Looking to convert your DVD collection to digital so you can stream the films on your iPod or other streaming content device?
Wal-Mart will do that for you. For $2 to $5 per disc, you can bring your DVDs to the retail giant and have them digitally converted for streaming.
Starting April 16, Walmart customers can bring their DVD and Blu-ray movies to the stores and receive “digital access” to the titles from the partnering studios — Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros.
Converting a title to standard definition viewing, similar the video quality on DVDs and Blu-ray discs, costs $2. An upgrade to high-definition (HD) is priced at $5.
“The disc-to-digital service will allow our customers to reconnect with the movies they already own on a variety of new devices, while preserving the investments they’ve made in disc purchases over the years,” says John Aden, a merchandising executive of Walmart.
Powered by Walmart’s video streaming technology subsidiary Vudu, the service will require customers to create a Vudu account, where their digital files are stored. Customers can access their movies by logging onto Vudu.com.
The move signals Walmart’s support of UltraViolet, an initiative by movie studios and technology companies to move customers’ purchased DVD movies into a cloud-based digital library. Launched late last year, UltraViolet seeks to improve and standardize digital rights and authentication for content.
Getting Walmart to join the initiative will push other large retailers to rethink their streaming strategy. But customers already have plenty of other cloud-based streaming options, including cable companies’ on-demand services, Hulu and Netflix. And it remains to be seen if customers are willing to pay extra for movies they already own.
It will be a cold day in $%@# before I take disks to Walwart to rip for me.
If their techs are like the ones in their automotive department you’ll end up getting a beta tape back instead of a disc.
If you really want to rip and convert your movies for your portable media device, take some time and study up from numerous threads on the Doom9 forums. It really doesn’t take that much time to convert a movie, and there are several free programs that will rip DVD’s or BluRays to your hard drive.
Also, what’s to stop people from borrowing DVD’s from each other and taking them down to Walmart? How does Walmart know that you actually own that disc?