<![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> ...I just got into the evangelist program, and I can get one of these boxes for $99 (instead of $399), and then I'd also get $99 in movie dollars...so I'd essentially get the box for free.

Now my question is "is it worth the hassle/time?"

xxdesmus

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Save $100 by entering the coupon code "VUDUROCKS" when you check out. $299 sure seems a lot cheaper than $400, but in my book it is still too much money to pay for a VOD system. I'm sure the price will drop in a month or two.

If they offered a free movie a week for the first year, then I would buy one today!

discwog

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> They have Gay & Lesbian horror WITHOUT High Tension? That was the best lesbian horror flick EVAH!

robinandtami

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> This is one of the few things that the Apple TV should have included to begin with. (Rental, that is, specifically w/o iTunes piping everything)

QWERTYthon

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Given it's current pricing model Vudu is better off giving away the boxes to increase market share and take a cut - which is what they are already doing - of the price of the rentals and purchases.


Jayzen

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> What about bandwidth limits?

[www.msnbc.msn.com]

Canoehead

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Why can't they put both RF *AND* IR receivers in these devices? They supply the RF remote so it works everywhere, but for those of us with Harmony and other universal remotes, the IR would work perfectly well for us.

Consumer IR receivers aren't pricey these days (a few cents now)...

Worf

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> nice review

ctfoley

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> 400$ and no built in WiFi option? HAR HAR!

FrankenPC

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> who would pay $400 for a new interface? I'll stick to my free crappy cable interface and do all the research myself...
They should have charged $500, and given you free access to all the movies want for a year...


desimal

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> RUSDUDE and TARGATOP are right about the whole subscription idea, but please don't compare this thing with the Amazon Unbox service... as wonderful as it is, having to wait for your movie to download before you watch it sucks (unless that's changed since the last time I used it!) giving VUDU a large advantage for the inpatient individuals...

But personally I think VUDU won't last long because it's another expensive set-top box, but I can see a company snatching them up for the technology that they've put together. Microsoft? Pair this kind of P2P distrubition with the Xbox Marketplace, could be nice. And afterall Microsoft is on a bend to invade the rest of our home!

saeder

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> This looks very promising. Hopefully,MS (XBox), DirecTV, Dish and Apple TV will be offering a similar service.

The days of physical rental stores are coming to an end... I for one will not miss them.

alywa

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Trackback

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> This is very slick and very well done, but ultimately people will opt for the craptastic alternatives like OnDemand because it's already on their box. Then Vudu will be out of business in 2 years. And then what?

And Wade rocks.

KernelG

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Making you buy the box to then purchase the movies is a bad business model and needs to be corrected.

Also, storing electronic devices like this in cupboards is a bad idea. The cupboards trap heat and shorten the life of the electronics in a big way, plus too much heat tends to shorten the life of your house or even your life.

I am a firefighter. I have seen block adapters fail and flair up. Usually this results in a quick little fire that leaves a charred spot on the wall. If its against a couch, you loose the room and contents or the house. In a cupboard you won't notice a problem until its too big for you to stop.

Building code in most locations requires that any electrical connections made inside walls or cabinets are done inside a fireproof (usually metal, but plastic ones are now common as well) junction box.

AndrewJayPollack

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> @bandit: "Ok Mickeymoo, I do agree the interface could be much better, but that's just a software upgrade to an existing infrastructure."

Yeah, because the cable companies are all about improving the user experience.

In the close-to two years I've had my Comcast Motorola Shitbox, the only UI "improvements" have been to bury the DVR recordings a button-press deeper and to stick banner ads at the bottom of the program guide.

someToast

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> obviously need the cable to be long enough

Compact

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> If it's RF can you hide it somewhere?

In a cupboard?

Stacking solved?

Compact

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> @Rusdude: +1 If it were a subscription service like Netflix I'd be all over it. Buy it to PPV is stupid.

targatop

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Looks like a great technology with a wee bit of growing up to do. All-in-all, I am pretty darn impressed.

nuttykiwi

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> The UI looks nice but the price and feature set do not correspond (you can get TiVo HD for less and rent from Amazon using that box). I am not sure about everyone else, but I'd only pay this kind of money if:

a) this box served as an extender/network player (so I could watch my own video, play music, listen to online radio, etc.)
AND/OR
b) they had a "package" rental fee (5/10/15/unlimited movie per month). Perhaps I am not the target audience since I don't ever buy PPV movies, but I think this would make it more competitive.

Also, they seriously need to get more content. Why not offer TV shows like other stores?

Rusdude

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> What is the smartcard for?

UnnDunn

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Ok Mickeymoo, I do agree the interface could be much better, but that's just a software upgrade to an existing infrastructure. If the selection were the same, I wouldn't pay $400 just for the better interface. Any cable subscriber already is renting a STB and doesn't need to shell out another $400 just to rent movies on demand. I don't understand why the On-Demand movie collection is so miserably small (I'm familiar with TimeWarner and Comcast). Here Vudu is offering a better service over the cable provider's own wires by cable modem! The licensing issues and pricing therefore ought to be the same. It's really nuts. Doesn't the Vudu's business model get wiped out as soon as the cable networks wake up and increase their selection and upgrade the interface??

bandit

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Selection isprobably due to the licensing of the studios. Those movies are probably cheaper, and they won't get to the good stuff until they have more budget, or enough of a client-base where the studios will drop the price.
Comcast can afford a better selection, so they can say screw it to interface.

Iggy

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> I beg to differ - it's ALL about the interface. On Comcast you can't search across multiple content providers for on demand, you have to drill down each one separately, search, go back up, drill down to the next one, wash rinse repeat....

WHY don't they "get it" (not a rhetorical question... I'm dead serious how someone at a multibillion $ corp thinks this is an ok interface in light of TiVo, MediaCenter, and now this Vudu thing....)

MickeyMoo

]]> <![CDATA[Vudu Video Wonderbox Picture Walkthrough and Review: Just Short of Wonderful]]> Ok, that's cool, but can someone explain to me why the cable providers can't instantly render Vudu obsolete with a simple expansion of their On-Demand movie lineup? Why does Vudu get this selection but TimeWarner is so poor? I don't care about the slight pause when starting up On-Demand, or the slick interface.

bandit

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