Vudu’s video stream entrances reviewers
Posted on October 14, 2007
Filed Under Vudu
Silicon Valley’s Vudu made its debut a few weeks back, offering thousands of studio films in a box (sort of). Actually the movies stream over the Internet, summoned by an impressive menu set-up.
Unlike Vudu’s high-profile competitors, no outside PC or game system is required. Just a $400 (ouch!) Vudu box. (UPDATE: The price was cut to $250 in late October.) Here are some of the early reviews, summarized.
Daniel Langendor got his hands on a Vudu set-top box and did a weeklong test drive. His findings were posted in a Vudu review on last100.com
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Plus:
“Setup is as easy as hooking up an AppleTV.
Vudu’s remote is functional art that’s a joy to use.
The quality of the video was as good as any DVD I own.”
- Minus:
“You need an Ethernet connection near your television.
Vudu’s (movie/TV) selection is erratic and hard to figure out.
You pay for your movies in advance rather than pay-as-you-go.”
Gizmodo did a similar piece last month. Here’s what Wilson Rothman had to say in his Vudu walkthrough and review:
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Plus:
“I love browsing and watching movies on this thing—the instant gratification is awesome!
I never once had more than a tiny video hiccup. … And the picture looks stupendous.
Vudu’s remote is incredible, with five buttons and a clickable jog dial that you can intuit in record time.”
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Minus:
“Vudu is selling these things for $400. So you can pay more money to buy or rent movies from them.
You could save the money by connecting your PC to your TV and renting from CinemaNow or Movielink.
there just aren’t enough good hits when you go searching.”
Then there’s CNET’s review of Vudu:
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Plus:
“Closest thing to ‘Netflix in a box’ that we’ve seen to date.
Solid movie selection includes major Hollywood studio titles in the same week they hit DVD.
Very good video and audio quality.”
Minus:
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“Can’t stream media from networked PCs.
No built-in Wi-Fi.
Rentals limited to 24-hour viewing period.”
Download Movies 101 won’t be an early adopter on this system — we still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about MovieBeam — but frequent video renters would do well to consider Vudu as an alternative to long lines and mailbox watching.
The Vudu box looks like the real deal, with HDMI ouputs (1.1) and 1080p/24 capabilities. (Check out the specs). Still, all of the reviewers complained about the price of the box, so give this a try:
If you decide to buy a Vudu box, enter the code VUDUROCKS during checkout. Should be good for $100 off.
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[...] Glenn wrote a fantastic post today on “Vuduâ
[...] High-definition: YouTube plans to serve up HD videos in the next few months. Reel Pop says streaming HD movies would contribute significantly to the video playground’s overhead costs. Meanwhile, Vudu, the set-top box download system, is conjuring up high-definition titles from Paramount and Lionsgate. The P2P-driven player went on sale last month. Read some of the early reviews on Vudy. [...]
VUDU is Pointless & Disappointing
VUDU has some really serious content issues – of the 5,000 advertised titles there’s little to rent. Their movie library if filled with titles one would find on a Hong Kong street corner or flea market. Laughable, amateurish, appalling movies that look like they’re been shot in someone’s basement. Much of the catalog is purchase only. New releases are not available to rent for 3-4 weeks, if ever. Quite a few older titles that have been staples at Blockbuster, or gathering dust at a the local supermarket, are purchase only.
VUDU moderators are blocking forum posts critical of the product.
“Vudu relies on a peer-to-peer network system for faster downloading. So, essentially, this company is using your bandwidth to help it save money it would have otherwise spent on its own servers and bandwidth.” – Walt Mossberg, WSJ
“Plenty of the movies are pure filler. They range from no-name horror cheapies (“San Franpsycho” or “Night Fangs,” anyone?) to superniche flicks like “The History of Texas Longhorns Football” and “Yoga for Depression and Gastro-Intestinal Disorders.”
Another reason: Vudu’s catalog is a victim of what Hollywood calls distribution windows. After a movie leaves theaters, it becomes available through other channels in a strict order: (1) hotels and airlines; (2) DVD; (3) pay-per-view television; (4) movie channels like HBO and Starz; (5) TV and everywhere else.” – David Pogue, NYTimes
“The average consumer, as long as he or she doesn’t have true control over downloads thanks to technology such as digital rights management, is going to have a hard time justifying an expensive set-top box when it has neither the channel-surfing capabilities of a TiVo digital video recorder nor the low to nonexistent price of a DVR provided by a cable television company.” – ZDNet
“That doesn’t count for much when you can’t get “the right movie, right now”. The studios don’t want to rent new releases, because they make more off sales… VUDU sucks and there is no reason to believe they will get better.” – Keith Ohlfs, User Experience Architect, VUDU Inc. 11/24/07
My extended review: http://theillustratedconservative.blogspot.com/2007/11/vudu-pointless-disappointing.html