[PSound]



Quote:
Redbox's agreement not to offer Warner Bros. movies through its $1-per-night kiosks until 28 days after they go on sale is a victory for the studios, according to the Los Angeles Times, and also gives the Coinstar (CSTR) unit guaranteed access to popular movies. It should help breathe some more life into the physical DVD rental business in the short term, but may end up being only a temporary reprieve in the battle with digital delivery.

Quote:
And David Pogue's glowing New York Times review of Vudu's DVD streaming service is only more bad news for the physical DVD providers. Vudu no longer manufactures stand-alone boxes. Instead, the same service (actually, an improved one) comes built into TVs and Blu-ray players from other companies: LG and Mitsubishi right now; Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and Vizio this summer. (Those later companies will also offer Vudu apps: a suite of 100 free Internet services like Pandora, Picasa, Flickr, The New York Times and The Associated Press.)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1892...al-dvd-rentals

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

I was always too cheap to sign up for Vudu, so I have no personal experience with it. But their HDX offering looks interesting, since it's 1080p. The problem with "Vudu no longer manufactures stand-alone boxes" is that 99+% of Internet users can't stream fast enough for HDX. So it needs gigabytes of local storage just to buffer a movie before viewing.


Your average TV or Blu-ray player won't have enough built-in storage for HDX, or will manufacturers add storage?


And without HDX, does Vudu have any advantage over the myriad other streaming companies?

 

[PSound]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin /forum/post/18174995


I was always too cheap to sign up for Vudu, so I have no personal experience with it. But their HDX offering looks interesting, since it's 1080p. The problem with "Vudu no longer manufactures stand-alone boxes" is that 99+% of Internet users can't stream fast enough for HDX. So it needs gigabytes of local storage just to buffer a movie before viewing.


Your average TV or Blu-ray player won't have enough built-in storage for HDX, or will manufacturers add storage?


And without HDX, does Vudu have any advantage over the myriad other streaming companies?

99+% of internet users can't stream fast enough for HDX? Do you have a source for that information?

 

[Phantom Gremlin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PSound /forum/post/18175491


99+% of internet users can't stream fast enough for HDX? Do you have a source for that information?

No, that number came out of a place where the sun don't shine, like most figures on the Internet. A quick Google found this hit from Gizmodo. Here's a snippet:
the bit rate averages around 9Mbps and spikes to 20Mbps during action scenes
I stand by my statement. Without local buffering, 99% of Internet users in the USA will not be able to access HDX at that speed. Remember, that 9Mbps value must be sustained over a period of a few hours. Not gonna happen.

 

[PSound]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom Gremlin /forum/post/18186147


No, that number came out of a place where the sun don't shine, like most figures on the Internet. A quick Google found this hit from Gizmodo. Here's a snippet:
the bit rate averages around 9Mbps and spikes to 20Mbps during action scenes
I stand by my statement. Without local buffering, 99% of Internet users in the USA will not be able to access HDX at that speed. Remember, that 9Mbps value must be sustained over a period of a few hours. Not gonna happen.

I would start by perusing these forums.


The capability is certainly there for a growing percentage of users.

Quote:
Comcast has already pushed DOCSIS 3.0 past 90% of their footprint, delivering 50 Mbps speeds in the process.

Quote:
With Cablevision at 100% upgraded, Comcast approaching 100% upgraded, and Cox aiming for 65-70% upgraded by year end 2010, it's expected that about 60% of the country will be covered with faster speeds by the end of 2010.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1229196

 

[Phantom Gremlin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PSound /forum/post/18186172


I would start by perusing these forums.


The capability is certainly there for a growing percentage of users.

I would agree there is great potential out there for fast streaming. But if you peruse these forums there are also great practical difficulties at the current time. E.g. if you're on a shared cable node with a few bit torrent guys, you really suffer. In addition, there are always inevitable short term glitches of a few seconds duration.


I did a little quick math. 1 GB of flash memory would allow for an approx 15 minute buffer for streaming content. That small amount of flash is dirt cheap right now, and could certainly be included in any higher-end streamer. In fact, just having 1 minute of buffer would solve a lot of the short term interruptions to streaming. So maybe a small amount of flash memory is Vudu's solution to lack of local disk storage for HDX streaming.