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"Walmart is partnering with five major film studios to make it easier for customers to gain cloud access to their existing physical library of DVD and Blu-ray discs.\nEven as consumers move toward consuming more of their home entertainment online via subscription streaming services, optical discs still make up the majority of home video sales. Walmart is positioning its new service as a way to let customers keep their existing library of disc-based media, while still gaining access to those titles in the cloud.\nWhen Walmart's Disc-to-Digital initiative launches on Apr. 16, customers can bring their DVDs or Blu-ray discs into Walmart stores and walk out both with the physical disc and a digital copy accessible via Walmart's Vudu streaming service.\nFive of the six major film studios \u2014 Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. \u2014 have signed on to support the new service. The notable exception is Walt Disney Pictures. The five studios are also working together on UltraViolet, a digital-rights and cloud-based licensing system that will ostensibly allow customers to access digital copies of their purchased titles in a device- and location-agnostic way.\nRather than competing with UltraViolet, the new Vudu-based Disc-to-Digital initiative will work alongside the struggling system.\nHow it Works\n\n\n\n\nConsumers who opt to use the in-store Disc-to-Digital system can bring their discs into more than 3,500 Walmart stores. After creating or signing into a Vudu account, store associates will authorize digital copies of supported film that the customer can watch on PCs, tablets and phones.\nThe price for the conversion is $2 for a standard DVD or Blu-ray film and $5 to upgrade a standard DVD to a HD digital copy.\nOnce authorized, users can access the titles from any supported Vudu device. Vudu is currently available on a range of connected devices, including Blu-ray players and HDTVs. Users can access Vudu content from a Mac or PC, but support is currently limited to standard definition. Likewise, the iPad web app only supports standard definition video at this time.\nReviving the Home Video Market\nThe underlying goal of this plan is simple: Raise flagging home video sales. \nAfter hitting a high in the early 2000s, home video sales have plummeted in recent years. Studios, which were once able to count on the home release window for a substantial amount of revenue, are now seeing smaller returns.\nThe battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray didn't help matters. By the time Blu-ray became the \"official\" successor to DVD, many consumers had started to shift towards accessing content from online services such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and iTunes.\nThis is also a big problem for retailers such as Walmart. With the exception of Vudu, the service it purchased in 2010, Walmart has struggled to make any inroads in selling digital media.\nUsing Vudu's technology to get customers into a digital cloud \u2014 while paying a nominal \"conversion\" fee \u2014 is one way Walmart is hoping recapture some of its lost revenue.\nWhere Is Disney?\nPrice and process issues aside, UltraViolet's \u2014 as well as Walmart's new Disc-to-Digital service \u2014  greatest deficit is its lack of full studio support.\nDisney is reportedly working on its own UltraViolet competitor, KeyChest. The only way ubiquitous digital lockers will work is if every party supports the same standard. Cutting out the Mouse House is a dangerous move.\nThe potentially bigger issue is that without Disney's support, it's unlikely Apple will support any of these cloud-based initiatives. While Vudu has figured out a way to work on iOS and UltraViolet is developing its own apps, not having support within an existing iTunes ecosystem presents a challenge.\nApple recently updated its iTunes in the Cloud service for support for movie purchases. Most of the major studios have signed on \u2014 allowing customers easy access to past purchases from the cloud in iOS. Existing windowing deals aside, the ability to access past purchases from any iTunes or iOS device is a compelling concept.\nFor the last four years, studios have bundled digital download codes (which can be redeemed at digital retailers including iTunes) alongside their DVD and Blu-ray films. These customers already have achieved the zen that Walmart and the studios are attempting to promise: digital copies in a cloud and physical copies on the shelf.\nA Question of Price and Value\nWalmart and its studio partners are pouring lots of money into promoting this new service. While exact dollar figures weren't discussed, executives likened the amount to a figure \"on par with a blockbuster movie campaign.\"\nEducation will be the key part of this service \u2014 not just for consumers, but for Walmart employees. One fear with this service is that the average Walmart worker won't be properly trained to quickly figure out what titles have digital copies available on Vudu and what copies don't \u2014 not to mention the ability to instruct customers on how to access these titles.\nAnd then of course, there's the pricing. At $2 or $5 a title, the pricing isn't bad for old favorites, but it can add up quickly. A consumer with 75-to-100 titles in their library could spend close to $500 on conversions and \"HD\" upgrades.\nFor some consumers that are familiar with the process of ripping their DVDs, this fee might be too expensive. After all, Handbrake is free. Still, the time saved and the cloud-access might make the service worthwhile.\nLet us know your thoughts on Walmart's new service in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/walmart-disc-digital-vudu/>