Wal-mart Video Downloads Reviewer's Comments

We had high hopes for Wal-mart’s Video Download service. They have shown a decent amount of success with their music download store and have tried to break into the movie game as well. Although Wal-mart offers a large selection of new and library releases, at slightly lower prices than their competitors, we found some difficulty when using this service, particularly in downloading the video viewer.

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Movie Selection:  

Wal-mart has teamed up with several major studios and networks like Disney, MGM, Paramount, Fox, Comedy Central and more, to create a decent selection of movies and television shows including new releases and old favorites. They are also just a hair cheaper than other leading movie download services.

With Wal-mart’s download service you can transfer your video to up to three portable devices. However, their licensing will not allow you to burn a backup DVD. Wal-mart includes one of the largest TV download sections we reviewed. Most of the TV shows are specifically formatted for portable devices, but you can watch them on your computer; however, a full screen picture may be grainy.  

Ease of Use of Service:  

On the surface Wal-mart’s video download service seems great. Everything is visually aesthetic and clearly laid out. You can browse their entire selection with out signing in or signing up. However, we had multiple disappointing experiences with this site including long page loads and the inability to download the video viewer.

Wal-mart needs Active X to run. This is a piece of software that some websites require. Because Active X had some issues in the past, some security software may view this as a dangerous website and not allow you to access some of the download features. In our case, Active X was completely disabled and we were unable to download anything. After enabling the program everything worked fine.  

Help/Support:  

We contacted Wal-mart regarding our difficulties with downloading. They responded within a few hours and explained exactly how to enable the Active X feature. And instead of just responding with a help file link the directions were written directly into the email.

Summary:  

It seems Wal-mart will eventually take over the world, they have a tendency to do things pretty well and cheaper than everyone else. However, we have a feeling the Active X problem we had is not unique, and hopefully Wal-mart will figure out a way to not require Active X.