Tip: Convert physical Blu-ray and DVD discs to iTunes with Vudu and Movies Anywhere

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 90
    polymnia said:

    Never thought I’d make an account at Vudu…but it’s too good a deal to pass up.

    i can now ask people for Blu-Rays for Christmas knowing I can turn them into (much easier) iTunes streams. I’ve been avoiding discs due to the difficulty incorporating them into my ATV-based video lifestyle. 
    Respectfully, that's illogical. If what you ultimately want is digital copies of movies, why ask people to buy Blu-rays that you'll end up not needing? Why not just have them either (a) gift you the movies on iTunes or (b) buy you iTunes gift cards (which are even sold in grocery stores)?  :)
  • Reply 62 of 90
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    This is the missing link of the modern movie transition from disks to digital. Genius! Now, if only:
    1. iTunes had an uncompromised movie library of quality films (the library is extremely poor, legacy titles in particular, at least over here in northern Europe)
    2. This was world wide
    I haven't even purchased a BluRay player, or any BluRay disks because I thought early on that digital sales would take over. But digital movie sales sucks, and it's scattered. If I want to purchase a film, how do I even search for it on Google? Like... Title movie online purchase streaming download…? I mean.. most search terms will point me to pirating services, phishing services, or shops where you can order physical disks. Searching for movies on iTunes it's pointless because it's guaranteed not to be in the Library. Perhaps the US library is great... what do I know... but around here it's pointless.
  • Reply 63 of 90
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    @ Nhughes:  Question, is the service using the H265 HVEC codec for the conversion or H264?
  • Reply 64 of 90
    MacPro said:
    @ Nhughes:  Question, is the service using the H265 HVEC codec for the conversion or H264?
    The service isn't actually "converting" the disc, it's just verifying that you own and then matching it to its own copy in the cloud.

    Presumably the codec offered will be dependent on the service itself. For example, a 4K stream from iTunes to the Apple TV is H.265.
  • Reply 65 of 90
    gwanberg said:
    nhughes said:
    gwanberg said:
    Respectfully, I think your perception of how this process works is flawed.  I followed the VUDU scan to digital process for 18 bluray titles in my library.  All 18 titles successfully imported into my VUDU library.  After creating a Movies Anywhere account and linking it to my VUDU account, my VUDU library now appears within Movies Anywhere.

    I then linked my iTunes account to my Movies Anywhere account, providing visibility of my iTunes library within Movies Anywhere.  However, NONE of the 18 VUDU "scan to digital" titles imported into my iTunes movie library.  My iTunes movie library only contains titles directly purchased from iTunes store and Digital Copy downloads redeemed though iTunes store.

    The only centralized library of all titles from all linked accounts remains within the Movies Anywhere application.
    Are you sure you linked Movies Anywhere to the same iTunes account that is logged in on your device? You're the first person I've heard from with this issue. There are some movies and studios here and there that seem to be excluded for mysterious reasons (see the guy earlier who had trouble with the Harry Potter franchise), but the fact that NONE of your purchases are showing up leads me to believe there might be an error in your setup.

    Yes I am sure.  Perhaps you should review your findings.  Movies Anywhere does not migrate titles between Retailers.

    APPLEINSIDER MODERATOR/EDITOR:

    You might consider adding this caveat to your article, because although this is a fantastic new development, we now know that movies are only added to iTunes if in fact they're part of Movies Anywhere. Successful conversion in Vudu does not, in and of itself, guarantee that the title will also appear in iTunes. 

    Bottom line: Before converting a given title in Vudu, I recommend that users first search for that title in Movies Anywhere. If it's not there, this method will NOT work for that particular movie.
    Thanks. This is why I noted the participating studios in the second paragraph. I'll modify the language to make that a little more clear.
  • Reply 66 of 90
    MacPro said:
    @ Nhughes:  Question, is the service using the H265 HVEC codec for the conversion or H264?
    The service described in this article does not actually *convert* your discs to digital encodes.  It's simply reading the barcode off the back of your DVD/Blu-ray package, checking it against the database of Disc-to-Digital-eligible movies in Vudu's system, and if it's found, it lets you purchase that movie for $2 or $5.
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 67 of 90
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    polymnia said:

    Never thought I’d make an account at Vudu…but it’s too good a deal to pass up.

    i can now ask people for Blu-Rays for Christmas knowing I can turn them into (much easier) iTunes streams. I’ve been avoiding discs due to the difficulty incorporating them into my ATV-based video lifestyle. 
    Respectfully, that's illogical. If what you ultimately want is digital copies of movies, why ask people to buy Blu-rays that you'll end up not needing? Why not just have them either (a) gift you the movies on iTunes or (b) buy you iTunes gift cards (which are even sold in grocery stores)?  :)
    Because it’s easier for non-nerds to buy things in boxes, and much easier for anyone to wrap & put under the tree. 

    Gift giving isnt always logical. 
  • Reply 68 of 90
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    It sounds interesting, but also like an awful lot of work.  I don't own that many Blu-ray movies (maybe 25?).  When I want to watch them I pop them in...like an adult.   :D   I guess if you want to stream to a device or avoid the inconvenience of putting a disc in, it's fine.  I'll likely stick with the discs.   
  • Reply 69 of 90
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    nhughes said:
    MacPro said:
    @ Nhughes:  Question, is the service using the H265 HVEC codec for the conversion or H264?
    The service isn't actually "converting" the disc, it's just verifying that you own and then matching it to its own copy in the cloud.

    Presumably the codec offered will be dependent on the service itself. For example, a 4K stream from iTunes to the Apple TV is H.265.
    OK gotcha, thanks.
  • Reply 70 of 90
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    sdw2001 said:
    It sounds interesting, but also like an awful lot of work.  I don't own that many Blu-ray movies (maybe 25?).  When I want to watch them I pop them in...like an adult.   :D   I guess if you want to stream to a device or avoid the inconvenience of putting a disc in, it's fine.  I'll likely stick with the discs.   
    You say “like an adult”

    i say “like an animal”
    dws-2
  • Reply 71 of 90
    Hmmmm... What's to stop someone from going to Best Buy and scanning every movie in the store???
    The TOC does mention a limit of 100 conversions per calendar year. So you could go crazy, but not that crazy.
    Then again, most those movies at Best Buy wouldn't work anyway since it works on older movies that don't have digital copies. 
    Not true.  It also works on newer movies that have digital copies available.  I scanned my Scarface bar code and it worked.
  • Reply 72 of 90
    carnegiecarnegie Posts: 1,077member
    Has anyone else had issues trying to set up a Movies Anywhere account? I can't get the system to send me a verification email, so I can't verify my account and use it. I've tried multiple times, with multiple emails, and from the app as well as through a browser.
  • Reply 73 of 90
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    polymnia said:
    sdw2001 said:
    It sounds interesting, but also like an awful lot of work.  I don't own that many Blu-ray movies (maybe 25?).  When I want to watch them I pop them in...like an adult.   :D   I guess if you want to stream to a device or avoid the inconvenience of putting a disc in, it's fine.  I'll likely stick with the discs.   
    You say “like an adult”

    i say “like an animal”
    Or like those with severely restricted data caps/slow connection speeds. An HD movie is going to take a serious bite out of a 10 GB/month satellite connection along with a poor overall experience because of the slow speed.
    dws-2
  • Reply 74 of 90
    I've scanned a few WB Blu-rays and they're not recognized by Vudu D2D.  WB is one of the major players involved, yes?
  • Reply 75 of 90
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    waverboy said:
    Hmmmm... What's to stop someone from going to Best Buy and scanning every movie in the store???
    The TOC does mention a limit of 100 conversions per calendar year. So you could go crazy, but not that crazy.
    Then again, most those movies at Best Buy wouldn't work anyway since it works on older movies that don't have digital copies. 
    Not true.  It also works on newer movies that have digital copies available.  I scanned my Scarface bar code and it worked.
    The blu ray release of Scarface doesn't have a digital copy unless you bought that limited edition Universal 100th anniversary copy. Since that's no longer sold, the Scarface blu rays in store don't have digital copies. 
  • Reply 76 of 90
    nhughesnhughes Posts: 770editor
    waverboy said:
    I've scanned a few WB Blu-rays and they're not recognized by Vudu D2D.  WB is one of the major players involved, yes?
    WB is a major player in Movies Anywhere. Not being recognized by Vudu is a separate issue — Movies Anywhere just bridges the gap between Vudu and iTunes.
  • Reply 77 of 90
    nhughesnhughes Posts: 770editor

    sdw2001 said:
    It sounds interesting, but also like an awful lot of work.  I don't own that many Blu-ray movies (maybe 25?).  When I want to watch them I pop them in...like an adult.   :D   I guess if you want to stream to a device or avoid the inconvenience of putting a disc in, it's fine.  I'll likely stick with the discs.   
    If I'm at home, I'll stick with the Blu-ray disc (especially for 24p support). But I like having the ability to download a few films to my iPad before I get on a flight. And with $5 upconverts from DVD to HD, I can get higher quality streams and downloads for my older (non-Blu) film collection.

    A few years ago, I ripped my entire DVD and Blu-ray collection and put them all in the cloud, so that I could easily access the files if I chose. This doesn't address all of those films, but a huge chunk of them at least. I'm going to stop paying $100/year to Dropbox to host my films and migrate the remaining rips to iCloud Drive, which offers cheaper storage plans.
  • Reply 78 of 90
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    waverboy said:
    I've scanned a few WB Blu-rays and they're not recognized by Vudu D2D.  WB is one of the major players involved, yes?
    Not all movies work. From my understanding, most of the movies that are part of the Vudu D2D program are ones that were released before digital copies were available. 
  • Reply 79 of 90
    cali said:
    polymnia said:
    Hmmmm... What's to stop someone from going to Best Buy and scanning every movie in the store???
    I’d assume that’s why they collect location information. If you are scanning in retail environments, that probably flags you for investigation.
    Nothing stops them. This isn’t new.

    [snip]
    Nope. You're jumping to conclusions without ascertaining the facts.

    "What's to stop someone from going to Best Buy and scanning every movie?" This: You can only scan barcodes at the billing address that matches your credit card.

    It's a stupid system, because not everyone lives at his or her billing address. I have accountants that manage my finances, and my credit-card statements go directly to their office. So, my billing address isn't my home address—which means I cannot scan movies at home.

    Vudu does have an computer app you can download that lets you register DVDs or Blu-ray discs by putting them into the computer's drive. But it only works with internal drives—and of course there are no Macs with Blu-ray-compatible drives. So, for Mac users, it only works for standard DVDs, not Blu-rays.

    I can only imagine this verification system will have to change in significant ways, because there are too many caveats. Aside from what I just described, anyone can borrow DVDs and scan them at home. (I'm not advocating this; just pointing out the flaws in the system.) Also, anyone who lives, say, above a video store could in fact probably scan anything in the store because, as far as the phone is concerned, he/she would still be at the billing address.

    So, grab your legal copies while you can, because I suspect this is going to change soon.

    (The Vudu rep told me that once you've converted a title, it will remain in your iTunes account forever—even if that title is later removed for whatever reasons (e.g., the licensing agreement with the studio is discontinued or whatever).
  • Reply 79 of 90
    nhughes said:
    cali said:
    polymnia said:
    Hmmmm... What's to stop someone from going to Best Buy and scanning every movie in the store???
    I’d assume that’s why they collect location information. If you are scanning in retail environments, that probably flags you for investigation.
    Nothing stops them. This isn’t new.

    scammers have been selling movies this way for years. Look up posts for “D2D sales” ok GooglePlus. Movies Anywhere is gonna fuc* Apple so hard in so many ways. 
    I don't agree with that line of thinking entirely. If anything, this makes me even more committed to iTunes, ensuring I can have my entire collection in one place. But it's also consumer friendly — if Amazon has a good deal on a digital copy, I can buy there and transfer to iTunes. Best of both worlds (for me, at least).
    But to evaluate that you must ask how long the license lasts. If this program goes the way of the DIVX flop, what happens to your purchases? Once attributed to you in iTunes will they remain with you forever? 
    According to a Vudu representative on the phone, today, yes.
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