
Movies Anywhere App Launches with Joint Studio Backing - xbmcuser
http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/movies-anywhere-launches-with-joint-studio-backing-1202587915/
======
bsharitt
My biggest issue with buying digital movies has always been the lock in
factor. If I buy from Amazon, I can't watch it on my Chromecast, if I buy from
Google, I can't watch it on the Xbox, and if I buy from iTunes, I can't watch
anywhere but an Apple device or iTunes. The only digital movies I've bought to
date have been Disney movies because of the previous Disney-only version.

I wonder how it works if a partner decides to leave. From what I understand,
when Microsoft left the Disney program, Disney movies shared to your Microsoft
account stuck around and Disney movies shared from your Microsoft were still
available on the rest.

~~~
ringaroundthetx
Playstation 4 + Chromecast

The PS4 has Amazon Video, Netflix, and its own movie store.

Chromecast for everything else.

But did you notice yet that iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and the Playstation
Store all stream from the exact same catalogue at the exact same prices. I
mean sure, they are all attempting their exclusive content, but when you are
looking for a blockbuster movie or old show its all the same selection and
prices.

~~~
culturedsystems
The Playstation 4 also has YouTube, which has the same selection of films as
Google Play movies (including giving you access to films you've bought on
Google Play).

~~~
ringaroundthetx
thats right. the main rebuttal I get from people after that is just the cost
of the ps4 vs a $30 chromecast.

shrug

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tpush
You can't create an account without agreeing to this:

"I authorize Movies Anywhere to share personal information regarding my Movies
Anywhere account, together with my video titles, descriptions, and other video
activity information (collectively "Video Data") with:

Each Digital Retailer to which I connect my Movies Anywhere account and its
service providers; Participating Studios and their affiliates and service
providers; and Service Providers of Movies Anywhere."

Yeah, not gonna happen.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
I'm fairly privacy-obsessed, but this doesn't sound like a massive issue to
me. I don't consider my movie collection to be significant privacy-wise. My
movie collection is actually poor at indicating my interests, it's also only a
fragment of my actual movie watching activity, and for what it's worth, Movies
Anywhere collects barely any personal information: It asks for your _first
name only_ and your email address. (This information is ALREADY going to be
available to any retailer you have an account with.)

I think it makes sense that retailers would want to sync your "video activity
information" and that studios (who bear the cost of running MA, unlike UV,
which retailers ate) would want to see usage activity and be able to correlate
that with how well their films are marketable long-term.

~~~
heroprotagonist
First name and email address is plenty to associate with an identity. They
just need one other source for the email address that has your last name.

Having a whole network of companies know what you watch, when, the rating (if
they have ratings), etc, is fairly intrusive in my view, but we all have our
own threshold.

When you give up control of your data, act accordingly. Given the scope of the
disclosure, it is probably best to assume that any data you give this service
will eventually be stolen (perhaps made public), resold (if possible, if not,
watch for retroactive assignment of rights), requested by law, etc..
Basically, there's a not-insignificant probability that at some point, anyone
who is interested will be able to see your activity or some portion of it.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
I agree with all of those notions. But again: Every retailer I connect already
knows my name and email address (I have an account with them), and I pretty
much talk/post about what I watch online publicly to begin with.

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whowouldathunk
Nice, my UltraViolet codes for Mad Max and The Revenant now show up as 4K HDR
versions on iTunes. And I even got the Black and Chrome version of Mad Max as
a bonus "iTunes Extra."

This is a very pro-consumer move.

~~~
Bedon292
That is pretty awesome. I have a ton of VUDU codes it might hit. Still waiting
on it to sync. Almost tempted to get an Apple TV for that. Almost.

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pasbesoin
Noticed the other evening that Amazon no longer streams HD to my ThinkPad. I'm
guessing because I took the recommended steps a few months ago to cripple its
Management Engine functionality as a work-around to the severe ME exploit (you
know, runs its own web server whose password is trivially and unavoidably
bypassed).

At this point, I'm going to say "Fuck it." I've never pirated. (Well, there
was that time in the 90's when I used, as an experiment, Napster, to download
a French music album I couldn't even buy in the States, at that time. Oh, and,
by the way, it's on Spotify, now... And I also now a bought and paid for
physical copy, courtesy of a visit to Montreal or Germany (I forget which),
not too long after my Napster experience.)

Anyway... fuck it. I'm willing to pay, but it's going from hassle to outright
security risk. I'll taking pirating over this.

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vm
Is this just a digital locker for movies? Other HN comments seem excited about
this but I think it will be irrelevant for most users. When I used to
digitally buy/rent movies, I would watch them that same day and then be done,
so a "locker" feels like an insignificant problem. Maybe I have uncommon
usage.

Netflix is brain-dead easy to use. I don't always know what I want to watch so
I browse and can watch anything. Movies Anywhere sounds like more work than
it's worth.

~~~
prostoalex
> I would watch them that same day and then be done, so a "locker" feels like
> an insignificant problem. Maybe I have uncommon usage.

Kids.

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bearcobra
I really hope Paramount and any other studios get onboard so a single standard
can finally exist. UltraViolet seemed like such a good idea, but never really
seemed to work.

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ducttape12
Eh, still prefer physical media when buying movies. This way you can't ever
have the rights taken away to watch it (which just happened to me with a show
I purchased digitally on Amazon).

(not to mention physical media is usually cheaper, you can loan them, sell
them, servers are never down for maintenance, etc.)

~~~
Nexxxeh
This gives you the best of both worlds, because when you buy your physical
media, it'll have a code in there for digital redemption too.

You don't have to rip the disk in order to use it in different devices,
especially devices that can't physically take the physical media.

Good luck passing an actual bluray on your tablet using physical media etc.
Possible to do, technically, but a total faff.

But this way, load the code into the locker and it "just works". And you still
have your physical disk. Win win.

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Mithaldu
Can't register, only shows cryptic:

"Unable to register. Please try again or contact Movies Anywhere Customer
Service."

Turns out after digging through the site:

"Eligibility. Only legal residents of the United States, all U.S. territories,
and the U.S. associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau
(collectively, the "Territory") are eligible to register for a Movies Anywhere
account, provided that the Movies Anywhere Service is subject to availability
of Digital Retailers and Movies Anywhere Content in the Territory."

Another incredibly useless waste of time, just like Youtube Red.

------
scarface74
So I just downloaded the “Movies Anywhere” app for iOS and connected my Amazon
account and my iOS account. I got my five free movies — all surprisingly
recent and well known to try it out. The movies showed up in my Amazon Prime
library immediately and after an hour in my iTunes library as a purchase.

I also thought that the app was going to ask Me for my itunes password because
in 13 years of being an iTunes user, I’ve never known Apple to let you use
your iTunes credentials to authenticate with a third party platform.

Buying a digital movie is still a no go for me because the rare movie I want I
could find cheaper physically. But the main complaint I had against buying a
movie digitally - being tied to one service is gone as long as the movie is
available on Movies Anywhere.

Even if this service does go kaput, I still have access to the movies from
Apple, Amazon, and Google.

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walterbell
_> UltraViolet libraries will also port over through the participating digital
retailers._

How will that work?

~~~
hamandcheese
I’m assuming you will just link whatever account you already redeemed your
ultraviolet copies with (e.g. Vudu), and they will show up.

~~~
whowouldathunk
That's exactly how it works. It took about an hour after linking my Vudu
account before they showed up on the Movies Anywhere site and iTunes.

~~~
bsharitt
My Vudu account has yet to work. It'd be nice since I've got a lot of
Ultraviolet DVD/Bluray codes there, but generally don't bother going to Vudu
for much else.

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Navarr
This is great, but it doesn't go far enough.

Obviously more studios need to sign-on, and then we need to add TV shows into
the mix at all. (HBO, for example)

Studios that are signed on should be committed to putting their entire library
on it.

For example: despite Disney having signed on, Disney Channel movies like
"Halloweentown" are not part of Movies Anywhere.

As a parent, the fact that children's movies aren't part of these lockers
(like Elena of Avalor, like Disney Channel original movies, etc.) is the bane
of my existence.

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xirdstl
This seems too good to be true. What's the catch?

Seriously, this sounds great.

~~~
mmanfrin
Three things from what I can tell:

1) All of your watch history on all services are shared with the other
services and the studios.

2) This gives studios and providers an argument against loosening DRM/lock in.

3) This locks out new services unless the group lets them join.

~~~
xirdstl
> 1) All of your watch history on all services are shared with the other
> services and the studios.

After signing up and looking at preferences, I see they do allow you to opt-
out of sharing data with the studios and their "service providers".

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dawnerd
An interesting bug with the itunes integration... I now have multiple copies
of the same movies in my library.

