A new HD tide is rising at VUDU

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Oct 21st 2008 at 5:44PM

It's no secret that we're hard on VUDU around here. It isn't that we don't like the service, it's just that our expectations are so high. One of our biggest complaints has been the relatively limited selection of HD movies, but apparently that has changed recently. We follow a weekly post that lists the new HD movies on the various download services and had become very accustomed to the Apple TV adding more movies than any other. That was until a few weeks ago. Starting on the week of October 3rd, VUDU started to outpace the Apple TV, and this week released an astonishing 153 new HD offerings in one week. This is almost three times as many movies in one week as VUDU has ever added before, and way more than the 37 movies added to Apple TV's HD movie lineup or the 20 movies added to Blu-ray -- no, TV shows weren't counted. As of today, Vudu offers 553 HD movies, which is still less than the number of Blu-ray titles available (around 1000) or the Apple TV at 684. So at this rate, both Vudu and the Apple TV are on track to surpass Blu-ray's title count. But unfortunately, neither seem to be getting many of the new releases in HD day-and-date with DVD -- like Iron Man and Indiana Jones, which are due on Vudu in mid November. Now if only VUDU addressed the rest of our concerns, like the 24 hour window, the HDMI requirement, no lossless audio, and the $300 box that only does one thing.

Filed under: Industry, Media streamers, Set-top boxes, Internet, Apple

Tags: Apple TV, Blu-ray, digital downloads, DigitalDownloads, hd rentals, HdRentals, hdx, rentals, Vudu

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

ericdj @ Oct 21st 2008 6:05PM

Are you talking about the rental only being available for watching for 24 hours. Your complaint is with the studios then. Nothing can be done about that

Neutral

Bozster @ Oct 21st 2008 6:50PM

It makes sense they would limit it but I'm not sure what seems to be the problem with this to begin with.

You get 2 weeks when you rent the movie, when you start watching you have 24 hours to finish it. Seems totally fair to me. Who starts to watch a movie and watches it on and off?

I'm really excited where Vudu is going..

They are matching Blu-Ray quality, convenience, DD+ audio which is like Transformers quite capable of delivering master audio quality.

I have the more expensive version and I've been more and more pleasantly surprised with their service. They are totally delivering on the promises they made.

What's fantastic is that this past weekend, I had a chance to chat with Vudu's CEO at my local Magnolia (Best Buy).

He said a couple of things that got me really excited.

Number one is that they will update the firmware by end of this year to work with external content you connect through your USB plug on it or through network streaming. He didn't specifically mention what codecs they will support but he said it's coming which is huge because I have a huge library of Blu-Ray and HD DVD movies converted to my Home Media Server with several 1.5 Tb drives. To have access to them through Vudu is absolute blast.

Second thing completely blew my mind that he mentioned. Vudu, as he mentioned, is in negotiations with studios and movie theaters to bring Vudu customers opportunity to purchase tickets to movies in theaters or online as if they would go to the theater and in return they will get a code. They can use that code and punch it into Vudu system and watch current movie in the theater in HD glory on their system.

He mentioned that firmware for streaming and expandability for Vudu is coming by end of this year and live movie theater thing should be available sometime in 2009.

Neutral

Patrick @ Oct 21st 2008 7:32PM

i don't finish movies within 24 hours all the time. with work, school (i'm still in college) a wife, baby and everything else going on in my life, i start movies all the time before i go to sleep and then i try to finish it the next day unless it happens to be the same night as my favorite tv shows and a basketball or football game. maybe the next night i have a lot of homework. i still want to finish that movie i started the other night after my daughter finally got into bed. 24 hours is limiting for a lot of people.

Neutral

Bozster @ Oct 21st 2008 8:08PM

I see what you are saying Patrick.. I just don't think it's a bad thing.. it's just not for you... they will probably expand on this..

To be honest, when I want to watch a movie, I sit down and watch it, but I can totally see as it happened to me a lot of times to fall asleep. I would say 48 hours would fix the falling asleep scenario. This way you can fall asleep and still finish the movie the next night.

Neutral

Alex @ Oct 21st 2008 7:41PM

agreed. It should be at least 5 days for a rental regardless of when you start to watch it. Why would the studios care if you have access between 24 hours and one week? Until then downloads suck, and I won't be paying for them.

All the studio execs deserve to be neutered.

Highly Ranked

Rusdude @ Oct 21st 2008 8:54PM

@ Bozster -- VUDU actually has a 30 day and not 14 day rental window. Only time it'd be less than 30 days is when that particular movie is scheduled to be pulled temporarily due to licensing restrictions (and go on Starz, HBO, or something like that).

@ Ben -- let's address your concerns:
(1) 24-hour window -- EVERYONE has that restriction, so I don't see why you should knock VUDU for that. They actually do WAY better than everyone else and mitigate it by offering discounted extended rentals (if I recall, a dollar for regular content and 49 cents for 99-cent specials). Moreover, there are 48 hour rentals from some independent studios.
(2) HDMI requirement -- actually, 1 TB box (XL) can have HD over component activated. I don't really agree with that, but that's how VUDU decided to proceed.
(3) No lossless audio -- no one offers that and VUDU wouldn't be able to do due to hardware restrictions on current boxes. The higher quality audio on HDX is probably about as good as it gets for VOD.
(4) $300 box... -- in reality, it's more like $95 due to $200 credit that you get when you purchase it from Best Buy (in-store or online). That makes it a pretty darn good deal.

However, I totally agree with you that it needs extended functionality to handle other media and all signs point that it's going to show up -- they are much more proactive about software updates than ATV.

Neutral

Bozster @ Oct 21st 2008 8:43PM

True Rusdude.. good correction.. I rent from XBL too and they have 14 days..

I'm not sure what you mean by audio but I do get DD+ quality sound. I have no problems with it as I can't really hear the difference on my speakers and receiver and i have good ones (Definitive speakers + new Denon 2809 reciever).

In honest I can hear the difference between uncompressed and TrueHD or higher DD+ but that's largely dependent on the actual audio track and their quality.

Neutral

Bozster @ Oct 21st 2008 9:54PM

HD tide is rising alright!!!! Blu-bots keep living in denial that Blu-Ray still has a chance.. you are just smudging your eyes thinking there's a chance..

Vudu is blowing everything away.. Digital downloads have matched Blu-Ray in revenue.. year to day both made the same amount of money currently, by next year digital download services will completely blow Blu-Ray out of the water.

It's sad to see that Samsung has to be again a lamb for the slaughter with their player pricing..the whole $150 per player reeks of desperation.

People are simply not buying.. the maximum sales you will see for Blu-Ray come from gamer kids and some small percentage of enthusiasts and that's becoming obvious when big movies satisfying this demographic come out.

When that passes.. Blu-Ray sales fade away like a smelly fart. How much you wanna bet that next week Blu-Ray sales are between 6 and 8 million eh?

Stop with the denial. Sell your Blu-Ray crap and go digital .. you will LOVE IT.. don't be afraid.. it's ok if compressed audio actually sound as good as uncompressed.. it's called technological progress..

oh and btw.. I'm BAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Neutral

TrentD @ Oct 21st 2008 11:09PM

No, I'll keep my discs. Keep your digital downloads, locked in their non-portable box, with low bitrates, low resolution, and low-res audio.

Neutral

DEEZNUTZ @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:05AM

Sorry Nfinity, Digital will eventually take over, but they are so not ready for prime time and won't be for some time.

Netflix > DL's

24 hour limit is lame and I will not support any digital DL format until there are at least reasonable limits in place. They should also be subscription based, but I know studio's won't go for it. With Netflix, you pay once a month and have access to a vast library with no limit on how long you keep the movie.

We can revisit your precious DL's next year. Till then, this holiday season will be a Blu one!

Neutral

eric @ Oct 22nd 2008 12:21AM

Rofl vudu will pwn someday not yet though. Most people do not have fast enough internet yet. look at gay dsl 1.5mb majority people barly enough to do hulu let alone vudu. Internet needs to catch up which will take prob 3-5 years. Till then blue it up with a media center like popcorn.

Neutral

Valicore @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:05AM

I wasn't aware that when I got a Blu-Ray disc from Netflix that I had to finish the movie within 24 hours of starting it lest it melt... probably because it's not true. If services like Vudu want to compete, they need to change it up.

By the way, that ergonomic remote control looks like a sex toy.

Neutral

WiFiSpy @ Oct 22nd 2008 7:36AM

I like my Vudu, PS3, Apple TV, Xbox 360 ....... I guess I have a content addiction...

iPhone It In: Canabalt Fitness group 'underwhelmed' by Wii Fit exercises Vacuuming made fun when Pac-Man meets Roomba	Firefox 3.6 Beta 2 now ready for download, with 190 bug fixes Google announces big price cuts on paid extra storage for GMail, Picasa Web OS X 10.6.2 offers tons of fixes, breaks Atom support again
Paul Kent gives TUAW the latest news about Macworld 2010 Adobe layoffs strike home, 680 to lose jobs C64 emulator back on the App Store	Tell-tale stat: Broadest U.S. unemployment rate hit 17.5% in October Options Update: Sun Microsystems volatility elevated on E.U. antitrust objections Before the bell: Stocks ready to climb on hopes of continued low rates
Reminder: Left 4 Dead demo now available 4 all Games on Demand has a high-price Monopoly Xbox 360 Fancast 142 -- ODSB	Jaguar trains gentleman racers at its R Performance Academy Volkswagen GTI named Automobile Magazine car of the year Brilliance importer for Europe goes belly up
Razer launches new Abyssus gaming PC mouse Indie kart racing game Zero Gear in beta testing Dragon Age: Origins dev diary brings forth gruesome combat	Wallace's Rookie Season Ranks Among Steelers' Best As Raider Nation Turns: Latest on Cable No Team Claims Larry Johnson