’28 Weeks Later’ infectious at CinemaNow
Fox Home Entertainment’s zombie thriller “28 Weeks Later” quarantined off the No. 1 spot in CinemaNow’s download sales at this week, while the studio’s hit “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” glided into second place.
In rentals, the men of “Wild Hogs” and “300″ occupied Nos. 1 and 2 on the video download service’s top 10 chart.
Download sales:
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1. 28 Weeks Later
2. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
3. Reign Over Me
3. Surf’s Up
5. Wild Hogs
6. 300
7. Perfect Stranger
8. We Are Marshall
Download rentals:
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1. Wild Hogs
2. 300
3. Perfect Stranger
4. Fantastic Four (original)
5. We Are Marshall
6. Fracture
7. Vacancy
8. The Lookout
9. Delta Farce
10. Blades of Glory
Burn to DVD:
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1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
2. The Center of the World
3. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
4. The Abandoned
5. Seeing Other People
(CinemaNow movie ratings as of Tuesday, Oct. 16)
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Vudu’s video stream entrances reviewers
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.
Getting Joost: no more digital doorman
Joost’s beta has gone public, the free online video content provider said today. Previously you had to ask for an invite — one that always came.
Joost’s software works with Windows and Mac OS X. The requirements aren’t too tough: “All you need to run Joost is a fairly new computer with good graphics capabilities and a fast processor, as well as a broadband internet connection,” the download page says.
Joost is now boasting baseball on “Postseason 2007,” featuring complete playoff replays and a daily highlights reel. The coverage continues through the World Series.
The video host restricts its content to professional sources, unlike YouTube and its imitators. Joost says it has more than 150,000 shows. You can browse channels such as “CSI,” “Adult Swim,” “The Hills” and MTV. CBS is a major backer and content provider.
CEO Mike Volpi said the private beta was partially a move to make users feel like insiders: “We started with an invitation-only model. We went with a European-ish feel which we thought would appeal to a particular generation. … We like to be cool.”