Blackout Threats from the Studios

[theogeek_nola]

I'm a big advocate for cloud-based video collections, largely because I live in a house that once had a foot of Lake Pontchartrain in it and because I don't have to battle my bride for storage space with physical media. (I still have a rather large Bluray and DVD collection, but I keep most of it in a closet.) I'm not all that crazy about the fact that I'm sometimes stuck with mediocre transfers or movies in the incorrect aspect ratio in services like VUDU, though for the most part I am happy with the service.

All that being said, I get a little nervous about the "studio blackout" warnings in the terms and conditions of various Ultraviolet service providers. I don't know if you would call it a complete "blackout," but several of my VUDU/UV titles are not available at the moment on my Roku player, and I know of people with other models who have even fewer titles show up.

I was wondering what you guys who are advocates of digital video think. Is this language used by the digital video distributors just legal mumbo-jumbo to protect them in catastrophic events, or should we be legitimately worried that substantial portions of our collection (that we paid for) simply disappear into the night? (I'm not speaking about sales windows, which I know come and go.)

I just really wanted to get involved in a cloud based service in the event of another physical catastrophe like Katrina. But can I say with any confidence--can any of us--that the investment really is for the long haul?

I do, for the record, have over 1100 UV or VUDU titles (including some UV holdouts like Disney and MGM releases).

[Clark Kent]

Basically what will happen in the future is that no one UV provider will be able to provide streaming access to every movie. Studios make different contract provisions for different blocks of movies. Rights will lapse all the time unless sites like VUDU pony up the money for access. I suspect we'll start seeing more timed exclusives and other gimmicks, as each site wants to draw certain customers.

[FlickFab]

My experience is that if I redeemed it on vudu or bought it from vudu, it doesn't go anywhere. If I have it transferred into vudu from another service via the uv locker, I have had some that randomly come and go, but not many that I have noticed.

I was an early adopter and have been enthusiastically using UV since it started. Yes, even when everybody on the forum boards wanted iTunes and basically called me an idiot, I was on board with uv. I have around 1200 movies in vudu and most are uv enabled (maybe 100 or so aren't) and have been very satisfied.

One thing I would like to know - is the movie still showing in your vudu account and/or your flixster account when you look from your computer? Or has it disappeared from there as well and you see only in your uvvu.com locker? If you can still see it in vudu or flixster when you log in from your computer, you might need to unlink your roku account and link back - could be some issue there. If you can't see it anywhere but the uvvu.com locker, then it probably is a studio blackout for HBO or some nonsense like that.

[theogeek_nola]

Originally Posted by FlickFab

One thing I would like to know - is the movie still showing in your vudu account and/or your flixster account when you look from your computer? Or has it disappeared from there as well and you see only in your uvvu.com locker? If you can still see it in vudu or flixster when you log in from your computer, you might need to unlink your roku account and link back - could be some issue there. If you can't see it anywhere but the uvvu.com locker, then it probably is a studio blackout for HBO or some nonsense like that.

VUDU shows all of my titles on the website, the portable apps, the VIZIO smart TV app, and my Sony Blu-ray player. The ROKU, on the other hand, is missing 10-11 titles. It's a known issue to VUDU techs (https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...issing-on-Roku), and they say it's an issue with studio agreements on those particular titles that may never be resolved.

VUDU has a far more reliable library engine and organizing mechanism. I only hope that if Clark Kent is right, the other UV content providers will up their game in the delivery mechanisms. VUDU is not without flaws, but it is leaps and bounds ahead of CinemaNow, MGO, Flixster, and Target Ticket in my book. Even the UV website is ridiculously clunky.

Of course, the interesting Ultraviolet development as CES this year was the promise of a central redemption site at Ultraviolet. I could see this going a number of ways.

[hellmutt]

Originally Posted by theogeek_nola

Of course, the interesting Ultraviolet development as CES this year was the promise of a central redemption site at Ultraviolet.

Judging by the utter lack of competence displayed by the people at uvvu.com, I am not holding my breath for them to develop a centralized redemption site that actually works...

[theogeek_nola]

Originally Posted by hellmutt

Judging by the utter lack of competence displayed by the people at uvvu.com, I am not holding my breath for them to develop a centralized redemption site that actually works...

Yeah, the heathcare.gov website might have worked better. -

I suspect to deliver on that promise they will need a complete site overhaul, because the present one barely functions.

[TBDave]

Originally Posted by theogeek_nola

The ROKU, on the other hand, is missing 10-11 titles. It's a known issue to VUDU techs (https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...issing-on-Roku), and they say it's an issue with studio agreements on those particular titles that may never be resolved.

I don't think this is an issue with studio agreements. It was a problem caused by audio formats that weren't compatible with certain Roku models. They need to get a fixed version from the studios.

Here's an earlier thread:

DanielH
VUDU Forum Moderator

There are a few movies that do not show on ROKU devices due to their audio encode. One of those movies, being Mars Attacks.

We've notified our content of this issue.

https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.ph...-app-on-Roku-3

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by theogeek_nola

Of course, the interesting Ultraviolet development as CES this year was the promise of a central redemption site at Ultraviolet. I could see this going a number of ways.

The studios would have a problem with a central UV redemption site, since they wouldn't get to harvest customers' info directly. The studios love building a huge database of movie-loving customers.

It is less a technical problem and more of getting all the studios to sign off on it.

[theogeek_nola]

Originally Posted by TBDave

I don't think this is an issue with studio agreements. It was a problem caused by audio formats that weren't compatible with certain Roku models. They need to get a fixed version from the studios.

Here's an earlier thread:

Thanks! This is helpful info. Have you had any success working with their content team before? I've been nagging them about some poor transfers and movies with incorrect aspect ratios (even HDX movies that have P&S versions), but this process seems dreadfully slow--and contingent on how well the studio wants to play.

For a slight change of subject, anyone out there using CinemaNow as an alternate player?

[TBDave]

Originally Posted by theogeek_nola

Have you had any success working with their content team before? I've been nagging them about some poor transfers and movies with incorrect aspect ratios (even HDX movies that have P&S versions), but this process seems dreadfully slow--and contingent on how well the studio wants to play.

As you can see in the Incorrect Aspect Ratio thread, things rarely get fixed. According to the customer service reps in the forum, they're at the mercy of the studios. And I guess the studios don't really care about fixing these problems.