Digital Copy Movies

[apmallett]

Anyone tried to use these before? I'm lost for words on how complicated it is

I am going on holiday so I think i'll take my recent purchase of Django, so I need an ultraviolet account. I have quiet a few of these triple plays etc so that sounds ok. But, oh I also need a Sony account, oh wait you want to download the file, so you need to install a download manager, and then that download will take 2 hours of your time for a 2gb file. Plus all the movies I have mean you have to have a flixter account, a warner brothers account, a fox account and so on.

So, I think Skyfall actually has a disk to get the copy from, great, that will be better. So this time no accounts, but I do have to update DRM on Windows, which doesnt work first time, or second, but I understand, and then it takes 45 mins to transfer a file, while not knowing the size, is completely unreasonable

Rant over

[Shirty]

And they wonder why piracy is rampant.

[Dooms]

Indeed. I have zero problem paying for stuff (Steam library of 177 games and getting bigger weekly) however I HATE physical media. All my films are sitting on my HP Microserver and play happily to the whole house via XBMC on Pi's

I would like to say that the majority of my collection has been acquired from ripping my blu-ray collection and that's what I will stick to but give me somewhere I can pay a reasonable price for a proper rip (none of this 800mb 720p crap) which I can download off a server that will max out my connection and then once downloaded I can do what I want with it (XBMC, Plex, Tablets etc) and I'm sold.

[ZaO]

Mate I bought a download copy of a film not long ago. It only let me watch it on my computer and only with windows media player. I couldn't watch the damn thing on my phone. Wanted to watch it on a long journey I was doing. Really annoyed me, let's say. So I had no choice but to find another way of getting it onto my phone. I paid for it so I don't care. Being quite so restrictive does nothing to help the piracy issue.

[jimborae]

It's an awful system, even Ultraviolet type ones because yes you have to set up multiple accounts and even then it sometimes just wont work. I have a UK special Edition copy of Blade Runner that I can't watch on download because according to Flixster it was never released in the UK. Also other digital copy films have a time limit on which you have download the film in, once that's passed if you've not down loaded the film previously you will never be able to (I have a couple of films like this) so my only alternatives are to rip the film from the blu-ray or download a pirated version where someone has already ripped it for me. Thus a perfect example of the short sighted, greedy film industry forcing me into the arms of the pirate scene.

[Phage]

Going on holiday ? USB stick...

[ZaO]

It's an awful system, even Ultraviolet type ones because yes you have to set up multiple accounts and even then it sometimes just wont work. I have a UK special Edition copy of Blade Runner that I can't watch on download because according to Flixster it was never released in the UK. Also other digital copy films have a time limit on which you have download the film in, once that's passed if you've not down loaded the film previously you will never be able to (I have a couple of films like this) so my only alternatives are to rip the film from the blu-ray or download a pirated version where someone has already ripped it for me. Thus a perfect example of the short sighted, greedy film industry forcing me into the arms of the pirate scene.

I'm feelin that haha...

[Ferral]

I have used Ultraviolet, its a bit of a pain as you also have to register through Flixster to be able to watch them.

I have Flixster installed on my phone and have watched a few Ultraviolet movies after downloading them through that app and it has worked fine.

Flixster is becoming available on European PS3's and PS4 also in the coming months so you will be able to watch via your console.

[Octodog]

I absolutely hate the state of the 'digital copy' market. The worst offender I've come across for a shockingly poor implementation has to be the one from the Total Recall triple play package - so bad I didn't even bother claiming my digital copy!

It's a shame that the studios couldn't have come together to agree on a standard that they all use, as opposed to some with iTunes, some with UltraViolet, some with their own custom package, etc.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Download a DVD shrink trial and rip the puppies.

[b0redom]

Surprised the ban hammer hasn't already hit this thread. Isn't format shifting videos still a bit of a grey area?

[peterb]

Surprised the ban hammer hasn't already hit this thread. Isn't format shifting videos still a bit of a grey area?

Downloading a file provided by the distributor through their system is quite legal - but I agree with the earlier comments, the systems are unreliable - the Warner Brothers system in particular is dire - never managed to get it to work.

Ripping a DVD you own is a grey area, and obviously pirating a film to which you have no rights is a definite no.

[Blademrk]

I've used a few Digital copy services over the last couple of years (across PC, iPhone/iPad/iPod (touch and nano (2008), and Android tablet).

I always preferred the iTunes version (of the code based free versions) even though this was limited to use on the PC and Apple devices (there are some triple play packs out there that give both iTunes and Ultraviolet codes (Jaws, Battleship). Even more since they shifted the policy to allow you to re-download anything you've added to your account.

Ultraviolet is a mess with different accounts for different publishers, although at least you can redeem most films through Flixster without going through each publishers UV Portal despite the instructions on the code slip (I'm not sure if your <publisher> UV account must be tied to your Flixster account first though).

Blinkbox, If you've bought the film through Tesco (using a clubcard) you can get a copy of most (but not all) chart films free (irrespective of whether it comes with a iTunes/UV code).
Blinkbox has an app for streaming over Live on the Xbox 360 (not on the PS3, although I think there is rumor that it's coming), Tablet (Android or Apple (but no iPhone app - that one is just for music),

Some films come with PS3 codes (X-men: First Class, Predator box-set). The trouble with the this is that it doesn't let you re-download it if you delete it from your system so you'll need to back it up to a USB key (and I hope you don't need to replace your PS3 as I think the back-up is system specific).

Total Recall (the old Arnie one) had a dismal digital copy - you can only download it twice through the Lions gate website, and the copy you download to your PC cannot be transferred to your phone and the copy you download to your phone/tablet could not be transferred to the PC.

Google, any film bought on Android (Play Film) can be played through You Tube on the PC, and pinned to the movies tab in the android Films app

Hopefully, when copyrights are looked at and updated it won't be such a grey area on ripping our own media in order to format shift it.

[Phage]

Surprised the ban hammer hasn't already hit this thread. Isn't format shifting videos still a bit of a grey area?

The law is supposed to change in the Autumn this year apparently.
http://articles.rollingsons.co.uk/20...t-laws-on.html