UltraViolet Coming Via Warner's 'Horrible Bosses' and 'Green Lantern', HBO Go News

[admin]

Time Warner has revealed their plans for the second half of 2011, and digital distribution is a big part of it.

Starting with the release of 'Horrible Bosses' and 'Green Latern', the majority of all future Warner Bros. DVD and Blu-ray releases will be UltraViolet compatible. This means that consumers can now get access to a cloud stored version of the same movie the instant they buy the disc version.

Warner says it's even possible for movie collectors to take their old discs to retailers, and get them to put the movie up on the UV cloud (or in other words, enabling access to the UV cloud stored version of the same movie).

The version of the movie stored in the UV cloud will then be available to view on a variety of devices, with Warner preferring to deliver the UV experience via the Flixster app, which will soon include cloud storage support allowing users to view and manage their UV digital collection. Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. in May.

In related news, Time Warner owned HBO plans to produce a version of HBO Go for game consoles and other Internet connected devices. The HBO Go app for iOS and Android was only launched in April, and yet, it has already been downloaded 4 million times. The free app allows viewers to catch up on recently aired HBO shows, as well as an archive of HBO classics such as The Sopranos, The Wire.

[dr_ml422]

They still can't let go of the physical disc can they? I mean if all this is in the cloud then why bother w/a physical disc? Why not just purchase the so-called rights online or something and take it from there? Or is the physical disc the legal receipt to cloud access on all formats? You mentioned streaming licensing fees being a factor w/regards to that video rental service Zediva, is that also a factor deciding the purchase of a physical disc as well?

I have no idea how or when, though there has to be some real solution to the storage of physical discs by consumers, especially movie buffs as yourself, and even myself along w/the many other members etc... that have a large collection. Right now there's no sure alternative and space still/is becomes a issue. Maybe some really personally identifiable barcode one can pass or something to prove it's you and your right to watch the cloud version. You can't beat piracy so I've taken that into consideration, though they will some how come up w/a workaround w/this too. Basically the rewards will definitely have to out weight any idea of getting over etc...

[admin]

To be fair, to put something as big as a 1080p Blu-ray quality movie (25/50GB) in the cloud, and with its bandwidth requirements (40Mbps+, or streaming at a sustained 5MB/s), a physical disc for now is still the best way to deliver content. It's like that old IT joke where it's actually faster to use carrier pigeons to transfer large amounts of data than through digital means.

But for DVD quality movies, the cloud is enough, and if UltraViolet gets the right hardware, I can even see movies only being released on Blu-ray, but the Blu-ray includes UV access to the DVD quality SD version of the movie, and so people with plenty of bandwidth and UV compatible hardware won't need to buy the Blu-ray+DVD combo version.

[dr_ml422]

Ok so as far as blu-ray there's still a lot of ground to cover cloud-wise. It's going to take a lot on Sony's part to finally establish it in some form or other albeit the physical disc.

At least DVDs will be available like you mentioned. Some progress better than none.

[admin]

Really need fibre to be available in most homes before Blu-ray quality streaming is a reality, which could take a while. Even at lower quality, you're still looking at something like sustained 12 Mbps, which is beyond the capability of most ADSL2+ users (at least here in Australia). Of course, there could be delayed viewing/downloading, but that sort of defeats the "instantness" of digital distribution.

[dr_ml422]

Well if fibre is the answer then even where I'm at is going to take a long time. They seem to be choosing where and when to install it. Verizon has Fios a couple of blocks from me, though I'm still forced to get Time Warner Cable. No idea why and they won't tell you.

[admin]

This is what happens with a private rollout - they'll "cherry pick" where to install it based on profitability, which will leave huge gaps in coverage, and actually hurt these company's long term future as a result (corporations these days are all very short sighted).

In Australia, we have a government rollout of fibre with 93% of households getting 100Mbps, and while it's come under some attack from the usual people (the "free market", "government shouldn't do anything except fight wars", brigade), it's mostly a popular idea with the people (and could be potentially very profitable for the government if they choose to sell off the network in the future). But Australia being Australia, it's going to take 10-15 years before it's all finished, whereas I'm sure if the Chinese were doing it, they could do it in about 3 years, at half the cost as well.