The Beginning of the End for UV in Canada?

[bdmckinl]

Hello all:

Redeemed my digital copy for Logan yesterday, and was intrigued to find that the only two options offered were iTunes (my preferred format) and Google Play. Is this only true for Canadian copies (i.e. do US copies also offer UV)? Is anyone aware whether or not Fox is starting to back off from UV?

Just curious. Thanks!

[darthpepsi]

Fox dropped UV redemption in Canada a few weeks ago. I would be interested to see the stats on what people select, but UV is dead in Canada.

[bdmckinl]

Interesting! Thank you for that. Do you know why this is? Is it dying in other countries as well? I've always thought of UV as an amazing concept but executed dismally. I won't miss it.

[Wasgo]

Originally Posted by bdmckinl

Interesting! Thank you for that. Do you know why this is? Is it dying in other countries as well? I've always thought of UV as an amazing concept but executed dismally. I won't miss it.

We don't have Vudu, and all the services we do have in Canada are terrible.

[bdmckinl]

Originally Posted by Wasgo

all the services we do have in Canada are terrible.

Wholeheartedly agreed!

[crackedknee]

There seems to have been problems in UV this week and lately in the US, I hope this does not bode ill for UV access.

I wonder if you could still redeem US Logan codes via proxy, and get it in your UV locker?

Seems utter nonsense to me that there is a split between Canadian and US codes systems (we're in the same "region" for discs, after all).

Then again, I've had German codes and French codes and UK codes, unique to the countries in question, all (de, fr, ca, uk, us) redeemable in Flixster for UV, all in my UV locker once redeemed, regardless of country of origin.

[bdmckinl]

Originally Posted by crackedknee

Seems utter nonsense to me that there is a split between Canadian and US codes systems

Anytime a US release has a digital/UV copy, and the equivalent Canadian release does not, it really pisses me off (e.g. Spotlight).

Despite the poor execution (e.g. suddenly having 2 copies of the same movie in your digital locker, poor options for organizing your collection, no special features, movies suddenly being deemed unplayable), the real deal-breaker for me was the way downloaded digital copies of the files were hidden, unrecognizable as media files, impossible to transfer, and rendered inoperable just as easily and frequently as playability from the cloud was. 'Ownership' of UV titles just always felt sketchier and more tenuous when compared to my iTunes titles.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by darthpepsi

Fox dropped UV redemption in Canada a few weeks ago. I would be interested to see the stats on what people select, but UV is dead in Canada.

Actually, Fox gave the boot to UV redemption in Canada with the release of Morgan as far as I can tell. However, if you buy US versions of the new releases, you can redeem those codes in vudu using a proxy and they will port over to Flixster despite not being listed as available. I found this out a few weeks ago with such titles as Jackie, Birth Of A Nation and Assassins Creed. I assume it works with the newer titles as well.

EDIT: Just tried it with a US code for Logan. Ported from my vudu account to Flixster as well.

[TheDean]

Originally Posted by bdmckinl

Interesting! Thank you for that. Do you know why this is? Is it dying in other countries as well? I've always thought of UV as an amazing concept but executed dismally. I won't miss it.

UV is dying everywhere. I hear it is basically dead in the UK and studios in the US are removing the word Ultraviolet from packaging. Fox did months ago. Universal just started this week. Which seems to have lead to some code errors for Get Out. Now looks like Warner Bros. is dropping the name as well. Now calling it "Digital Movie".

I have no doubt they will still be "Ultraviolet" just re branded. If it were not for Vudu. UV may have been a complete failure.

[twobelowpar]

UV is essentially unknown and useless in Canada. People either pirate or use iTunes.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by twobelowpar

UV is essentially unknown and useless in Canada. People either pirate or use iTunes.

Yep, same in U.K. Even the BBC digital store has been shutdown so it seems people want to subscribe rather than buy digital copies.

The U.S is a an exception because of Vudu but even then, it seems things haven't worked out for U.V

[bdmckinl]

Given how the studios reportedly so badly want people to move away from physical media and embrace digital, it is surprising how uncoordinated and half-ass their efforts have been in bringing UV to the international market.

[darthpepsi]

The failure of UV outside of the US is strictly access and distribution. I have 40 UV licenses but have no way of accessing it outside of my phone!! Not having Apple, Google or Amazon sign with UV was a huge mistake for the studios. Disney keychest is the best option but Disney has yet to expand outside of US so for the time being that's useless as well.

[bdmckinl]

Originally Posted by darthpepsi

Not having Apple, Google or Amazon sign with UV was a huge mistake for the studios.

If studios, for better or worse, are throwing in the towel when it comes to UV in international markets, do you (or does anyone) think they could actually pull the plug on Canada and other countries even being able to *access* UV? If so, do you (or does anyone) think there's a hope in hell that they would/could work something out with iTunes (or Google, or Amazon) so that any UV titles can be 'transferred'? Even as I type that it sounds pie-in-the-sky silly and naïve...yet, the alternative (i.e. screwing international customers out of their sometimes-considerable collections) would presumably incur a not inconsiderable amount of wrath...

[HD Canuck]

I'm having the same issues as most in this thread. Kinda ticked that my digital copies are spread out over 3 services: iTunes, UV/Flixster/Sony, and Google Play. Noticed more and more are going away from iTunes, but still have movies like Moonlight, Hunger Games, Now You See Me that included only an iTunes code.

Noticed it with Logan too, and that it could be a red flag. Whenever I can I use Google Play now but still use Flixster. Inferno pissed me off. It's in my Sony UV, but not in Flixster.

If the option is there, any digital copies I got are going to Google Play now.

[stargazeruk]

Originally Posted by HD Canuck

I'm having the same issues as most in this thread. Kinda ticked that my digital copies are spread out over 3 services: iTunes, UV/Flixster/Sony, and Google Play. Noticed more and more are going away from iTunes, but still have movies like Moonlight, Hunger Games, Now You See Me that included only an iTunes code.

Noticed it with Logan too, and that it could be a red flag. Whenever I can I use Google Play now but still use Flixster. Inferno pissed me off. It's in my Sony UV, but not in Flixster.

If the option is there, any digital copies I got are going to Google Play now.

Inferno should of shown up on Flixster for you. Sony Redeem for me has been a bit of hit and miss and not working as expected.

One film redeemed into my Sony account but did not put it into my uv or port over to other providers.

Underworld blood wars was an odd one for me. It did not show in myvu with the poster but ported to other services and was not searchable in myuv library but the providers saw it. It also redeemed in HD and not UHD. I had to contact them and then and then they got it fixed with showing finally in UHD in my locker.

[Jakdonark]

I noticed with Trolls that it was iTunes only, and it's funny because I've had so much difficulty with uv over the years (I live in Canada) especially with dreamworks titles. Shrek collection and Kung Fu Panda both had ITunes logos but when I tried to redeem them only uv came up. Took weeks of email exchanges to get it all to work. And after two years of trying to track down an old copy of How to Train Your Dragon 1 with iTunes, I finally found one at Value Village for like $6, and it was the paramount issued version (with 7.1!) that had a Digital HD code that redeemed in iTunes and UV! HTTYD 2 was through fox so I had to choose... iTunes is my preferred. But I can pick up the dvd or blu for cheap just for the uv code so I can have both.

Is the Fox switch retroactive? I have tons of codes I'm sitting on to redeem, including the entire XMen series (even an extra Rogue Cut!) specifically to redeem in uv (already have the set in iTunes). Otherwise I hope they can be redeemed in Google. I have a handful of those and find the player much better than Flixster Video or CinemaNow, both have lots of glitches which I've reported but there have been no fixes. In the case of Flixster, it's actually gotten worse.

Another issue is Fox/MGM titles redeemed through UV show up in Flixster but not CinemaNow, and that's the better player. I redeemed the Bond Collection last year, and it won't show up in CinemaNow, and my collections are uv linked. D2D purchases through CinemaNow show up in Flixster. But over the last couple years a lot of titles have been removed from D2D, even ones that I know I tried the year before. An email to CinemaNow got a reply that there is no current list and the providers change availability as they see fit.

Now this may be the absolute last straw: last week I wanted to watch Field of Dreams for Fathers Day. Don't have a lot of time to sit and watch my blus unfortunately so digital is a necessary evil for my movie fix. I recently got and iPhone 6 which isn't compatible with my XP pc so I have to transfer movies to my laptop. Didn't have time to do that, so I was just going to download the UV version while I showered. It wasn't on CinemaNow. Or Flixster. Entered the code, said it was already redeemed. Then I checked Speed. It was gone from both too. WTF, UV?

[BlakkMajik3000]

UV has pretty much been a disaster for every country except the US, where we have VUDU.

VUDU themselves would have to establish marketshare outside of the US for UV to really take off worldwide, but it doesn't seem like they are interested in non-US markets currently.

It really sucks, because UV had the support of every studio except Disney. But if they can't crack the non-US markets, it's going to make UV a hard sell.

[Jakdonark]

Also just watched Twister on CinemaNow. It was locked at 1:85, couldn't change the ratio. Checked some other 2.35 movies and they were all good. Checked Twister on Flixster and it was 2.35. Yeah if there was some consistency and better support UV could be doing better. I'm not trying to bash them because I do like having an alternative to iTunes, especially one you can quick reference and stream, but the hassles from playback and quality issues really don't help.

[p w]

Originally Posted by bdmckinl

Interesting! Thank you for that. Do you know why this is? Is it dying in other countries as well? I've always thought of UV as an amazing concept but executed dismally. I won't miss it.

UV is in serious trouble in Australia, with all UV providers leaving the Australia market but for Flixster. A couple of british friends have told me UV isn't really finding much acceptance in the UK either. If the format fails, the studios will struggle to ever control another digital format.

We'll see the true future of UV in 2018 as most of the contract terms only covered it until that period. If flixster retreats to make room for at&t/warners streaming service in 2019, UV will need a champion like netflix, amazon, google, apple, or disney to save it from the failed technology pile.