Replacing DVD, a Hollywood cliffhanger

In a bid to sweeten the consumer appeal of a new digital format that could succeed the DVD, some at the major film studios want to prevent DVD libraries from being rendered obsolete in a format upgrade.

UltraViolet (UV) is the name of new technology standards expected to debut this summer that Hollywood hopes will help reignite the public's interest in collecting movies and cauterize the bleeding in their home-video divisions

Typically, when media sectors have changed distribution formats, consumers are forced to shell out more money to update existing libraries. VHS tapes couldn't play on DVD players and CD players were incompatible with vinyl albums.

But even as progressive as this sounds, some studio execs acknowledge that moving the public to a new format now won't be easy. For one thing, UV's launch is coming up fast and important details still need to be hashed out. Insiders say consortium members still can't agree on several important issues regarding security and whether to offer UV in high-def. Some studios involved are worried that some among them will break ranks and offer content to other locker services in addition to UV, which could undermine UV's negotiating power.

Meanwhile, UV's toughest challenge may be selling the new format to Internet-empowered consumers, many of whom are unaccustomed to paying for content following years of downloading pirated music and films at file-sharing services.

Then there's Netflix. The Web's top video-rental service forces DVD collectors to ask the question: why am I buying when Netflix's monthly streaming-subscription fee typically costs less than a single disc? For their money, Netflix subscribers receive access to thousands of catalog TV shows and films. According to film industry sources, Netflix is the kind of consumer proposition that drives the value of the studios' content down and one reason why they hope to nurture alternative outlets.

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Replacing DVD, a Hollywood cliffhanger | Media Maverick - CNET News

Ha,, this on top of Net Neutrality?

ISP Bandwidth caps?

Right.......... uh huh.

He suspects that UV has plans to try and charge users fees to access their cloud content, including movies they bought in the past. He thinks this will be a tough sell.

Not to mention that, if you think they are not going to lock you into some sort of subscription base, you are fooling yourself.

Paying the 8 dollars a month for Hulu or Netflix is ok, but, buying the media and then having to unlock it, then pay a fee to watch it? hahahahaha,,, you know some dummy out there will say, "Yeah UV, this is cool. This is no different than WOW On-Line. Whatss the big deal?"

Hollywood, really want to re-ignite interest in movies? Make better ones.

Besides, in this economy can we really afford a new movie technology? They are already overpriced, and that is just the price that the companies divvy up.

Most of this is probably because Blu Ray didn't go over as well as they expected. And who can blame people for not wanting to go out & "re buy" their entire DVD collection and a new player, at a much higher price.

If you have the money to do it, yeah, it looks great. But as Win7User512 said, in this economy....

Well I will say, if you already have a Hi-Def TV, then trust me, splurge on BD. It's well worth it if you like movies.
I wouldn't go for 3D right now, but definitely BD. I personally wish HD-DVD would have won out, but it didn't, so..... I wouldn't say replace your entire library, as DVD's even look better on a BD Player connected with HDMI to an HDTV.

I definitely would stay far away from UV.