Walmart App Vudu Will Scan DVDs Into The Cloud

Vudu’s app (for Android and iOS) will have a new Mobile Disc-to-Digital feature that can be used to scan the bar code on a DVD or Blu-ray Disc and add the movie to your cloud-based digital locker. Each DVD and Blu-ray can be imported for $2; a DVD can also be upgraded to high-def for $5. You don’t need to have bought the disc at Walmart.

Once uploaded to your digital locker — you also need to have signed up for an account on UltraViolet , a cloud-based movie storage service — movies can then be watched on TVs, tablets, smartphones, computers, video game consoles, smart TVs and Net TV devices such as Roku.

Among the initial 8,000 titles available to transmit are the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Bourne films, The Godfather, Top Gun, The Hangover, Kung Fu Panda, The Lorax, The Notebook and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Among the studios supporting the app:   Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros.

Walmart shoppers can already get a free digital copy of eligible movie discs (about 3,000) they buy in stores for their Vudu account. And Vudu lets users convert DVDs and Blu-rays to digital copies using a computer.

Despite the move to streaming and mobile video, “people haven’t given up their DVD collections, obviously. We know our customers particularly have invested a lot into building their physical movie collections,” said Jeremy Verba, Vudu general manager.

“As those customers create digital libraries, we are constantly looking for ways to help them get more value out of movies they already own as well as the movies they are currently purchasing,” he said. For more information go to Vudu.com.