The point of getting a 4K TV was to enjoy the sharpness and depth of a higher resolution, but Blu-ray and UHD come at a premium. I’ve come up with a solution that involves Fandango at Home, a service closer to you than you think.
Say Hello to Fandango at Home (Formerly Vudu)
As someone who regularly buys DVDs and Blu-rays, I’ve come to know Vudu—a sort of online combination of Redbox and Netflix. You can rent digital movies and also stream free content, including TV series. The service itself remains available, but it has been rebranded as Fandango at Home. If you also buy DVDs frequently, you’ve likely come across Vudu and Fandango at Home before.
When you open a DVD or Blu-ray, you’ll usually find ad slips, and one of them lists either business as an option for digital codes. In fact, that very same ad slip serves as a how-to guide for obtaining a free digital code of the movie you just purchased. It’s those digital codes that make Fandango at Home particularly useful for 4K movies.
Download: Fandango at Home for Android | iOS | Microsoft Store | Roku | Fire TV
Fandango at Home Has 4K Movies For Purchase
With Fandango at Home being a storefront, among other things, it’s a completely legal service and sells movies legally. After all, it is a joint venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The catch is that any movies you buy on the site, 4K or otherwise, are tied to the service itself. There is also an option to download movies for offline use.
Looking at the prices for digital 4K movies, you can often get them cheaper than their physical counterparts. The Minecraft Movie, for example, was $5 cheaper in digital 4K UHD than physical 4K UHD at Walmart. I recommend being cautious about focusing entirely on digital purchases, as they’re tied to the service. If it fails, say goodbye to those copies. On the flip side, keeping the physical copy in better condition or ripping it would soften the blow.
Related
What I Wish I Knew Before Buying a New 4K TV
I thought 4K would be simple. It’s not. But it’s totally worth the learning curve.
You Can Also Rent 4K Movies
These days, I find myself renting more movies than streaming, so when I want to watch something, I commit to paying the cost. As far as renting newer movies, you aren’t paying any more than you would at, say, the Google Play Store or Amazon Prime. Renting 4K UHD movies normally runs $6 on Fandango at Home.
The cost of rental does go down over time, so if you are a patient person (or like to chip away at your watch list systematically), they can be cheaper at $4 each. Evil Dead 2 and Evil Dead Rise, two movies separated by over four decades, cost the same to rent. You’ll find both classics and new releases, and the library is as varied as other popular storefronts.
There Are Also Free 4K Movies and TV to Watch
In addition to renting and buying movies on Fandango at Home, there are also free movies and TV series to watch. If you’re buying DVDs regularly, but occasionally opting for a digital copy, the platform could very well be your primary entertainment driver. I may not have anywhere near the media library that Netflix has, but my personal Plex server is filled with my comfort media.
Of course, with free streaming, there does come a cost: ads. Want to watch a movie? Not without ignoring a couple of ads. It’s a fair trade-off for not having to pay for a subscription, so I let it slide. You do have to create an account, which is marginally irritating but not the worst problem to have. I recommend a burner account for all these pesky websites wanting you to sign up all the time!
Related
12 Free Movie Streaming Sites With No Sign Up Requirements
Want to watch a movie without the hassle? Use these sites which are free, legal, and require no registration.
This One Feature Sets Fandango at Home Apart From Others
I briefly touched on the digital codes inside DVDs (which include Blu-ray and UHD), and truly unraveled why it makes Fandango at Home particularly useful for 4K movies. Some of those codes, most typically in newer UHD DVDs, can have a 4K digital code you can redeem on the platform.
What that means for you is that you’re growing a digital library at the same time your physical library is growing. And since Fandango at Home can be trusted, has an app of its own, and sign-up is free, you’ve created a backup of your original purchase. You’d be going above and beyond if you then ripped your DVDs and created a Plex server, creating yet another backup for your library. You can never have too many backups.
With its combination of services and free digital codes, Fandango at Home is incredibly easy to make a habit of using. Because my library is growing at the same rate as I buy physical DVDs, it has become a frictionless way to watch my personal library without needing to look for it among the shelves.
