Have you heard of VUDU before? It’s a video download/streaming service that primarily offers movies to download to your television set. I had never heard of them (or if I had, I’ve forgotten) until last week when they hit the news. According to their WEBSITE (HERE) they have literally thousands of movie titles available and they are offered the same day that the DVD of the flick is released. There is no monthly subscription or contract required, you only pay for what you watch when you order it. And they say that they already have 2,000 HD titles in their library along with the tens of thousands of standard def. titles.
How do you download them? It arrives over your internet connection (you are required to have a broadband connection) and arrives in a receiver that looks like a cable-tv box. You do have a 1-time charge of about $140 to purchase the box, but it stores all the movies that you have downloaded so that you can view them repeatedly if you choose to. LG Electronics and Mitsubishi are building tv sets now that have the VUDU mechanics already installed. They make their money by selling the movies, either as a download file to keep, or as a live-streaming video-on-demand service. To sum it up, it’s “Bye-bye, Blockbuster” and “Nice knowin’ ya’ Netflix.”
Why was VUDU in the news last week, you ask? It’s because Walmart dropped a bombshell on the movie-rental industry by announcing that they have purchased VUDU for an undisclosed sum with the deal expected to be closed in the upcoming weeks. While there are several streaming and download services already, the clout that Walmart has in the retail industry already will propel VUDU onto to the top of the heap. Just as a for-instance, Walmart sells such a large percentage of television sets now that they can potentially “encourage” more manufacturers to include the VUDU system in their new receivers.
This will also have an impact on the cable-tv operators because now there will be no need for a customer to pay a monthly surcharge for movie channels such as Starz and HBO. We’re talking big bucks here. There is a lot of news, information and speculation out there on this sea change in digital entertainment delivery, so if you are interested in reading more about it, go to your preferred search engine and enter: Walmart Vudu and you will get plenty of sites to check out. If anybody has already used VUDU, post a Comment and let us know what you think about it, or how it works.
First though, we have to check out this equipment and get ready for the day. I’ll go get a pot of coffee started then we’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Morning Lineup – February 20 – February 20, 2011
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