Going all Digital - Apple or Vudu advice? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

There are over 8,000 movies available for disc to digital from every major studio except for Disney and MGM.

In an effort to clean up some shelf space, I converted a batch of 10 SD-DVD's for the first time using Vudu's disc to digital. We watched the converted Brigadoon last night, and the transfer was okay, but not grat. Of course, the DVD transfer isn't very good, either, so it's not like I downgraded.

My first batch included Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Cousin Vinny, Antz, The Hustler, Lifeboat, Mildred Pierce, The Paper Chase, The Pianist and The Shootist. Not bad -- 10 movies for $25. I have identified about 20 more that I may do this with eventually, once I check out the transfers of the ones I just converted.

I was disappointed that two of the titles I really wanted to convert -- They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and The Last Picture Show -- were not available for conversion. The DVD transfer of TSHDT is non-anamorphic, and Criterion hasn't released TLPS individually on BD (it's only available in a set with other films I am not interested in).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I was disappointed that two of the titles I really wanted to convert -- They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and The Last Picture Show -- were not available for conversion. The DVD transfer of TSHDT is non-anamorphic, and Criterion hasn't released TLPS individually on BD (it's only available in a set with other films I am not interested in).

Vudu is backed by Walmart - in the past, there used to be an option to bring your physical discs to a Walmart store, where they will verify that you indeed own the title and then add it to your account there. I don't know if that's still a service they offer, but it may be worth looking into. If it was a matter of your player not being able to read the disc or Vudu not identifying it properly, an actual human at Walmart may do better.

Edit: Just checked and They Shoot Horses is an MGM title - MGM unfortunately doesn't participate in disc-to-digital. But Last Picture Show is Sony, it should be available.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Vudu is backed by Walmart - in the past, there used to be an option to bring your physical discs to a Walmart store, where they will verify that you indeed own the title and then add it to your account there. I don't know if that's still a service they offer, but it may be worth looking into. If it was a matter of your player not being able to read the disc or Vudu not identifying it properly, an actual human at Walmart may do better.

Edit: Just checked and They Shoot Horses is an MGM title - MGM unfortunately doesn't participate in disc-to-digital. But Last Picture Show is Sony, it should be available.

Josh,

When I search for The Last Picture Show on Vudu's website for availability for disc to digital, it comes up blank. I did not even attempt to convert the disc, as I have been searching online for titles which qualify. So, it has nothing to do with my PC being able to read the disc. I assume it has something to do with Criterion having distribution rights, as another Criterion came up blank, too. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

We just finished watching The Shootist, which looked as good as the DVD transfer. So far, so good. I was able to sell the DVD's I converted for about what I paid to convert them to digital.

 

[Mark-P]

As a general warning to going all digital, which applies to whichever service you pick: though it hasn't happened very often, Disney as a studio has been known to tamper with already bought and paid for purchases. There are two examples that I know of. The first one concerns the movie "Bedknobs & Broomsticks" - at one point, Disney had an extended version available for sale on iTunes and Vudu. However, when they later decided to put the movie out on Blu-ray, they only put the shorter theatrical version on the disc (it's about 20 minutes shorter). However, they also removed the longer version from everyone's account had previously purchased that longer version, and replaced it without warning with the shorter version. That, to my mind, is unacceptable. It is not okay to take away something that someone has purchased and fully paid for and swap it out with something different without their permission, but that's exactly what Disney did.

I'd like to make one small correction to this statement. Vudu removed access to the longer version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks; iTunes did not. It's true iTunes removed it from sale, but I still have access to the longer version for streaming or download. My iTunes account now shows two different Bedknobs and Broomsticks titles, one at 139 minutes and one at 117.

 

[jayhawkai]

The list of available titles changes all the time, but in small ways. Most of the changes are movies I don't even care about. This is just from today or yesterday:

1 movie is now D2D as HD:
Hart to Hart: Till Death Do Us Hart (1996)

1 movie is now D2D as HD upgrade:
Whisper (2007)

5 movies are no longer D2D:
A Dirty Shame (Theatrical) (2004)
The Impostors (1998)
Madea's Family Reunion: The Play (2005)
Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011)
ParaNorman (3D) (2012)

1 bundle is no longer D2D:
The Hobbit Trilogy (Digital Card) (Bundle) (2014)

 

[Cranston37+]

Vudu is backed by Walmart - in the past, there used to be an option to bring your physical discs to a Walmart store, where they will verify that you indeed own the title and then add it to your account there. I don't know if that's still a service they offer, but it may be worth looking into. If it was a matter of your player not being able to read the disc or Vudu not identifying it properly, an actual human at Walmart may do better.

Edit: Just checked and They Shoot Horses is an MGM title - MGM unfortunately doesn't participate in disc-to-digital. But Last Picture Show is Sony, it should be available.

A title coming from a participating studio unfortunately doesn't mean that it's automatically available for D2D. It's up to the studio which titles they allow to be on it, and as was stated titles move in and out of it all the time. In the case of Last Picture Show, it isn't available.

The in-store thing is still available, but really doesn't offer much of an advantage over just doing it yourself if you have the computer to do it with. Many Wal-Marts have absolutely no idea what the service is, or they have 1 employee who can do it and they work once a week.

My hand to god I once took some titles in and had the associate say "I should call the police because what your asking me to do is illegal!" I've never been back

 

[DaveF]

I'm trying to figure out this issue right now. I bought Deadpool 4k, which has the digital HD code I'm redeeming. I've got four choices: iTunes, Flixter UVUV, Google Play, and VUDU UVUV.

I like iTunes since I could watch it on my mobile devices, Apple TV and presumably HTPC via iTunes. VUDU seems maybe more future proof with 4k potential? But there are two flavors of UVUV which I thought was VUDU...but I don't understand the nuances of V and U with the occasional D mixed in. Google Play, at least I can rule out.

Well, I recently redeemed Mad Max in VUDU, so I'll go with that.

Hooray, customer choice!

 

[Cranston37+]

I'm trying to figure out this issue right now. I bought Deadpool 4k, which has the digital HD code I'm redeeming. I've got four choices: iTunes, Flixter UVUV, Google Play, and VUDU UVUV.

I like iTunes since I could watch it on my mobile devices, Apple TV and presumably HTPC via iTunes. VUDU seems maybe more future proof with 4k potential? But there are two flavors of UVUV which I thought was VUDU...but I don't understand the nuances of V and U with the occasional D mixed in. Google Play, at least I can rule out.

Well, I recently redeemed Mad Max in VUDU, so I'll go with that.

Hooray, customer choice!

Forget about what the little sheet tells you. It's poorly worded and confusing. And don't go directly to whatever Fox redeem page they tell you to go to. It's unnecessary and will lock you into redeeming it on only one service.

Redeem the code directly at your UV provider of choice (which will then make it show up all UV providers) then go directly to iTunes and redeem it there. You now have Deadpool in all places...

 

[DavidMiller]

I personally go all in with Vudu. I do have movies on iTunes back when you used to get both but now it is one or the other so I went Vudu. I feel it is the best streaming choice and available almost on every device.

 

[DaveF]

Forget about what the little sheet tells you. It's poorly worded and confusing. And don't go directly to whatever Fox redeem page they tell you to go to. It's unnecessary and will lock you into redeeming it on only one service.

Redeem the code directly at your UV provider of choice (which will then make it show up all UV providers) then go directly to iTunes and redeem it there. You now have Deadpool in all places...

Too late for Deadpool. I went to foxredeem already, but I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks for the tip!

 

[DaveF]

I bought "John Wick" on blu-ray, new at retail. the UVUV code is invalid. In the fine print of the code flyer it says "may not be valid after 2/3/2106". Awesome. Love this system.

 

[jayhawkai]

I bought "John Wick" on blu-ray, new at retail. the UVUV code is invalid. In the fine print of the code flyer it says "may not be valid after 2/3/2106". Awesome. Love this system.

That is very surprising. I have never had a UV code expire, and that's a fairly new release. Are you absolutely sure you entered it correctly? I'm guessing you might have a typo.

 

[jayhawkai]

Try it again here:

https://my.vudu.com/redeem.html#selectPromo/_/_/611565/_/_/_/_/_/false/_/

 

[DaveF]

Why did that work? I tried at the VUDU site initially and it failed -- I tried twice, checking the code intentionally the second time. I used your link, which seemed to go to the same site, and it worked???

But, thanks!

 

[jayhawkai]

Why did that work? I tried at the VUDU site initially and it failed -- I tried twice, checking the code intentionally the second time. I used your link, which seemed to go to the same site, and it worked???

But, thanks!

You probably were in the "Redeem Movie Credits" section instead. That's where you redeem codes for $5, $10, etc Vudu credits instead of movies.

 

[DaveF]

And I got bit on Amelie, whose code expired in 2015. Triple checked the entry, and no love.

 

[jayhawkai]

And I got bit on Amelie, whose code expired in 2015. Triple checked the entry, and no love.

It's UV? Try it here just in case:

https://my.vudu.com/redeem.html#selectPromo/_/_/25677/_/_/_/_/_/false/_/

 

[DaveF]

I don't understand. I go to vudu.com to redeem my codes under my account and it doesn't work:
https://my.vudu.com/redeem.html?pn=moviecredits

I go to the vudu.com link you post and it does work
https://my.vudu.com/redeem.html#selectPromo/_/_/25677/_/_/_/_/_/false/_/

....


I see. I'm choosing the wrong redemption option. I'm picking Movie Credits when I should be picking Ultraviolet Copy.
https://my.vudu.com/redeem.html

 

[jayhawkai]

Yep

 

[Sam Posten]

It's incompetence all the way down, Dave. The system literally fails at its stated purpose because the consumer experience is not as important as the corporate one.