Vudu TV Set-Top Box: 5,000 Movies, Instantly

[Robmx]

Vudu TV Set-Top Box: 5,000 Movies, Instantly
Thu Sep 6, 2007 12:03PM EDT

Want a collection of 5,000 movies that you can start watching immediately, at the press of a button? The Vudu set-top box just might be the answer, and it'll arrive on store shelves in a matter of weeks.

I blogged about Vudu back in April; now that we're closer to the launch date, more details have emerged, and David Pogue of the New York Times even has a hands-on review. According to Pogue, the $400 set-top box boasts impressive, DVD-level quality (competitors such as Apple TV and the Xbox Video Marketplace suffer from sub-DVD image quality with their standard-def offerings), an easy-to-use remote, an Ethernet port (no need for a PC), and a 250GB hard drive, capable of storing 100 full movies. Videos start the moment you click "play"—that's because the Vudu stores the first 30 seconds of all available movies locally, and downloads chunks of movies from other Vudu users (see my original post for more details). While the $400 price tag is a bit pricey, there's no monthly subscription fee; you can rent movies for $2 to $4 (with a 24-hour viewing window) or buy videos for $15 to $20.

Sounds cool, but of course, the Vudu will live and die according to its selection of movies, which (according to Pogue, at least) is a bit spotty. Sure, plenty of hits are available, including "300" and "Blades of Glory," but some recent titles, such as "The Departed," are missing, and there are plenty of Z-grade stinkers. That said, Vudu execs say they hope to have more than 10,000 titles, including HD movies, available in the coming months.


http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/5533

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Why does everyone think we are to lazy to purchase/ rent movies ?

[frank_t]

DVD-quality? Why waste the money....

While I will agree that the Apple TV quality is horrendous. Was catching some of it at an Apple store on a 42" display. I could not believe that people would stand for that.

[WickyWoo]

It's attractive to all rentailers except mom and pops, because no need for retail locations, huge selection and you're never out of anything

[Sonny]

well,ok but 5,000 to 10,000 HI-DEF movies & now were talkin!

[jermwhl]

Personally, I like to OWN my movies with something physical to show for it. I sure as hell won't pay 15-20 bucks to download something!

[T-Town Oil]

what a scam...its not like youre getting all of them for the price of the box
($400 or so i think)

[haushausman]

Originally Posted by Robmx

Vudu TV Set-Top Box: 5,000 Movies, Instantly
Thu Sep 6, 2007 12:03PM EDT
Why does everyone think we are to lazy to purchase/ rent movies ?

I wondered that too. Every year millions of people drive to theaters, wait in huge lines, wait in another huge line for $10 popcorn, then sit somewhere outside their home for multiple hours; yet they think we are too lazy to rent a movie.

Don't get it. Maybe the whole NetFlix boom gave them this idea.

[glenn22]

sounds like a giant waste of money to me...

[EricJ]

Videos start the moment you click "play"—that's because the Vudu stores the first 30 seconds of all available movies locally, and downloads chunks of movies from other Vudu users (see my original post for more details).

So, basically, if you read the article, what we get are the previews to various movies already loaded--and a selection that seems to be similar to your grocery-store Redbox machine --and a peer-to-peer download system trying to bring BitTorrent into a commercial mainstream.

When their greatest announced ambition is to "Compete with AppleTV"...those are some pretty low ambitions.

[bhampton]

That article pissed me off.

At first I thought, wow this could compete with Blu Ray then I realized what the device really was. Rented movies streamed via the net (freeze ups more often then a HD DUD combo disc.)

I realize the need for sensational head lines to sucker people into reading the story but you don't get thousands of movies,.. you just get the possibility of renting maybe 1000's of movies most of which couldn't be sold any other way (lots of public domain stuff in there.)

So,.. what agrivated me was,.. most people can't seperate the facts of the matter from the headline and I bet plenty of suckers can't wait to snap that sucker up.

Grrrr..

-Brian

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by haushausman

I wondered that too. Every year millions of people drive to theaters, wait in huge lines, wait in another huge line for $10 popcorn, then sit somewhere outside their home for multiple hours; yet they think we are too lazy to rent a movie.

Don't get it. Maybe the whole NetFlix boom gave them this idea.

PPV On-demand movies have been around since before Netflix--or mailable DVD's at all--even existed.
Unfortunately, that might be the reason why studios are so stubborn about wanting to give up movie rental schemes that they hold in their hands, not ours:
It seemed like such a good thing for ten years, why isn't it popular anymore NOW??--It just can't be that stupid red-envelope thing! We just need to find the right angle!

Our local on-demand cable commercials used to advertise the classic 90's "Why go to the video store?"--However, with the saturation of Netflix, they've since had to alter the ad copy to add, "Why wait for the mailbox?"
Umm...If I was actually sedentary enough to consider an overnight rental from my mailbox as some kind of obstacle, I'd be very concerned.

[Cyan]

I don't really get why this is better than On Demand...which doesn't have an initial cost of $400.

[bhampton]

Thats the thing.. it's pay per view pretty much dressed up differently. But,.. people may not know what it is and want it anyway.

=Brian

[richard lichtenfelt]

NOT HI-DEF. Not interested.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Thats the thing.. it's pay per view pretty much dressed up differently. But,.. people may not know what it is and want it anyway.

The other idea is that we mostly hear about these "cool new download technologies" from studios and analysts who don't have the time or experience to do a lot of renting, movie-watching or Internet downloading themselves.

And more imporantly, have no idea from their own background just how audio CD's caught on in the 80's, how iPods and Netflix caught on in the 00's, or how DVD caught on in the first place nine years ago, at least the way it did after DiVX Armistice Day '99.
And if they don't know how it happened the first time, well, gosh...It could happen AGAIN! We must be prepared for the next Inexplicable Audience Home-Theater Phenomenon, that millions of customers will mysteriously adopt en masse for reasons we poor executives can't even begin to fathom!
(Which's why they think we'll notice every time they announce one.)

[supersix4]

dvd quality ? YUCK! lol anyway i'd rather spend another 10 to own it on blu-ray