VUDU readying Blu-ray quality rentals

While rumors have been flowing hot and heavy about VUDU's possible demise, it seems the company has other plans in mind. We've received word that select beta team members are now being asked to try out new downloads that are intended to rival Blu-ray quality. Dubbed HDX movies, these ultra-high-def flicks are currently being watched by folks willing to wait a number of hours (two to three) for a film to start, but there's no guarantee that we'll ever see this hit the masses. Sure, we totally dig the idea of BD-quality content on-demand, but we could almost scoot down to Blockbuster, rent a bona fide Blu-ray Disc, watch, and return it before a so-called HDX title even begins.

[Thanks, anonymous]

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 12:51AM]

Hmmm.. Maybe YOU could scoot to Blockbuster and find what you want on Blu-ray. I watched the entire selection of my local store in my first month's subscription.

*If* Vudu gets the quality right, and their selection includes not only new releases but catalog titles, I'll get getting a box.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 1:02AM]

No thanks.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 1:36AM]

Do you have to wait for the whole movie to download before you can watch? Pick the movie and download part while eating dinner and if at least a certain percentage is done when dinner is over start watching...and at worst there is probably something on your DVR that needs watching. I don't see the download thing as a problem for those that know how to plan.

Can you schedule a download in advance? If you know you want to watch a movie being released tomorrow...can you tell it to download it when it becomes available then watch the movie when you get home.

The downloads offer a lot more flexability over rental...oh and save the gas of driving.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 2:20AM]

i agree with you most times i'm planning to watch a movie so just start it early....

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 2:54AM]

Ummm, compared to the time it takes for me to get the blurays I rent from netflix, vudu's 3 hours from order to viewing feels downright instantaneous. If they price this thing right, they'll steal netflix's dessert

[Spiza Posted Sep 10th 2008 8:41AM]

The question is how much, and how large. Comcast is cutting people off who go over 250GB a month. I know I probably watch 6-10 movies a month with Netflix. If its really Blu-Ray quality, then that puts near if not over the max a month. I’m thinking if it takes 3 hrs at the 10Mb/s that I get, that would be about 13.5 GB download. That would put me at 18 movies a month, which would be fine, but is 13.5 GB blu-ray quality? If 3 hrs is just till you can start watching and you keep dling the rest, I’ll guess it takes about 4.5 to dl which comes to 20.25 GB and 12 movies a month. That’s with doing nothing else though, so maybe knock that down to 10 movies. I guess it would work for me if the quality is good.

[Spiza Posted Sep 10th 2008 8:42AM]

I forgot to add if the price is right as well.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 10:18AM]

> but is 13.5 GB blu-ray quality?

Almost certainly. While some people like to quote the maximum bit-rates for Blu-ray media, in practice the maximum bit rate is only used for scenes with a massive amount of movement including new objects or objects off-screen. For example, a corn field filling up the screen with everything swaying back and forth, or, at the other end of the spectrum, the opening credits of the X-Men movies. And that maximum will never be Blu-ray's actual maximum, it'll be somewhere in the region of 30Mbps.

On average, you're looking at 10-15Mbps for a typical Blu-ray disc that uses VC-1 or H.264 compression. Some of that bandwidth is taken up with superfluous stuff that doesn't need streaming - for example, alternative soundtracks, PIP, etc.

Realistically, a Blu-ray quality movie, 1080p, two hours long, VC-1 or H.264 compression, should only take up around 10-15G. You can get an idea of what's possible by considering that a BD9 (8.5G) can store a little less than an hour and a half of Blu-ray spec movie content.

Your estimates are almost certainly right.

[daaper Posted Sep 10th 2008 11:29AM]

Man, I wish I could get 10Mb/s dl speed. From 5pm-9pm I'd be lucky to get half that. Maybe if I downloaded over night, I could get speeds like that. If it has all night, though, I don't really how fast it goes as long as it's done by morning.

Yeah, I see the per movie price being a big factor for me. If it's the $6.99 I've seen others doing, then no thanks. That's almost half the price that I've paid for most of my BRs. At that point, I'd rather just spend another $10 and have unlimited.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 11:24AM]

Comcast may allow 250, but smaller providers apparently cap around 50gb a month.

[Contradictions Posted Sep 10th 2008 11:39AM]

And that's why bandwidth caps will help stifle innovation. I'm curious how the quality compares to an xbox live marketplace HD movie rental.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2008 6:12PM]

It might be Blu-ray quality video (i doubt it) but is it Blu-ray quality audio? I think it is Dolby Digital. so it isnt.

For $18.00 a month I can watch all the Blu-ray and standard DVD discs I want from Netflix. I guess i'm old but the 2 day turn around doesnt bother me. I can make up my mind a couple of days in advance. way cheaper than the per movie price from VUDU.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 11th 2008 12:16AM]

Two day turnaround from Netlflix? I'm still waiting for some Blu-rays I added to my queue weeks ago.