How-To

Make Your Physical Movies Digital and Watch from Anywhere

By Brian Burgess

Updated September 24, 2023

With Vudu and Movies Anywhere services, digitizing your DVD and Blu-ray movie collections is far easier than manually ripping them.

While most Blu-ray and DVDs these days come with a digital version, you probably still have a lot in your collection that might be collecting dust. You could manually rip those discs, but there is a lot of effort involved. But by using Vudu and Movies Anywhere, you’ll have an easy way to digitize your flicks and watch them from virtually anywhere on any device.

Several years ago, we showed you how to rip DVDs and Rip Blu-ray discs. Then you can store them on a server or NAS and stream them throughout your house via an app like Plex. While it’s geeky cool to run your own video service throughout your house, it takes a lot of time and effort. And nowadays, you can get high-quality digital versions of your discs without all the work. Plus, your collection will be much easier to access. The only caveat is you will need to spend a few bucks. But once you see how easy this is and the extra convenience of accessing your collection, it’s money well spent.

Digitize Your Physical Discs and Watch Them Anywhere

Make sure you’re signed up with Vudu and download the Vudu app to your iPhone or Android device. Then tap the menu and choose Disc to Digital and then tap the “Scan Barcode” button on the next screen.

The Vudu app for Android and iOS allows you to digitize your movies by scanning the UPC easily.

Then scan the UPC barcode on your disc and when it registers, choose the quality format of the title. The SD conversion is $2, while the HDX — Blu-ray quality costs $5. Once you choose the quality, tap Convert Now, and the movie will be added to the My Movies section of Vudu.

After your movie is recognized, you can convert it to standard or high def quality.

The process is quick and easy. After scanning your first movie, you can scan the next and then the next. You will be able to watch the film immediately after it’s added to your collection.

After scanning your movie, it will be added to your Vudu movie collection, and you can start watching it right away.

You can use your Mac or PC to digitize your physical discs, too. But you do need a DVD or Blu-ray disc drive, which most laptops don’t include anymore. Still, if you do have one, you can make your physical discs digital by using the Vudu to Go method.

Once you have all your movies digitized, make sure to sign up for Movies Anywhere and link your Vudu account. Then you’ll be able to access the movies you scanned from all of the major services (Google, iTunes, Amazon) from one location. Check out our article: Use Movies Anywhere to Stream Your Film Collection to Any Smart Device for more on that.

Do you have a large collection of DVDs or Blu-ray discs that you’ve digitized? Leave a comment below and tell us if you use this new easy method or manually ripped them.