Walmart Launches Exclusive In-Store Disc-to-Digital VUDU Service

[Palmer]

The article is incorrect. Please see attached from the VUDU forum. The Vudu rep clearly states HDX:

http://forum.vudu.com/showthread.php?t=82421

Thanks for finding this, tower. Article's been updated accordingly. I should have known better than to trust a PR rep who didn't seem tech savvy, despite me saying "you're sure, HD and not HDX" repeatedly. Le Sigh.

[Geomancer21]

firstly, i don't see it as a fair price to pay for something you have ALREADY PAID FOR.

but anyway, to expand on the "where are they coming from" convo, if that is the case, that all they are doing is giving you access to an already existing vudu file then that means its not going to work for everyone. are you seriously telling me that out there exists an HD copy of some obscure anime flick that was released on dvd ONCE buy some now defunct company waiting for me to get it?

and thats another issue, foreign films. anyone dealing with hulu, netflix etc that is a fan of those films and series has already experienced the frustration of trying to watch the film in their preffered format (IE subbed or dubbed). how is that going to work? will what you get be bilingual, or will you have to choose sides?

also, series, are they available? and if so does that mean i have to pay per disc or per episode? alot of shows on digital services charge per episode. per disc, that may be ok at times, but some older releases had (especially anime) had two or three episodes per disc for a 26+ ep season. and some got various releases, with various ep counts. one release having 6-7 eps per disc, another with just 2-3 (this happened with several series).

pfft, you can just digitize them yourself for free (there is freeware for it) if it comes to that.

[ttringle]

Where does the HD version of the movie come from if it has only been issued on DVD, and never on Blu-ray? Does Vudu have a huge collection of movies in 720p hi-def that were never released on Blu-ray? Where did Vudu get them? I guess the same can be asked of Netflix? Do the studies take the film and convert it to hi-def video, with all that that can involve (color correction, cleaning it up, restoring in some cases), and supply these to Vudu? Or are these standard definition version just upscaled to 720p? I can understand if a movie has been released on blu-ray, these services can just take the 1080p copy and downconvert to 720p, but I don't understand where true 720p versions of movies never released in hi-def on video come from.

There are a lot of movies on VUDU and other services in HD that aren't available on Blu-Ray. That's because it's far less expensive for someone like Amazon or iTunes to put out the Video on the service and then the studio just gets their money without having to re-master the video again or create millions of discs for sale on a physical medium.

I hadn't heard that this was going to be VUDU, next to iTunes it's my favorite online video service. If I can really get some movies in HD that aren't available on Blu-Ray yet for a fraction of the cost of buying a blu-ray I may try this out. We'll see. I just shudder to think about the 17 year olds I'll be dealing with when I go there and looking at the slack jawed incomprehension when I ask about the service. Retail stores (other than apple) really suck at training their staff.

[markhd]

This isn't the end of physical media.

1. not everyone has access to broadband..
2. not all with access subscribe
3. many who subscribe have dsl which often isn't good enough for HD video.
4. network capacity during primetime takes a big hit even now. imagine what will happen if more and more video is watched online. hundreds of homes share the same broadband pipe.
5. the cable ISPs are going toward a usage based pricing model....woops, online video just got a lot more expensive.
6. bluray resolution is way higher than the compressed 720p u get online. resolution matters a lot to some folks. i have a 100 inch screen.
7. i don't trust them.

[markhd]

what they should do is charge a very low fee to convert DVDs, like 25 cents...and like $2 to convert a dvd to hd.

this would then get people to actually use their service. right now it still doesn't make sense. $2 is too much for something u already own.

then later they may want to bundle the ultraviolet rights into a bluray sale and people will actually see it as adding value. right now they have no idea what ultraviolet is. or they could sell the content online directly. at the very least, they should make the first 5 dvd conversion free. get people to use and understand the service first. show them it actually has value.

[gravis778]

Anyone who is questioning the streaming quality has obviously never used Vudu. They have stuff in 1080P and in 3D. I will tell you that I think the bitrates are too high to stream over even the fastest DSL - you need cable or fiber. The bitrates are comparable with some of the more compressed Blu-Ray titles out there, and the service was pretty much created for people who are more picky about quality. But, if you are still worried about the quality, just fire Vudu up - many movies you can watch for free up to 3 minues of the movie in whatever quality you choose. See for yourself the quality of the service.

Vudu does have a lot of movies available in HD and HDX that are not on Blu-Ray. I would recommend, though, that before you haul your discs down to Wal-Mart, to just load up Vudu and see if the movies are available.

I may even do this on a few DVDs that I have not upgraded to Blu yet. I have a few movies that I just don't watch that much, and the Blus are over $30 each, but for a $5 upgrade fee, I may do that.

My DVDs are in storage at the moment as I am in the middle of a move, so it will probably be a month or two before I look into this.

Is it just limited to DVDs and Blu-Rays? My HD-DVD player is starting to give me fits, and I still have quite a few movies on Laserdisc and VHS.

[Plissken99]

I wonder how this translates to films in their catalog which are in HD or HDX, but only available to rent, not own. Fallen in particular I'd be happy to do this for, but it's not available to own, just to rent.

[DVD2955]

I have read where ""SOME"" Wal-Marts are accepting the "HD-DVD"s for conversion to the "VUDU" "Cloud" movie collections for the $2 each price?
Has anybody here been able to do this and on the "VUDU" site there has been no ''OFFICIAL'' comment or policy.

avid

[Plissken99]

Between you me and the Internet, you can add the movie at the $2 price, a Walmart employee won't know or care if you only have the DVD. If by crazy slim chance they do, claim ignorance.