Holiday Gift Guide 2008: VUDU $99 for a limited time ($200 off!)

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Men, Techies, Under $100

If you, or someone you love, is a big movie buff with an HDTV, we have to recommend the VUDU Christmas Special that is going on right now. The VUDU set-top box normally sells for $299, but for a limited time it can be had for just $99. Now, you also have to buy $50 in movie credits, so the total cost would be $149, but that $50 is would go towards rentals and purchases of VUDU content, including their fantastic HDX 1080p movies. Rentals cost from $1-4 dollars, and purchases are obviously higher.

We recently reported on a lot of the Internet content that has also just made its way to the VUDU service, so all in all, we think this would make a nice gift - either for someone else, or for yourself. Our only complaint with VUDU remains that their speeds are limited, which provides a very, very poor experience if you want to rent HDX content. No matter how fast your Internet connection is, VUDU caps downloads at 4.0 Mbps. That means that my super fast 50.0 Mbps FiOS connection means absolutely nothing, and I still have to wait hours before I can watch an HDX flick. If they got rid of that, it would unleash HDX, their flagship offering. A personal niggle for sure, though. If you don’t care, pick one up!

If you miss the sale, you can typically find some nice VUDU deals on Amazon.

Read More | VUDU Store

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VUDU Adds YouTube, Flickr, and more Internet content to their box

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet

This is not the first time we have mentioned VUDU, but it would appear that they have upped their game. Not only can you get over 120 free on-demand TV channels, they have added access to YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and other sites with VUDU RIA (Rich Internet Application.) Next year, they plan on adding even more sites. While we are still in awe of HD, VUDU also offers over HDX movies with twice the resolution without additional cost.

Read More | VUDU

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VUDU XL2 - Video Store in a Box

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies

VUDU XL2 has been released for home theater owners. There is access to hundreds of HD titles on demand with more than 10,000 films total that can be viewed instantly. The exterior is made of aerospace-grade aluminum bezel with the glowing logo and the device is rack-mountable. The XL2 has a terabyte of storage which equals out to about 500 movies and has both IP and IR control with 1080i HD output. You better love your movies as the player will set you back $1,299.00.

Read More | VUDU

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Vudu HDX 1080p movie downloads are “insanely sharp”

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies

Yesterday, VUDU went live with their new HDX 1080p movie downloads, and word on the street (or, at least, from Pogue at the Times) is that they are the best thing available as it pertains to the digital download movie game. Now, VUDU promised “Blu-ray quality” movies, and I don’t think that’s what we are seeing here. After all, that would mean some people would have to spend the better part of a day downloading a flick - that would make for an awkward evening when inviting the girl over. However, the quality is decidedly sharper than DVD, and looks better than high definition downloads from other services, like iTunes through Apple TV. So, how do they achieve this goodness? Well, the bit rate for the videos hovers around 9Mbps, and goes as high as 20Mbps during fast-moving action scenes. Nothing else touches that, including your cable company with their On Demand, seriously.

VUDU currently has 65 movies available to rent in their HDX format, and all new releases will be available in HDX as well. A VUDU box will run you $299, but if you buy it before the end of the year, you get a $200 movie credit, which seems to make it worth the price of admission - especially since those who own HDTVs have such a hard time finding great content to take advantage of their screens on a consistent basis. You can get one online, or at your local Best Buy.

Read More | New York Times

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Vudu is Nothing New

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet, Misc. Tech, Movies

Another company has decided that we still don’t have enough choices when it comes to watching movies. Vudu promises access to over 5,000 movies with its 250-gigabyte hard drive that will handle about 100 hours of storage. The Vudu runs by Ethernet with at least a 2 Mbpm broadband Internet connection. In time, the box will have more storage capability with an additional USB hard drive. The price of the Vudu is $399.00 and although there is no subscription fee, you pay 99 cents to $3.99 to rent or $4.99 to $19.99 to own. The way we go through movies around here makes us think that with that kind of spending, we could probably purchase a new car by the end of the year. We’ll just be satisfied with our now dependable NetFlix which we figure pays for itself in the first week of any given month.

Read More | USA Today

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