried about people adding and deleting people (abusing the system), why not have a limit on how many times you can add or delete someone in a year's time?

Another complaint I have is Ultraviolet TV series. For instance, "Hart of Dixie" seasons 1 and 2 are UV, but seasons 3 and the current (most likely final) season is not. There are several TV series like this. "Friends" is a good example. Warner Bros. released the complete series on Blu-ray without a digital copy code. Warner Bros. then released separate editions of season 1 and 2 with an Ultraviolet code, so season 1 and 2 are Ultraviolet, but seasons 3-10 are not UV capable. With FOX not releasing "Modern Family" on Blu-ray anymore, I would be tempted by a UV copy of the newer seasons, but since it's not UV, I might be more tempted to buy them via iTunes than VUDU.

Aah... forgive me for ranting.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Blu-ray is the far superior choice, both in quality and reliability. I do like the idea of Ultraviolet for backups, or some content that will never make it to Blu-ray.

Ultraviolet is a great idea, but a mess as implemented. I apologize to it's fans, but that's my opinion. If it wasn't for VUDU, I'd consider Ultraviolet codes to be worthless. I too will not comment on Flixster.


I have had multiple instances of contact with VUDU, Flixster, and Ultraviolet, etc. in the past couple of weeks, and most of them have been a pain. This is not a swipe at the people that work there, as most of them have been kind, but Ultraviolet shouldn't be such a pain.

I also find the Ultraviolet "sharing" feature to be overly complicated. Why not simply have an option to "share" your movies with friends, family. If you remove them from the list, they don't have access to your movies, and you don't have access to theirs? If they're worried about people adding and deleting people (abusing the system), why not have a limit on how many times you can add or delete someone in a year's time?

Another complaint I have is Ultraviolet TV series. For instance, "Hart of Dixie" seasons 1 and 2 are UV, but seasons 3 and the current (most likely final) season is not. There are several TV series like this. "Friends" is a good example. Warner Bros. released the complete series on Blu-ray without a digital copy code. Warner Bros. then released separate editions of season 1 and 2 with an Ultraviolet code, so season 1 and 2 are Ultraviolet, but seasons 3-10 are not UV capable. With FOX not releasing "Modern Family" on Blu-ray anymore, I would be tempted by a UV copy of the newer seasons, but since it's not UV, I might be more tempted to buy them via iTunes than VUDU.

Aah... forgive me for ranting.

No, you are quite right. I too, took the Apple TV route for those annoying times when a film just isn't going to get a Bluray release. I have used UV just out of curiosity and I was not impressed. Maybe if Amazon joins UV things will improve?
For some reason, we lack a quality service (Vudu) in the UK and like I said, we are left with (in my opinion) shoddy, half arsed options. We don't even have disc to digital in the UK. That is a joke this late in the day.
I have mentioned it before, but by the time everything is sweet, the mainstream will have moved on to a Spotify style movie service. Let's say unlimited SD streams of movies with adverts for free or full HD without adverts for £10 per month. It's coming I think. I just hope to goodness, I can still buy physical disc.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

...but by the time everything is sweet, the mainstream will have moved on to a Spotify style movie service. Let's say unlimited SD streams of movies with adverts for free or full HD without adverts for £10 per month. It's coming I think. I just hope to goodness, I can still buy physical disc.

We have this already:

Netflix and Amazon Prime being available in the US & the UK.

Both will offer 4k streams, both do not have advertisements, both are subscription based, both can be viewed on any device, both offer 5.1 sound for supported setups.

Netflix goes one bigger with 3D available on selected supported setups.

And neither has overtaken the marketshare for theaters, home video, or even television.

Sure, Netflix and Amazon are now homes to two Golden Globe winning programs but folks still love regular television. And Netflix will offer Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II at the same time its in IMAX theaters.

But again, neither of these services have supplanted their predecessors. Rather they have supplemented them with an additional outlet for programming that couldn't survive on standard television. Arrested Development and The Killing are two notable Netflix saves.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

We have this already:

Netflix and Amazon Prime being available in the US & the UK.

Both will offer 4k streams, both do not have advertisements, both are subscription based, both can be viewed on any device, both offer 5.1 sound for supported setups.

Netflix goes one bigger with 3D available on selected supported setups.

And neither has overtaken the marketshare for theaters, home video, or even television.

Sure, Netflix and Amazon are now homes to two Golden Globe winning programs but folks still love regular television. And Netflix will offer Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II at the same time its in IMAX theaters.

But again, neither of these services have supplanted their predecessors. Rather they have supplemented them with an additional outlet for programming that couldn't survive on standard television. Arrested Development and The Killing are two notable Netflix saves.

I was referring to new releases Steve. All you can eat new releases plus back catalogue. Imagine Spotify but with movies and TV.