In what appears to be a test to see how well the set-top movie rental box can sell in a mainstream retail store, Best Buy is now selling Vudu in 24 of its California locations, according to Video Business. The goal is to raise mainstream interest for Vudu, say sources, which is currently at a disadvantage to bigger-branded rival Apple TV… …At some of the Best Buy locations, the two products appear to be merchandised distinctly from one another. Vudu boxes are being merchandised in four different locations: within Best Buy’s TV sections, in its high-end Magnolia theater rooms, in DVR/new technology displays and near DVD racks. In contrast, Apple TV can be generally found once, near Apple media products. At $295, Vudu is more expensive than the starting price of $229 for Apple TV and Vudu only handles movies, not music or photos. However, Vudu does 1080p versus Apple TV’s 720p and has a 250GB hard drive versus Apple TV’s 40GB or 160GB drives. Playback time on a purchased or rented movie using Vudu is instant, too. It’s very fast. I’ve been testing a Vudu box for the past month or so and it’s a great device with a dead-simple interface. It’s great for people who love movies and aren’t necessarily all that technically inclined. It faces stiff competition from Apple TV and, to a certain extent, On-Demand cable programming, but I think that if it’s marketed as a higher end product for a segment of consumers that just wants to watch movies using a box that works right out of the gate, it could have a bright future. via Gadgetell → Read More
The folks at VUDU sent this over. Sometime next week VUDU’s UI will get an overhaul to make the search for movies and TV shows much easier than it is now. They’re also making changes based on what we, reviewers/reporters, have been mouthing off about. I’ve only had a couple weeks to tinker with mine so I haven’t really noticed anything yet. Look for a review in the coming weeks. More details on the UI if you choose to keep reading. → Read More
From Doug Aamoth at CrunchGear: Hey what’s another box underneath your TV, right? Especially when it’s got movies streaming directly from Movielink and Blockbuster, yeah? According to Reuters, Blockbuster “is developing a set-top device for streaming films directly to TV sets and is expected to announce the offering sometime this month.” So we’ll have another Vudu-like hardware box just for movies, your digital cable converter box, perhaps a DVD player, and one or two consoles. I can currently consume movie content through my cable box, my DVD player, and/or my Xbox 360. Blockbuster’s going to have to sell people like my parents on this device because there’s not much chance that it’s going to be different enough from other current options to convince younger generations to A) buy the box and then B) pay for movies when most of us already have the “A” part in some form or another. (Read the rest here). CrunchBase Information Vudu Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
VUDU has announced that they are now shipping the 1TB XL. On top of that, they’ve announced VUDU Vault (currently in Beta), which allows you to store your purchased content online instead of taking up precious space on the hard drive. Current owners will get Vault with the 1.3 software update. Of course, you’ll have to pay a little extra to store your content online. VUDU has also announced an IR receiver kit for both models and retails for $39 on the VUDU site. VUDU → Read More
[photopress:nooneswatching.jpg,full,center] No one’s downloading movies from the Internet. “No one,” here, means about 1 percent of adults with broadband connections. That hardly bodes will for Apple TV and the like. A recent survey conducted by research outfit the Diffusion Group found that only 1 percent of adult with broadband frequently download movies (legally) from the Internet from places like iTunes and Vudu. A more respectable 9.5 percent of the same demo have downloaded at least one movie once. I’ve downloaded plenty of movies, just, uh, not using those services; other, less mainstream ones are significantly cheaper. What could possibly explain why people appear to be so hesitant to make the plunge? For one, people like watching movies on the big screen, that is, their TV. (Unless we’re talking cellphones, where some 2 percent said watching a movie there would be an important ability to have.) When you’ve got to shell out X Amount to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent device) just to be able to watch a movie on your TV, people get turned off. And hardly anyone thinks stringing an HDMI cable the computer to the TV is practical. Looks like this whole “movies on your computer screen” isn’t quite figured out yet. A Tough Sell: Movies on Small Screens [New York Times] → Read More
With Toshiba’s announcement that it is to cease manufacture of HD DVD players, the High-Definition format wars are now over. With Blu-Ray left standing, some, such as Rob Beschizza at Wired are now saying that digital downloads will now kill Blu-Ray. It’s an argument I want to support and many of you reading this will feel is a sound one, but it’s not going to happen anytime shortly. Here’s a few reasons why Old Habits/ Age Dies Hard I’m probably in the last generation who will ever remember a world without widespread computer use and internet everywhere. Younger generations (often called the “digital generation”) only know a world where anything can be accessed or downloaded at the click of a mouse button. To paraphrase many a politician, the young people are the future, and the next generation has nearly already abandoned CD’s, and physical media like DVDs and Blu-ray are next. But that doesn’t account for the many others who, as Rob Beschizza points out, already buy DVDs by the millions and will likely buy Blu-Ray now that HD wars are over (and as they did before DVD’s with VHS). Substantial generations have grown up with physical media, and this isn’t about to change tomorrow. Like music downloads though it will start to change, but like music that is going to take at least 5-10 years. Access (or I want to watch movies on my TV) I asked my mother the other day why she hadn’t downloaded something (legally of course) after she had purchased the physical media instead. Her response was simply that she didn’t want to watch it on her computer. Although many reading this will never give a second thought to watching video on their computer, there are still people who prefer consuming video on their TV sets. To be fair, HD on a 1080p 40″ TV set provides a better experience that on my 17″ Macbook Pro, although the TV set doesn’t easily come to bed with me. There are ways of brining digital downloads to TV sets, but none have anywhere near the penetration yet to offer a serious alternative to DVD and Blu-Ray. Apple is now offering HD movie downloads via their Apple TV box, but try and find more than a handful of people who own an Apple TV. Others offer a similar service such as Vudu, and there’s even Microsoft Media Center, → Read More
We’ve covered Vudu extensively at CG so I don’t need to go into details on what it is and what it does. All you need to know is that Vudu is scared of Apple and the Apple TV so they dropped the price of the VOD box to $295. If you purchased one within the last 30 days you get a $100 credit towards movies. So dig up that receipt and call CS at 888-554-VUDU. Press Release → Read More
Vudu uses the press coverage of CES to announce the Vudu XL, a $1,000 set-top-box that provides instant access to movies. Specifically, the enhanced XL model adds one terabyte of storage to the already attractive package. The added storage is supposed to entice consumers to use Vudu not just as a movie rental box, but as a box used to begin and maintain a movie library. In my day, we called that a PC with a big hard drive, but I realize that most people aren’t interested in figuring out how to set up a home theater PC. She comes out in February, available at high-end AV retailers. More details [Vudu] → Read More
Know about Vudu? Curious to see how good it really is? In the market for a Sharp AQUOS 1080p TV that’s bigger than 42-inches? Do you see where I’m going with this? Well, for a limited time you can get yourself a Vudu box and $50 towards movies when you purchase a Sharp AQUOS that’s 1080p and bigger than 42-inches. Do it now while the offer is still good. Product Page → Read More
When new home owner Josh Goldman reviewed Vudu in September, it could only be used to watch movies. That’s no longer the case, with the set top box now able to pull in a dozen TV shows, including “Family Guy,” “Arrested Development” [ed. yes~!~!~!] and “The Shield.” It’s $2 per episode, so it’s right in line with iTunes pricing, but still pricier than heading to a TV torrents Web site. Speaking of torrents, Vudu today will have The Bourne Ultimatum in both high-definition and standard def. The HD download costs $25, which, again, was $25 more than I paid to see said movie over the weekend in high-def. Funny, and I though Microsoft was the only company benefitting from confusion in the high-def disc market. Vudu adds TV shows [Crave] → Read More
Video-on-demand hustlers VUDU are taking the high road in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle. Opting to skip discs altogether, they’ve pre-loaded the first two Bourne movies in HD onto every new VUDU being bought, and they’re beaming it out, if you want it and already own their contraption. And they’re offering the final installment of the uber-spy’s thrillogy for the low, low price of $25. Wait a minute, that’s not very low at all. And the movies are in 1080i, which is better than watching on YouTube, but not as good as, say, the Supremacy HD-DVD, on sale for $20 at Amazon right now. Still, these are just the opening volleys of a third contender in the format war – the “no format” faction, offering direct-to-drive HD downloads at… well, maybe at reasonable prices later. In the meantime, be happy you can now watch People’s Sexiest Man Alive for 5 hours plus without leaving the couch. I’m sure that’s a killer app for somebody. Vudu Goes HD, Thumbs Nose at Blu-Ray and HD-DVD [gizmodo] → Read More
Vudu is a small company that is tackling an age-old problem: how to get movies onto your TV without stuttering, buffering, or forcing you to walk to the mailbox. The solution? P2P. The Vudu box will store the beginnings of movies you might enjoy watching and then methodically — and quickly — download bits of the movie from peers on the Vudu network. “But wait,” you say, “Don’t there need to be lots of peers on the…” Ssshhh! Don’t tell that to Vudu! Yes, there need to be lots of peers on the network, which is where I think this product will falter. I don’t want to be a spoilsport, but I could see Vudu becoming a patent farm and the technology ending up in Comcast boxes before I see a standalone business of delivering movies a la TiVo. → Read More
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