DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

Welcome to another edition of the WNR. It’s going to be a light one this week, as while we have a big announcement from Apple to cover, that was pretty much it.

Still, it gives us plenty to talk about this week, so let’s not waste any time.

So the big news of the week was Apple’s entry into streaming video courtesy of their upcoming Apple TV+ service.

First of all, let’s talk about what it isn’t. It isn’t really a Netflix rival, at least not yet, because Apple TV+ will only host original content that Apple themselves have produced. So there won’t be any third-party licensed content that’s still the bulk of content on platforms like Netflix and Amazon.

And even with relation to original content, Apple’s content spend of $1 billion is only a fraction of Netflix’s annual spend on original content, so Apple’s ambitions, so far, are much more limited compared to Netflix’s.

Apple TV+ also won’t work on most of the non-Apple devices you actually own. While Apple is opening up Apple TV slightly, allowing it to work on selected smart TVs and even on the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV+ won’t be accessible on your Android device, on your PC or in your browser. This could change at some point, but it looks like Apple wants the content on Apple TV+ to be mainly consumed on an Apple device (which is not surprising).

Using unique content to draw users into the Apple ecosystem is one thing, but what Apple may be even keener to do is to keep the Apple TV hub relevant in the age of Roku, Amazon Fire and Google Chromecast. Apple can’t make their 30% off of Netflix if Netflix doesn’t think it’s worth having their app integrated into Apple TV, and Netflix won’t think Apple’s 30% money grab is worth it if Apple TV is not popular enough.

Apple will hope that exclusive Apple TV+ content from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oprah, J.J. Abrams, and shows starring the likes of
Jenifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, will help grow the Apple TV user base. Or at least grow it enough to make Apple TV an essential platform to be part of.

This talk of Apple reminded me of an old news story from way back. Way back as in when Steve Jobs was still alive, and when Toshiba’s HD DVD was still trying to beat Blu-ray. Jobs said then that Blu-ray was a “bag of hurt” and despite Apple being a member and a board member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, Apple never did bother to include a Blu-ray drive with any of their computers.

Now Apple is getting into video distribution having skipped discs entirely, and this probably means something for discs (and not in a good news kind of way). But discs do still have a place (anyone who regularly tries to download high-quality 4K content will know this is the case), and they will be around for a while yet, even if they are no longer the default go-to for most people. What do you think? Do you still use discs? Let us know by voting in our latest poll.

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That’s all I have for you think week. Let’s wait and see what the next week brings us.

Welcome to another WNR, and this time, you didn’t have to wait a month for another issue!

It’s mostly because there are actually a few news stories to go through, and so let’s not waste any time and get things started.

Pirates may have found a way to rip 4K movies from iTunes, as the James Bond Collection of 24 movies have all been leaked online, in glorious 4K HDR quality.

This follows recent leaks of ‘Aquaman’, ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, ‘Bumblebee’ and ‘The Mule’, also all in 4K, from unknown sources. The James Bond Collection was only available in 4K on iTunes, and so chances are, pirates have found a way to bypass the copy protection normally present on these files (note that Australian streaming outfit Stan also has the James Bond Collection in 4K, but it is a 25 fps encode, different to the 24 fps rip that was ripped).

So far the release group, DEFLATE, has not released any information on the source of these leaks or the method used to obtain these leaks. While there is a small chance that someone with access to the unencrypted source files could be responsible for the leak, but it’s unlikely.

More likely is the case that pirates may have found a vulnerability in the copy protection used for these files or a device used to play these files.

Expect more leaks in the coming days.

So Fox is now officially a part of Disney, now that the acquisition deal has been officially completed. I kind of expected some kind of Soviet/American troop meeting type scenario involving Fox and Disney staff, for some weird reason, but it’s probably more like this event considering 4,000 people are being let go (sorry, been watching a lot of World War II documentaries lately).

So the Big Six is no more, and we’re left with a Big Five of Hollywood studios. More like the Humongous One, and then the Big Four, since Disney is now bigger than Universal, Paramount and Sony/Columbia combined in terms of market share, and that’s all before Disney starts leveraging Fox’s franchises, merge the Fox and Disney Marvel universe, assumes majority control of Hulu and launches its own streaming platform, Disney+.

So while Disney shares have fallen since the acquisition was completed, most likely due to the cost of the deal eating into Disney’s short term bottom line, the future is bright for the company. You don’t get financial advice that often here, but I would stock up and hold on to Disney shares with the expectation that 1 or 2 years down the line, this will prove to be a very smart decision. Of course, I have literally zero experience in investing, so you might be better off consulting the Magic Eight Ball (it told me “Most Likely” when I asked if I should buy Disney shares, so there you go).

I’m kind of excited as to see what this melding of two movie giants will mean for us film lovers. Apart from the X-Men franchise joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is also the joining of pre The Force Awakens Star Wars movies, for which Fox still owns the home media distribution rights for. Would it be too much to ask for a theatrical version of Star Wars on Blu-ray/4K UHD? Probably yes. How about the 20th Fox fanfare back in Star Wars movies? Another tough ask, I’m afraid.

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So that was the week that was. I really don’t know what the next week will bring, but I’m excited and I can’t wait (and I might have just jinxed it – expect no news at all now). See you in a week.

Well, this hiatus was a bit longer than I had expected. So sorry about that. Normal service resumes this week and might have done last week had it not been my birthday week (yes, I’m one of those annoying people that celebrate for a whole week).

Still, not a superb week to resume the WNR as there’s not much news around, but let’s see what we can make of it!

There is a point of view that the current copyright take-down regime resembles the work of scammers more so than a legal process. There are those law firms that you’ve heard about extracting payment in exchange for withdrawing a legal threat. But even when money isn’t changing hands, the threat of account suspensions and deletions in this increasingly digital age, means that the threat from being hounded by the copyright cops is very real.

Of course, there are the real scammers who use this fear to make a bit of quick cash, like the YouTube scammers I talked about last month. This week, it’s the turn of Instagrammers to be at the end of a similar type of scam. Instead of just asking for money though, the scammers are more interested in the login credentials of Instagram users that are being targeted by the scam, and even their email account credentials in some cases.

What’s most interesting about this scam is that it leverages existing user’s fears about copyright infringement to get them to hand over very sensitive information. The fake notice says that unless users provide the scammers with their username and password to “verify” their account, it will be suspended and deleted within 24 hours.

Our Instagram accounts, Facebook accounts, Twitter, YouTube and Gmail accounts are really our online identities, and to face suspension and account deletion is, in a way, a kind of online death. To be faced with an account suspension and deletion due to a copyright issue is also quite plausible. These two factors, when combined, is what makes scams like this so effective.

While I’m sure there is other stuff happening for all sorts of other topics, there was nothing in particular that caught my attention over the last week.

There is some more stuff happening on Digital Digest’s sister site Streambly for those interested in the world of video streaming, like the fact that people have already started to binge Game of Thrones in anticipation of the final episodes coming in April. These final episodes will, I’m sure, break a few more piracy records when they air starting April 14.

See you in a week’s time (maybe)!

Only a couple of days left in the shortest month of the year, which is just as well, as summer here in Australia has become unbearable. With March comes possibly one of the best seasons ever, and it is also my favourite month as it will be my birthday again. Yes, I’m quite vain and I definitely think this song, and the entire month of March, is all about me.

A little ’70s music trivia aside, we have a few news stories to go through, so let’s get started.

Well, it may not be the actual end of an era, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it definitely feels like the beginning of the end. Samsung has confirmed that it will stop launching new Blu-ray player models in the US. Initially, it was thought that only 1080p Blu-ray players were affected, but it soon became clear that Samsung plans to stop launching even new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players!

Those following Samsung won’t be too surprised by the move, as the company hasn’t brought out a new Blu-ray/4K player since 2017. Samsung’s denial of support for Dolby Vision also meant that their players just weren’t what people wanted, considering how popular Dolby Vision is compared to the rival HDR10+ format. The unpopular nature of Samsung’s players, and the fact that the marketplace for Blu-ray players is quite crowded may partly explain Samsung’s decision, but it is still quite a blow for physical media.

That a major CE firm is ending support for such a major disc format, and so soon in the format’s lifespan, does not bode well for the format, or physical media in general.

The decision is also a weird one because Samsung’s TV business is doing quite well, and it’s weird that Samsung would then force its TV owners to seek out a rival brand’s Blu-ray player. With that said, it’s not as if Samsung will stop selling Blu-ray players, but merely not planning on releasing any new models in the future – they will simply continue to sell their last released players, the UBD-M9500 (in fact, the 2016 model, the UBD-K8500, is still for sale too). The fact that there’s not a lot of upgrade potential for Blu-ray and 4K players, probably also contributed to Samsung’s decision.

But buyers not satisfied with a 2017 model will definitely have to look elsewhere.

And part of the reason why Samsung is defocusing from its physical media business is the existence of streaming, and in particular, Netflix. But just because Netflix is dominant, it doesn’t mean there aren’t things that the streaming giant is worried about. Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Disney+, appears to be one of those things.

Netflix and Disney have previously worked together well as the Hollywood studio used the streaming platform to offer its movies and shows to a wider audience. While this generates some revenue for Disney, it also loses them some in terms of physical and digital sell-through for the same content, but with a wider audience now caught up to the happenings of the Marvel Universe, for example, it has led to higher box office receipts for the studio. There are many terms you can use to describe Disney, but stupid is not one of them.

But this past partnership is now proving to be a problem now that Disney, whether they think so or not, is directly threatening the dominance of Netflix with Disney+. Disney+ will now host much of the same content that has drawn subscribers to Netflix, and will create new content based on franchises that Netflix wish they had.

So Netflix’s steely move to cancel all remaining Marvel co-productions, including ‘The Punisher’ and ‘Jessica Jones’, is a quite understandable one. Better to lose a finger now, than a hand, later.

And the ominous statement following the move from Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb shows the frenemy side of Netflix and Disney’s relationship, as well as a hint on how Disney will take it to Netflix via its Marvel (and other) franchises. Loeb wrote in response to the cancellations: “Our network partner may have decided they no longer want to continue telling the tales of these great characters … but you know Marvel better than that.”

Wow!

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So while we await the Avengers like epic battle between Netflix and Disney+, we have come to the end of another WNR. See you next week!

So how did you spend your Valentine’s Day/Singles Awareness Day/Just Another Thursday then? Whichever way you spent that day, hope the rest of your week was good nonetheless. We do have a bit of news to go through this week, I guess the year has started proper now, so let’s get through ’em!

In this week’s “I didn’t see that coming! #sarcastic” story, YouTube’s copyright take-down system is now being abused by blackmailers.

This is how it works. Blackmailers are submitting fraudulent copyright abuse notices, resulting in some smaller channels getting two copyright strikes. Channels that receive 3 copyright strikes in a 3 month period will have their channels disabled, and the blackmailers know this. This is when the extortion attempt occurs, with the blackmailers sending an “offer” to channel owners to pay up (and have the 2 strikes reversed) or face the prospect of a third strike.

Channel owners can appeal any of these strikes, but the laborious process could see their channels disabled during the process, which can take weeks.

Two channel owners who were at the end of such a scam reported it to YouTube, but the streaming platform didn’t do anything about it until both aired their problems publicly, on Twitter (and incidentally, the scammers also tried to get one of the channel owner’s Twitter suspended as well for not following instructions to stay quiet) and Reddit. It was only when both attempts at seeking help became a news story, that YouTube finally acted and cleared all the fraudulent strikes, and banned the blackmailer’s accounts too.

The fact that YouTube didn’t take the matter seriously until they were called out for it in the public arena is troubling, but unfortunately, not that uncommon.

It wasn’t a huge loss for the blackmailers, it turns out, as their accounts were only recently created ones attached to a throwaway email account. It’s very likely they will attempt the same trick again, only this time, the unsuspecting victims might not get a viral response to their pleas. It’s also very likely that they’ve already tried found success with their previous efforts!

Over at Streambly, the latest “binge chart” saw Netflix’s Russian Doll go straight to the top after its recent release. The strength of Netflix, in particular, the strength of Netflix’s Original shows can be clearly seen in the top 10, with no less than 5 Originals in the top 10, and with some of the others being Netflix streaming exclusives as well.

There were only two shows in the top 10 that were older shows that had already ended their run. In third place was ‘Friends’, which Netflix paid a significant amount of money for, and ‘Gossip Girl’, which is also on Netflix.

Hopefully, the weekly binge report will become a regular feature on Streambly, so keep an eye peeled for more updates here if anything interesting happens.

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That’s all we have for this week. I know it’s not much, but sometimes that’s just how the week goes. See you next week.