I'm interested in converting some of my Blu-rays to digital, but, with VUDU, is there the risk of losing the digital ownership? If VUDU would go out of business, are we out of luck in viewing our movies or TV shows on VUDU?

The disc to digital transfers become Ultraviolet copies, so if Vudu goes under, then any other streaming service that allows UV access can play the movie. Of course, I'm sure any of the studios can revoke the digital ownership, it's probably part of the fine print agreement when we make them part of the UV library. It just hasn't happened yet. But it is within the realm of possibility I'm sure.

On the other side, several movies are not eligible for the disc to digital program. And MGM released blu's cannot be converted.

Walmart owns Vudu. So highly unlikely at this point.

http://hd-report.com/2016/08/11/test...rts-from-vudu/

free 4K UHD shorts.

I might have said that if I hadn't seen the article on WM shutting significant stores eventually, including one 4 miles away. That shit was so fucking convenient and easy...

And I really hope it does not as I'm building my digital collection.

just crossed 1000 movies. hope it doen't go tits up.

1,037 movies
18 shows (from eps to full series)

I love this shit more than my blus, sad to say. Just so convenient and addicting...

Yeah, I'm not confident that my kids will be able to read books from my Kindle account or watch movies from my Vudu account when the are my age. At some point, even the biggest companies go under or abandon their core business (IBM, Xerox, Motorola, Kodak, AT&T) or perhaps some new format will take over without any backward compatibility. I do appreciate that music is not copy protected and even if the Kindle cloud disappears, I can keep my own copy to move to newer devices.

I remember when Walmart got out of the digital music business.. Don't remember the details other than we had a specific time limit to download purchases before they were gone.. So even Walmart can shut something cloud like down...

They turned off their DRM servers for the WMA files they sold before they switched to selling MP3. The files still played on your existing devices if you had them activated, but you couldn't activate any new devices after the shutdown:
http://boingboing.net/2008/09/26/wal...tting-dow.html

That said, Vudu is linked to UltraViolet, which is an alliance of 85 companies that includes film studios, retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, cable TV companies, ISPs, network hosting vendors, and other Internet systems and security vendors. As noted by trespoochies, as long as some streaming platform supports UV, you'll be able to play your copies. For example, all my Vudu purchases are mirrored on FandangoNOW.

So the Vudu UV copies are not as vulnerable to one company shutting down one service, like the WMA purchases were.

A couple of quick deals for you:

Tut Season 1 - $4.99 at 67% off.

Dragon Blade w/ Jackie Chan & Adrien Brody $4.99 (saw the trailer this morning and looks quite good)
Edit: (Ended up buying a Brand New copy of Dragon Blade (Blu and Digital) for $10 shipped to my door).

A bunch of $4.99 movies on this Summer Savings deal page:
http://www.vudu.com/movies/?CID=Emai...featured/15708

Also notable is Little House on the Prairie the Complete Series Deluxe Remastered Edition in HDX for $19.99. All 8 seasons remastered in HD:
http://www.vudu.com/movies/?CID=Emai...Edition-Bundle

Agreed. I don't think I've put a Blu-Ray in the player in a couple months.

650 or so movies and climbing every week or two.

So, how does Vudu get HDX versions of stuff that has only been in SD? Like I am watching West Wing. Know it only has SD presentation, so what's the deal?

The West Wing switched to 16:9 masters in Season 3, possible in HD, and was shot on 35mm in 16:9 from the beginning, although the first two seasons were center cropped to 4:3.

WB went back and remastered everything in HD in 2010, although only releasing the HD version online, not on Blu-ray.

http://www.danielbowen.com/2015/03/2...ng-widescreen/
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=56782
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/34-hdt...idescreen.html
http://www.mcelhearn.com/get-the-com...st-wing-in-hd/
https://www.engadget.com/2010/11/05/...able-in-hd-bu/


So if Vudu has an HDX version of a show, it's likely because it's been remastered in HD, but the studio doesn't see the value in releasing it on disc.

Wow, thanks for the info Jay. You know I switched to Netflix to see how it looks. To be honest, I think I liked the look of Netflix better

Jay G. is our own personal miniature film school.

Both Walmart and Microsoft abandoned their digital music businesses. That should tell you something when two of the world's biggest companies left paying customers in the dark with their digital music purchases.

Nothing streaming will last forever. This is how the music companies want it.

I can't view HDX content using a VGA cable, right? My desktop only has a VGA port, but my new monitor has both VGA and HDMI ports. Any way to work around this?

Worst part was they had some exclusives that haven't been heard of since...

Technically, the MS & Walmart stores were music downloads, and the music companies gave up the ghost on DRM on music downloads a long time ago. Nowadays, any music straight up purchased and downloaded is DRM free on pretty much every music service.

Ironically, it was the switch to DRM-free that caused both MS and Walmart to shut down their DRM servers, since they were obsolete.

Video still has DRM on both downloads and streaming, and it doesn't look likely to go DRM-free anytime soon.


Depending on the desktop, you could purchase a medium-range video card with an HDMI out and put it in your desktop.

But, as is, your desktop will never output HDX over the VGA out.

More Vudu Extras:

Citizen Koch (2014)
The Clan (2016)
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1) (2014)
Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Southpaw (2015)
Taken (Theatrical) (2009)
Taken 2 (2012)
Taken 3 (Unrated) (2015)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 2) (2012)
A Bigger Splash (2016)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
The Pyramid (2014)

My HP Pavilion only has a VGA port, so I'm out of luck on viewing VUDU in HDX?

The problem is that the number of UV providers has been shrinking too. Target Ticket and NOOK shutdown. M-Go and Flixster Video got consolidated into FandangoNow. There are basically only 3 UV choices now: VUDU, FandangoNow, and CinemaNow.

VUDU being owned by Walmart doesn't necessarily make it safe. There's the aforementioned Walmart digital music shutdown. As well, consider the fact that Target Ticket shut down, the Barnes & Noble-backed NOOK shut down, and Best Buy-owned CinemaNow was sold to Reliance Majestic Holdings and then to FilmOn TV.