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Walmart will convert DVDs to digital

post #1 of 47
3/14/12 at 2:36pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/st...art/53513136/1

http://news.yahoo.com/wal-mart-backi...165800160.html

Quote:


If the end of the DVD could be ushered in any faster, leave it to Wal-Mart to find a way to accomplish the hefty feat. USA Today is reporting Wal-Mart is getting ready to launch a service that allows customers to take their previously purchased DVDs and Blu-rays into the store to receive digital access to those titles. The move could be well received for anyone looking to avoid packing individual discs, but also shows Wal-Mart is ready to back UltraViolet.



Although the person gets to keep their physical DVD for now, it appears this is a step towards having all media in the internet cloud, and eliminating physical media altogether.

As long as I can, I plan on keeping all of my physical media. I don't trust any company to keep my media holdings. Walmart recently discontinued MP3 purchases, and left people high and dry who had purchased access to their library.
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post #2 of 47
3/14/12 at 3:12pm
I saw a piece about this today on local news, what I couldn't figure out is whether they actually upload your DVD or do they just give you access to a copy already uploaded?
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post #3 of 47
3/14/12 at 3:32pm
UltraViolet is a studio-backed venture that serves to unify digital distribution rights for movies and TV shows, as the Los Angeles Times reports. Daily Tech confirms the Wal-Mart service will allow users to log into Vudu to access movies already owned via the cloud-based service, which could be a handy service. The catch is users will have to pay again for movies and shows they already own -- $2 for normal quality and $5 for HD quality.

While customers would still maintain their physical copy of the disc, being able to stream any disc from a catalog from any number of UltraViolet-enabled devices at will for a low per-movie cost is a pretty appealing option. The downside is folks with large collections are going to be facing some pretty serious investments, plus the movie has to be a Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, or Warner Bros. release.

This is insane! I don't see how this is an "pretty appealing option". Why would I want a service that is going to charge me a $2.00 to $5.00 fee to watch a movie I already own?
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post #4 of 47
3/14/12 at 4:33pm
Look for this brilliant business model to be as wildly successful as DIVX was as an alternative to owning DVDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX
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post #5 of 47
3/14/12 at 5:33pm
This is possibly the stupidest thing I've seen in the A/V world in years !!
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post #6 of 47
3/14/12 at 8:37pm
Consumers don't know which studios are part of UltraViolet. What happens when they show up at WalMart with Disney titles, who is not part of UltraViolet?
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post #7 of 47
3/15/12 at 3:24am
I wonder how many Walmart employees movie collections will suddenly "blossom".

If the price were cheaper (eg $2 for HD), friends could pool their DVDs and BDs and take turns going to Walmart. They can't ask for receipts (well, they can, but who has them?). There's no way they're copying them and converting formats and there is no need to do so because Vudu can easily get access to movies. So all you are doing is taking discs there so they can check off which movies you are allowed to view. But there's no incentive since the price is basically the same as Vudu. Although, maybe Walmart knows their customer base better than we do.

larry
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post #8 of 47
3/15/12 at 5:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

So all you are doing is taking discs there so they can check off which movies you are allowed to view.

larry

+1. Exactly.
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post #9 of 47
3/15/12 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Airboss View Post

The catch is users will have to pay again for movies and shows they already own -- $2 for normal quality and $5 for HD quality.[/i]

This is insane! I don't see how this is an "pretty appealing option". Why would I want a service that is going to charge me a $2.00 to $5.00 fee to watch a movie I already own?

I'll be damned if i'm going to allow myself to get snookered into paying somebody to watch movies that i already own. I simply cannot imagine anyone being that stupid.But i guess PT.Barnum was right when he said that "there's a sucker born every minute".
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post #10 of 47
3/15/12 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

So all you are doing is taking discs there so they can check off which movies you are allowed to view. But there's no incentive since the price is basically the same as Vudu.

VUDU charges approximately $5 for a 24-hour HD rental. In this disc-to-digital program, $5 gets you unlimited streaming access to the movie.

This could be very appealing for people who want to upgrade their standard-def DVD collections to HD quality without paying a full Blu-ray purchase price. Not to mention that the VUDU catalog has a lot of movies in HD that have never been released on Blu-ray.

What I'm not clear on is whether this applies only to certain titles, and if so, where do we find the list? I doubt that these major studios are suddenly opening the floodgates to every single movie they've ever released on DVD.
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post #11 of 47
3/15/12 at 12:21pm
Thread Starter 
More information on how all this works is located here:

Quote:


Here's how it works. First, you need a Vudu account, which is free (unlike Netflix, you pay for videos individually). You walk your DVDs into a Walmart store, and there you load them into a device of some sort (a self-serve kiosk is the mostly likely scenario) and then purchase the rights to a digital cloud copy. Yes, you purchase the right to a movie you already own. In this case it's $2 for a standard definition version or $5 for a high-def version (you don't need a Blu-ray disc to convert your title to high definition). You can then take your discs back home with you. The process doesn't actually upload the content of the disc, it just authorizes the title to be placed into your cloud locker. If you try to take in a disc your neighbor already authorized, a team of Walmart greeters will wrestle you to the floor.

After that you can log onto your Vudu account from whatever your compatible device is (as long as it's connected to the Internet) and watch the movies you've added to your cloud locker. Walmart says there are over 300 compatible devices.
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post #12 of 47
3/15/12 at 12:26pm
I am so glad this is not available in Canada.

This has fail written all over it.
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post #13 of 47
3/15/12 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by greaser View Post

I'll be damned if i'm going to allow myself to get snookered into paying somebody to watch movies that i already own. I simply cannot imagine anyone being that stupid.But i guess PT.Barnum was right when he said that "there's a sucker born every minute".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There&#...n_every_minute

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post #14 of 47
3/15/12 at 2:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

VUDU charges approximately $5 for a 24-hour HD rental. In this disc-to-digital program, $5 gets you unlimited streaming access to the movie.

This could be very appealing for people who want to upgrade their standard-def DVD collections to HD quality without paying a full Blu-ray purchase price. Not to mention that the VUDU catalog has a lot of movies in HD that have never been released on Blu-ray.

What I'm not clear on is whether this applies only to certain titles, and if so, where do we find the list? I doubt that these major studios are suddenly opening the floodgates to every single movie they've ever released on DVD.

Unlimited streaming for a one time price was not obvious in the articles to me. It reads to me like $2-$5 per view minus the time limit per view. If it's a one time price for multiple views, then it's a good deal. Too good of a deal. More specifics need to be stated like you also said. Although I'm not holding my breath. And I'm not a big fan of Walmart.

larry
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post #15 of 47
3/15/12 at 3:23pm
I hardly ever streamed anything,so i have to ask you more knowledgeable people why,with all of the complaints there are about most streaming services concerning poor PQ, ie;over compression,pixilation,and other problems,(you people will know the problems better than me)would you want to have your own movies streamed to you???,when you can put the disc in the player and watch uncompressed video w/o the problems that seem to come with streaming.
Also,this may be a bit of a 'reach' but,if your ISP has placed caps on your internet usage,then streaming a certain amount(don't know how much)of HD content 'could' push you beyond the cap your ISP has set???, and then you might be in the ridiculous position of having to pay yet again to watch movies that you already own.
Anybody have a good answer,cuz this doesn't seem to be anything like a good deal to me. Am i missing something???
This smells like a con,a scam, to part a fool from his money.
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post #16 of 47
3/16/12 at 6:40am
^^^ There's nothing wrong with streaming if you have a good internet connection (10Mbs or higher) and the "source" servers are adequate and the content is decently encoded. I have no complaints with Vudu HDX and Netflix HD both via my PS3. For SD you can get by with less bandwidth.

larry
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post #17 of 47
3/16/12 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

VUDU charges approximately $5 for a 24-hour HD rental. In this disc-to-digital program, $5 gets you unlimited streaming access to the movie.

This could be very appealing for people who want to upgrade their standard-def DVD collections to HD quality without paying a full Blu-ray purchase price. Not to mention that the VUDU catalog has a lot of movies in HD that have never been released on Blu-ray.

What I'm not clear on is whether this applies only to certain titles, and if so, where do we find the list? I doubt that these major studios are suddenly opening the floodgates to every single movie they've ever released on DVD.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

Unlimited streaming for a one time price was not obvious in the articles to me. It reads to me like $2-$5 per view minus the time limit per view. If it's a one time price for multiple views, then it's a good deal. Too good of a deal. More specifics need to be stated like you also said. Although I'm not holding my breath. And I'm not a big fan of Walmart.

larry

I just read (quickly) some of the other thread in the streaming services forum. It seems like a one time charge which is great for us but not for the Vudu. So something is missing. I can see a one time charge and then a charge per view. Nothing is free these days. Although "pooling" discs sounds like it is possible. Also, it's still not clear to me if they actually read each disc. Common sense says no way given the hardware that needs to be at each store and the time to do it. Can you see going to a Walmart with 300 discs and waiting for them to be read?

I didn't read the whole thread but there appears to still be some info missing.

larry
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post #18 of 47
3/16/12 at 7:15am
Possibly just by offering this at a monster retailer will give the studios/content providers/ISPs data and statistics that will be useful in some way or other... possibly including another opportunity for you the user to get even more unbidden spam.

They may also overestimate how many people will suddenly have a wild hair to watch something on their I-phone.

But of course this sounds like a bad idea for all my fellow OCD compulsive collector geeks. It may make more sense to other people.
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post #19 of 47
3/16/12 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

I just read (quickly) some of the other thread in the streaming services forum. It seems like a one time charge which is great for us but not for the Vudu. So something is missing. I can see a one time charge and then a charge per view. Nothing is free these days.

VUDU already offers the option of "purchasing" certain titles for unlimited streaming, generally for around ~$20 or so. The only difference here is that the price will be discounted down to $2 (SD) or $5 (HD) if you own the DVD edition.

While this may sound like a bad deal for VUDU, keep in mind that one of the major purposes of this initiative is to drive customers into Walmart stores. You have to bring your DVDs to the store to redeem them at a kiosk located at the back of the store. Getting people into its stores, where they will hopefully stop to do other shopping, is really what Walmart is after.

Also, Netflix currently offers unlimited streaming of anything and everything in its Instant Watch catalog for a grand total of $8 a month. Even if it's a one-time fee (not subscription), charging $5 per title still seems like VUDU will come out ahead.

Quote:


Although "pooling" discs sounds like it is possible. Also, it's still not clear to me if they actually read each disc. Common sense says no way given the hardware that needs to be at each store and the time to do it. Can you see going to a Walmart with 300 discs and waiting for them to be read?

According to the latest details, when you bring in a disc, all Walmart does is update your VUDU account with the purchase of that streaming title. Walmart will not "rip" the discs. Therefore, if a specific title isn't already available on VUDU, you won't be able to redeem it.

Walmart will stamp the inner ring of the disc to prevent a specific DVD from being redeemed by multiple people (such as walking out of a store and handing it off to a friend).

As I mentioned earlier, my major interest here is for titles that VUDU offers in HDX form that aren't currently available on Blu-ray. $5 to "upgrade" my DVD to HDX seems like a pretty good deal to me. YMMV.
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post #20 of 47
3/16/12 at 8:57am
And in the future when you go to buy a DVD/Blu Ray instead of getting the actual disc the title will just be added to your VUDU account.
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post #21 of 47
3/17/12 at 4:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

VUDU already offers the option of "purchasing" certain titles for unlimited streaming, generally for around ~$20 or so. The only difference here is that the price will be discounted down to $2 (SD) or $5 (HD) if you own the DVD edition.

While this may sound like a bad deal for VUDU, keep in mind that one of the major purposes of this initiative is to drive customers into Walmart stores. You have to bring your DVDs to the store to redeem them at a kiosk located at the back of the store. Getting people into its stores, where they will hopefully stop to do other shopping, is really what Walmart is after.

Also, Netflix currently offers unlimited streaming of anything and everything in its Instant Watch catalog for a grand total of $8 a month. Even if it's a one-time fee (not subscription), charging $5 per title still seems like VUDU will come out ahead.



According to the latest details, when you bring in a disc, all Walmart does is update your VUDU account with the purchase of that streaming title. Walmart will not "rip" the discs. Therefore, if a specific title isn't already available on VUDU, you won't be able to redeem it.

Walmart will stamp the inner ring of the disc to prevent a specific DVD from being redeemed by multiple people (such as walking out of a store and handing it off to a friend).

As I mentioned earlier, my major interest here is for titles that VUDU offers in HDX form that aren't currently available on Blu-ray. $5 to "upgrade" my DVD to HDX seems like a pretty good deal to me. YMMV.

Sounds pretty good - almost too good and that still makes me wary. I knew they couldn't be ripping discs. Beside getting people to go to Walmart, they go to to Vudu also. So I guess before taking a disc to Walmart one should check Vudu to see if it's there.

larry
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post #22 of 47
3/17/12 at 8:51am
Why would someone take a Blu-ray they already own to Walmart and pay $2 to stream the lesser quality HDX?
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post #23 of 47
3/17/12 at 9:33am
Okay, I'm thinking of other scenarios.

There was a brouhaha over the Blu-ray software thread about the original Fright Night when it came out in a limited 3000 copy Blu-ray version. Those unhappy peeps could take their DVD version to Wallymart and upgrade to the VUDU HDX version for $5.

Or I have been waiting years for City of Angels to come out on Blu-ray which may happen never. So I can upgrade my DVD to HDX for $5 and enjoy the higher resolution. One-time rental for this title is $5.99 right now. Is it worth the time and gas to bother?

Of course none of this starts until April 16, 2012.

WAIT! The press release says upgraded to HD. Does this really mean HD? Or HDX? That would be a deal breaker.
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post #24 of 47
3/17/12 at 9:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.G View Post

Okay, I'm thinking of other scenarios.

There was a brouhaha over the Blu-ray software thread about the original Fright Night when it came out in a limited 3000 copy Blu-ray version. Those unhappy peeps could take their DVD version to Wallymart and upgrade to the VUDU HDX version for $5.

Or I have been waiting years for City of Angels to come out on Blu-ray which may happen never. So I can upgrade my DVD to HDX for $5 and enjoy the higher resolution. One-time rental for this title is $5.99 right now. Is it worth the time and gas to bother?

Of course none of this starts until April 16, 2012.

I guess the best thing to do is take a bunch of discs at once and only have to suffer through it once.

As far as HD vs HDX, I guess we'll have to wait and see. And it probably has to depend on whether Vudu has the HDX or not.

edit: I just looked at the press release on Vudu and it says "Standard DVDs can be upgraded to High-Def (HD) for $5." So, I assume HD and not HDX. HD is usually $4.99 and HDX $5.99 IIRC. I've never watched HD on Vudu but it should be better than SD.

larry
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post #25 of 47
3/17/12 at 9:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

I guess the best thing to do is take a bunch of discs at once and only have to suffer through it once.

As far as HD vs HDX, I guess we'll have to wait and see. And it probably has to depend on whether Vudu has the HDX or not.

larry

Okay here's another wrinkle. What if they decided DVDs upgrade to HD and Blu-rays to HDX? As you said guess we'll wait to see.
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post #26 of 47
3/17/12 at 10:06am
Someone could email VUDU and find out.
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post #27 of 47
3/17/12 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tulpa View Post

Someone could email VUDU and find out.

Yes, you could... Let us know what their answer is...
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post #28 of 47
3/17/12 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PooperScooper View Post

^^^ There's nothing wrong with streaming if you have a good internet connection (10Mbs or higher) and the "source" servers are adequate and the content is decently encoded. I have no complaints with Vudu HDX and Netflix HD both via my PS3. For SD you can get by with less bandwidth.

larry

Thanks for your kind answer P.S.,but i think that there will be problems with the streaming quality,maybe not all the time,but enough to be annoying
Even if this is somehow a "good deal" that i cannot discern, then IMO it won't stay that way.If W-M can get enough 'fish' to bite its baited hook and make lotsa $$$$$$$$ they won't give a damn about people complaining about the lower quality service that I think will occur eventually
so i still believe that this is another scheme to part a fool from his/her money
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post #29 of 47
3/17/12 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.G View Post

Okay here's another wrinkle. What if they decided DVDs upgrade to HD and Blu-rays to HDX? As you said guess we'll wait to see.

HDX is probably less than BD quality. Although, they must being using MPEG4 or something similar for streaming since the bandwidth requirements are nothing like BD bit rates. I have no complaints with the handful of HDX movies I've watched on Vudu. I don't see myself taking any BDs.

larry
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post #30 of 47
3/17/12 at 11:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobby94928 View Post

Yes, you could... Let us know what their answer is...

The answer is... NO HD 4 YOU!


I shot them a question, though I'm not sure I'm asking the people that know the answer.

Probably should have asked on a Monday, too.
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