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April 12, 2012

Wal-Mart Introduces New 'Disc to Digital' Service

By Joe Eitel, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Wal-Mart announced plans to roll out its new Disc to Digital service at stores nationwide starting Monday. The new service allows customers to bring in their DVDs and have them converted to a digital format for viewing on a computer, iPad or other Internet-enabled device.



Each DVD conversion to digital format will cost customers as little as $2 per disc. Customers can update non-HD DVDs to a digital HD format called HDX – true 1080p digital quality – for $5 per disc.

There are currently 4,000 titles available for digital conversion upon launch of the new service. Some major studios chose not to participate in the Disc to Digital service from Wal-Mart, including Walt Disney (News - Alert) Co., which plans to start its own similar type of service. Participating studios include Sony Corp., Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Viacom Inc. and Universal. However, not all movie titles from these studios will be available for digital conversion.

Wal-Mart is partnering with online streaming movie service VUDU to deliver the digital content to customers. Customers will be able to watch their digital content via PS3, Xbox 360, compatible Blu-ray players, iPad/tablet or computer. A broadband or WiFi (News - Alert) connection is required.

Customers will have to bring in the physical DVD to participating Wal-Mart stores in order to obtain the digital version of the movie. Once the digital version is obtained and stored in the customer’s VUDU account, the physical DVD is stamped with a special permanent ink to mark it as converted to digital. The DVD itself will still be playable.

Digital movie streaming is becoming increasingly popular amongst consumers. Streaming content service Netflix announced that two billion hours of content was viewed by its customers in the fourth quarter of 2011 alone. That’s despite the company losing 800,000 DVD subscribers and 200,000 online customers during the same time period after increasing its prices. Wal-Mart hopes to capitalize on the increasing popularity of digital content delivery.






Edited by Jennifer Russell
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