Transfer ultraviolet digital copy dvd to iTunes, not Flixster?

Anyone notice that several new films are now coming with both "Digital Copy" & Ultraviolet?

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was that way. A few Blu-Rays I have on pre-order down the line say they come with both a "Digital Copy" and an "Ultraviolet Copy". I wonder if this is the new trend. They are: Titanic & Jaws (100th Anniv edition).

I wonder if this is the new trend. If they will include a standard/regular Digital Copy from iTunes like before, they can put Ultraviolet on there all they want, I won't use it.

Yes but there are still many with just Ultraviolet. I made the mistake with Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows. Never again. I will no longer buy movies with only Ultraviolet.

At first I hated Ultraviolet. However, I am now a convert who feels it has a place in the digital ecosystem.

iTunes and Ultraviolet each has its own quarks and pluses.

To me the biggest pluses for iTunes -

1. A high quality digital file downloaded permanantly to my computer.

2. The ability to intergrate my ripped DVD's to the library.

3. Seamless intergration to my ATV2 and ATV3.

The biggest minus for iTunes -

1. No upgrade path for DVD's to HD.

2. Losing music, books, apps, movies, and TV shows from my purchase record. I lost all five seasons of "Six Feet Under" for the streaming option. Season 3,4,5 was HD. Tech support said that when music, books, apps, movies, and TV shows make a change in catalog number, version, or other change you lose streaming rights. He gave be a list of 175 purchases that I lost rights to stream. He reset my download rights, My computer re-downloaded all 175 purchases. This did nothing but take bandwidth. I already had all those files. I just want streaming rights to the videos. "Six Feet Under" is still available for purchase but not to me to stream.

The biggest pluses for UltraViolet -

1. High quality 1080p streaming of movies which will switch to 720p with your premission if there is bandwidth problems.

2. Legal sharing with my parents in another household.

3. WalMart conversion of DVD's to 1080p HD.

4. No loss of files when UltraViolet loses rights to film. You can not purchase the film. However, if it is in your library you get to keep it. BIG ADVANTAGE OVER iTUNES!!!!!!!!

The biggest minus for UltraViolet -

Having to use PS3 instead of ATV

Philip

Message was edited by: BigPhilipK for spelling

BigPhilipK wrote:

2. Losing music, books, apps, movies, and TV shows from my purchase record.

Never heard of this happening before. Must not be a big problem (except maybe for those it happens to). Make backups.

4. No loss of files when UltraViolet loses rights to film. You can not purchase the film. However, if it is in your library you get to keep it. BIG ADVANTAGE OVER iTUNES!!!!!!!!

Not sure how this is an advantage as this is exactly the same for iTunes. If it is in your library, it is in your library to keep.

Yes, I make backups. In fact all my movies are on five different hard drives.

What is different is the Cloud. iTunes can pull your purchases from the cloud so no access to your iPad or other device without first downloading from your computer.

UltraViolet is designed from the get-go to be cloud storage. Big advantage in my book.

iTunes main library is on your computer.

UllraViolet main library is in the Cloud.

Philip

Uh, the proper name of the service is "iTunes in the Cloud". That's a dead giveaway. Have you missed all the apple speeches (mostly when Jobs was alive) talking about making the focal point of everyhting not your computer, but the cloud?

This argument is silly. ******* about about the relative merits of either really isn't the point of this thread. It won't go anywhere, to be honest. You like UV? That's fine. Most people don't. This really isn't the place for it, though.

With all due respect BigPhillipK, considering your only two posts on Apple forums has been on this thread, if you are happy with UltraViolet how is it that you found this thread (and why)? I only ask becasue I have run into many posts on other sites that I know were studio employees trying to get people to sing the praises of UV, so I get naturally suspicious when a nw account with only posts on this again sing how it's great. I"m not trying to question your integrity, but I think you can understand my suspicion.

Edit: my appologies I do see a coupel other posts in Apple forums now, didn't show up before.

With that said, I fully acknowledge that some people may like UV, my point isn't necessarily that UV is 100% terrible, my point is rather that the studios should always provide other choices for digital media content. Personally I like iTunes media the best, I don't buy streaming content and have no desire to, iTunes or otherwise. If the studios actually cared what people wanted they would provide at least three options for digital content with every movie that advertises that the movie comes with a digital version.

1) iTunes

2) Windows Media Player/Zune Market

3) Amazon/UltraViolet/Google/whatever else.

I of course freely admit I am biased to iTunes, it works the way I want, and have never had issues with my content continuing to work. But if someone else has a different ecosystem and preferences the more power to them. But studios only offering UV media is nothing short of 100% crap.

I love Apple fanboys. Apple is great and everyone else is bad.

I am NOT an Apple fanboy.

I own Apple computers, Apple iPhones, Apple TV's, etc. I prefer iTunes. However, I am not 100% pro Apple.

While I prefer iTunes, I also realize that UltraViolet has advantages.

Apple iTune support is HORRIBLE. I still don't have streaming rights to 175 purchases including five season of "Six Feet Under".

So give it up on the idea that anything not Apple is 100% crap.

Grow up.

Philip

I never said Apple's offerings were prefect, infact I simply was making the case that the movie studios should simply be offering more than a single option so that different people can have the media they paid for in the way that best suits their needs/wants.

offeing only UV really is 100% crap on part of the studios. Customers are spending their hard earned money to watch the content on thier devices, and on their competers. There should be atleast 3 of the top solutions provided as an option with each purchase so that the consumer can decide what the best way is for their own needs, be it UV, iTunes, WMP, Amazon, or whatever. Do you disagree with that? If studios really want to combat piracy (which I agree is a problem) then they should offer conent to consumers in ways that fit ewach of their needs/wants not try to shove a single homebrew solution down everyone's throats.

We are on an Apple forum so it's safe to say most people here prefer and want solutions that fit how they use their Apple products, for most of us that means iTunes based solutions. I would expect a similar type discussion if I were on a Zune forum, most people there would likely want Windows based solutions. It doesn't mean they are all conviced that everything Microsoft makes is 100% perfect, just that they are in a forum where most people are going to want a solution that works best with how they want to use their Zune. Simple logic really.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience (or multiple bad experiences) with iTunes, but that can effectivly happen under any business model, just in different ways. I have had poor customer service and bad experiences with UV, so I am a bit fried on them.

What is the point of streaming when you are on an airplane or in an area with bad cell service? Why should I be required to get a data plan for my iPad to watch a movie I already own? Streaming has its place when you dont care about sound or video quality. I want my media in my hand, I want to put the actual file on anything I want, I don't want the rights to watch the movie or listen to the song, which I think is where we are headed. All of my media is managed by iTunes and that is where I want to keep it. The cloud is fine for backups but not for watching/listening to you media. It is too slow, takes up a lot of bandwidth, and the quality is dreadful.

I think part of the thing some of the UV fans here are missing is that for some of us it's not just a matter of being fanbois, purely that a lot of time and effort (and sometimes money) has been put into building up a repository in iTunes and purchasing equipment that is compatible. We just don't want to have to maintain a seperate media repository.

There is the streaming question too. If I'm travelling I can dump a whole load of movies on my iPad and use it on the go. I don't have to worry about cellular data plans (my pay-as-you-go actually prohibits streaming) or blowing my ISP's monthly download cap as I can just copy straight off my iTunes library as part of the sync process. I have local backup too so I'm not reliant on the cloud at all (though I can use it if I choose to do so - quite frankly I feel uneasy relying on a third party for remote storage, if they go belly up then where does my content go?)

So... I will be sticking to my guns. I will NOT buy any media with UV-only and I will not be buying any WB content at all until they agree to give me an iTunes code for the one I've already paid for.

bailey#70 wrote:

I think part of the thing some of the UV fans here are missing is that for some of us it's not just a matter of being fanbois, purely that a lot of time and effort (and sometimes money) has been put into building up a repository in iTunes and purchasing equipment that is compatible. We just don't want to have to maintain a seperate media repository.

Very good point. I agree fully. However, that is not the world in which we live. Apple is trying to take control of video the way they did with music. The studios want no part of it.

Like it or not, we are stuck with more than one system for some time to come.

More importantly, each system does have its advantages and disadvantages. I prefer iTunes. However, I know that UV does some things better.

bailey#70 wrote:

So... I will be sticking to my guns. I will NOT buy any media with UV-only and I will not be buying any WB content at all until they agree to give me an iTunes code for the one I've already paid for.

The first statement in this paragraph is your choice and works for you. The second point is CLEARLY wrong. You did not pay WB for an iTunes code. They do not owe you one. You paid for a UV code and the Blu-Ray movie. The packaging is clea.

Jerm99 wrote:

It is too slow, takes up a lot of bandwidth, and the quality is dreadful.

With the exception of the bandwidth issue, this statement is way off base.

Clearly you have never watched UV 1080p movies. In the digital world, they are still the best available. Until Apple 1080p, no one else came close.

If you want the best video and sound, you need to stick with Blu-Ray discs.

However, if you want to buy movies that are not on a physical disc you need to sacrifice some video and sound quality.

It doesn't matter if it is streamed or on you hard disc UV 1080p has a slight advantage to Apple 1080p. Both are far superior to anyone else.

Has far as the iPad goes, I can't watch more than a few minutes of video at a time. Too small a screen.

When I travel, I take my 15" MacBook Pro and 1 gig portable HD to watch movies. This is a big advantages to iTunes for me.

So don't give UV a thumbs down on quality vs. Blu-Ray as iTunes would get the same thumbs down!

You just proved my point. You are never going to get high quality 1080p with streaming, the currently cell infrastructure just does not exist even with 4g the networks in big cities are always flooded causing the quality to degrade. I get better quality with a physical copy on my phone or pad...which is my over all point...I hate having to be forced to stream and the file you can download does not integrate with my apple infrastructure at home which others have also pointed out.

And you are right, I will always prefer blu-ray but my overall point is I hate the streaming only option and the fact that I cannot manage the files in iTunes.

bailey#70 wrote:

So... I will be sticking to my guns. I will NOT buy any media with UV-only and I will not be buying any WB content at all until they agree to give me an iTunes code for the one I've already paid for.

BigPhilipK wrote:

The first statement in this paragraph is your choice and works for you. The second point is CLEARLY wrong. You did not pay WB for an iTunes code. They do not owe you one. You paid for a UV code and the Blu-Ray movie. The packaging is clea.

Yeah, like you stand and read all the labels in detail before buying these things. In reallity, most people see the blue "Triple Play" banner at the top and skip over the bit where it says "Digital Copy" and think "Ok, that'll do me". In my case I was just happy to get hold of the new Sherlock Holmes on release day at a reasonable price. It wasn't until I'd gotten home, unwrapped it and put the disk into my laptop to get the digital copy that I noticed anything was actually wrong. I purchased a digital copy, what I did not get is a digital copy I can use, hence my annoyance.

If consumers have an expectation of something in a product they buy regularly then there should be clearer warnings when things change. I know WB don't get money for iTunes codes but ultimately they are the company who sold me the product then refused to take responsibility for misleading me at the point of sale.