
VUDU arrives on Apple TV. Just in time…
Right on schedule today VUDU finally arrived on Apple’s tvOS Store after year and a half of waiting, and this is huge. When Apple introduced its 4th generation model it received a lot of criticism for being “unprepared” product, released just to satisfy techbloggers. Initially lot of application were missing, and even if the situation improved in time, absence of major players in the house — Google, Amazon and VUDU was noticed. So today premiere is VERY important because this is the first time when Apple allows in its App Store application or service made by its direct competitor. There was never Google Play Movies on ATV (understandable) nor Spotify or SoundClud, with Pandora and iHeartRadio being notable exception in area of music streaming apps. So VUDU’s debut is a small punch in the nose of Amazon Prime that is probably scheduled to relase on 5 September.

What Disney has in locker ?
In our strange world of copyright and licensing deals a movie is no longer just DVD/Blu-Ray but a file stored in the cloud. So new problem arises — how to manage all of this? And of course there are no simple solution to that problem because movie industry is same divided as ever before. Smaller studios founded UltraViolet consortium, while big players like Amazon,Google and Disney decided not to participate. The latter is notable case here, becasue Disney develops own solution called KeyChest that is base of Disney Movies Anywhere service. Taking into account close relations of Disney with Apple, no wonder that iTunes was first service to allow connect Apple ID with DMA login, giving ability to watch Disney movies bought from various sources right in iTunes.
UltraViolet however is still a bit messy with lot of content providers. Technically, myuv.com was supposed to be you all-in-one locker but in practice this is not so simple. I can add titles I got from VUDU to see them in FandangoNow account but for now there is no way in VUDU to see my “Sharknado” from FN. To have thing worse, this whole VUDU experience on mobile devices was far from perfect, forcing people to use AirPlay and with weak connection HDX quality was far from expected.
Despite this problems, there is still noticeable trend in USA for attaching UltraViolet codes to physical copies, not the one from iTunes. And because VUDU aims to be your best friend in UV garden, lack of ATV support put Apple device in certain disadvantage to major competitors like Roku, Chromecast and FireTV, until now.

What about the app? As predicted VUDU doesn’t want to give Apple its cut, so you are only able to watch previously purchased or rented movies. With one small sort of exception — “Movies on US” section. This is selection of titles available for free to stream with ads. So technically it’s not a rent or purchase and I suppose this addition will be warmly welcomed for any cordcutter who doesn’t know what to watch friday evening. The same applies to TV Shows — maybe they are not first of the league titles but still it’s a good place to find something new.
What’s next?
It’s good to see bunch of Apple TV related news ahead of Keynote, where we see predicted 5th generation of the box with HDR and 4K support. I’ve mention 5 of September as my predicted day of Apple event. It’s the best possible date because NFL starts on September 7th with Kickoff game and
during this season it’s first time when Amazon bought broadcasting rights to 10 games for streaming in Prime as Thursday Night Football. It’s obvious they want focus people’s attention on their tvOS debut and what moment is better than Keynote?
You may read polish version of this article on Mój Mac

