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UltraViolet streaming cloud-based Blu-ray and DVD video is coming
By Sebastian Anthony on July 15, 2011 at 10:23 am9 Comments
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A vice president of 20th Century Fox, speaking to Pocket-lint, has confirmed that UltraViolet, the cloud-based Blu ray-and-DVD video streaming service, will launch “very soon.” The same Fox executive also says that every major movie studio has signed onto the program, except Disney, and that the only big consumer electronics holdout — Apple — will soon toe the purple line.
But what is UltraViolet exactly? You’d be forgiven for having never heard of it — but once I tell you what it is, you’re either going to dribble with anticipation, or curse like a hippie libertarian who’s just had a bunch of human rights sucked out from underneath him. Basically, UltraViolet is a cloud-based library of your digital possessions. When you buy your first UltraViolet Blu-ray disc and slot it into your Blu-ray player at home, it will connect to the internet and ask you to make an account. This Blu-ray disc will then be forever connected to your UltraViolet account.
Now, there are a slew of seriously useful benefits associated with such a system. If you lose the original disc, don’t worry: just log into UltraViolet and download a copy — or simply stream it from the web. You can also pair multiple devices with your UV account — register the Blu-ray disc at home, and then stream it to your office computer, or your smartphone. This will also be the first ever fully-legal way to download TV shows and movies, too: log into the UV online store, purchase a license, and start watching right away. You’ll even be able to download your online purchase and burn it to DVD or Blu-ray — but of course, for many people, UltraViolet will be a way of finally getting rid of discs and their unsightly plastic cases.
Yes, UltraViolet is awesome — but now take a long, hard look at the caveats. For a start, UltraViolet isn’t just a cloud-based digital library — it’s DRM. To play UV Blu-ray and DVD discs, you need to access your digital library to download your license key — and if you’re not connected to the internet, the TV show or movie simply won’t start. Next, think about this for a second: your entire library of movies and TV shows will be stored in the cloud. There isn’t a single mention on the UltraViolet website that your library will be private — and with almost every major studio, broadcaster, ISP, and tech company on board, you can be guaranteed that they’ll be very interested in the contents of your digital library.
Because UltraViolet media cannot be played without internet access, Big Brother will see exactly what you watch and when you watch it. The powers that be will know exactly what kind of advertisements to show you, both on TV and on the web — and they’ll even be able to turn to companies like Coca-Cola or Verizon and tell them exactly which shows and movies they should buy product placement in.
The truly terrifying thing, though, is that there’s no guarantee that UltraViolet will be around for ever — and like Assassin’s Creed 2 and its infamous, web-based DRM system, what happens if your internet connection goes down when you want to watch a movie? Worse yet, what if UltraViolet is the target of a DDoS attack?
Finally, there will almost certainly be an atrocious Terms of Service that includes a variety of cunning ways for the UV consortium to ban you from their service. Imagine this: the cloud-based UV service will log your IP address when you request an UltraViolet movie or TV show. Now, if you go and torrent a movie, and the UV consortium finds your IP address in the torrent swarm, how much do you want to bet that they’ll disable your UltraViolet account?
UltraViolet streaming cloud-based Blu-ray and DVD video is coming
By Sebastian Anthony on July 15, 2011 at 10:23 am9 Comments
Share This article
A vice president of 20th Century Fox, speaking to Pocket-lint, has confirmed that UltraViolet, the cloud-based Blu ray-and-DVD video streaming service, will launch “very soon.” The same Fox executive also says that every major movie studio has signed onto the program, except Disney, and that the only big consumer electronics holdout — Apple — will soon toe the purple line.
But what is UltraViolet exactly? You’d be forgiven for having never heard of it — but once I tell you what it is, you’re either going to dribble with anticipation, or curse like a hippie libertarian who’s just had a bunch of human rights sucked out from underneath him. Basically, UltraViolet is a cloud-based library of your digital possessions. When you buy your first UltraViolet Blu-ray disc and slot it into your Blu-ray player at home, it will connect to the internet and ask you to make an account. This Blu-ray disc will then be forever connected to your UltraViolet account.
Now, there are a slew of seriously useful benefits associated with such a system. If you lose the original disc, don’t worry: just log into UltraViolet and download a copy — or simply stream it from the web. You can also pair multiple devices with your UV account — register the Blu-ray disc at home, and then stream it to your office computer, or your smartphone. This will also be the first ever fully-legal way to download TV shows and movies, too: log into the UV online store, purchase a license, and start watching right away. You’ll even be able to download your online purchase and burn it to DVD or Blu-ray — but of course, for many people, UltraViolet will be a way of finally getting rid of discs and their unsightly plastic cases.
Yes, UltraViolet is awesome — but now take a long, hard look at the caveats. For a start, UltraViolet isn’t just a cloud-based digital library — it’s DRM. To play UV Blu-ray and DVD discs, you need to access your digital library to download your license key — and if you’re not connected to the internet, the TV show or movie simply won’t start. Next, think about this for a second: your entire library of movies and TV shows will be stored in the cloud. There isn’t a single mention on the UltraViolet website that your library will be private — and with almost every major studio, broadcaster, ISP, and tech company on board, you can be guaranteed that they’ll be very interested in the contents of your digital library.
Because UltraViolet media cannot be played without internet access, Big Brother will see exactly what you watch and when you watch it. The powers that be will know exactly what kind of advertisements to show you, both on TV and on the web — and they’ll even be able to turn to companies like Coca-Cola or Verizon and tell them exactly which shows and movies they should buy product placement in.
The truly terrifying thing, though, is that there’s no guarantee that UltraViolet will be around for ever — and like Assassin’s Creed 2 and its infamous, web-based DRM system, what happens if your internet connection goes down when you want to watch a movie? Worse yet, what if UltraViolet is the target of a DDoS attack?
Finally, there will almost certainly be an atrocious Terms of Service that includes a variety of cunning ways for the UV consortium to ban you from their service. Imagine this: the cloud-based UV service will log your IP address when you request an UltraViolet movie or TV show. Now, if you go and torrent a movie, and the UV consortium finds your IP address in the torrent swarm, how much do you want to bet that they’ll disable your UltraViolet account?
