Walmart Offering Disc-to-Digital in the Home

7 Jan, 2013 By: Erik Gruenwedel, Chris Tribbey

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Walmart is joining Best Buy in offering the disc-to-digital service in the home. 

Like Best Buy’s service previously announced, Walmart’s plan allows consumers to convert their discs to digital files without having to leave home. Previously, customers had to visit a store to convert their discs to digital files.

Both services are powered by UltraViolet, the industry consortium-backed service that allows consumers to access movies and other copyrighted content they own in the cloud. UltraViolet is backed by most of the major studios.

Users visit http://www.vudu.com and download the Vudu To Go App for Macs and PCs. Once on the site, users can browse the list of compatible movies from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Bros., DreamWorks Animation, Lionsgate, MGM Studios, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Sony Home Entertainment.

Converting a standard DVD or Blu-ray movie costs $2; or $5 for digital HD. The Vudu To Go App will authorize the digital UltraViolet copies and place them in your Vudu account. No upload is necessary, and customers get to keep their physical discs.

Users log onto Vudu.com to view movies any time, any place from any of the more than 300 Internet-connected devices supported by Vudu.

“From Smartphones to Smart TVs, our customers are consuming and sharing content more than ever,” said John Aden, EVP for general merchandising, Walmart U.S. “We see a great opportunity to provide our customers with accessible and affordable tools to help them bring their movie collections into the digital age."

Walmart recently enhanced the Vudu experience by providing the ability to stream and download more than 100,000 movies and TV shows on a growing list of select Android tablets. While the capability to stream on iOS devices is already offered, these users will have the capability to download their collections starting mid-February. The free app is now available for download in the Google Play and iTunes stores.

Walmart is giving customers who sign up for a new Vudu account 10 free pre-selected movies when they sign up for an UltraViolet account or link to an existing account.

In addition to Disc-to-Digital, Walmart’s new Entertainment Facebook app allows users consumers to share, interact with and choose movies they want to see in Walmart stores and online at Vudu.com.

Walmart’s Entertainment App will be available for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Blu-ray and DVD pre-sale in February.

"The concept behind Walmart's Entertainment app is to create an innovative approach to shopping,” said Tom Arrix, VP of global marketing solutions, Facebook US. “Connecting social activity to Walmart stores across the country will empower fans to change and personalize the store experience."

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