Shop Talk: The Cloud Part 4
By David Mumpower
August 8, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
I am confident you are aware of the Ultraviolet service, at least somewhat. If you have read a detailed account of Ultraviolet from various technology sites, I also believe you probably have a misconception about the quality of the service. Despite the fact that the studios have their fingerprints all over Ultraviolet, I quite like this system. This is not the herd mentality on the subject, but this speaks to the negative nature of online media coverage rather than the quality of Ultraviolet itself.
Why do I advocate Ultraviolet? As a stated packrat as well as the founder of a movie web site, I have two key reasons for wanting a vast film collection at my fingertips. I will not attempt to sell you further on the advantages of the cloud. If you are not intrigued by now, I doubt you have read this far anyway. Instead, I will entail the reasons why Ultraviolet is a net positive for me. I will also identify a couple of key sticking points of the service that need improvement.
The Ultraviolet home page describes their version of the cloud as follows: “UltraViolet is an all-new way to collect, access and enjoy your movies and TV shows in the cloud – brought to you by a growing list of companies building UltraViolet into their online stores, video apps and devices.” You have to love corporate copy. Lots of words somehow say little. Here is your takeaway from Ultraviolet. You buy a digital copy of a movie, you own the title forever.
The implementation can be aggravating, yet the end result is quite satisfying. Ultraviolet requires the user to create an account at UVVU.com. There is a needless added level of complexity wherein the user must also create an account somewhere else rather than using the Ultraviolet account. The two user IDs work in tandem rather than exist in isolation. The locations where you are most likely to need an account are Flixster and Vudu. I will explain the why of this in a bit. What is undeniable is that demanding multiple accounts for service is awkward and annoying.
Once you have your Ultraviolet account created, you do not need to do anything else immediately. Instead, you can focus on what having said account means. Go to the Ultraviolet site and log in (first creating an account if you have not already done so). Ignore the “Our Collection” tab for now and instead focus upon “Our Account.” This is a key selling point of the service. Note that there are six different eligible members for each Ultraviolet account.
What this means to you as a consumer is that you do not have to build your catalog entirely on your own. Your family, friends and other loved ones can be added as well. This allows a group of people to work together jointly in order to build a full catalog of titles. I currently have another webmaster at BOP who is like a brother to me listed as well as my wife and family accounts for each of our households. If any of them ever purchase a DVD or Blu-Ray that has an Ultraviolet license, they add it and every member on the account gains immediate access to the film.
In this regard, library creation is a joint venture rather than a sunk cost for only one person. Such generosity is wholly out of character for the studio system and worthy of tremendous praise. After all, we all line up to cast stones on the many occasions when distributors blithely screw customers such as with the re-release of movies in each new format. Ultraviolet is at least somewhat of a move away from such behavior.
I am not naïve enough to believe that there are not further plans in the offing that again attempt to re-sell the same content to users. What I will say is that if something is in my Ultraviolet library in HD, I give the movie no further thought in terms of purchase. This was not the case with DVD or even Blu-Ray. I always knew in the back of my mind that I would wind up buying those titles again at some point down the road. With Ultraviolet, the fear is alleviated.
The other fantastic aspect of Ultraviolet is the focus on portability. I have downloaded the Vudu and Flixster apps, both of which provide the user direct access to the Ultraviolet library. This affords me the ability to play my accumulated titles from my iPad or iPhone when I am not home. The process is seamless and the connectivity is strong.
The picture quality is also quite a bit better than I had anticipated, although I should note that I do not have the latest generation of iPad. The high quality screen resolution on version three may hurt rather than help picture quality in the same way that watching a standard definition movie on an HDTV can be a brutal experience. Then again, you are watching a movie on a portable tablet/phone. Appreciate the miracle of this rather than focusing on the negatives!
Now that you have an Ultraviolet account and the ability to watch your programming from anywhere on Earth that has a cell tower nearby, let’s talk cloud seeding. I mentioned before that you will want an account with either Flixster or Vudu. The why of this is simple. Ultraviolet provides no direct methodology to view programming. You need a program designed to display the contents of your library. For the purposes of this column, I will focus on Vudu since I previously recommended it as the finest choice for movie cloud seeding.
I will assume you have already created a Vudu account. There is yet another needless step required that is again aggravating. You must link your Vudu account to your Ultraviolet library. Yes, there are a lot of passwords you will need to remember in order to maintain an online cloud at the moment. Assuming you can get past this latest indignity, the moment your Vudu account is linked to Ultraviolet, all of your titles are available.
For me, this means that since my television has a Vudu app built in, I can use the standard television remote to access my Ultraviolet library. This is AMAZING. The moment a title is available on Ultraviolet, I can purchase a license then watch the movie as many times as I want for the rest of my life. I am addicted to this process. It even causes me to demonstrate shaky decision making at times. How else could I explain owning a digital license for Joyful Noise and New Year’s Eve?
The process is painless. As an example, The Lorax was released on video yesterday. I had intended to see this release in the theater, but I blew out my back around that time. So I stayed at home and exceeded the recommended dosage on painkillers instead. I rarely miss $200 million blockbusters in the theater unless they are directed by Michael Bay. Suffice to say that I had been anticipating The Lorax’s video debut for some time. Within hours of its debut, I had input the Ultraviolet license and an HD version of the movie became mine forever. I can view it any time I want from the “My Vudu” menu in the Vudu app.
This leads us to another issue with HD. I mentioned above that the studios deserve praise for being forward-thinking for a change. This is undeniably true. Unfortunately, studios rarely treat their customers with respect multiple times in a short period. In the case of digital licenses, this is the case. While studios such as Sony and Paramount are kind enough to provide HD Ultraviolet licenses for their content, others are less generous. Even if you buy a top of the line 3D Blu-Ray from Universal or Warner Bros., you still will not be given an HD license. I find this business practice repugnant.
The lesser digital license may not seem like a big deal at the moment but as a long term investment, you will want HD titles whenever possible. We live in a 1080p world. A 480i/480p license is better than nothing but anyone who pays $20 for a Blu-Ray deserves the best possible license. You have, after all, paid for it. I am offended that certain studios are too cheap to provide these. I mentioned above that some bean counters will try to find other avenues to continue to re-sell the same content. An SD rather than HD digital license is exactly that sort of behavior.
If you can get past having to create multiple accounts (I currently have six just for Ultraviolet purchases) and the lack of automatic HD programming for HD purchases, the combination of Vudu and Ultraviolet is full of win. In perusing my current Ultraviolet library, I count 21 releases from 2012 that I already own forever. I will detail the methodology for this in next week’s column. What is germane to today’s discussion is that in purchasing digital Ultraviolet licenses to view through Vudu, I have eliminated the need for pay television and video rentals.
Think about your viewer habits for a moment. Let’s say you are an HBO subscriber because of the movies rather than a love of Game of Thrones or The Newsroom. There is ordinarily a 10-18 month delay on the exhibition of movie titles on HBO. 12 months is the standard. In August of 2013, they may have The Lorax available for rental in this regard. I couldn’t care less, though. I already own it now and forever in HD. Also, my cable company only airs programming in 1080i. Vudu is 1080p. So, I am seeing a better version of the same product a year earlier in the video release cycle. Yes, I am paying more in the short term but the financial outlay is offset by the fact that I no longer rent movies. Instead, I own them.
Ultraviolet as a service is much better than its reputation. In next week’s column, I will detail quick and easy ways for you to populate your movie catalog with all your favorite titles. I think you will be surprised by how many ways there are to mitigate your financial outlay, as well. I have tipped off several friends on shortcuts to quick cloud seeding at economical prices. They are already addicted. I want to pass along the details to you as well.