UV shutting down 7/31

[steelman1991]

@Vodder

Check your spam folder - that's where mine landed.

 

[Vodder]

Ha... And you'd be right!

 

[cinelife]

Folks, if you use Vudu, DO NOT unlink your Vudu account from UV, just leave it alone, let the shutdown happen, and whatever UV content is currently available in Vudu will remain available after the UV closure. This is the same for the UV content in the K Store.

That info comes from Kaleidescape and Vudu (but sure it applies to any UV account).


Jim

 

[Mntneer]

Folks, if you use Vudu, DO NOT unlink your Vudu account from UV, just leave it alone, let the shutdown happen, and whatever UV content is currently available in Vudu will remain available after the UV closure. This is the same for the UV content in the K Store.

That info comes from Kaleidescape and Vudu (but sure it applies to any UV account).


Jim

The other thing to consider is most of your content in Vudu, is going to be in your Movies Anywhere locker.

If K can get an agreement struck up between them and MA, then there's not too much to worry about.

 

[HobokenSkier]

I bet K takes this opportunity to rethink its integration with digital rights. I personally think they should no longer allow someone to purchase a movie from Vudu or elsewhere and then go over to K to download. Not healthy for the company. I know folks might disagree... SJ

So then I have to buy to watch on K and then buy again so I can put it on the ipad / surface / kindle for the kids and when they travel and for secondary viewing locations and homes without K

Really

 

[HobokenSkier]

Folks, if you use Vudu, DO NOT unlink your Vudu account from UV, just leave it alone, let the shutdown happen, and whatever UV content is currently available in Vudu will remain available after the UV closure. This is the same for the UV content in the K Store.



That info comes from Kaleidescape and Vudu (but sure it applies to any UV account).





Jim

In fact go the other direction. Make sure your UV account is linked to every playback option it can be linked to.

• Fandango
  K
  paramount
  FITS
  Vudu

Then vpn to the UK or somewhere and link Flixster Video

 

[SJHT]

So then I have to buy to watch on K and then buy again so I can put it on the ipad / surface / kindle for the kids and when they travel and for secondary viewing locations and homes without K

Really

K needs a strategy that once you purchase on K, you would get the lower resolution digital rights through MA so you don’t need to purchase again....

SJ

 

[dthemenice]

Digital rights are a license of false hope

If you read a digital rights license, it is an extension of the license copy the provider purchase from the content producer. As such it is dependent on the provider and they may change the terms and revoke the license at any time. There is no way around this except for physical media. In that case your are protected by law as you own the license solely and not the provider. The only thing you have to worry about is loss of the physical media or obsolescence. Both of which can be overcome by right of backup as enshrined in US copyright law. Physical media is still the consumers best protection.

I'm suggesting you would have the K content and the digital rights as a backup and for streaming. Almost the same as when you purchase a physical disk. You purchased a physical disk and you get a digital code - not the other way around. You purchased a full res copy from K (same as disk - but understand it is still digital, but for the K full res version) and they give you a code which works on MA or VUDU. OK, wrong conversation here and not sure how big an issue it is, but the store is the future for K.... SJ

 

[TrackZ]

I think there's much higher likelihood and rationale behind K just joining MA vs. K giving out MA codes for purchases in the store.

I see where you're coming from though in that it protects their revenue better to issue codes vs. full membership. You have to buy from them, but you get the MA; however, it prevents cheaper MA purchases from iTunes or VUDU from porting in.

Given that K did UV and thus allowed cheaper purchases from VUDU, they have a precedent for this. Native MA is just the same and is probably far less arduous from a business and legal perspective than setting up a code infrastructure.

I'll also contend that we don't want lower resolution digital rights porting out of K. A UHD purchase should be a UHD right everywhere.

 

[Mntneer]

I think there's much higher likelihood and rationale behind K just joining MA vs. K giving out MA codes for purchases in the store.

I see where you're coming from though in that it protects their revenue better to issue codes vs. full membership. You have to buy from them, but you get the MA; however, it prevents cheaper MA purchases from iTunes or VUDU from porting in.

Given that K did UV and thus allowed cheaper purchases from VUDU, they have a precedent for this. Native MA is just the same and is probably far less arduous from a business and legal perspective than setting up a code infrastructure.

I'll also contend that we don't want lower resolution digital rights porting out of K. A UHD purchase should be a UHD right everywhere.

I'd be curious to know what their revenue from content sales is compared to hardware. At the very least, if a purchase in K would grant MA rights, I think that would satisfy a vast number of owners and potential owners.

 

[HobokenSkier]

What I want to know is as a potential future purchaser of a K system how do I link my UV rights now to grandfather my 1000 UV movies onto a K system.

 

[Kostas]

however, it prevents cheaper MA purchases from iTunes or VUDU from porting in.

And why it shouldn’t? K’s final product is not comparable to digital, it is superior. You can only compare it to physical media. So why buy cheaper and not support the work done by K to provide us with the equivalent of physical media? At the same time you support the viability of your system. We all remember what happened few years ago......
When I don’t like what K provides I buy the 4K BD from Amazon. Prices should be compared at this level and not with digital providers or digital code sellers.
My 2¢...

Given that K did UV and thus allowed cheaper purchases from VUDU, they have a precedent for this.

Not sure why they should continue doing this with MA. K should allow import of existing digital libraries as an one-off during system registration for new owners and then, I agree with others, give an MA code for redemption with every purchase from a participating studio.

I'll also contend that we don't want lower resolution digital rights porting out of K. A UHD purchase should be a UHD right everywhere.

Absolutely!

 

[HobokenSkier]

I'm sure a requirement of MA is reciprocity.

Also buying and getting an MA code would look a lot like digital double dipping

 

[Kostas]

I'm sure a requirement of MA is reciprocity.

Reciprocity is “exchanging things with others for mutual benefit”. I personally see only one side benefiting.....the cheaper....

Also buying and getting an MA code would look a lot like digital double dipping

Is buying a Bluray or 4K Bluray disk that includes a code double dipping? If K ever joins MA it will be the same. You buy a movie from K rrom a studio that participates in MA you get the code.

 

[HobokenSkier]

Reciprocity is “exchanging things with others for mutual benefit”. I personally see only one side benefiting.....the cheaper....







Is buying a Bluray or 4K Bluray disk that includes a code double dipping? If K ever joins MA it will be the same. You buy a movie from K rrom a studio that participates in MA you get the code.

While I agree with you that K is bitperfect BD and UHD stream has additional compression or different audio or is not 'identical', the studios would put them in the same bucket of UHD/4k.

On the second point I said digital double dipping. Not a physical plus a digital.

All this is driven by studio lawyers and sales people and additionally, likely the DIS and APPL of the world throwing their weight around to gain more control and further their vig in this space.

DIS has clearly shown they don't care about K unless it is a double dip. APPL wants 30% of the world's digital sales (as seen with the spat with Netflix). K is quarters in the back of the sofa in this discussion. APPL never joined UV, DIS never joined UV, now those two partners are bullying the weaker consortium and if you want to sell your digital 'Peppermint', then the only redemption location in town better be iTunes!

 

[TrackZ]

I don't think the MA system cares that K is higher quality. A digital right at UHD is just that in the locker system. What bit rate a given connected service provider decides to play that right at is their choice.

iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, MS, Google, Fandago, etc. all stream at different bit rates for video and audio. iTunes is nearly double the bit rate of some of those. Some offer Atmos in higher bit rate DD+ while others have 2 channel DD on the same content.

K offers something unique right now in that their bit rates would be the highest, but I would offer that fact is not really all that unique. It's just a numbers game for quality. Each end point provider gets similar high quality assets and makes their choice how they want to encode that to their customers, how much server/storage capacity they want to maintain, and how much bandwidth they want to consume. It's business operating cost vs. ROI from their customers.

I bet within 5-10 years iTunes (and/or others) is playing equally higher bit rates and lossless audio and doing it streaming vs. clunky downloads.

K offers something that is convenient over discs while having quality over streaming competitors, so it fulfills a niche at this moment. That is not something unattainable by other competitors in time if they choose to do so. The idea that K needs all kinds of special rules for MA, like they are something on a different pedestal, I don't agree with.

That said, I just want porting in some capacity. I'll take MA rights porting out, but not in, if that really is something MA would allow and it's the best that K wants to do. I don't see it happening that way though based on:

1. The CEO's comments.
2. Bi-directional porting with UV rights already having existed on K.
3. The way MA seems to work equally among all other existing members.

 

[David23]

Well said, TrackZ.

 

[Kevin D]

K may be higher at the first, but once downloaded it's there. Subsequent viewings do not add to the total. Any one care to calculate the break even point where the bandwidth would actually be cheaper for Kaleidescape? 5 streams, 10 streams?

Kevin D.

 

[20hertz]

I don’t think the solution is one way porting. There are movies which are not in K which I may already have a copy of through MA. Why should a user be forced to double dip. Unless the MA library and K library is the same, there is no easy way to enforce this.

The easiest solution would be to join MA and link both ways, but impose a download cost for movies not purchased through K. Simple solution without any loss to K or inconvenience to users with full flexibility.

A simpler implementation would be download credits. Every movie purchased through K store comes with download credit. Movies owned that are not purchased through K store will require purchase of download credits.

In fact if it were up to me, I would make the cost of download credits so that I make a tiny bit of profit, like 15%, over the cost of download.

Many times the cost of K store purchase is significantly higher compared to disc or MA purchase. So all of these put together will help K and the users.

 

[HobokenSkier]

I don’t think the solution is one way porting. There are movies which are not in K which I may already have a copy of through MA. Why should a user be forced to double dip. Unless the MA library and K library is the same, there is no easy way to enforce this.

The easiest solution would be to join MA and link both ways, but impose a download cost for movies not purchased through K. Simple solution without any loss to K or inconvenience to users with full flexibility.

A simpler implementation would be download credits. Every movie purchased through K store comes with download credit. Movies owned that are not purchased through K store will require purchase of download credits.

In fact if it were up to me, I would make the cost of download credits so that I make a tiny bit of profit, like 15%, over the cost of download.

Many times the cost of K store purchase is significantly higher compared to disc or MA purchase. So all of these put together will help K and the users.

But let's take 'frozen' or 'moana' my kids have watched that tens of times on tablets, roku etc in UHD / HD, each time about 2Gb+ of data.

So is K more data intensive than a Vudu or is it a one time hit instead of iterative, also can use data over night not at peak bandwidth times.

Further, Tivo and Amazon did the download thing for the longest time. A precursor to the K age. Bandwidth is not the biggest cost these days.

Looking at my network traffic, the biggest data hog is the Roku Ultra that was only installed around Christmas when I upgraded from an older Roku. That's about a month of streaming there.