Oh that VUDU you do

Michael Gartenberg | September 06, 2007, 04:54 PM

Amazing at it seems, there was news this week that didn’t have anything to do with Cupertino. Among other things, the folks at VUDU announced they’re taking orders for their new set top box offering movies on demand. I was supposed to meet up with these folks on this trip but sadly had a last minute conflict. Hopefully I’ll be able to spend some time with them when I’m out the week after next.

The idea of the box is simple. Connect it to your TV and your broadband connection and you can download and view movies to own or rent with a click of remote. If it sounds a lot like the MovieBeam concept, it is without the whacky over the download of movies requiring a special antenna and a phone line. I spent the last few days with the box between road trips and here are some of my thoughts.

The hardware is great. With a corporate background including alums from major CE companies, I’d expect nothing less. The box is small and elegant, and the remote looks like nothing you’ve used on a STB. (the only downside to it is between the click nav wheel and the fact that it’s RF not IR based, you won’t replace it with a universal remote anytime soon). Usual connections are there. I tried HDMI as well as component and both worked well (although there’s no HiDEf content at the moment). Connection to the network is pretty straightforward, as long as your router is next to your TV. Unfortunately that’s just not the case in most homes. While VUDU claims you can get instant viewing of selected content, that claim is only true if you have a fast connection and even then, you’re going to need to be plugged directly into the router and allow the box to take priority over bandwidth (there’s a setting to change that under networking). There’s no wireless on board, just an Ethernet jack although you can use technology such as home plug to get your connection from one place in the home to the other. My results were mixed and underscore my long standing point that the home network is the weakest link in the ITizaiton of Consumer Technology. When I plugged the box directly into the router, gave it priority on the net everything worked flawlessly. Moving content over the home plug was less satisfying. I could never reach the desired level of speed need for instant view so I had to settle for delayed gratification. The other problem is most folks expect to use their networks for other things, such as PC connection, VOIP apps and streaming content. All of those things want that coveted first spot in the chain and consumers are going to have to prioritize their uses.

Once you’re connected, content flows quickly and looks good (even though it’s standard def). Searching was pretty quick but still too limited. I’d like to search by star ratings, years made, Oscars won and the like. There’s also too much strangely organized. While VUDU talks about 5,000 titles, a lot of it is pretty old or B grade stuff you wouldn’t watch for free on cable. Because of odd release windows, VUDU is oddly limited to content restrictions and movies can pop up in and out. During my use, the Sting was listed as a recommended staff pick, so I downloaded. When I went to watch, it was gone and now listed as “coming soon”. Costs for renting and owning are in line with other offerings (although I don’t get why you’d choose to own a movie in this format as opposed to either DVD or another download option that would allow device portability such as iTunes or Amazon Un-Box). I’m sure the content will increase over time (there’s no reason every movie EVER made couldn’t be offered in this format) but in the interim you might want to make sure there’s something here for your taste before you buy.

Bottom line? There’s a lot of potential here in VUDU. I think the initial cost is somewhat high for a box that you then need to pay more for content. The model of buying a box for several hundred dollars for which you then need to spend more money on for services has never sat well with consumers. If you don’t have VOD from your cable box, don’t mind the price of entry and have a fast broadband connection that you can prioritize and you can live with the content selection than this is a device to consider. For most consumers, it’s likely to remain just a little too bleeding edge for mainstream adoption. The good news is that it wouldn’t take all that much to really make this a compelling must-have offering and hopefully VUDU will evolve quickly to make that happen.