Idiots In The Box, Part Deux: Vudu’s Movie Box Launches; Content From All Majors and 17 Indies
By Rafat Ali - Wed 05 Sep 2007 07:27 PM PST
Vudu, another new digital movies-to-tv service which I skewered a bit in April, will be launching this month, and NYT and WSJ do their usual spate of stories. The problem about it being a box, another box, still remains. And it is priced at $400, and available online (Amazon.com) and through specialty retailers like Tweeter, Magnolia AV, MyerEmco and Ken Cranes. Prices for one-time rentals range from $0.99 - $3.99, and prices for purchased movies range from $4.99 - $19.99, depending on the age of the movie. The service has about 5,000 movies—compared with 1,500 movies on the Time Warner Cable “Movies on Demand” service and 3,500 on Movielink—and hooks right into a TV. No TV shows, which would probably have helped it grow.
-- WSJ: Downsides: As with other online-movie services, certain titles will vanish from the rental selection for months at a time while they are under contract to premium cable services such as HBO. The device must be near enough to an Internet connection to plug in; while wireless connections will work, setup is tricky.
-- NYT: Review from David Pogue: There are four really great things about the Vudu box. First, the picture quality is terrific, like a DVD. Second, the remote rocks. It has only four buttons, plus a clickable scroll wheel like the one on a computer mouse. Third, you pay by the movie, not by the month. Finally, Vudu movies begin playing instantly (that one is done by pre-storing the first 30 seconds of all movies on the device’s hard drive. The macro problem: the movie industry’s windowing policies which makes the rules of engagement tricky and inconsistent, so to speak...and that’s the problem with all these online/digital movie services.
-- USAT: I’m all for the convenience Vudu is promising, especially if it delivers more of the films I want to see. Still, it’s hard to justify the price of admission when there are so many other ways to catch a flick at home.
Vudu is based in Santa Clara, CA, and is venture-backed by Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital.
