Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Vilya]

I watched one of those "free with ads" movies on Vudu last night where you get a $2 credit for doing so.

The ads this time were shorter in duration and many were for charitable organizations, so these did not annoy me like most commercials do.

The streaming quality of the HDX movie was quite good...mostly. After every commercial break when the movie would first resume, the quality would be in SD for a few seconds and then it would return to being in HD. These drops in quality were more annoying than the commercials were by far.

I have noticed the same thing when binge watching episodic content on Netflix; the episodes begin in lower quality and after a few seconds they reach where they are supposed to be. Once the stream gets there, it usually stays there until the next episode begins.

Pausing and resuming a stream can also, not always, result in a brief quality drop, too.

These fluctuations in quality bug me, despite their brevity, because their occurrence seems to be the norm, not the exception.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Some people may lose substantial collections if they fail to link their UV to some other service in the time framed allowed. Somebody always misses a deadline.

The fate of international UV customers seems less clear; do they have similar options to link to another service like U.S. customers do in order to preserve their digital collections? If not, expect some angry people to complain loudly.

Transitions tend to have hiccups, too, and some may lose titles, at least temporarily, and they will be mad while it all sorts out.

Stories like these are always going to generate clickbait sensationalist articles. They want you to see their ads after all. I bet we have a few animated discussions occurring on this website, too.

No, in the U.K we have Flixster which (in my opinion) is awful beyond words. You can’t even stream to a tv. I think everything will be cancelled in the U.K. it will be either wait for a (possiblly never coming) MA or just take your chances. The biggest retailers in the U.K are BSkyB Sky Store, ITunes and Amazon I believe. All three don’t have any locker system. The Sky option comes with th3 choice of a DVD or Blu-ray included.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I watched one of those "free with ads" movies on Vudu last night where you get a $2 credit for doing so.

The ads this time were shorter in duration and many were for charitable organizations, so these did not annoy me like most commercials do.

The streaming quality of the HDX movie was quite good...mostly. After every commercial break when the movie would first resume, the quality would be in SD for a few seconds and then it would return to being in HD. These drops in quality were more annoying than the commercials were by far.

I have noticed the same thing when binge watching episodic content on Netflix; the episodes begin in lower quality and after a few seconds they reach where they are supposed to be. Once the stream gets there, it usually stays there until the next episode begins.

Pausing and resuming a stream can also, not always, result in a brief quality drop, too.

These fluctuations in quality bug me, despite their brevity, because their occurrence seems to be the norm, not the exception.

I would beg the question, why are you watching Vudu?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Here yesterday, gone today:

Best Buy CinemaNow
Flixster
Paramount Store
Red One UHD movie/video download service
Sony Pictures Store
Sony FMP-X1 and FMP-X10 UHD movie/video download service
Target Ticket
UltraFlix and Nanotech UHD movie/video streaming service

With ever more streaming services launching, it will be interesting to see which are left standing, at least on the subscription side of things, as that is where streaming's principle growth lies.

The Criterion Channel is launching April 8; that's bigger news to me than UV's closing. I wish my TVs app store offered it, but I doubt that they do. I will have to watch and see if they add it. This is one of the very few new SVOD services that interest me at all.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

Why would they want to own TVs? For the same reason we do: TVs are freaking awesome.

We know this but they are the phone generation.

[flyry]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Some people may lose substantial collections if they fail to link their UV to some other service in the time framed allowed. Somebody always misses a deadline.

The fate of international UV customers seems less clear; do they have similar options to link to another service like U.S. customers do in order to preserve their digital collections? If not, expect some angry people to complain loudly.

Transitions tend to have hiccups, too, and some may lose titles, at least temporarily, and they will be mad while it all sorts out.

Stories like these are always going to generate clickbait sensationalist articles. They want you to see their ads after all. I bet we have a few animated discussions occurring on this website, too.

If these people with ultraviolet collections are not already linked to VUDU then I'm not sure what they were doing.

Like seriously. Flixster and Sony pictures already told them to link it in the past too

It's not clickbait articles it's comments and tweets By the uninformed pro physical crowd

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by flyry

If these people with ultraviolet collections are not already linked to VUDU then I'm not sure what they were doing.

Like seriously. Flixster and Sony pictures already told them to link it in the past too

It's not clickbait articles it's comments and tweets By the uninformed pro physical crowd

Regardless, this is still a failure by a digital locker that got all kinds of hype hen it was first announced. Ms y I. This very thread were declaring it the greatest thing ever and arguing that it wouldn’t go tits up. This digital stuff is built on sand.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I would beg the question, why are you watching Vudu?

For the same reason that I watch I any SVOD or VOD service: to watch those titles that I only have a casual interest in. If I really like what I watched, then I buy it on disc if available. I do not buy digital movies for the many reasons that I have already given.

This is how I rent and test content now. It is my replacement for cable TV, which I ditched in 2014.

In times long past, I would rent from a brick and mortar store; now I rent online. Then as now, if I liked what I watched, I would buy the title on physical media.

The first movie I ever watched on Vudu was Hostiles in 4K. I liked the movie, so I bought the 4K disc. Watching it first on Vudu led directly to a sale on physical media.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

These fluctuations in quality bug me, despite their brevity, because their occurrence seems to be the norm, not the exception.

IF the provider had a buffer setting in their apps so you could chose your quality at show start would overcome this in many cases. I would guess most folks want their content to start as quickly as possible, hence the worse than VHS video in the beginning. A high quality at start could delay show start by several seconds (0-45?).

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

We know this but they are the phone generation.

but they're not watching movies on them

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by flyry

If these people with ultraviolet collections are not already linked to VUDU then I'm not sure what they were doing.

Like seriously. Flixster and Sony pictures already told them to link it in the past too

It's not clickbait articles it's comments and tweets By the uninformed pro physical crowd

Such articles will appear if they haven't already. It was your mention of "Variety" that made think that some had already surfaced.

Both sides do their fair share of gloating and "I told you so!" when they sense a little blood in the water; that isn't going to change.

I have been listening to the "discs are dying/ dead" proclamations every year since at least 2015. You have to expect the same kind of response when a streaming entity folds. Many people gravitate towards extremes.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

We know this but they are the phone generation.

And does anything other than your feels tell us that 'the phone generation' finds TVs any less awesome than we do?

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

The Criterion Channel is launching April 8; that's bigger news to me than UV's closing. I wish my TVs app store offered it, but I doubt that they do. I will have to watch and see if they add it. This is one of the very few new SVOD services that interest me at all.

Variety says:

The Criterion Channel (criterionchannel.com) will be available on computers, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, and Android devices.

I said a while back that they should sign up to be a Amazon Channel. If not, I may procure a Fire TV Cube box and check it out.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by octagon

And does anything other than your feels tell us that 'the phone generation' finds TVs any less awesome than we do?

Poke that bear!

[octagon]

Eh, I got like an hour to kill before throwing a pizza in for lunch.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

I said a while back that they should sign up to be a Amazon Channel. If not, I may procure a Fire TV Cube box and check it out.

I would like to try the Criterion Channel service, but I am not going to buy a dedicated streaming device just to access them on my TV- my preferred display for viewing content. Few streaming services interest me and buying a dedicated device to access just one of them makes little sense.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by octagon

Eh, I got like an hour to kill before throwing a pizza in for lunch.

Pizza is a perfect choice for any meal of the day!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

And does anything other than your feels tell us that 'the phone generation' finds TVs any less awesome than we do?

Yeah, mobile viewing time has overtaken tv viewing time for children this year. I think it’s 2 hours 3 minutes and tv has decreased to 1 hour 57 minutes. It’s the start of a long worrying trend over the next decade.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I would like to try the Criterion Channel service, but I am not going to buy a dedicated streaming device just to access them on my TV- my preferred display for viewing content. Few streaming services interest me and buying a dedicated device to access just one of them makes little sense.

This time next year you will be streaming Vudu HDX and spouting how the quality is equal to Blu-ray.

[bruceames]

This is shocking to me. I actually thought the email was fake, I couldn't believe it. The whole point of UV was to provide a digital locker for your movie rights, so that they can be accessed from any participating provider. It was to make one feel safe about buying digital movies. What if Vudu or MA shuts down? I can certainly understand why digital owners would be concerned. Thank God for physical.