Master Vudu discussion - place to talk about your Vudu experience - Page 3

I like to watch foreign and older movies (1930s, 40s, 50s) on Vudu as well as their more recent movies. Sometimes the initial transfer or transcoding of these movies by the studios is not always up to par. I have called Vudu support twice about poorly rendered movies that have been inadequate to watch (once about poor subtitles). I have received credit back on those two. By-the-way that is two out of a hundred or more of the movies I have watched on Vudu.

Can anyone explain how 99 for 99 works? Are all of the movies on this list available to rent for $.99 in HDX?

99 for 99 is only SD. As far as I know you can't get any HD movies for $.99.

OK, I am giving that a try. I will let you know how it goes.

Wow! Just like that they credited me for the movie. Great customer service!!!

FWIW, we've got an official VUDU Blog now at blog.vudu.com and a Facebook fan page for those of you that may care. These are good places to keep an eye out for upcoming VUDU happenings.

After working on my new HT room for over 6 months, my husband decided to surprise me with the new Blockbuster 2Wire rental unit. Now to put things in perspective, I'm the electronics geek, he is not. I didn't look much under the sheets about this unit because after all it was a gift, and I was being gracious. I installed the unit and to my shock first off, downloads only come in 480i, there is absolutely no 5.1, it's only 2 channel, and to date they have only 4 HD movie offerings! To make matters worse, obviously it looked lousy on my 50" Pio Kuro. I must say the company executive was polite listening to my ranting and ravings and kindly returned the unit. I am now assigned the task of replacing this unit with something that will pass my muster. Let's face it, this is either Vudu or Apple TV. Everything in my guts is pulling me the way of Vudu, but obviously, I'm a bit nervous about the company's survival. On the other hand, the Apple TV product is inferior to Vudu. Granted Apple has financial strength, but they have hardly spent $ developing the unit and they could easily abandon it. Vudu users, I need your feedback. How is the picture quality? Are download times super long? How is the audio quality? I thank you all ahead of time for any insight you can give me. Thanks, DJ

VUDU has three levels of quality. All content is MPEG4.
SD is the lowest quality which for SD does look very good. You need a 2mbs connection to watch instantly, anything slower gives you delayed viewing.
HD is the next quality. You need a 4mbs connection for instant viewing, anything slower has delayed viewing.

HDX is the top tier product. It runs at an average of 10mbs MPEG4 with 20mbs peaks. The audio is 640kbs DD.
With this there currently is no instant viewing since the VUDU boxes currently download at 4mbs max. Hopefully that will change in the future. Since the VUDU software is constantly changing for the better. They have made many changes in the last year that have improved the VUDU experience immensely.

The HDX quality is excellent. The only thing better I have seen is from BD or HD DVD. And currently the HDX price is the same as the HD price. IF it's something I want to watch right away I'll pick HD, but if I have the time I'll do the HDX. And I'll even occasionally watch SD titles. I'll watch a VUDU SD title before I watch a DVD.

Now with the HDX titles it seems that you are able to watch the title in 3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on the length of the movie.
For example I rented Street Kings in HDX on Sunday. the move is 1 hour 50 minutes long and it gave an estimate of 3 hours 42 minutes for download.

One of the new things VUDU has implemented is online ordering, which works well for me with the HDX titles. I can choose the title at work during the day and it's ready for me to watch that night. Or I can just use my PC instead of having to turn on my components in my main viewing area just to pick a title.

The VUDU software has been constantly evolving and for the better. I have been pleased with my three VUDU purchases.
And with the current promotion from purchasing the VUDU box from BEST Buy it is definitely worth it.
You get $200 in movie credits to use within four months.

VUDU must know what boxes are at BEST Buy. All I did was activate my box with the proper info and a screen popped up thanking me for my purchase of VUDU from BestBuy and my credits were automatically applied.
An excellent deal.

You won't be disappointed with the VUDU box. Plus you have a trial period anyway. If you aren't satisfied you can return it for a full refund. Although you would be charged for any titles you watched from your $200 promotion, but that should be expected. Anyway it's a win win situation.

Hey guys. Thanks for the prompt and detailed support. I have a 10 meg server and I did the Vudu speed test and it indicated I will have immediate download with HD! I plan to install via Ethernet. Think it's the only way to fly. Guess I will become a member of your group very shortly! DJ

Glad to hear. If you have any further questions, I'm glad to help where I can.

Patrick
Sr Product Manager, VUDU

Hey

I just bought a Vudu. MY question is does the $200 credit apply to purchases or is it only for rentals?

It applies to purchases also.

Thanks for the confirmation. I want to buy "The Dark Night" so i was wondering if anyone knows if there is a difference in quality of the movie when purchasing the movie in Vudu Vs Apple TV? I am assuming both are in SD.

Yes they are both SD and as an owner of both the Vudu encode is definitely better than the Apple encode. My Apple TV has been banished to the bedroom and is used for TV shows (until Vudu gets more) and for playing digital copies of movies that come with certain BD. I have rented more from Vudu in the last year than form blockbuster in the last 3 years.

Enjoy!

I own Batman Begins in HD DVD and i have watched a few times. It would have been sweet if we could own HDX movies. Just curious, Is there a specific reason why HDX movies can't be owned?

I own a few HDX titles from a special promotion they had around Thanksgiving.
The titles are
The Chronicles of Riddick, Pitch Black , and Unleashed.

Anyone have a VUDU VBX1000 XL 2. Are they shipping? Issues ?

Well, I don't think they are out of the woods. They have had layoffs in the middle of summer. That might mean the technology is worked out???? If they get a real installed base this holiday, I doubt they will be independent for long. I suspect that was the plan all along.

I will admit, being an early adopter these days seems to carry a little more risk than it did a couple years ago. But then again, don't all investments!

I wonder what their installed base is for break even or even what their installed base is overall. I think the primary risk they have is netflix rolling out a HD box with HDMI and a HDD. Who knows, maybe Netflix will buy them, that would be nice.

Hi all. Well, I purchased my Vudu from Best Buy of course yesterday. Setup was a breeze, but I had a few questions and the folks at customer service called me back promptly! Thank you customer service! Watched our first movie in HD last night and all I can say is SWEET! Nice resolution, good color balance, no pixelation, and best of all in 5.1! I'm very impressed and happy. The only think that bums me out is when I tell folks I have Vudu, they say "what's that"? Even the kid at the customer service dept in Best Buy did not know what he was selling me. So now I tell everybody that Vudu is the "Bee's Knees" of the downloadable movie rental industry!

Is the best buy deal still going on? I was on their website and could not find it.

Never mind, just found it.