Universal is now including Digital Copies! (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Who knew?!?!?! I am working on the Forgetting Sarah Marshall bluray and got a nice surprise, a digital copy disk! This isn't a film I'll likely use it on but maaaan, I can think of some catalog titles I'd love to have on my iPod!!!!

 

[CraigF]

Am I the only one who does NOT like the inclusion of these copies? I have no interest in watching movies on tiny screens or my PC, that's not what I buy discs for. It seems to me it's just a cheap (to the studios) method of extracting a few more bucks, since we typically have no choice of rejecting the DC if we want the BD disc (unlike 1 or 2 disc DVD sets). I already have way more DCs than I want, which is zero..., oh well, it's not like I haven't paid for a "few" discs I really didn't want before due to packaging...

 

[MattFini]

You're not alone, Craig.

I absolutely hate them, too. I ended up tossing my digital copy of AVP-R into the trash. I'm not sure why the studios are jumping all over this. I'm more annoyed than anything when studios try and advertise a title as a 'two disc set' when it's just the movie and a digital copy.

Certainly not a selling point for me.

Sorry, Sam, I certainly didn't mean to hijack this thread, though.

 

[TravisR]

Nope. It's an absolute waste of plastic for me and I think it propels us faster to the loss of physical media.

 

[Paul Arnette]

I too couldn't care less about digital copies. I'd rather they found some other way to provide users with the file rather than including another disc but cest la vie.

 

[Brian L]

Works for me too, Sam. Look like you are taking it on the chin here, so I thought I would come to your defense.

I just can't wrap my brain around the negativity for including this, but I suppose not everyone has an iPod or other media player. To me its an acknowledgment by the studios that their customers would like to use their purchased media in ways other than sitting in front of a TV. And they are allowing it to happen w/o any question of legality.

With DVD, ripped copies are not too hard to come by, but with BR, its not so easy. Being able to load a legit SD copy of a purchased BR disc on my daughters iPod is a plus in our household.

I can see not wanting to pay for it if you don't want to have it, but being an unwashed heathen, I feel the same way about most "bonus" features that I may watch once, if at all.

Just give me a stripped down single disc, maxed out in terms of audio (uncompressed PCM please) and video, and leave the extras out. Do include a digital copy though, please ;-)

Call it a BR equivalent of a Superdisc.

Sell a super deluxe special edition with all the extras for collectors, if you will.

Brian

 

[Bryan Beckman]

I don't mind the inclusion of a digital copy so long as studios offer consumers a choice between a version of the movie with it and one without it. Disney is doing this with both "WALL-E" and "Prince Caspian," and I for one appreciate it. However, better still is the bonus DVD they're throwing in for "Sleeping Beauty," without increasing the price of the much-anticipated 2-disc set. WAY better for portability around the house and keeping the kids entertained during those long car trips.

It does annoy me a bit though that the studios have taken to marketing these movies with digital copies as "2-disc" or "3-disc" sets, when that extra disc (1) isn't playable in a standard DVD or Blu-ray player, and (2) contains nothing other than the DRM code necessary to secure your ONE allowed digital copy of the movie online. It makes it appear that there's far more content included with the movie than there actually is. The most egregious example of this thus far is "Speed Racer," which comes advertised as a 3-disc set but only one of which actually contains any worthwhile content (and a compromised audio encode to boot).

 

[Douglas Monce]

I'm not sure why anyone would care if a digital copy is included with the movie. Its not like it will take up much space, probably between 200 and 500MB.

I for one would use it, and it doesn't seem to be bringing up the price of the disc so who cares?

Much ado about nothing.

Doug

 

[Sam Posten]

That's true if it's on a disk already Douglas, they are objecting to more wasted plastic for an EXTRA disk tho, and thats how many of the studios are handling it, particularly on BD where 99.999999% of the population does not have a BD drive on their computer yet. Personally I would MUCH rather have a code for an iTunes download than another disk but I thought it was cool that it was there as a START. I'd much rather have a seperate DVD disk than a flipper ANY DAY! Remember we are just at the forefront of this format, so things can and will evolve...

 

[Vegas 1]

I only have one at the moment, from the Dark City BR. Just what does one do with the Digital Copy? Excuse my ignorance!
Regards,
Al

 

[Carlo_M]

The Digital Copy, once its authenticated via the serial number they give you and the process described within the disc package, downloads onto your PC/Mac a digitally compressed copy for use in portable devices such as iPods.

Although it isn't a make-or-break feature for me, I'm glad to have it because I hated the time it took to make a manual digital copy (of DVDs I own and paid for) for my iPod. It often took over an hour to do. Now it takes minutes, and the results are as good or better than the program I was using to do it. The resulting copy is a much smaller resolution than the original file, allowing an 8GB dual layer DVD movie to be shrunk to under a GB. I don't really dig watching full length movies on my iPod, but I like episodes of TV shows like Family Guy or The Simpsons on my iPod, especially while I'm waiting for my girlfriend to finish her shopping at the mall...gives me some entertainment while I wait!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I too would much rather they just provide a regular DVD, instead of this "digital copy" thing, or perhaps just give us an "upgrade" rebate or similar like Disney's been doing quite often of late (or a "companion" coupon that can be used even at online shops like Amazon).

But I guess they also don't want to make it too easy for folks to turn around and sell the DVD version for a net gain (that results in a net loss to them) since they are still depending on the DVD market for some 90% or so of their home video revenue.

Maybe what they should do is provide a lower quality (perhaps, single layer) DVD version that's specifically made to go in the BD release and throw the DC file in there also. Basically, something that would still look good enough on a smaller display whether it's DVD on a portable player (or

 

[Don Giro]

I would much rather a second disc of "bonus features" than a digital copy. I'm glad somebody finally brought up this topic. I thought I was the only one.

 

[troy evans]

I don't like digital copies, but, I haven't noticed any price increase because of them. Some older films in the value sections of Wal-Mart now have them and they are still as cheap as they were before. For my needs these things are useless. I can live with them though. You never know what may come up in your life that may make these things usefull. Now, as far as how they label dvds as 2 or 3 disc sets because of the DC, for the most part the digital copy is labeled clearly on a sticker on the package. If you order online they say if it's included as well. So you have to assume one of the discs is the copy. No big deal. Again, I don't like them, but, they don't bother me as long as I don't have to pay any extra.

 

[Alfonso_M]

I guess this is the new Hi-DEF "COMBO DISC", only now the Studios are promoting away from packaged media (both HD and SD) as opposed to the old Combo disc that was pushing Hi-DEF on the masses, away from "Digital downloads" ...

So now Blu ray owners will also have to pay extra for a movie version that is not HI-DEF?

...and of all things.. an IPOD version?

Well, you guys must excuse my uncontrolable laughter, but the "poetic justice" in this new development is just killing me...

 

[CraigF]

How can you tell you're not paying extra because there's almost always (never??) an option to NOT get them. I guess what I mean is: they ain't givin' them away, LOL... My guess, by comparing to similar titles from the same studio without a DC, is they charge ~$3-4 for the DC...why I'm not *too* agitated about this practice. (I get MUCH more agitated about non-anamorphic trailers for brand new movies I don't even want to see on BDs, LOL)

I suppose they're useful for many people though. Like for playing in the car for the kids (LOL, all my DCs are definitely NOT for the kiddies), most people don't have a BDP in their car. Or in their computer yet. I suppose these DCs are aimed at a much younger demographic than me (the crusty old fart demographic category), which is probably the target BD demographic anyways.

 

[Vegas 1]

I see. thanks Carlo.

 

[TravisR]

I have at least four titles with the digital copy and none of them have had an MSRP or retail price that was any different from the norm.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Doesn't this defeat the entire purpose of "DC"?
Isn't DC to replace physical media? Not become physical media!
Doesn't Uni have a download program?
Sounds like a step backward too me.
How much extra are we paying for the DC?

 

[TravisR]

We're not paying anything extra. Like I said, I haven't seen any MSRP that is higher than the norm due to a digital copy.