Is there any reason why so many UPC codes are not working?

[kndynt2099]

Greetings, long time Vudu member and consumer. I am now slowly moving towards digital distribution and away from physical releases and I'm currently in the process of submitting many of my Blu-ray's and paying for the extra cost to have it as part of my digital movie collection queue.

I literally have well over a thousand Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles (not including DVD). But I'm noticing that many titles in which the UPC codes are not working. I understand Disney/Miramax and also Criterion Collection related titles are not going to work but certain others, they aren't.

Some Universal titles work, many don't. The same with 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, many Sony Pictures/Sony Pictures Classics titles.

What's weird is that for some titles like "Midnight in Paris", the Blu-ray UPC won't take, but the DVD version will work. Some Blu-ray titles which are "Director's Cut", I get the normal version offered after scanning the UPC code, not the Director's Cut version. For "The Untouchables", I have the Blu-ray version, but only the SD version was offered at the lower cost, the other HDX was normal pricing.

I'm trying to get many older titles on Vudu from "Double Indemnity", "Short Circuit", "Total Recall", "Rocky", "The Apartment", "Annie Hall", "Manhattan", "Kick ***", "Daywatch", "Nightwatch", past X-Men and Wolverine films, etc.and so many titles. I was trying to do like 30 titles this weekend and only two UPC codes worked.


Anyway, if I have to repurchase everything, not much can be done about that. But I just wanted to ask.

[JRRTolkienNut]

There's a lot of reasons why some barcodes work and some don't.

For one, it could be some are older barcodes or just specific ones the particular movie company never approved, but approved others for the same movie.

Some movie companies seem to occasionally have difficulties working out the details of permissions for particular titles (copyrights and other legal matters with those originally involved in the productions).

Some titles could have technical issues, and maybe they were overlooked. I personally have been finding little things missing from purchases (like an episode or two missing from a TV series), and occasionally other issues. So in some instances it could be something that needs fixing. This sometimes is a little difficult to get remedied.

There could also be specific issues with getting the exact version of something that may not be in the Vudu system. Some versions get agreements and others don't.

There's also quite a number of things you might see in a search of Vudu, but there could be no price on it currently. This could indicate it might have been purchasable at one time but not right now, which could also disqualify it from purchase of disc to digital as well. They have to leave these in their system because they have some customers who either purchased them in the past or used an older method (that's no longer available) of uploading directly from discs into the vudu system.

If you search for a particular title and can confirm it is an exact match for the version you have, and it shows as purchasable, and it's a disc recently purchased (maybe say within the past few years), then maybe might be an overlooked barcode. Of course this gets down to if the particular movie company participates and the particular title was approved by the company. Essentially a number of if's and but's. Feel free to reach out to the customer service if you checked a lot of reasons why it should qualify, but not just because you think it should just because.

[jeremymc7]

It's just the way it is. Been like that since inception. It's a time killer but convert what you can and move on. There will be a lot that just wont work. Outside of minor random changes it can't be fixed. I used to just keep a stack and go though it again every month or two to see what else popped up. In the end it wasn't worth my time to go through them all over again, and again, and again.

[Wasteland]

Studios send Vudu the UPCs. If they send over the wrong UPCs, they won't work, or read as another title. A lot of the UPCs given to Vudu are from UK, German, etc releases, which will never work, and don't really understand why or how this can be mixed up. As for the legit UPCs that don't read, which there are some, is another question.

[mycalpal]

Greetings kndynt2099, I share your frustration with the roadblocks to adding the Blu Ray titles that you paid good money for to your digital collection. Some is studio specific as you noted. Let me add it isn't just Disney/Miramax and Criterion Collection that do not participate. MGM, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate do not participate. Fox did a few years ago but stopped even before the Disney merger. Not only Disney, but their affiliated studios do not participate. Even I did not realize the Michael Bay's 2001 Pearl Harbor was put out by one of Disney's studios.

Also, I have run into Blu Ray's, two from Universal that scan as DVD's, not Blu Ray's, "Somewhere in Time" was one, first Blu Ray release had to pay $5 for HDX copy, bought the new edition as gift that would not scan at all. Go figure. Paramount is hit and miss. Bought both Blu Ray releases of "War and Peace" neither would scan. Tried the DVD, no luck. DVD of Paramount's "I married a monster from outer space" scanned. Blu Ray of Paramount's Samson and Delilah was not recognized, but the DVD was. Crazy. Bought Paramount's Blu Ray of Scrooge, scanned and it said title was not yet eligible for disc to digital. My Universal DVD's scan, even older titles released by Image and Good Times and classics. Yet, Universal's Phantom of the Opera, no luck. Universal's Blu Ray Earthquake scanned, Shout Factory's did not and none of my titles from Shout/Scream factory, Olive, Kino Lorber or Twilight Time work. I have read of a couple rare exceptions.

Warner Brothers is more consistent, yet a couple of my WB Western's on Blu Ray, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Rio Bravo, do not scan. Columbia Tri Star/Sony, my copy of Fright Night 1985 worked, but my Blu Ray of Oliver 1968 would not. I fished on line for another copy of the Blu Ray upc code, only the DVD code worked, so I again paid $5, even though I purchased the Blu Ray. Still, even on sale the digital price will not be lower than $4.99 and easily more and some titles rarely if ever go on sale. Even with the all the issues it is still a good deal for those Blu Rays that did not include a digital copy and for DVD's that have not yet had a Blu Ray release. Good Luck!