I haven't bought a Blu-Ray with a digital copy yet, so I'm wondering how it works. I read that the Up (Pixar) blu-ray comes with a DVD with the digital copy on it, making it possible to get it onto my MB. Is that how it works or do some digital copies come embedded in the Blu-Ray disc itself, meaning I would need a laptop with a blu-ray drive to get access the digital copy. Thanks for the help!
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How do Blu-Ray Digital Copies work?
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gr8tfly
macrumors 603
They come on a separate disk (DVD). While you're in iTunes, insert the DVD and you'll get a window asking for a code. That code is printed on a card that's included with the Blu-ray set. Once you enter the code, the Digital Copy is copied to your hard drive. From there, you can play it on the computer and/or load it on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod/
tv.
Once it's on your hard drive, it works the same as any movie you purchase from the iTunes store and is tied to your account & authorized machine.
Quality-wise, it's good, but not quite DVD (more compression artifacts). You'd never see them on a iPhone/iPod, though.
tv. Once it's on your hard drive, it works the same as any movie you purchase from the iTunes store and is tied to your account & authorized machine.
Quality-wise, it's good, but not quite DVD (more compression artifacts). You'd never see them on a iPhone/iPod, though.
That's great thanks for the quick replies. I;m planning on buying a PS3 in the coming months and so it's nice to know that I can start building my bluray library and still have a version of the movie that I can watch. DRM is always annoying, but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle until I can actually watch my blurays
They come on a separate disk (DVD). While you're in iTunes, insert the DVD and you'll get a window asking for a code. That code is printed on a card that's included with the Blu-ray set. Once you enter the code, the Digital Copy is copied to your hard drive. From there, you can play it on the computer and/or load it on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPod/
Once it's on your hard drive, it works the same as any movie you purchase from the iTunes store and is tied to your account & authorized machine.
Quality-wise, it's good, but not quite DVD (more compression artifacts). You'd never see them on a iPhone/iPod, though.
The early days of these people were selling the code on eBay, so now you have to insert the DVD for it to work.
gr8tfly
macrumors 603
wouldnt that require a an external bluray drive of some sort? not to promote the pirates, but i'd rather download someone else's rip than go through the trouble of ripping it myself.
I Love digital Copy. Easy way to get a movie i just got onto my iPhone.
I've never had success with handbrake, every time i tried to rip a disc the resulting file would be horrible. (i blame myself though, i need to read up on it more)
Note though, Digital File codes and opportunities have an expiration date. I think it's like 6 months or a year after the release date of the movie.
Make sure you don't delete the movie file, because you wont be able to DL it for free after that date.
I've never had success with handbrake, every time i tried to rip a disc the resulting file would be horrible. (i blame myself though, i need to read up on it more)
Note though, Digital File codes and opportunities have an expiration date. I think it's like 6 months or a year after the release date of the movie.
Make sure you don't delete the movie file, because you wont be able to DL it for free after that date.
I think it depends. The last Digital Copy I got (Family Guy Empire Strikes back) did nothing but prompt me to enter a redeem code from Itunes, And then the movie Downloaded from the Itunes Store. However my Dark Knight disc actually did copy the Digital Copy from the Disc.
No it's not, the disc is just there to confirm you own the movie along with the code. I was having problems with a digital copy and I had to call Apple and they even said this. My problem was my internet was action up as the movie was downloading it from iTunes (why it showed "downloading" on iTunes) and once I my internet was fine, I was able to download the movie.
They do this now because like I said people use to buy a movie with a digital copy and sell the code on eBay. They made it harder because you have to insert the DVD and put in the code in iTunes. If the movie was on the disc, why would you have to put a code in iTunes?
gr8tfly
macrumors 603
There really are media data files on the disc. For instance, for the movie "UP" Digital Copy disc, the H.264 file resides in "/Volumes/Up/DVDROM/Media", is called "FeatureMovie" and is 1.19GB in size. For the WMV version, it resides in D:/wmv and is 1.5GB in size (assuming "D:" is the Windows optical drive).
The reason you have to put a code in is that it authorizes your machine to play it - just like protected files you buy from the iTunes Store. You can use the file on any of your authorized machines and/or devices. It has to connect to the iTunes Store to verify your machine's authorization, just like any other protected media. When it says "Downloading", it's actually copying the file from the disc (yes, it's rather misleading to say "downloading"). When you buy protected content from the iTunes store, your DRM info is added to the file. Since the DVD is write only, the DRM has to be completed after it's copied off the disc. The file itself isn't tied to the code - only the right to play the file.
I hadn't really thought about the process until now, so the details are off the top of my head. I believe I have the gist of it right, though.
The other posters comment about people selling codes off eBay probably meant you buy the code and download the content through "other means" or get the file off someone else's DVDROM. I'm just making an educated guess, since I didn't know about people selling codes until I read this thread.
Hope this clears things up a bit. Anyway, it was fun to track down the media files 🙂 .
(note: "UP" Blu-ray also includes a standard DVD video disk. There's no code needed for that. It'll play in any standard DVD player. Well, if the region code is correct... 🙄)
UP is under $20 and you get two blurays, a dvd, and a digital copy dvd which is amazing. It would be a perfect world if every other movie release would follow pixar's example
digital copy giving me troubles
Hello: I installed a bunch of digital copies onto my pc today (running the Windows 7 OS). When I go into iTunes I see the movies in my library however, when I attempt to watch them the screen just comes up grey. There is no picture and no audio but the movie does appear to be paying and i can pause, FFW and Rewind. Can someone give me some suggestions on what to try please? Thx.
Hello: I installed a bunch of digital copies onto my pc today (running the Windows 7 OS). When I go into iTunes I see the movies in my library however, when I attempt to watch them the screen just comes up grey. There is no picture and no audio but the movie does appear to be paying and i can pause, FFW and Rewind. Can someone give me some suggestions on what to try please? Thx.
jmann
macrumors 604
Not true. The harry potter movie I just received don't require the disc to be inserted when downloading the movie. All I had to do was enter in the promo code in iTunes.
It really depends on how they choose to include the "Digital Copy".
gr8tfly
macrumors 603
Thanks (all) for the input. I'll definitely take notice on the next one I "download". I only have a half-dozen "Digital Copy" features and they've all been physically on a disc.
Come on man. That's a straight up lie.
I have the dark knight, the hangover, gran torino, the matrix, etc... ALL WB movies and they ALL work on both my iMac and iPod with NO issues.
please dont misinform...
pax,
rudy
I recently bought a PS3 and some blu-ray DVDs with digital copy. The movies were Inglorious Basterds and Adventureland. Both came with two discs each. One was the actual blu-ray DVD and the other was just the digital copy. I simply put the digital copy disc into my mac opened itunes and I was prompted to enter the code that came with the movie and the film copied to my Hard Drive. Keep in mind however, that the digital copy disc is not really a DVD; that is you cannot place it into a regular dvd player and have it play.
hope this helps
hope this helps
Does anyone know if the codes are time sensitive? I recently bought Clone Wars, brand new, from Amazon.
After I typed in the code, the error said something similar to "this code has expired".
I've been able to apply codes for other BluRays with no problem.
After I typed in the code, the error said something similar to "this code has expired".
I've been able to apply codes for other BluRays with no problem.