Wal-Mart Launches Vudu Disc-to-Digital Store Program: Here's How It Works

Want to turn your bulging library of digital video discs into high-definition video streams that you can access anytime without spending a fortune?

Walmart claims it has the answer: The company's rolling out its disc-to-digital movie store conversion program today, allowing you to bring supported DVD or Blu-ray discs--the company's joined hands with several Hollywood studios--to any Walmart store and unlock access to a streaming version of the video through Vudu.com, Walmart's digital content delivery service.

Here's how it works: You bring your physical DVDs or Blu-ray discs to a participating Walmart store, then pay $2 per disc to access the streaming equivalent through Vudu on supported devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones and game consoles--basically anything that supports Vudu.

Blu-ray users automatically convert to the high-definition version of a video, but standard-definition DVD owners have the option of paying $5 (instead of $2) to up-convert to the HD version. Out of the gate, the service offers over 4,000 titles, and it's available in about 3,500 stores.

But wait, do you get the same deal if your video disc is scratched? How many discs can you have converted at once? Can you keep the disc? If yes, what's to stop customers from passing discs around to friends? How about bulk-conversion discounts?

I called Walmart to get answers, and was told the first you'll need to create both a Vudu.com and UltraViolet account (the latter is the movie industry-led digital rights management process for converting discs to digital versions).

Once those two accounts have been linked, Walmart says you can bring your DVD or Blu-ray in for conversion, at which point a Walmart rep--typically located in each store's photo section--will ask for the email address associated with your Vudu account.

Next, you select whether you're after the $2 SD or $5 HD version--the Walmart rep confirms you can't have both, which is unfortunate for HD buyers who want an SD alternative on devices with low bandwidth or data-caps.

Assuming what you want is part of the program--so far, the Hollywood studios that are participating are Dreamworks, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.--your order's processed, and the Walmart sales associate stamps the inner ring of your disc with a label before handing it back over. This is to prevent you or anyone else from using it for conversion again. Note that movies with "extras" discs may or may not be fully converted--Walmart says support for extra media is at the discretion of each studio.

In theory, says Walmart, there's no limit on the number of discs you can convert at once. I'm assuming the company is betting that most people won't haul hundreds of discs in at once, though if enough people do, I'd wager limits will magically appear. Sadly, bulk conversions won't come with discounts, meaning someone with a moderate collection of 100 DVDs will spend $200 for a straight conversion and an incredible $500 for an up-conversion.

And since there's no physical conversion taking place, i.e. Walmart's just verifying that you own the discs and is unlocking access to already-in-place digital copies, you could argue the whole affair's just a stunt to get customers to pay yet again for content they already own. A wiser, more consumer-friendly move would have been to charge a monthly Vudu access fee, ala Netflix, and let consumers convert for free.

And when it comes to scratched discs, the Walmart rep told me he wasn't sure if Walmart has a policy against accepting them for conversion, since the company is merely verifying each disc is legit and not a rental, but told me that's probably left to the discretion of the sales associate. And lastly, yes, the videos are yours to view indefinitely...so long as Vudu and Walmart stick around.

I sold my 100-plus DVD video collection to a wholesale buyer online over a year ago when I signed up with Netflix and made a fair lot of money. If the prospect of paying for Walmart's disc-to-digital program doesn't appeal to you--depending on whether services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon offer the TV shows and movies you're interested in--you might keep that in mind as an alternative.

Matt Peckham writes for TIME and PCWorld. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, and follow Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

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Wal-Mart to Expand Disc-to-cloud Movie Service to 30 Countries

Leveraging the power of 5000 stores, Wal-Mart plans to expand its Vudu cloud video service from U.S. shores to as many as 30 countries beginning in June, including European, Asian, and Central and South American nations, according to reports.

The new cloud movie service, officially launched earlier this month, is expected to give Netflix a run for its money.

Vudu has already surpassed Sony and Amazon in digital video distribution market share, according to IHS iSuppli, while still lagging behind Microsoft's Zune and Apple's iTunes services.

Wal-Mart expects to expand into Mexico first, followed by other Latin American nations, according to a report in Variety magazine. Wal-Mart also plans to offer the service in the UK and Ireland and then Asia, according to Variety.

The Vudu service allows owners of DVDs or Blu-ray movies to bring their content to a store, pay a small fee, and gain access to the same flicks through any device from the cloud.

The Vudu service, is similar to Apple's iTunes Match service launched last month. The iTunes Match service allows users to upload CDs and have them stored in Apple's cloud from where they can be accessed through any Apple device.

While Wal-Mart's Vudu service purports to "store your" movie content, in reality it simply verifies that you already own the content, and charges you a fee to access the movie through their cloud service. Wal-Mart's one-time carges are $2 for a standard definition or $5 for a high-definition DVD, or $2 for a Blu-ray movie.

Once licensed, users can stream movies directly to Vudu-enabled devices such as an iPad, a desktop or laptop computer, an Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3, a Blu-ray player, and an HDTV.

Unlike Netflix, which requires a credit or debit cards to purchase titles, Vudu allows users to buy pre-paid cards with which they can access new movie content.

The service also allows users to upgrade DVD titles they own to high-definition Citrix's HDX.

The Vudu service, which Wal-Mart purchased in February 2010, offers over 4,000 titles and is now available in about 3,500 stores.

Vudu uses a relatively new digital rights management standard called UltraViolet, that enables access to streamed content regardless of the electronic device.

Launched in January, 2011, UltraViolet is backed by virtually every major U.S. studio, as well as technology giants such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard. Users of Wal-Mart's Vudu service must first open a free UltraViolet account.

Wal-Mart's Vudu service also allows users to access UltraViolet movies purchased at other retailers or redeemed through other service providers.

"You can stream and download any UltraViolet movies using VUDU, at no extra charge to you, regardless of where they were purchased," Wal-Mart states on its Vudu site.

The fact that the service doesn't actually upload your movie content is why not all movies are available from Vudu, only the list that have been legally cleared for digital distribution from studios participating in the UltraViolet program.

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian, or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

Key words: Walmart, Vudu, disc, Blu-ray, DVD UltraViolet standard, movies, iPad, desktop, laptop, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, HDTV, Lucas Mearian

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