Itunes VS UltraViolet

[littlepooch21]

Originally Posted by Andysol

Portability

Yeah I don't really use them on the run. I normally watch at home. I have some UV and some iTunes but am really trying to find the main differences and opinions on others that have gone digital

[Andysol]

Originally Posted by littlepooch21

Yeah I don't really use them on the run. I normally watch at home. I have some UV and some iTunes but am really trying to find the main differences and opinions on others that have gone digital

I can tell you for me, personally- that I got rid of about 200 blus recently to make my collection small so that I'd watch more great movies instead of mediocre ones that I didn't remember what they were about (you know- because they were mediocre)
So now I watch spare movies in a hotel room or airplane and the best ones or new ones in my media room. Honestly though, if you're home- I don't understand why someone would pick iTunes or UV over physical. Unless them buying a code for $4-5 on the forum is better and more convenient then them spending gas and time and having to drive to a redbox? I could see that.

[littlepooch21]

Originally Posted by Andysol

I can tell you for me, personally- that I got rid of about 200 blus recently to make my collection small so that I'd watch more great movies instead of mediocre ones that I didn't remember what they were about (you know- because they were mediocre)
So now I watch spare movies in a hotel room or airplane and the best ones or new ones in my media room. Honestly though, if you're home- I don't understand why someone would pick iTunes or UV over physical. Unless them buying a code for $4-5 on the forum is better and more convenient then them spending gas and time and having to drive to a redbox? I could see that.

Yeah I'm not a redbox guy so it would be UV/iTunes or buying the Blu rays

[huskerbear]

Originally Posted by Fiffy

Well, the Apple TV is the best selling home streaming device on the market by a significant margin:

http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2013/...d-with-21.html

Not to mention the iPad's position in the tablet market ...

Quite a dramatic change in 2 years. Apple tv now in fourth place. I wonder if the success of UV is pushing sales for non Apple branded streamers?

http://news.investors.com/technology...iates-says.htm

[disneywildcat]

Originally Posted by huskerbear

Quite a dramatic change in 2 years. Apple tv now in fourth place. I wonder if the success of UV is pushing sales for non Apple branded streamers?

http://news.investors.com/technology...iates-says.htm

It's more likely the rise of SVOD services (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, etc.), along with TV Everywhere services (such as WatchESPN, HBO Go, etc.), is increasing sales of Apple TV's competitors. And now you have Over the Top services such as Sling TV and HBO Now, which require streaming devices. Hence why Apple locked up a 6 month exclusive on HBO Now, which now is available on other platforms. And why Apple will eventually launch its own competing service to Sling TV.

I doubt UV is playing that huge of a role. Although Roku and Chromecast support HD streaming of UV services such as Vudu, Flixster, and Cinemanow, I don't think Amazon FireTV or FireTV Stick supports any UV providers other than Flixster.

Apple TV does supports Airplay of Flixster and Cinemanow.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by huskerbear

Quite a dramatic change in 2 years. Apple tv now in fourth place. I wonder if the success of UV is pushing sales for non Apple branded streamers?

I doubt that UV plays a significant role. The biggest UV vendor (Vudu) is still tiny compared to iTunes and Amazon in terms of market share.

I suspect the main reasons are:

- Roku, Google and Amazon have all released streaming "sticks" that are much cheaper than the Apple TV

- The Apple TV has been on the market more or less unchanged for 5 years now and is getting long in the tooth (there are rumors that a new one will be presented at the Apple event next week though). It still doesn't support apps, for example.

- Many TV sets today are "smart TVs" that can natively play Netflix etc., so there is little incentive to pay a higher price for an extra device.

[huskerbear]

All good points^^^^there have been many changes.

[format916]

Apple TV needs to be free and an app.

[Wasgo]

Originally Posted by huskerbear

All good points^^^^there have been many changes.

Plus the report is hidden behind a paywall, and they're talking about data that they don't have direct access to.

The only thing that's clear is that they're not talking about device sales, as the abstract refers to streaming usage. So in this case, they don't have access to iTunes usage at all, unless it's purely survey based. And without information about the sample size, this means nothing.

[huskerbear]

Not sure if this is what you are talking about but there is a link to the park and assoc. report if it adds any clarity.

http://www.parksassociates.com/blog/...edia-landscape

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by Andysol

I can tell you for me, personally- that I got rid of about 200 blus recently to make my collection small so that I'd watch more great movies instead of mediocre ones that I didn't remember what they were about (you know- because they were mediocre)
So now I watch spare movies in a hotel room or airplane and the best ones or new ones in my media room. Honestly though, if you're home- I don't understand why someone would pick iTunes or UV over physical. Unless them buying a code for $4-5 on the forum is better and more convenient then them spending gas and time and having to drive to a redbox? I could see that.

I guess that someone would prefer a digital movie collection through UV or iTunes because of a lack of physical storage space in the house and is satisfied with the image quality of iTune HD or Vudu HDX. For instance, a person might run out of physical space once they reach 200 blu-rays and might have to stop buying movie because of this unless that person sells off some of his collection to make room for more movies but only has a limit of 200 blu-rays due to physical space limitations, unless he buys a CD/DVD binder to store them in and gets rid of the jewel cases, which I guess most true collectors would not want to do. This person could "own" (you really don't own DRM'd digital movies) over 500 UV or iTunes digital HD movies which he could not own that much if he bought the blu-rays and kept the jewel cases. These days for movies, I personally buy UV codes mostly, from websites and this forum here, and don't buy that many blu-rays, unless I can get them for $4.99-$7.99 and come with a digital UV code and I keep the code and sell the Blu-ray disc. I already have about 240-245 HDX movies in my Vudu account, most came from the UV codes that came from the blu-rays I bought or codes I bought from other people selling and a few were from for huge discount sales in Vudu combined with Vudu credits. I still keep about 31 blu-rays of my favorites in a CD/DVD binder (I donated the cases) just in case I ever give up on digital streaming and go back to Blu-ray for my main movie watching medium.

[TheDean]

I like talking about this when there is little going on. Neither is better. They are basically the the same.

But 1 advantage iTunes has over UV is that there are no post 2014 iTunes SD codes floating around. While UV has SD codes on DVD's. I don't think they should do that. Digital should always be HD. Who wants Digital SD?

[Evil]

Originally Posted by TheDean

I like talking about this when there is little going on. Neither is better. They are basically the the same.

But 1 advantage iTunes has over UV is that there are no post 2014 iTunes SD codes floating around. While UV has SD codes on DVD's. I don't think they should do that. Digital should always be HD. Who wants Digital SD?

The existence of those SD codes is probably all about money. If they were all HD, most digital only folks would likely skip the BDs and pick up the cheaper DVD releases instead.

[huskerbear]

Originally Posted by TheDean

I like talking about this when there is little going on. Neither is better. They are basically the the same.

But 1 advantage iTunes has over UV is that there are no post 2014 iTunes SD codes floating around. While UV has SD codes on DVD's. I don't think they should do that. Digital should always be HD. Who wants Digital SD?

Nobody on a bluray.com website would think this way but, I think many people just buy DVDs because they don't care about HD. These people will build SD collections. Choice is always good! My 1400+ digital movies are 99% HDX, but if I didn't care about HD I could have saved some money.....now I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to switch these to 4K LoL

[V40LLY]

People buy DVD's for the following reason's:

1. The title they want, is unavailable on Blu ray.

2. The individual doesn't care about HD.

3. The average DVD is cheaper than the average Blu ray.

[BlakkMajik3000]

If anyone is still wondering what happened to the CFF, here you go:
http://uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html#1.3.1

Looks like DECE stripped away a lot of requirements that they had for retailers when it first got going. Unfortunately, looks like the CFF is dead and not ever coming back.

To be honest, I kind of gave up on downloading my movies once my collection got to about 500, and I'm currently at almost 800. When I think about the time, and most importantly bandwidth, it would take to download all my movies, I can't really see a lot of value in doing so.

But still, sucks for people that were still waiting for this feature.

[Wasgo]

Originally Posted by V40LLY

People buy DVD's for the following reason's:

1. The title they want, is unavailable on Blu ray.

2. The individual doesn't care about HD.

3. The average DVD is cheaper than the average Blu ray.

4. They don't own a Blu-ray player.

[satam55]

Originally Posted by BlakkMajik3000

If anyone is still wondering what happened to the CFF, here you go:
http://uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html#1.3.1

Looks like DECE stripped away a lot of requirements that they had for retailers when it first got going. Unfortunately, looks like the CFF is dead and not ever coming back.

To be honest, I kind of gave up on downloading my movies once my collection got to about 500, and I'm currently at almost 800. When I think about the time, and most importantly bandwidth, it would take to download all my movies, I can't really see a lot of value in doing so.

But still, sucks for people that were still waiting for this feature.

Sigh. I remember last year somebody on the Vudu forums was saying that CFF was available right now, but that it was now optional & up to the retailers if they want to use it. Looks like he was right.

Here's the link to that thread: https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...75#post1275375

https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...on-File-Format


I really hope iTunes joins UV. That would fix everybody's issues with lack of a digital download file that you can transfer to other devices.

[Smackos]

"iTunes vs UltraViolet". The fact the Studios have even let this be the situation is ridiculous. Clearly Disney have managed to pull all the main competitors to DMA, so it cannot just be "apple/Amazon doesn't want people taking their iTunes content and migrating to Vudu etc".

One thing I do like in iTunes favour is that I can download titles through iTunes, thus saving on any monthly usage allowances the ISP's have tried to enforce here and there. I know I technically CAN download titles on the Vudu app for PC, but being able to still use the Apple TV as the "thin client" and iTunes as a backend is a lot better than trying to look through what amounts to a folder on a PC using a mouse to start playback. Not exactly a "lean back" experience.

I like the disc to digital program Vudu have, but conversely I like that I can import my own Physical disc collection into iTunes and have all that alongside my digital files. The main difference of course is that you are at the mercy of whatever the studios allow up for disc to digital where as you don't have that same limitation with your own disc backups.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by BlakkMajik3000

If anyone is still wondering what happened to the CFF, here you go:
http://uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html#1.3.1

Looks like DECE stripped away a lot of requirements that they had for retailers when it first got going. Unfortunately, looks like the CFF is dead and not ever coming back.

To be honest, I kind of gave up on downloading my movies once my collection got to about 500, and I'm currently at almost 800. When I think about the time, and most importantly bandwidth, it would take to download all my movies, I can't really see a lot of value in doing so.

But still, sucks for people that were still waiting for this feature.

Oh dear. It really doesn't look good for UV in general in my opinion. Maybe the digital bridge will be the one to use for you guys?