Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

[ttyler26]

I would love to convert my almost infinite amount of Disney movies from the original disk, to a digital copy, but Disney doesn't make ANY of these available to convert!! I understand that they need to make a profit, but geez if your going to affiliate yourself with VUDU, why not do like all the other movie companies and allow disk to digital conversions? I wasn't even aware that movies like "The Water Boy" and "The Titanic" have the licensing owned by Disney! I feel like Disney is screwing me over, and not allowing me to complete my digital collection! I really don't understand...

[dunham44]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

lol! join the club! welcome!

[MattO]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

There's hope and even hints that Disney will extend its Disney Movies Anywhere program to include Vudu. That won't solve all of the problems, but will cover most Disney/Pixar/Marvel branded content, as long as you've registered your DMR codes.

It's probably worthwhile to write Disney and tell them that you'd really like to see that happen. They got a flood of those emails when DMA was announced, but it would be good to keep the pressure up.

[echopulse]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

We all hope that Disney will join the UltraViolet initiative someday, and offer D2D, but I maintain that until UV becomes more commonly accepted, they won't. Disney won't join anything that is perceived poorly by consumers, and right now, UltraViolet is, perceived poorly by many.

Here are a few prerequisites that would have to be met for Disney to join:

• At least 25 million users
  
• At least one major provider to launch UltraViolet capability, such as Amazon Instant, Google Play, iTunes, or Xbox Video store, in the US, and one in the UK, such as Amazon Instant or Blinkbox
  
• Deployment of the Common File Format and players
  
• A Common Redemption URL, and working UV website

If most of these things happen, then it is more than likely that Disney will join.

[lostinva]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

I hope all of you that got an email invitation to take the DMA survey gave them poor scores. I certainly did, as I have absolutely no interest in DMA without UltraViolet/Vudu compatibility. It's a shame though that there was no place to write in a custom response.

DMA's very existence at this point makes very little sense to me, due to current service compatibility (iTunes only) and device limitations (iOS only), and complete exclusion of several Disney brands. The service offers no real incentive for people not invested in the Apple ecosystem.

</end rant>

[Grey Ghost]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

I hope all of you that got an email invitation to take the DMA survey gave them poor scores. I certainly did, as I have absolutely no interest in DMA without UltraViolet/Vudu compatibility. It's a shame though that there was no place to write in a custom response.

DMA's very existence at this point makes very little sense to me, due to current service compatibility (iTunes only) and device limitations (iOS only), and complete exclusion of several Disney brands. The service offers no real incentive for people not invested in the Apple ecosystem.

</end rant>

Give them time, they just started with DMA. To me it doesn't sound like a bad idea to get it up and running with iTunes, work out the problems, and then bring it elsewhere. Lets just hope Vudu is smart enough to be part of the elsewhere.

[Grey Ghost]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

I would love to convert my almost infinite amount of Disney movies from the original disk, to a digital copy, but Disney doesn't make ANY of these available to convert!! I understand that they need to make a profit, but geez if your going to affiliate yourself with VUDU, why not do like all the other movie companies and allow disk to digital conversions? I wasn't even aware that movies like "The Water Boy" and "The Titanic" have the licensing owned by Disney! I feel like Disney is screwing me over, and not allowing me to complete my digital collection! I really don't understand...

Disc to Digital is only for Ultraviolet enabled movies and not all UV enabled movies are D2D eligible. Disney is not part of UV. The Water Boy is not eligible for conversion because of an Act of Congress, jk.

[CBrown]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

We all hope that Disney will join the UltraViolet initiative someday, and offer D2D, but I maintain that until UV becomes more commonly accepted, they won't. Disney won't join anything that is perceived poorly by consumers, and right now, UltraViolet is, perceived poorly by many.

It has nothing to do with perception of UV. They have been planning keychest for many years as they want to control the customer, keep them locked into their world, as does Apple (and to be honest every company).

[echopulse]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

Disney management has stated before that the reason they aren't offering UV yet is because it's not yet working very well. This could very well change in the future.

[CBrown]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

Disney management has stated before that the reason they aren't offering UV yet is because it's not yet working very well. This could very well change in the future.

That is what you call slamming the competition. It is a marketing move, not an honest statement. I've worked my entire career in the IT industry, part of the time in the groups who make and market these types decisions. I've seen (and minorly helped develop and/or deliver) similar spin about why the standard isn't good enough for customers so we are releasing our proprietary solution to help them.

Every other studio seems to be fine with UV. You don't invest the time and money into something like that because you have foresight that UV won't work very well when we get done and release this in 2 years.
Keychest does not work any better than UV, actually works worse in the sense that it only works through Disney's site (and iTunes). The only reason it exists is because Disney wanted to control the standard and the customer.

[RBBrittain]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

That is what you call slamming the competition. It is a marketing move, not an honest statement. I've worked my entire career in the IT industry, part of the time in the groups who make and market these types decisions. I've seen (and minorly helped develop and/or deliver) similar spin about why the standard isn't good enough for customers so we are releasing our proprietary solution to help them.

Every other studio seems to be fine with UV. You don't invest the time and money into something like that because you have foresight that UV won't work very well when we get done and release this in 2 years.
Keychest does not work any better than UV, actually works worse in the sense that it only works through Disney's site (and iTunes). The only reason it exists is because Disney wanted to control the standard and the customer.

Sounds like you're "slamming the competition" yourself. The fact is, Keychest/DMA has fewer linking issues at present because it currently involves one studio, one retailer and one country, vs. five major studios (plus at least two others), 13 retailers and 10 countries for UV. Also, DMA has a completely different upgrade path for existing BD/DVD consumers (i.e., past Disney purchases with Digital Copy that were redeemed thru Disney Movie Rewards and/or iTunes get DMA copies for free), and launched with streaming & downloads directly from its own site & apps (though not for Android ) -- something UV won't have till CFF is ready. DMA does offer Disney more control; but at this point it's also less ambitious than UV, thus it has fewer places & ways to go wrong and can be more easily fixed.

And DMA's TOS is a bit more consumer-friendly than UV; if you unlink a retailer all previously imported DMA licenses remain active there, while UV licenses imported from other retailers go away (though they remain active in the UV cloud itself). I know that not only from the TOS, but also from my own dealings with the sites: I've had to unlink & relink another retailer from UV several times to fix linking issues; all but the one license I bought from them disappeared between unlinking & relinking. OTOH, when one title mysteriously disappeared from DMA earlier this week before coming back, it never disappeared from iTunes even though its license originated from DMR.

Disney has already said DMA will be open to other retailers, including Vudu. Most folks assume they had to give iTunes an exclusivity agreement to get them on at all; that will probably expire either later this year or early next year. Once that's done and other retailers join DMA (especially those with their own Android apps, like Vudu), most of the bellyaching about its being "proprietary" will go away; DMA will simply be seen as Disney's version of UV. (Edit: And as competitors UV & DMA will help keep each other honest, so to speak. )

Disney may never do D2D, but they could have their own D2D-like upgrade path thru DMR: Non-DC titles previously redeemed in DMR could be upgraded there for a fee. (As I said earlier, DC titles are already upgraded automatically for free; presumably the DC itself took care of any licensing issues.) That has its advantages and disadvantages vis-a-vis D2D, which other studios generally must do as their loyalty programs are either nonexistent or much smaller than DMR; the only other way to verify you already own the movie is by examining the BD or DVD itself, either thru a scanning app or (for Vudu & Walmart) at a retail store.

[CBrown]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

So you have had a better experience with iTunes vs. UV and believe that in theory in might get better/relevant for anyone not surrounding themselves with Apple gear and previously redeemed digital copies through iTunes (while many/most of us threw what was a useless piece of paper away and there is no D2D being offered). Probably will improve but so will UV and UV is demonstrably far more consumer friendly and useful at the moment. That's fine that you think it is marginally better (again, only for people how have bought into Apple entirely). However I was responding to the quote of theirs about why they launched DMA vs. partnering with UV.

Again, the amount of planning, development, and test time makes it impossible for them to have developed that product in response to even early issues with UV. Keychest was Disney's competitor to UV, announced in 2009 a year after the plans for UV, long, long prior to actual implementation. They have tried, and are still trying, to control the standard, as you note with them oh so nicely inviting others to use keychest (as they've been pushing for 5 years).
It is a pure competitive play to control the customer and the market. It is Phillips HD DVD vs. Sony's Blu-ray.

Plenty of discussion to be had on what might be better in the long run but the fact is that Keychest is not a response to "Disney executives stating they aren't offering UV yet is because it's not yet working very well", it is a competitive play they have been developing long before UV even came out and that comment is simply a standard slam by a competitor. We will never see Disney UV unless they fail with the keychest efforts.

[RBBrittain]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

So you have had a better experience with iTunes vs. UV and believe that in theory in might get better/relevant for anyone not surrounding themselves with Apple gear and previously redeemed digital copies through iTunes (while many/most of us threw what was a useless piece of paper away and there is no D2D being offered). Probably will improve but so will UV and UV is demonstrably far more consumer friendly and useful at the moment. That's fine that you think it is marginally better (again, only for people how have bought into Apple entirely). However I was responding to the quote of theirs about why they launched DMA vs. partnering with UV.

Again, the amount of planning, development, and test time makes it impossible for them to have developed that product in response to even early issues with UV. Keychest was Disney's competitor to UV, announced in 2009 a year after the plans for UV, long, long prior to actual implementation. They have tried, and are still trying, to control the standard, as you note with them oh so nicely inviting others to use keychest (as they've been pushing for 5 years).
It is a pure competitive play to control the customer and the market. It is Phillips HD DVD vs. Sony's Blu-ray.

Plenty of discussion to be had on what might be better in the long run but the fact is that Keychest is not a response to "Disney executives stating they aren't offering UV yet is because it's not yet working very well", it is a competitive play they have been developing long before UV even came out and that comment is simply a standard slam by a competitor. We will never see Disney UV unless they fail with the keychest efforts.

I think we agree more than we disagree, especially on Disney never going UV. (And though I'm not as against iTunes as you are, I only own two pieces of Apple hardware -- an iPod shuffle and a hand-me-down, inactive iPhone 3GS; my main phones & tablets are Androids.) Where we differ is you chose to attack Disney for making a business decision to go it alone, while I chose to live with it. Besides, it's not Blu-ray vs. HD DVD; services like Vudu can participate in both DMA for Disney titles and UV for everyone else. How about dropping the hater act???

[echopulse]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

First of all, no one claimed that Keychest was a response to UV. How could it be, since it was planned before UV launched. That being the case, it could not be a competitor. Keychest could exist alongside UV, if there is consumer demand for it, and eventually there will be. Disney management has stated so on at least two occasions. Their comment was not a slam on the competition as you have said. Disney wanted Keychest to become a standard, but it did not meet the requirements that consumers wanted, for instance, there are no cross-platform downloads, like CFF. Also, there's no support for non Apple devices. So no other studios signed up for it. however, Disney is a premiere brand, and they want a technology to work well, and be broadly accepted before they adopt it. I'm not saying that they will, but there is no denying that the possibility is there. The head of Disney said himself that Keychest was originally designed to be compatible with UV, but that it wasn't there yet.

[jeremymc7]

Re: Ugh Disney is soo frustrating...Why can't I convert any of their DVDs/Blu-Rays?

I hope all of you that got an email invitation to take the DMA survey gave them poor scores. I certainly did, as I have absolutely no interest in DMA without UltraViolet/Vudu compatibility. It's a shame though that there was no place to write in a custom response.

DMA's very existence at this point makes very little sense to me, due to current service compatibility (iTunes only) and device limitations (iOS only), and complete exclusion of several Disney brands. The service offers no real incentive for people not invested in the Apple ecosystem.

</end rant>

I did exactly that. Whatever it takes to get them to switch to UltraViolet, cross link to Vudu like they do with iTunes, and/or add DMA app to other devices such as Roku and FireTV.