Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

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ccfixx
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:37 pm
Location: Rhode Island, USA

Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#1 Post by ccfixx » Sun May 13, 2012 4:34 pm

If this topic needs to fall under a specific sub-topic, then please move it accordingly.

Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

So, after spending some time reading up on Vudu's new service through Walmart I decided to take my first venture in today to upgrade some DVDs I didn't see getting blu-ray upgrades anytime soon. All of the bigger studios seem to be on-board with the exception of Disney. The Vudu website allows you to search for titles that are eligible for digital copies, too, which is helpful so you don't go taking in a 20+ discs and come out with only 3 digital copy conversions.
  • Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990)
    Over The Edge (1979)
    Performance (1970)
Upgrading a standard definition DVD to an "HD quality" stream is $5 per disc, so my total out the door was $15 for all three films. Going from DVD disc to SD stream or blu-ray disc to HD stream is only $2 per disc.

I was the lady's first Vudu customer. She was convinced that she might've done something wrong because it was too easy, she said. Anyway, it was a quick and painless service from my experience. As soon as I got home, my new streams were immediately available to me. I'm using the Vudu interface on my PS3 and I haven't had any hiccups, yet. Everything seems to be running smoothly.

One thing to note, though, is that Walmart is required, I suppose, to rubber stamp the inner ring of each disc they handle. It says "Walmart Entertainment" in black ink. I suppose this is to prevent people that don't actually own the disc from getting digital copies made if the disc has already been used. Anyway, the stamp can be removed with a bit of rubbing alcohol. I was able to easily remove the stamp on all three of my discs today with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol. I suppose you have to be a bit careful, though, if the stamp is directly on the artwork, which was the case with my Performance disc. The artwork came away unscathed this time.

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andyli
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:46 pm

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#2 Post by andyli » Sun May 13, 2012 11:35 pm

If only the 5 bucks count toward the future cost of a physical blu-ray disc, I might bite the bullet just for the sake of watching some movies in HD sooner. There seem to be quite a few HD titles.

duck duck
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 11:45 pm

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#3 Post by duck duck » Tue May 15, 2012 2:08 pm

I don't get how you can "upgrade a DVD"?
If a disc holds X amount of information, how can you bring it to a place and make it hold 2xX amount of information?
I can understand putting a DVD on a BLU disc but it wouldn't be upgraded quality.

McCrutchy
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:57 am
Location: East Coast, USA

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#4 Post by McCrutchy » Thu May 17, 2012 2:58 pm

I felt physically ill when I saw these commercials. Just when we really need to be focusing on high-quality tangible media (i.e. Blu-ray Discs), here comes one of the biggest B&Ms in the nation chiding you for not "hooking into the cloud". I don't care whether the streams are "HD-quality" or not and I used to stream Netflix (when I had it) and Amazon VOD to my TiVo, but that was back when this was more of a cute novelty. Now we're seeing first-run features come out this way (like Mel Gibson's Get the Gringo), and this is where I slap you in the face and send you to bed without any dinner.

More power to those who enjoy it, but I want my physical media, and from now on, that's all I'll be using for films.

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dx23
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:52 pm
Location: Puerto Rico

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#5 Post by dx23 » Thu May 17, 2012 10:40 pm

I think this streaming crap while dismissing physical media is going to bite everybody in the ass. More and more ISPs and cell phone providers keep putting limits and caps on customer accounts. In the long run, people will be paying more as companies like AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner are feeling too much strain with their supposedly unlimited downloads while in reality they are either slowing the speed to the customers who simply use the service (download) more or eliminating the "unlimited" offers altogether.

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ccfixx
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:37 pm
Location: Rhode Island, USA

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#6 Post by ccfixx » Fri May 18, 2012 10:29 am

duck duck wrote:I don't get how you can "upgrade a DVD"?
If a disc holds X amount of information, how can you bring it to a place and make it hold 2xX amount of information?
I can understand putting a DVD on a BLU disc but it wouldn't be upgraded quality.
With this service, you have the option of paying for an "HD quality" stream/digital copy of your already existing standard definition DVD. You're not receiving an upgraded DVD or other copy of a physical format. You're only paying for the rights to stream a digital copy through the Vudu service.

Here's the breakdown...

$2... DVD (physical copy) to Standard Definition Digital Copy/Stream
$2... blu-ray (physical copy) to HD Digital Copy/Stream
$5... DVD (physical copy) to HD Digital Copy/Stream

You walk out of the door with exactly the same physical discs that you walked in with, except now you're the "owner" of a digital copy that's stored in a mythical cloud-based server.

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#7 Post by Perkins Cobb » Fri May 18, 2012 3:45 pm

But that still doesn't explain why (a) you'd want that for a movie you already own and (b) why you'd actually pay for it.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#8 Post by Minkin » Fri May 18, 2012 4:46 pm

Adding to the disinterest in this program; a disc will last far longer than Walmart or the studios are bothered to keep the servers running. The video game industry has done such rather similarly - pulling their online servers to promote their newer game (see Halo franchise). One day something new will come along and all will be gone.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#9 Post by Gregory » Fri May 18, 2012 5:46 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:But that still doesn't explain why (a) you'd want that for a movie you already own and (b) why you'd actually pay for it.
Their video answers that pretty well. It's to help frowning mothers make their kids be quiet in the car, have something to do when your flight is delayed (Don't you just hate that?! Me too!), or be able to watch a movie with your friends at the coffee shop. The alternative is to leave your DVDs at home on the shelf, gathering dust. "It's time to unlock your DVDs America!" It's revolutionary! and adds value! and stuff. You want to be able to watch your collection of movies any time, any place, right? Everyone else is doing it!
This is just more of the same planned obsolescence model of making people unhappy with the formats they're used to so they'll shell out more money for something new. Another push toward the decline of physical media. I completely understand why most noncinephiles are fairly skeptical about Blu-ray. They know the minute they buy something that something newer will be pushed at them.

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godardslave
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:44 pm
Location: Confusing and open ended = high art.

Re: Walmart’s Disc-to-Digital Service by Vudu

#10 Post by godardslave » Fri May 18, 2012 8:35 pm

What is this "Walmart" ? [-X

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