Digital Copies of Movies with Blu-ray/DVD

[notabadname]

Bought my first Blu-ray disc that also included a "Digital Copy" of the movie for iTunes/portable devices. In case no one had tried that option yet and was wondering about it, just though I would say I love the feature! I bought Stallone's latest "Rambo" from Lionsgate films (not sure if I bought it for the plot or the acting). It has a second traditional (DVD-9) in addition to the Blu-ray disc, with the 1.09GB file for iTunes. When you stick the disc in, a window with the movie image and an iTunes icon opens. The iTunes icon instructs you to double click it. That opens iTunes for you as well as the iTunes store. If you click on the disc image in the left library pane, the iTunes store window opens a window to enter the 12 digit serial number included in the disc jacket for redemption. Once entered, the movie automatically downloads off the disc into iTunes. Unlike a rental, you can move the file around and view it without limit on your Apple TV, Mac, and portable devices such as iTunes. It has non of the "rental" limits that we see with new movies off iTunes. It of course is DRM protected, so giving the disc to all your friends isn't an option. They will have to buy their own.

As a traveler, I am very pleased with this feature, and hope all the studios offer it soon. It adds great value to buying a disc, when you know you wont have to purchase a separate copy from iTunes to view on your portable. I am talking of course about not ripping discs and using programs such as "Handbrake" (to thwart the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998). Besides, ripping a Blu-ray disc is not even an option (today) with the levels of encryption built into that format.

Anyway, the video quality looks great on even my 20 inch monitor in full screen, and the 1.09GB file size (91 minute movie) leaves plenty of room for more videos on even my 8GB iPhone. With all the movies I buy, it would be awesome to have my physical library matched in iTunes in such a convenient way. Come on movie studios - give some extra value to those $30 blu-ray discs!

[philbowell]

This is a great idea. Having the content available in different formats in one purchase is a great idea. I hope more studios take up this route, especially those that publish TV shows like Scrubs (just an example). It'd be great to have all the episodes for shows you watch regularly instantly available without having to choose a DVD first.

[baseballboy828]

That's a very cool idea. Definitely a good way for movie studios to get people to buy more Blu-ray movies.

[iPodmanTim]

I haven't noticed this being offered in the UK. I'm often in DVD stores, and have looked out for it since the Steve-note where Steve told us it was going to be on the Family Guy disc. Seems the nice guys at Fox were only offering this to their American customers.

Oh well...until there's a good uptake from studios, I'm quite content to use a variation on Handbrake, Instant Handbrake. I find it's quicker, and it squashed a bug that annoyed me in the main app, where I couldn't get it to rip sound on my video.

Also to satisfy one of my big iTunes gripes, a report in the times says the UK is to get movies on the iTS sometime soon! It's taken far too long!

[GadgetComa]

I'm planning to replace my last PC (a Windows Media Center box) with a Mac and an Apple TV or two to provide complete interactive media throughout my house. Having these digital copies would be a big timesaver to build my online DVD collection.

[Yuiichi]

Originally Posted by iPodmanTim

Also to satisfy one of my big iTunes gripes, a report in the times says the UK is to get movies on the iTS sometime soon! It's taken far too long!

Lucky for you guys!

I feel your pain though - perhaps even more. Being in Canada, just an hour away from the States, it's almost painful to know that all of that content is so close. We don't even have the iPhone yet (although, I suspect that will change after WWDC). Here's hoping to iTunes Movies soon for both of our countries!

[notabadname]

Yes, it would so nice for this to go mainstream with episodic material. Having all of Sienfeld, Scrubs or the new BSG would be awesome if buying the disc collection got the whole library in iTunes compatible files. I've been buying seasons of Southpark on iTunes, and have enjoyed it so much I wish I had purchased it on disc for the home theater. 6 seasons to go. If the disc collection had the iTunes files, I would pay the premium for the discs to have both viewing options. If studios want to get people to buy discs over pay-per-view or renting, they need to get greater value to the customer. Giving the customer greater viewing flexibility is a very reasonable move. Plus, it is easy to make an excellent copy of a Blu-ray from the analog outputs of a Blu-ray player. The encryption and HDMI protection only protects the 1080p HDMI Digital stream and "perfect" copies. But capturing the analog 720p signal would provide a better version than a 480p DVD-9 disc. So they are providing a greater prevention of pirating in my opinion by giving an iTunes file with DRM, than creating a market that just starts to capture analog data, converts back to digital and then shares P-to-P.