VUDU lines up studios to provide HD content

One of our biggest problems with the VUDU box is about to be resolved. We're not saying the video quality is bad now, but we think that paying $400 for a STB, just to rent movies that look as good as DVD, is a hard pill to swallow. But, now it appears VUDU is well on its way to adding real HD content -- just as it promised at CEDIA -- as it has signed agreements with the studios to get the deal done. The press release is very thin on details, so we don't know when to expect HD content or if it'll be 1080p, but we'd bet the audio will remain at Dolby Digital plus. We really like the idea of downloading movies, but the HD would have to look pretty darn good for us to live with our movies trapped in yet another STB on top of our HDTV using up one of our precious HDMI ports.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 21st 2007 7:56AM]

Yes, VUDU has the capability of 1080p Hi Def content and has lined up three big content providers already (and has signed all eight of the majors for basic stuff.
That is great. The $400 for a VUDU box that will probably last 3-5 yerars and a rental fee of $1-4 for basic and $5-6 for high def VUDU rentals seems a lot cheaper to me that $800 for a Blu-ray and an additional $800 for a HD DVD and a DVD buy price of $30 a flick. With 15 bought hig def movies, UI could have paid for a VUDU box and had the box free for the next 4 years. It seems to me that you should now think that high def DVDs are going to be far more expensive than VUDU. It's true that we're comparing rentals versus movies, but I buy one flixk for every 40 I rent. How many people will spend $30 a flick when they can rent it for a fifth of the price?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 16th 2007 8:34PM]

I'd rather pay Vudu once for their box and a small $6 rental than $35 forever for high def and have to spend $900 for an HD-DVD player and only be able to get half of the movies.
I know that you need 3 Mbps for basic VUDU (just call your carrier- I got mine upped for no charge.) I'm not sure but I think you'll need to call your carrier to increase to 5 Mbps for high def (probably cost you $5-7 per month more.

Carol