Vudu is 5,000 movies in a box
Cory Bergman September 5th, 2007
From Hulu and Lulu to Vudu…
One of my big complaints about Comcast ON DEMAND is the limited movie selection. AppleTV takes forever to download. And I’ve never signed up for Netflix because I watch movies on impulse. Enter Vudu. It’s a $400 box that allows you to watch 5,000 movies instantly, at the touch of a button. So how does it store that many movies on a 250GB drive? It doesn’t, really. It stores the first few seconds of each movie, which allows it to play instantly while streaming the rest in real-time via a fast internet connection and a peer-to-peer network with other Vudu boxes. How fast? When you visit Vudu.com, it asks you to check your bandwidth. Cable modems are recommended, although my Verizon DSL passed the test. Movie rentals are $2-4 over a 24-hour period (my Comcast movies are $4), and you can also download to own. Vudu upconverts movies to 16×9, but true high-def isn’t available… yet. Sounds cool, eh? Check out David Pogue’s positive review in the NY Times. And what about that smokin’ remote…
4 Comments Add your own
1. Dan | September 6th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Looks sharp — we’re getting closer to movie junkie nirvana.
This might be considered an improvement over MovieBeam (click my name for a few thoughts on that one), but it costs a lot more than Netflix up front. And Netflix does stream many movies — a stream that looks OK on a HD set.
But, Vudu does have new releases, which Netflix doesn’t offer via their “watch now” streaming feature at the moment.
If they can get the library that Netflix has, it could be a winner.
2. Media Glutton | September 8th, 2007 at 5:16 am
But $400 for the box? that’s .. well, TWENTY MONTHS of Netflix. And if you have Comcast, you get HD on Demand movies — better quality than “Vudu” — and without paying for a $400 box that may be worthless in two years.
3. Media Glutton | September 8th, 2007 at 5:17 am
But I agree, Cory, Comcast should upgrade its movie selection. Why can’t it? They’ve already got the infrastructure; they just need the films, right?
4. bernie.lipman | November 17th, 2007 at 10:57 am
It is much, much sharper than comcast. It’s 1080p and dolby plus 5.1. Netflix downloads are not good and apple tv are just as bad. VUDU is sharp and clear and easy/ultimate user friendly.
The battle will be on content, however, and this is where VUDU will win. They have contracts with all 8 of 8 major movie studios and 22 independents and they just announced high def contracts with universal, and two others. (Apple TV only has 3 of the big 8 and Blu-Ray only 4 of the 8.)
I’d rather pay $400 and $4 for basic or $6 for high def for VUDU which is high def capable, than $800 for Blu-ray or Hd DVD and have to buy at $20 for basic and $30 for high def. You get your $400 back in a hurry.
I used to think Netflix was the best, and they’ve done a great job. But with VUDU it’s click, click, and the movie plays in less than a second. That’s service!. and the graphics and movies are really amazingly sharp.
Len
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