Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Do you VUDU?  Apparently it’s becoming more and more popular.  And with their announcement yesterday that they are the first on-demand service to offer high definition movies to own, those that VUDU are liking it a lot.

Before this, subscribers could only rent HD movies from on-demand services (like VUDU).  Although Vudu boasts a library of over 1,400 HD movies, but you could only watch them, not keep them.  That all ended yesterday.  Not all of their HD movies are available for sale however; for right now, there are 50 movies from “top independent studios.”  That phrasing does have some folks raising their eyebrows a little, although VUDU says more studios will be making more movies available in the future.

Although people that use VUDU seem to love it for the ease of use, that drawback seems to have always been what has been holding VUDU back from making what could be a major splash in the home movie market, the lack of movies—okay, popular and new movies, available.  That and the fact that some movies are available for rent, some only to buy, some to rent or to buy.  It’s a hard sell to get someone to plunk down $25 to watch a new release (purchase is required for many new titles) when they could just go to Blockbuster, Netflix, or *ahem*, a less than legal site and get it for free.

“Man on Wire” is one of the titles that is being released.  It is by Magnolia Studios, one of the studios working with VUDU on the HD releases along with Kino and FirstLook Studios. “We are thrilled to work with VUDU to offer our new releases for sale in HD when they are released on DVD,” said Dean Wilson, Chief Operating Officer of FirstLook Studios. “We continue to explore every channel for distribution, and the emerging digital platform that reaches consumers in their homes directly on their HDTVs via VUDU is an important new channel for us.”

I think they have to do a few things in order to become the success they have the chance to be if they play their cards right.  Bring down the initial purchase price of their box.  I mean, they offer three choices right now for box storage size, and the “big” one…$995? (Although I did find it on sale for $795)  You’ve gotta be kidding me.  Get real.  I don’t care if it IS 1 TB. 

Next, a better, more current, movie selection is needed.  More new releases available the day they come out from new studios.  If you want to compete, get in the ballgame.  Next, don’t just make the selections for purchase only.  Some people don’t want to purchase it, they just want to watch it. 

They have something that could go somewhere.  It has a chance of beating Apple TV and even XBox Live Marketplace.  It has a chance to stick around as something people might use rather than running out and renting or even buying.  The big question is will they do what they have to do in order to accomplish that goal.

Via: prnewswire