VUDU - The High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Check out our VUDU review!

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...d_Service/2709

[Hastor]

Always excited for the HD Adviser column, sad once again to see it absent from the site, it is my favorite feature. I know I can always ask people things in forums etc, but I learn answers to questions I wouldn't even know to ask from the column. Reliable answers too, unlike forums. Last week was extensive but nothing I didn't already know. No complaints about this article, It was great to read about something new I might have questions about, but please bring back HD adviser as well. I know it is a free site with limited staff covering what you consider most important. Just expressing my opinion. Between no Q&A column here, and Roger Ebert not updating his bi-weekly Q&A column, my brain is becoming thirsty for information!

As for the VUDU, I think I'll pass. First off, it can't do 2:3 pulldown for a 1080p picture on 60hz sets? Why the need to set it to 1080i? I guess the end result on a 1080p screen would be about the same though, just strange to see that the hardware can't do it. Also, I have Xbox360 and PS3 and have never purchased a movie that way. Why would I when the Blu-ray is better, and will still be usable once these consoles are dead? It seems less important to the newer generations, but having a hard copy with box art on a shelf still means something to me. Especially when it isn't proprietary to a single device, but players made by many companies. I did start my movie collection with the wonderful huge sleeve art of laserdiscs, some that folded open to reveal more art or information just like records. I was never fully satisfied with the picture quality of DVD, and owning a real one was never that important to me aside from a few things, especially shows made in SD to begin with that look fine. Many laserdiscs out perform their DVD counterparts on video. Of course DVD had better sound (I couldn't use AC3 laserdiscs on my player to compare, and was just stereo or Pro Logic I for the first years of DVD). Blu-ray once again makes me proud to have a movie on my shelf, in its best possible format. Digital downloads will never replace the tangibility of real movies. Plus, anyone with a huge digital collection to show off, I usually assume pirated most and doesn't really care about them. A shelf full of discs is proof of actual copies and the fact that you supported them by buying them, unless you are an outright thief of objects, though that is far less likely than finding a digital thief. I'm not impressed by a book of 300 bootlegged movies, even if they are on Blu-ray, and digital makes it harder to tell. Digital will always be cracked and some people will be watching stuff for free, including Blu-ray. It is just nice that an original Blu-ray can offer some real proof of your devotion to movies and quality.

Also, if VUDU fails as a device, you won't be able to find a lot of movies for cheap as you would with a disc based format (like we saw with HD-DVD and may with Blu-ray some day). I don't know if it requires an internet connection every time you watch something you've bought, if so, then it going belly up would render your purchases void. Even if not, once yours breaks, if they don't still make them, you are screwed. If my PS3 breaks, goes missing, gets sold, whatever, my Blu-rays are still watchable for the rest of my life as long as I can find a Blu-ray player, which I expect won't be that hard to find for the next 50-100 years, we'll probably have software and drives that can read them still, even if better formats are out. We can still use CDs which are going on 30 years old in just about anything. If laserdiscs had taken off more or were smaller, we'd probably be able to use them now as well.

[Gunyaga]

As a VUDU owner since early January (during the $99 sale), I think the review is pretty accurate. A couple of added notes from my exteneded axperience, though.

If you have a more robust connection speed (over 4mbps), then the experience becomes quite a bit more convenient with HDX available in 3 hours on average, and HD immediately. As far as Josh's comments on the quality and selection of content, I agree entirely.

Something else that I would not expect to see in a review is comment on VUDU's customer service, which has been excellent. I had an issue with a download not synching properly, and emailed CS the next morning. Rather than even begin to troubleshoot why it happened initially, VUDU refunded our rental credit, and then asked for my assistance in determining if the issue was on my end or theirs after the refund. UNfortunately not the norm today, but I have read many a thread indicating this is the norm for VUDU.

One thing I do find omitted, is mention of the current pricing structure, and charge method. When you setup your account with VUDU, you purcahse a certain amount of credit in $, and can set your account to automatically re-debit in different increments once you have exhaisted your credit, $20 is the lowest amount, I cannot remember what the highest is (I think $100 at a time). SD rentals run on average $2.99, HD and HDX $3.99, new release bump those up to $3.99 and $5.99 respectively.

[Gunyaga]

@ Hastor, I honestly think you have missed the entire point of the device, as evidenced in Josh's review as well. Forgive my language, as I don;t mean to be rude, but the VUDU device is simply not positioned, nor intended to be positioned, to replace blu rays for folks that fall into the expectations of most of us on this forum. VUDUs prospective value to our group (I believe) is the convenience of near blu ray quality on HDX releases accesible from your couch.
Your comments regarding ownership of said media are valid, but I don't think entirely pertinent here. Yes, VUDU offers quite a bit of media for purchase, but our demographic so to speak would rather own the blu-ray of a ownership worthy title.

As far as pull down issues go, they really do not impact the experience in this case. Again, this is a point of minimal difference in picture quality (I am watching on a 61") in a situation where buy choosing to rent this way you have already made a convenience vs. absolute highest quality available decision.

Also, the availability of several titles not on blu ray is attractive, and because of the lack of availability, I again do not think the argument is pertinent.

[Hastor]

@Gunyaga
I was simply comparing it to having the same title on Blu-ray, yes. Yeah I'd probably never be happy with it, and availability of titles not on Blu-ray IS nice. In most cases though, I'll wait until a Blu-ray is out rather than buy a device and spend more for what is lesser quality (not just the bitrate etc, but the transfer, it seems many HD movies for broadcast and download haven't received the remastering of those readied for release on disc). I simply don't have the money to get another device either. The article seemed to be a direct comparison to Blu-ray, though it did focus more on quality than stuff like having an actual disc. I assumed it was attempting to compete with Blu-ray, or at least that the article was judging whether or not it had what it takes to do that.

As far as your language, either it was censored or your idea of rude is way more sensitive than mine heh. I never mind someone pointing something out. I'll leave my post cause it is still my opinion of how it directly compares to Blu-ray, but if you are happy with a little less or especially for consumers that don't realize their DVDs aren't all of a sudden in HD when they get an HDTV, this might be a good choice. Personally, even with things available in HD on Xbox360 and PS3, I've never bought any HD content, just a couple SD shows that never got DVD releases (the Pac-Man cartoon and 2 years of Nicktoons film festival candidates). At least PS3 offers 1080p stuff, 360 likes to stick with 720p for some reason on HD video downloads. I do have the Looney Tune "What's Opera, Doc?" in 720p cause it was (maybe still is) free to download from Xbox Live. I'm holding out for a Blu-ray of Looney Tunes rather than getting a bunch at 720p that only work on my Xbox though. It did serve to show that old cartoons can benefit a lot from HD though, looked much more like film.

[Gunyaga]

Hastor,

Nope, no censoring or edits there, just wanted to make sure my comments were taken as a topic for discussion and not an attack.

I think the article, and VUDU, both present the purchase route as an alternative to blu, but I just don't see it that way within the context of the HDD community, and for purposes of meaningful discussion here, was sort of proposing the scenario as a different way to view or "value" VUDU if you will.

For my wife and I, if we want to own something, we do not even consider the download route, we go buy the blu-ray. For titles we haven't seen or maybe have, but would only rent, then we use the VUDU. This offers value to us in two ways;
1. The convenience of ordering from the couch or my desk at work.
2. Saving $ versus buying the title when not warranted for our tastes.

We have also had a great time with nostalgic catalogue titles that aren't out on blu, or maybe aren't even available in HDX, but are in HD and not something we already own (My wife LOVES to rent old John Candy (Great Outdoors, Summer Rental, etc. or old Steve Martin movies in HD or HDX).

I don't pretend to know how VUDU will continue to fair given the economy and rate caps from ISPs, but I do think we have gotten our money's worth with the fun movies we've been able to rent on a whim, and a few titles we've been able to check out without dropping the purchase $ on. VUDU as a company has also represented themselves extremely well to us from a customer care perspective, and so I am happy to support them given that as well.

Just my two cents..

[Gunyaga]

Also, we have a PS3 and 360 both, and I don't like to use the 360 because I don;t want to listen to the thing while I try to watch a movie that usually doesn't even contain surround sound, and if I have a problem with a download I can be assured Microsoft won't help.

PSN offers some better content than 360 sometimes, and once downloaded usually has 6 discrete channels on the track at least, but the PSN runs sooooo slow that we end up getting frustrated with playback and download issues.

[Motorheadache]

I don't know... I guess if you're into seeing some catalog titles in HD this might be of interest. It doesn't seem convenient to me at all.

8 hours for HDX? Or even 3 with a faster connection? I guess if you don't live anywhere near a videostore, but I can walk to either a Blockbuster or my local mom and pop video store and rent the movie in no longer than 15 minutes. Yeah, you can download it ahead of time, but that still requires you to plan in advance what you want to see instead of just looking at the titles and picking something out.
Plus the prices aren't really better than renting a Blu-Ray anywhere I've seen, and you have to actually buy the thing and subscribe. No thanks.

[Gunyaga]

Motor,

Most of your argument is where we simply disagree, but there is no subscription. It's cost of the box, and then per rental....
Also, HD and SD start immediately. HDX is the only format requiring lead time.

[damonous]

Originally Posted by Gunyaga

Also, we have a PS3 and 360 both, and I don't like to use the 360 because I don;t want to listen to the thing while I try to watch a movie that usually doesn't even contain surround sound, and if I have a problem with a download I can be assured Microsoft won't help.

PSN offers some better content than 360 sometimes, and once downloaded usually has 6 discrete channels on the track at least, but the PSN runs sooooo slow that we end up getting frustrated with playback and download issues.

Well, this rather goes to the point I was about to make after finishing reading Josh Z's review: he gives it a general overall 'worthwhile' rating, "The product is worth serious consideration for any home theater fan.".....

"Any"? Sorry, but I have a 360 & a PS3, too ...and the very first thing that came to mind is: If someone has EITHER of those systems, why in the world would they want/need this thing? --Just because they have $150 burning a hole in their pocket?

I agree that the 360's rackety fan is not pleasurable, but on the other hand it's not so terrible if your movie is cranked, the 360 is in the corner of the room, and you don't have a disc in the drive. I've watched movies like that before.

But, really, when we have to think of what constitutes a "home theater fan" in today's market; that would likely be a Blu-ray owner. And the majority of those are probably PS3 owners, especially those who are net-connected. ...So Vudu really serves little to no purpose. Just another slug to fill the HDMI switchbox with. If I want digital download rentals, PSN does just nicely (and they've greatly improved their speeds over the last few months).

[Hastor]

I guess this is where my 360 and Netflix fills the gap for me. My current 360 isn't that loud, though my first one definitely was. Doesn't seem to be based on the model or anything, you just get lucky. This is my 3rd 360, only the one I bought on launch day died and was replaced for free by MS, then I later traded that one towards store credit to get a used one with HDMI which was added to 360 later, this is definitely the quietest of the bunch by far, especially if you don't leave a disc in it to spin up and check.

Yeah most aren't in HD, and it doesn't tell you when they are (360 scales everything to 1080p so you can't tell a good upscale vs a bad HD transfer), but I'm into B movies and there's tons on Netflix instant watch, so I'm a happy camper for now. I don't even have enough time to watch everything I buy/rent as it is, so I wouldn't be the target audience hah.

[MrAngles]

I think it's pretty cool that VUDU is able to offer high quality HDX movies, but it seems to me that for anyone who rents enough content to find value in purchasing a piece of hardware for the sole purpose of renting movies would get more value for their money from a online disc rental subscription...

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by damonous

Sorry, but I have a 360 & a PS3, too ...and the very first thing that came to mind is: If someone has EITHER of those systems, why in the world would they want/need this thing? --Just because they have $150 burning a hole in their pocket?

The quality of VUDU's HDX downloads is significantly better than any "HD" downloads available from either X-Box Live or the Playstation Store, most of which are only 720p resolution and heavily compressed to the point where they don't have any better than a DVD level of detail.

VUDU's niche is in providing near-Blu-ray quality downloads. No, this won't be an absolute necessity for everyone. But for an audience of nit-picky high-def enthusiasts, it's worth consideration.

[metalhead4]

This thing is miserable, I operate them everyday at work. It's definitely not even near blu-ray quality. But to someone who doesn't know any better it's great. The representative that usually comes in and speaks about the product got layed off, so that means they can't be doing well.

[Roshan]

they didn't talk about portability of the player or the movie to friends. Which i assume is none. While it may sound like i am a troll its very important when buying the movie is a lot on vudu very similar to blu ray pricing where blu ray has more functionality. This may be off topic but laptops with blu ray or at least an option has become main stream and can be found below $1000.