Vudu, our favorite digital content download service, is now offering extended rentals of SD movies for 99 cents within seven days of the initial viewing. HD movies can be extended for $1.99. But that’s not the best part. There’s a new channel dubbed “99 for 99” that offers 99 recent “blockbusters” for, you guessed it, 99 cents. Steven Horn VUDU’s Programming Director and supposed movie expert diligently selects the crop, so you’ll more than likely find something you want to see and it gets refreshed every week. This on top of the porn channel and I’m set for winter.

I do not want to see this man in HD

Vudu announced late last night that they would begin offering adult content in conjunction with AVN. Titles from various studios like Vivid, Wicked and Hustler among many others will flood your set top box in HD (on some titles). The way it’s set up is so pervy and yet fantastic. You can find titles based on your favorite ‘performer’ or sort through studios and genres.

And don’t worry about little Bobby coming across a golden shower with grandma in the room because your Vudu box won’t be able to access the AVN channel until you verify your age online. Once that’s done, you can go in and set the parental controls however you see fit.

I’m feeling kind of sick all of a sudden. Maybe I’ll take the day off and sit on the couch.

I’ve been using Vudu for a few months now and it’s a pretty snazzy service. The remote is surprisingly ergonomic and the Vudu UI is put together quite well. You can read Doug’s review over yonder if you like. Today, Vudu announced that they’ve continued their expansion in Best Buy stores throughout California, Arizona and Illinois. A full listing of stores along with recently added rentals, movies available for purchase and upcoming titles have been added for your pleasure.
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I’ve been giving this a lot of thought in the last few weeks and I’m not sure what to get my dad. The parentals don’t need a TV because they just got a 52-inch Samsung plasma, so that one is out the door. Although, he might want something for the office. This 32-inch Westinghouse 720p, W3223, set isn’t too shabby and for $699 that’s not a bad deal. Heck, I might even get myself one at that price. It looks mighty fancy and comes with two HDMI ports and ATSC/NTSC/ClearQAM tuners.

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I got the VUDU wireless kit a few weeks ago, set it up, and promptly forgot it was there — a sign of a good wireless networking product. The VUDU service (see our initial review here) requires a broadband Internet connection in order operate and, up until now, your options were to either connect the box to your router with an ethernet cable or use a wireless bridge.

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VUDU, makers of the Internet-connected set-top movie streaming box shown above, has just released a new wireless kit that can be added to your existing VUDU box for $79. It’ll also be available as part of a new package for $349, which will include the VUDU set-top box and the wireless kit, saving you about $30.

The wireless kit is really easy to set up and doesn’t require any configuration between your router and the VUDU box, so it’ll be perfect for people who don’t want to spend all night setting everything up. The whole process takes less than five minutes.

Hit the jump for the full press release or take a look at our full review of the kit.

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VUDU has just released a new version of their software and it will fix “several issues of importance to users and includes implementation of discounted extended rentals.”

Discounted Extended Rentals: Rentals can now be extended at a discounted price for all movies on the service!

* After an original rental window has lapsed (depending on the title, 24 or 48 hours after initiating viewing or 30 days after ordering, if unwatched), you may extend the rental of that title for a discounted price.
* This option is available for 7 days following the conclusion of the rental of the original title. The original title will remain in My Rentals for that time.
* Once a rental is extended, the movie is available under the same terms as the original rental: you may store the movie for up to 30 days with 24 or 48 hours to view the movie after you start to play it.
* You will not receive a discount on a rental that has already been extended once.
* Pricing: $2.00 off new release HD rentals that are $5.99, $1.00 off all other movies, except 50 cents off $0.99 rentals.

Just out of curiosity. For those in the audience who have a VUDU box, do you get the weekly movie listing updates? If you don’t, do you want me to post those for you?

In what appears to be a test to see how well the set-top movie rental box can sell in a mainstream retail store, Best Buy is now selling Vudu in 24 of its California locations, according to Video Business.

The goal is to raise mainstream interest for Vudu, say sources, which is currently at a disadvantage to bigger-branded rival Apple TV…

…At some of the Best Buy locations, the two products appear to be merchandised distinctly from one another. Vudu boxes are being merchandised in four different locations: within Best Buy’s TV sections, in its high-end Magnolia theater rooms, in DVR/new technology displays and near DVD racks. In contrast, Apple TV can be generally found once, near Apple media products.

At $295, Vudu is more expensive than the starting price of $229 for Apple TV and Vudu only handles movies, not music or photos. However, Vudu does 1080p versus Apple TV’s 720p and has a 250GB hard drive versus Apple TV’s 40GB or 160GB drives. Playback time on a purchased or rented movie using Vudu is instant, too. It’s very fast.

I’ve been testing a Vudu box for the past month or so and it’s a great device with a dead-simple interface. It’s great for people who love movies and aren’t necessarily all that technically inclined. It faces stiff competition from Apple TV and, to a certain extent, On-Demand cable programming, but I think that if it’s marketed as a higher end product for a segment of consumers that just wants to watch movies using a box that works right out of the gate, it could have a bright future.

via Gadgetell

The folks at VUDU sent this over. Sometime next week VUDU’s UI will get an overhaul to make the search for movies and TV shows much easier than it is now. They’re also making changes based on what we, reviewers/reporters, have been mouthing off about. I’ve only had a couple weeks to tinker with mine so I haven’t really noticed anything yet. Look for a review in the coming weeks. More details on the UI if you choose to keep reading.
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VUDU has announced that they are now shipping the 1TB XL. On top of that, they’ve announced VUDU Vault (currently in Beta), which allows you to store your purchased content online instead of taking up precious space on the hard drive. Current owners will get Vault with the 1.3 software update. Of course, you’ll have to pay a little extra to store your content online. VUDU has also announced an IR receiver kit for both models and retails for $39 on the VUDU site.

VUDU

No one’s downloading movies from the Internet. “No one,” here, means about 1 percent of adults with broadband connections. That hardly bodes will for Apple TV and the like.

A recent survey conducted by research outfit the Diffusion Group found that only 1 percent of adult with broadband frequently download movies (legally) from the Internet from places like iTunes and Vudu. A more respectable 9.5 percent of the same demo have downloaded at least one movie once. I’ve downloaded plenty of movies, just, uh, not using those services; other, less mainstream ones are significantly cheaper.

What could possibly explain why people appear to be so hesitant to make the plunge? For one, people like watching movies on the big screen, that is, their TV. (Unless we’re talking cellphones, where some 2 percent said watching a movie there would be an important ability to have.) When you’ve got to shell out X Amount to buy an Apple TV (or equivalent device) just to be able to watch a movie on your TV, people get turned off. And hardly anyone thinks stringing an HDMI cable the computer to the TV is practical.

Looks like this whole “movies on your computer screen” isn’t quite figured out yet.

A Tough Sell: Movies on Small Screens [New York Times]

We’ve covered Vudu extensively at CG so I don’t need to go into details on what it is and what it does. All you need to know is that Vudu is scared of Apple and the Apple TV so they dropped the price of the VOD box to $295. If you purchased one within the last 30 days you get a $100 credit towards movies. So dig up that receipt and call CS at 888-554-VUDU.

Press Release

Vudu uses the press coverage of CES to announce the Vudu XL, a $1,000 set-top-box that provides instant access to movies. Specifically, the enhanced XL model adds one terabyte of storage to the already attractive package. The added storage is supposed to entice consumers to use Vudu not just as a movie rental box, but as a box used to begin and maintain a movie library. In my day, we called that a PC with a big hard drive, but I realize that most people aren’t interested in figuring out how to set up a home theater PC.

She comes out in February, available at high-end AV retailers.

More details [Vudu]

Know about Vudu? Curious to see how good it really is? In the market for a Sharp AQUOS 1080p TV that’s bigger than 42-inches? Do you see where I’m going with this? Well, for a limited time you can get yourself a Vudu box and $50 towards movies when you purchase a Sharp AQUOS that’s 1080p and bigger than 42-inches. Do it now while the offer is still good.

Product Page

When new home owner Josh Goldman reviewed Vudu in September, it could only be used to watch movies. That’s no longer the case, with the set top box now able to pull in a dozen TV shows, including “Family Guy,” “Arrested Development” [ed. yes~!~!~!] and “The Shield.” It’s $2 per episode, so it’s right in line with iTunes pricing, but still pricier than heading to a TV torrents Web site.

Speaking of torrents, Vudu today will have The Bourne Ultimatum in both high-definition and standard def. The HD download costs $25, which, again, was $25 more than I paid to see said movie over the weekend in high-def.

Funny, and I though Microsoft was the only company benefitting from confusion in the high-def disc market.

Vudu adds TV shows [Crave]

Video-on-demand hustlers VUDU are taking the high road in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle. Opting to skip discs altogether, they’ve pre-loaded the first two Bourne movies in HD onto every new VUDU being bought, and they’re beaming it out, if you want it and already own their contraption. And they’re offering the final installment of the uber-spy’s thrillogy for the low, low price of $25.

Wait a minute, that’s not very low at all. And the movies are in 1080i, which is better than watching on YouTube, but not as good as, say, the Supremacy HD-DVD, on sale for $20 at Amazon right now. Still, these are just the opening volleys of a third contender in the format war – the “no format” faction, offering direct-to-drive HD downloads at… well, maybe at reasonable prices later. In the meantime, be happy you can now watch People’s Sexiest Man Alive for 5 hours plus without leaving the couch. I’m sure that’s a killer app for somebody.

Vudu Goes HD, Thumbs Nose at Blu-Ray and HD-DVD [gizmodo]

Vudu is a small company that is tackling an age-old problem: how to get movies onto your TV without stuttering, buffering, or forcing you to walk to the mailbox. The solution? P2P.

The Vudu box will store the beginnings of movies you might enjoy watching and then methodically — and quickly — download bits of the movie from peers on the Vudu network. “But wait,” you say, “Don’t there need to be lots of peers on the…” Ssshhh! Don’t tell that to Vudu!

Yes, there need to be lots of peers on the network, which is where I think this product will falter. I don’t want to be a spoilsport, but I could see Vudu becoming a patent farm and the technology ending up in Comcast boxes before I see a standalone business of delivering movies a la TiVo.

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