Free WB UHD UPGRADES

[IPhoneUser]

Yes, please. This would solve everything.

That's totally nonsensical. I have hundreds of titles in Vudu that haven't ported to MA, many of which I purchased before MA. That doesn't mean I don't own them. This would just make me wary of the fact that the studios can interfere at any time.

And why doesn't Vudu allow upgrades for code resumptions when Itunes does? Admittedly, this is completely backwards. Direct purchases from Itunes and Vudu should port to MA and redemptions should be the exception. The whole MA system is a confusing mess even when you don't factor in that the studios can't get on the same page.

The most logical solution is to have code redemptions upgrade on Vudu and direct purchases upgrade in MA. HD redemptions on Itunes porting UHD to MA while direct purchases don't is so bizarre. Why can't any of the retailers come up with a solution for people to upgrade titles they already have in their library? The studios cannot be this stupid.

I've already repurchased many titles on Itunes for full price and don't even own the UHD license? This is especially infuriating as Itunes is constantly downgrading titles for weeks at a time (to add a new soundtrack or whatever) leaving me no way to watch the UHD version.

[jbloggs]

Hello folks. Just some clarification. Not porting to MA is a license restriction on Vudu UHD upgrades. Much like when iTunes upgraded their customers to UHD, those UHD copies didn't port to MA. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do on that front.

The "Free" upgrade is a great gesture from WB and Vudu but it looks like its not well thought out from both a customer's needs perspective and revenue generation perspective. Since the "free" upgraded UHD license is stuck in Vudu, this restricts customer's ability to have the UHD movie at all MA providers if they already owned the movie in HD. The following would alleviate the issue somewhat...

1) Allow user to purchase UHD (MA Eligible License) even though they may already have the "Free" UHD license from WB (or any other studio that may follow in these footsteps for that matter)

2) Do Not BURN a code redemption of an already owned movie. So currently, if one one owns a UHD movie and they redeem a Code for the same movie from 4K UHD Blu-ray, then instead of warning the customer that they already own the movie and not continuing, Vudu "Burns" code so that the user is now out of luck if they want then use the code at another service or in another account.

3) Allow users to OPT OUT of free upgrades

I'm sure there are many other options that will allow flexibility but to implement even these few would require someone at Vudu and the Studios to actually care about what the customers want and need.

[IPhoneUser]

The "Free" upgrade is a great gesture from WB and Vudu but it looks like its not well thought out from both a customer's needs perspective and revenue generation perspective. Since the "free" upgraded UHD license is stuck in Vudu, this restricts customer's ability to have the UHD movie at all MA providers if they already owned the movie in HD. The following would alleviate the issue somewhat...

1) Allow user to purchase UHD (MA Eligible License) even though they may already have the "Free" UHD license from WB (or any other studio that may follow in these footsteps for that matter)

2) Do Not BURN a code redemption of an already owned movie. So currently, if one one owns a UHD movie and they redeem a Code for the same movie from 4K UHD Blu-ray, then instead of warning the customer that they already own the movie and not continuing, Vudu "Burns" code so that the user is now out of luck if they want then use the code at another service or in another account.

3) Allow users to OPT OUT of free upgrades

I'm sure there are many other options that will allow flexibility but to implement even these few would require someone at Vudu and the Studios to actually care about what the customers want and need.

ITunes restricts playback to what is available in their store. I still don't know if purchasing directly from ITunes store gives the customer a UHD license. 4K titles disappear and reappear more often than I would like. I imagine the same would be true for Vudu. The point is that customers should not have to repurchase the same title from multiple retailers. Otherwise, what's the point of MA? Your solution just creates another problem that would never exist had this been implemented properly from the start

As far as burning codes go, I agree. That should never have been allowed and is not a great way to treat customers who are appropriately overwhelmed by all these rules.

Again, if this was implemented correctly from the start, there would be no reason to opt out of upgrades. Customers should have the option to stream their titles at a downgraded resolution if they want. It shouldn't involve Vudu or any other retailer having to keep multiple encodes of the same title.

[4kcinema]

Thanks for this information John. I hope Vudu can clarify the title ownership text with these free Upgrades to represent what they actually are.

Something like:

'YOU OWN HDX. PLAYBACK UPGRADED TO UHD in VUDU.'

And then keep the purchase button for UHD available as if the title was owned it would port out into Movies Anywhere, yes?

Yes please!

[diamond204]

ITunes restricts playback to what is available in their store. I still don't know if purchasing directly from ITunes store gives the customer a UHD license. 4K titles disappear and reappear more often than I would like. I imagine the same would be true for Vudu. The point is that customers should not have to repurchase the same title from multiple retailers. Otherwise, what's the point of MA? Your solution just creates another problem that would never exist had this been implemented properly from the start
.

iTunes is really odd the way it handles MA ownership. I will try to give this a shot and people can correct me if needed:

1. Upon the free 4k upgrades announcement and launch for iTunes all existing ownership of titles was accepted - Code redeems, XML redeems, and of course direct purchases (they do not have D2D or instawatch). At the launch all titles you owned that were UHD in their catalog were playable in 4k, but if I recall correctly they did not port out as UHD to MA (similar to current Vudu upgrades). Or if they did it was only direct purchases??? (not sure on that)

2. Post UHD launch itunes has worked this way: If you purchase a title from them when HD is the top level of quality (or redeem when it is only available in HD) you will forever 'own' it in HD. It will not port out to MA (if an MA title) as UHD (as the original 'launch upgrades') - but you will be able to WATCH it in UHD on itunes only when or if they upgrade it to UHD (similar to Vudu upgrades at the moment) . BUT if itunes updates their files and updates the listing of the title to UHD, from that moment forward if you purchase or redeem in HD, it will upgrade you for free to UHD & if the title is MA it will also port out to MA as UHD.

3. Of note iTunes is very frustrating as you cannot upgrade or rebuy a title you already own in HD. Including EVERYTHING THAT PORTS IN FROM MA. So for instance if they list Batman Begins UHD on sale for $7, if you own it in HD already you are stuck and cannot upgrade. But you CAN redeem as HD code and upgrade.

I know it sounds confusing, especially #2. Buts thats how it works. Hopefully what I typed is somewhat clear.

[rdawg]

Not all content is released in UHD on disc, there are so many lately that I could list that are UHD only through the digital release. Codes from the Blu-ray version would likely only provide HD code redemption, with a few exceptions. That plan may work for you, but digital is the way to go for those that want HD or UHD content whenever possible. Even TV series are getting DVD only releases lately.

Most likely those catalog titles from WB become available to purchase in UHD on disc will also include a redemption code of the same quality and will be redeemable at MA with full licenses obtained. In the meantime if Vudu is offering a free upgrade such as iTunes have done, I see that as a win...as I can NOW enjoy the upgraded title until the release of the disc. If your looking for those WB upgrades to port out for free to other retailers, pretty sure that's not going to happen as it had been confirmed by a Vudu mod earlier in the thread. Maybe reaching out to WB and requesting them to have Vudu allow the upgrades to pass to MA...(help us WB WAN KENOBI...your our only hope!)

[quackman]

Our best bet is to all start emailing all the major studios, or at least all that have joined MA, and explain the problem. It would be great if we could get organized on here and all sign off on a statement to send the studios. But not sure how we could ever get organized enough to do it! It's so convoluted though because, as explained well by diamond204, iTunes and other retailers are part of the problem. So frustrating.......

[quackman]

3. Of note iTunes is very frustrating as you cannot upgrade or rebuy a title you already own in HD. Including EVERYTHING THAT PORTS IN FROM MA. So for instance if they list Batman Begins UHD on sale for $7, if you own it in HD already you are stuck and cannot upgrade. But you CAN redeem as HD code and upgrade.

I have done the "gift to yourself method" to get 4K on some movies I already owned in HD on iTunes. But the problem is it still doesn't give you a 4K license at MA. The MA system is broken!

[j2pro]

Honestly, I'm ready to give up on movie purchases. Missing studios for MA, complicated rules for upgrading and inconsistent experience with different vendors.

I'll just use the money to rotate between the millions of streaming services they are trying to force us into...

[Morac]

iTunes is really odd the way it handles MA ownership. I will try to give this a shot and people can correct me if needed:

1. Upon the free 4k upgrades announcement and launch for iTunes all existing ownership of titles was accepted - Code redeems, XML redeems, and of course direct purchases (they do not have D2D or instawatch). At the launch all titles you owned that were UHD in their catalog were playable in 4k, but if I recall correctly they did not port out as UHD to MA (similar to current Vudu upgrades). Or if they did it was only direct purchases??? (not sure on that)

2. Post UHD launch itunes has worked this way: If you purchase a title from them when HD is the top level of quality (or redeem when it is only available in HD) you will forever 'own' it in HD. It will not port out to MA (if an MA title) as UHD (as the original 'launch upgrades') - but you will be able to WATCH it in UHD on itunes only when or if they upgrade it to UHD (similar to Vudu upgrades at the moment) . BUT if itunes updates their files and updates the listing of the title to UHD, from that moment forward if you purchase or redeem in HD, it will upgrade you for free to UHD & if the title is MA it will also port out to MA as UHD.

3. Of note iTunes is very frustrating as you cannot upgrade or rebuy a title you already own in HD. Including EVERYTHING THAT PORTS IN FROM MA. So for instance if they list Batman Begins UHD on sale for $7, if you own it in HD already you are stuck and cannot upgrade. But you CAN redeem as HD code and upgrade.

I know it sounds confusing, especially #2. Buts thats how it works. Hopefully what I typed is somewhat clear.

A few corrections to what you posted:

2. If a movie is listed as 4K/UHD In iTunes, it will only port out to MA as UHD if the movie is bought individually. Movies in purchased bundles will always port out as HD, even if said movies list as 4K. So for example if you buy all 3 Nolan Batman movies individually on iTunes, they will port out as UHD, but if you buy the Dark Knight trilogy bundle, they will port out as HD.

3. It is possible to ?rebuy? iTunes purchase and get them to port out in MA in UHD, but it?s not intuitive. What you have to do is purchase a movie as a gift and then email the gift code to yourself. When you redeem the gift code, it counts as a new purchase and the movie will port out in UHD as long as the gift isn?t a bundle (see above) and the movie is available in UHD. This worked the last time I tried it. Granted that was a few years ago.

[quackman]

3. It is possible to ?rebuy? iTunes purchase and get them to port out in MA in UHD, but it?s not intuitive. What you have to do is purchase a movie as a gift and then email the gift code to yourself. When you redeem the gift code, it counts as a new purchase and the movie will port out in UHD as long as the gift isn?t a bundle (see above) and the movie is available in UHD. This worked the last time I tried it. Granted that was a few years ago.

This has not been my experience with gifting to yourself, which I've done several times over the last year. The UHD upgrade did not port out to MA. Unfortunately!

[Morac]

This has not been my experience with gifting to yourself, which I've done several times over the last year. The UHD upgrade did not port out to MA. Unfortunately!

I went back and checked and apparently I misremembered. When I gifted myself the 3 Nolan movies in iTunes, it only updated the movies in iTunes to 4K, but didn?t propagate to MA.

MA has some weird rules, for example the bundle vs individual movie rule, even if the price is the same.

I think the only sure fire way to upgrade a HD movie in MA to UHD besides purchasing Vudu UHD, is to enter a UHD disc code into MA.

[quackman]

I went back and checked and apparently I misremembered. When I gifted myself the 3 Nolan movies in iTunes, it only updated the movies in iTunes to 4K, but didn?t propagate to MA.

MA has some weird rules, for example the bundle vs individual movie rule, even if the price is the same.

I think the only sure fire way to upgrade a HD movie in MA to UHD besides purchasing Vudu UHD, is to enter a UHD disc code into MA.

Yep, and of course for older catalog movies that don't have 4K codes, Vudu is the ONLY way to get UHD ported to MA if you already own it in HD. Thus, this circles us back to why we are all concerned about automatic upgrades at Vudu. This should be a great thing, if not for the ridiculous MA upgrade restriction.

[IPhoneUser]

I went back and checked and apparently I misremembered. When I gifted myself the 3 Nolan movies in iTunes, it only updated the movies in iTunes to 4K, but didn?t propagate to MA.

MA has some weird rules, for example the bundle vs individual movie rule, even if the price is the same.

I think the only sure fire way to upgrade a HD movie in MA to UHD besides purchasing Vudu UHD, is to enter a UHD disc code into MA.

Not necessarily. HD codes and formerly SD codes directly redeemed onto Itunes would give the customer UHD rights. This is still true for many catalogue titles. Meanwhile, UHD codes either get burned if the customer already has that title in their library, and some like old Fox codes give only HD rights if redeemed outside of Itunes. Then there's the issue with some bundles transferring and others which don't. Then there are all the major studios which support Itunes except for Disney which supports Vudu. Personally I'd trade Disney for all the other major studios especially now.

It's so confusing that a lot of people decide either to sit on their codes or rely on user generated charts online. And this has been going for years now. MA was supposed to be the mainstream gateway for digital purchasing, but even early adopters and hardcore customers are having a hard time figuring this out. Whenever they do, the studios or retailers change the rules yet again.

[oOStrawberryOo]

Can someone clarify what the issue is, read all this and got all confused

In order to buy 4k UHD upgrades for WB, why can't u buy it from a non-Vudu retailer...judging from what y'all are saying then non-FandangoNow too?

Not WB MA but for my Sony MA experience: I bought Spider-man Homecoming in HD on Google Play for like $10 which ported HD version to MA. Some time later GP upgraded their Sony movies to 4K later for streaming, MA still only sees the HD license. Microsoft then had the 4k UHD Spider-man Homecoming & Into the Spider Verse bundle for $10, basically free thx to Microsoft Rewards, bought it. The 4k UHD license ported everywhere thru MA.
It was a while ago but I think I had to log out, add Spider-man bundle into cart then log back into Microsoft if I couldn't add the bundle into my cart if site probably said I own 1 of them already. I would assume upgrading at Amazon would work too...?