I am a movie lover first and foremost. I would save my lunch money every week in middle & high school so that I could buy a new VHS the following weekend. In the last two or so years of high school I switched over to DVD collecting, after having amassed hundreds of VHS tapes that now just collected dust. Fast forwards another few years and I switched over to Blu-ray collecting. You can see where this is going, and so did I. I've spent far too much money on collecting movies, and then re-collecting movies, and then re-re-collecting movies over the years as each new bigger and better format rolled out. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the resolution bumps never really mattered to me, as long as the picture and sound were clear I was happy. I never bothered watching any of the special features in those giant special editions. I just wanted a way that I could watch movies that I loved anywhere, anytime, on anything, and avoid throwing a giant chunk of my income into overpriced physical formats ever again. I've found the answer about a year ago, and I feel the need to share my experience with MovieGAF.
What is UltraViolet? It is a cloud based digital rights management system that allows users to stream and download film and television content. The less complicated answer however is that UV copies are the equivalent to owning a VHS; useless on its own, but insert it into a VCR and voila. There are many UV players to choose from: Best Buy's CinemaNow, Flixster, M-Go, Kaleidescape, Paramount Movies, and the newest addition Target Ticket. But by far the best and highest quality UV player on the market comes from Walmart...
Vudu provides the best selection of movies and television out of any streaming service, and the highest quality HD streaming. And the Vudu App is available on practically every device: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS devices, Android devices, Roku, Blu-ray players, smart TVs, toasters, etc. While it's not Blu-ray quality, Vudu's HDX stream is the next best thing and an easy concession when you consider the following...
UV movie collecting is by far the cheapest way to amass an incredibly large collection of movies and television in 1080p for the least amount of money. I have over 200 films and dozens of TV series, which would have cost me thousands of dollars had I bought them on Blu-ray, but only cost me a few hundred. This can be done in three ways: Vudu's disc-to-digtial program, buying unwanted codes off third party sellers, and taking advantage of UV promotions.
Vudu is currently running a promotion that ends at the end of January where if you convert 10 DVDs or Blu-rays using their in-home disc-to-digital software, you get 50% off. That's 10 DVDs to HD quality UV for $20, or 10 Blu-rays to HD quality UV for $10. There really is no cheaper way to future proof your DVD collection than this. And you can convert as many as you want.
Many Blu-ray buyers hate digital copies, for whatever reason. Quality isn't good enough, can make their own copies, whatever. Not long ago these people figured out they could sell their codes to buyers on various forums, online groups, etc. and make their Blu-ray purchase a little cheaper. Hell, I've seen them being sold in the Buy/Sell/Trade thread in Gaming Community. While they enjoy a small percentage in savings, UV buyers get the latest films and television for fire sale pricing. For example these are some of my recent purchases: Breaking Bad The Complete Series $40 (Blu-ray $250), The Wolverine $4 (Blu-ray $22), Friday the 13th The Complete Collection $16 (Blu-ray $110), Man of Steel $3 (Blu-ray $24). Every day is Black Friday!
Then there are the promotions that each UV service run in order to lure you into using their services for your UV viewing needs. This is an excellent way to create an instant movie collection, and give UV a try to see if it's for you. All you have to do is sign up for a UV account, and then when you sign up with these UV providers you just link your UV account with them in the sign up process.
UV Promotions
Target Ticket: Sign up and choose 10 of the following films for free (SD quality). They will play through any UV service.
21 Grams
Alien
Blow
Cold Light of Day
Conspiracy Theory
Crocodile Dundee
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Ghost
Hall Pass
Independence Day
Johnny English
Legends of the Fall
LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers
Man On A Ledge
Mars Attacks!
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the world
Mona Lisa Smile
Office Space
Paranormal Activity
Radio
Rango
Rudy
Soul Survivors
Space Jam
Stir of Echoes
The Arrival
The Italian Job
The Producers
The Tale of Despereaux
Vudu: Sign up and choose 5 of the following films for free (HDX quality). They will play through any UV service.
Man on a Ledge
Safe
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
Footloose (2011)
Tropic Thunder
Star Trek
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Theres Something About Mary
Independence Day
Man on Fire
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
Adaptation
Punch Drunk Love
Last Action Hero
Death Race 2
Mona Lisa Smile
Cold Light of Day
Hope Floats
St. Elmo's Fire
Psycho (1998)
Master & Commandeer
Legends of the Fall
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Radio
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Rudy
Loser
Darkman II: The Return of Durant
The Producers (2005)
Rest Stop: Dead Ahead
Rest Stop: Don't Look Back
Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Ultraviolet may have had a rocky start, and it was deservedly mocked and derided during its first year. But it has grown into something truly special that's been overlooked for long enough.
What is UltraViolet? It is a cloud based digital rights management system that allows users to stream and download film and television content. The less complicated answer however is that UV copies are the equivalent to owning a VHS; useless on its own, but insert it into a VCR and voila. There are many UV players to choose from: Best Buy's CinemaNow, Flixster, M-Go, Kaleidescape, Paramount Movies, and the newest addition Target Ticket. But by far the best and highest quality UV player on the market comes from Walmart...
Vudu provides the best selection of movies and television out of any streaming service, and the highest quality HD streaming. And the Vudu App is available on practically every device: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS devices, Android devices, Roku, Blu-ray players, smart TVs, toasters, etc. While it's not Blu-ray quality, Vudu's HDX stream is the next best thing and an easy concession when you consider the following...
UV movie collecting is by far the cheapest way to amass an incredibly large collection of movies and television in 1080p for the least amount of money. I have over 200 films and dozens of TV series, which would have cost me thousands of dollars had I bought them on Blu-ray, but only cost me a few hundred. This can be done in three ways: Vudu's disc-to-digtial program, buying unwanted codes off third party sellers, and taking advantage of UV promotions.
Vudu is currently running a promotion that ends at the end of January where if you convert 10 DVDs or Blu-rays using their in-home disc-to-digital software, you get 50% off. That's 10 DVDs to HD quality UV for $20, or 10 Blu-rays to HD quality UV for $10. There really is no cheaper way to future proof your DVD collection than this. And you can convert as many as you want.
Many Blu-ray buyers hate digital copies, for whatever reason. Quality isn't good enough, can make their own copies, whatever. Not long ago these people figured out they could sell their codes to buyers on various forums, online groups, etc. and make their Blu-ray purchase a little cheaper. Hell, I've seen them being sold in the Buy/Sell/Trade thread in Gaming Community. While they enjoy a small percentage in savings, UV buyers get the latest films and television for fire sale pricing. For example these are some of my recent purchases: Breaking Bad The Complete Series $40 (Blu-ray $250), The Wolverine $4 (Blu-ray $22), Friday the 13th The Complete Collection $16 (Blu-ray $110), Man of Steel $3 (Blu-ray $24). Every day is Black Friday!
Then there are the promotions that each UV service run in order to lure you into using their services for your UV viewing needs. This is an excellent way to create an instant movie collection, and give UV a try to see if it's for you. All you have to do is sign up for a UV account, and then when you sign up with these UV providers you just link your UV account with them in the sign up process.
UV Promotions
Target Ticket: Sign up and choose 10 of the following films for free (SD quality). They will play through any UV service.
21 Grams
Alien
Blow
Cold Light of Day
Conspiracy Theory
Crocodile Dundee
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Ghost
Hall Pass
Independence Day
Johnny English
Legends of the Fall
LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers
Man On A Ledge
Mars Attacks!
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the world
Mona Lisa Smile
Office Space
Paranormal Activity
Radio
Rango
Rudy
Soul Survivors
Space Jam
Stir of Echoes
The Arrival
The Italian Job
The Producers
The Tale of Despereaux
Vudu: Sign up and choose 5 of the following films for free (HDX quality). They will play through any UV service.
Man on a Ledge
Safe
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
Footloose (2011)
Tropic Thunder
Star Trek
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Theres Something About Mary
Independence Day
Man on Fire
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
Adaptation
Punch Drunk Love
Last Action Hero
Death Race 2
Mona Lisa Smile
Cold Light of Day
Hope Floats
St. Elmo's Fire
Psycho (1998)
Master & Commandeer
Legends of the Fall
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Radio
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Rudy
Loser
Darkman II: The Return of Durant
The Producers (2005)
Rest Stop: Dead Ahead
Rest Stop: Don't Look Back
Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Ultraviolet may have had a rocky start, and it was deservedly mocked and derided during its first year. But it has grown into something truly special that's been overlooked for long enough.