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HDDb.netVudu is doomed
I just read this early review of Vudu’s $400 set top box, the purchase of which allows you to pay for movie rentals.
From a marred user experience (minute long start up times? HDCP funged-up HDMI ports?), to typically ham-fisted DRM schemes ($20 movies playable only on your Vudu box), to expensive and confusing pricing (buy the box for $400, the rent or buy movies, with different types of restrictions on each transaction), Vudu seems like the same old lame “exercise in compromise” that Hollywood-supported businesses excel at producing. Confusing, expensive, & complicated, and delivering a modicum of convenience for those who live particularly far away from blockbuster.
Vudu nails closed their own coffin with this quote:
“Our research indicates that our likely first customers will be heavy movie watchers who own HD TV’s and earn high incomes. They have demonstrated a willingness to invest today in tomorrow’s lifestyle.” [from Paul Stamatiou]
Hooray for buzzwords! Wealthy technophiles are also noted for making informed decisions - hence the failure of every similar service ever launched.
I’m running an informal survey on UpcomingDiscs.com - pop over and share your thoughts.
I truly believe that digital content distribution will supplant physical media in the very near future, but IMHO Vudu is not going to be the one to make it happen.
[...] Now, if you’re interested, read my opinion here. Spoiler: I think Vudu sucks. [...]
[double post]
I think you completely misread the comments on this review and have WHOLLY distorted them.
I am not a Vudu employee. I have been working with them on this box for about 6 months so I know a lot more about it than most of the people reviewing it or guessing about its contents by reading reviews.
Let’s take your objections 1 by 1.
Boot time: Yes, it takes a minute. ONE MINUTE. How long does your PC or Media center take? And once the Vudu boots up it is ALWAYS on. The on off button turns the video on and off, but the box is always active ready for immediate downloading of content. You are plain wrong here.
HDCP funged up HDMI - What new HDMI capable device doesn’t use HDCP? It’s required by the content providers. And HDMI works fine. DVI works fine as well. A friend has his connected to a 1080i projector and it works fine in 1080i over DVI. So you again, with out real world product experience, think you can write a review and you are just plain wrong.
Movie purchases for $20 - Very few movies have to be purchased for $20. Most are less. Very comparable to what you’d pay for a DVD. And there is a lot of content available for Vudu that you won’t find on store shelves. I agree that lack of portability of content will deter a lot of people from purchasing movies, but there is also a lot there that you likely can’t find anywhere else.
The box is absolutely incredible and if you’d be open minded about what it does, you’d be amazed. You have INSTANT and I mean INSTANT viewing of 5000+ movies at your finger tips. No putting a plastic disc in a player. No standing in line at the video store. No waiting for Netflix. The paradigm of watching movies has changed.
If you wish to stay in the stone ages, that is your perogative.
You should see HD content on this thing! Yes, it supports it and once content becomes available from the studios it will blow anything else away.
The mind is like a parachute - it only works when it is open…
Hey Jon O - thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you and I are on different sides of a value-equation rift.
I take value from simplicity. For example: the ipod. I know how much music will cost, that it will work in my player, that it syncs automatically, and will be where I expect to find it. Simplicity, and consistency in pricing and execution.
Yes, I excerpted what I considered to be “complications” from PS’s review, because to me, those complications are what spoils a user experience. Anything more arduous than putting a disc in a player and pressing “play” is to me an obstacle to consumption.
So - I suppose I am choosing to stay in the stone ages, until such time as the hardware and business models of vudu style devices can match the user experience I currently enjoy.
And while I consider myself open minded, I’m definitely not open of wallet, so to speak. Ask yourself: If blockbuster charged an up front membership fee of $400, would they be in business today? If you could only watch blockbuster movies on a blockbuster player supplied by the store, would they be in business today? Even Apple’s notoriously strict business model offers a better blend of consistency and flexibility.
So - I appreciate your points and enthusiasm, and certainly wish the Vudu team all the best. But I’ll hold to my prediction that the Vudu service as it currently exists will find no more market than any of the similar service/device combinations that have tried before.
I was lucky enough to be chosen to work with the Vudubox the last view months and it is defiantly a winner with my Kids. No it doesn’t take minutes to download a movie, the movie starts right after you took your pick, picture quality is grate and so is the sound and best of all you don’t need to have computer even the movies is coming via the Internet.I believe not even your normal Video store offers around 5000 movies.No waiting for the mail ala on line video stores or being restricted by the movies you get on demand.
Suma sumarum We like the Box and we keep it
No i am not a Vudu employe just someone who was luck to be picked to test the Box
Fair enough, Axel - sounds like most of the folks who get their hands on one enjoy it, though I’m personally not sure I could get over the pricing.
Incidentally, what are your downstream connection speeds? I’m up here in Canada, which means that even if the service did work here legally (which it won’t), I’ve got a pretty slow connection compared to FIOS and some of the high speed options in the states.
I’ve been playing with the Vudu for several months now and I have to say, I love it. Not only are thousands of movies available instantly, but I no longer have to worry that the movie that I REALLY want to see will be lost in a “long wait time” pile-up.
I also don’t have to worry about pre-ordering movies any more. In the past I’d have to plan my family’s movie watching days in advance, and hope that we wouldn’t change our minds before the movies arrived. With Vudu, we have the flexibility that we’ve been wanting with a convenience that we love.