Fox to Sell Digital Downloads of Films Before Their Blu-ray Release Dates - Page 5

Where are you seeing this information? Does this apply to download only?

also here.....http://uvdemystified.com/

Sorry, I saw a response was already given....

Yeah, I would like to know this too.....where are the devices that will handle CFF file downloads? If I can do it with my NAS, I'd like that.......

IMO, that will never happen with UV titles because there is no way to implement DRM.

If I am not mistaken, DRM decoding is to be done via the playback device, thus allowing one to have the CFF files on separate storage.......This potential is what attracted me to the UV ecosystem in the first place.......

I'm fairly certain that if you download DRM protected video files from Amazon or iTunes onto your PC you can put them on whatever store you want. The files contain DRM information that the player will use to confirm your right to use them on the computer that you're running the player on.

precisely, in my scenario, say for instance, my WD Live Hub becomes an official UV device to decode CFF files.....I would download the files, store them on my NAS, and play them from there, with the Hub doing the DRM decoding......At present, I have files on the internal drive of the Hub, but cannot transfer them to my NAS and play them because right now they are in VUDU proprietary format......

Presumably we should be able to do this once the CFF files are finally released. The player on the other hand will need to support the playback of files that are stored on a NAS device. So only time will tell... As for obtaining the CFF files in the first place, that can be by any means as they are supposed to be able to be copied freely, however I'm sure the studios will probably make us Install some sort of software for the download.

From what I understand, playback ability will come from firmware on the device........we still need to know what devices besides PC's will be capable of this.........

I didn't see this at all - how is your TV/Monitor and PS3 calibrated?

On a LG Blu-Ray BD390 at with 20 Mbps connection and through a calibrated Panasonic 55VT30 Plasma it looked stunning (the TV was receiving 1080P YCbCr 24 fps with average download speed through the movie of just over 9 Mbps) blacks were black and shadow detail was great and with no sign of any banding (I have returned expensive local dimming LED TVs for banding)

We watched in a totally dark room from about 8 feet..

Have you tried any test patterns through the PS3 (for instance AVS HD 709 http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration)

Like you I am very susceptible to banding (and black level issues) and I think I would have seen it if it was there.

I have at least five other devices with VUDU players (3 BD players, a Roku 2 and my Xbox 360)--I'll try watching Prometheus on some of them to see whether I see the same banding. I don't normally use the PS3 to watch VUDU, or any other kind of video; mine is a 60GB launch model and a noisy power-hog. I'd usually use a BD player for VUDU and now that it's on Roku I'll use that. I only used the PS3 because I could download 1080p to it and I wanted to play a download to make sure that there were no periods of PQ drop due to fluctuating conditions on my connection to their servers (I was watching on a Friday night).

EDIT: I tried watching it on a few other players: Roku 2, Panasonic BDT220 and Xbox 360. Though I could see some banding here and there if I looked hard, all of them were greatly superior to the PS3. It was interesting to note that they all handled 2:3 pulldown a little differently, with the BD player being the smoothest. In fact, I'd never have noticed the amount of banding that I could see on the BD player at all. I will be using it for VUDU from now on.

Like you I have many different devices that can play VUDU.

I use my Blu-Ray player a LG BD390 for VUDU because it can output 24 fps on VUDU (and Netflix).

For Netflix I currently use my ROKU2 (+1080P and 5.1 audio - only 60 fps output) vs the BD390 (+24pfs output - 720P and stereo audio)

but for VUDU the BD390 rules 1080P24 5.1 output which looks great!

Edit I should add my Plasma display 24 fps at 96Hz (repeats 4 frames) so there should be no 2:3 pull down issues
Edited by undecided - 10/19/12 at 1:22pm

I do not "purchase" any downloadable movies. I do purchase Blu-Rays for movies that I like which comes down to a couple a year as far as new movies come.

I wish we didn't go from DVD to another disc-based format though. Some kind of flash-based format like SD card would be much more preferable but at the time and even now prices for 50GB flash media are just not low enough.
Edited by JoeSchmoe007 - 10/23/12 at 8:41pm

Optical disc for distribution is a stamping process which means they can produce a large quantity in a short time using cheap plastics. Time = money, therefore disc are very cheap to produce when compared to any other process. I would not purchase any title on a SS memory device because at some point in time the gate “charge” on those FETs will dissipate and you will lose your content. I have CDs that are almost 30 years old and they still play fine.

Holographic data storage seems to be a non starter at the consumer level.

Unlike CDs, BD production uses a "sputter" method to put the data tracks onto the plastic surfaces. It's too high a data density for stamping to work. It's still extremely cheap, though.

Not true, the disc is stamped then a metal coating is sputtered on on the pited surface. I believe YouTube has some videos of the process.

I was going by the description of the process on the Panasonic site. It's somewhat ambiguous. http://panasonic.net/blu-ray/technology/branch/process/

A stamped disc (pit = 1, no pit = 0) can not be read by the laser because it is clear polycarbonate plastic, therefore it must have a metal coating applied (sputtering) to reflect the laser beam.

The Panasonic description is OK, just follow the single layer diagram and it should be clear.

Totally agree with this!

If VUDU video quality were actually decreasing (and I don't think that it is), it's certainly not due to any decrease in bit rate. I've downloaded recent VUDU releases in HDX and they're all the same approximately 9 Mbps they've always used.

Not to mention that the cost for storage and bandwidth is plummeting rapidly, I noticed that Amazon reduced their S3 rates recently as they compete with Google's dropping rates.