Surveying the Set-Top Boxes
VUDU (on an LG BD390 Blu-ray DVD Player)
As you may have heard, VUDU, which is now owned by Walmart, recently made the move from being a hardware solution to a software solution. Rather than selling its own set-top box, VUDU has transitioned to a software service that rides along on other manufacturers' equipment. This is certainly a smart move, as set-top devices will likely fade away in time as connected TVs, DVD players, and game consoles take over delivering online video.
Once we connected an LG BD390 Blu-ray player to our TV and our wireless home network, we were able to see a menu of online options, which included VUDU, CinemaNow, Netflix, and YouTube. VUDU started up quickly and offered a menu of movies to browse. The service offers a la carte purchases, so it's more like Apple TV than Netflix. Its library is larger than both, with plenty of new releases. In fact, one of its main strengths is that some movies are available the same day that they're released on DVD. The library seems especially well-edited, with useful categories for browsing. We saw a list of Disney titles and (since this review was done shortly before the Academy Awards) a list of nominated films. That list really underscored the fact that new and noteworthy films are available. We also liked browsing the list of popular options, which showed that people don't often want challenging films at home. Light comedies that didn't do outstanding at the box office, such at The Invention of Lying, are a sort of video comfort food and dominated the list. We wished the library had helpful subcategories, though, as Netflix does. While VUDU offered adult content during our testing, new owner Walmart removed it soon afterward.
Rentals are generally priced from $3.99 to $5.99, with some costing as low as 99 cents; HD-quality (720p in this case) or HDX (which offers 1080p video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound) cost more. You can also purchase films for $4.99 to $24.99, with the most common price for new titles being $19.99. Unlike with Apple TV, purchased films aren't physically stored on your device, so you need to stream the content every time you view it. Even though content is streamed, you can forward or reverse through it by either viewing thumbnails or calling up a scene menu, as with a DVD. Besides being able to rent or purchase movies, VUDU gives you the option to add them to a want list. This is a helpful feature so you don't forget a title that caught your eye. Purchased or rented movies are available in a personal library.
Despite streaming over an 802.11n network, we did experience significant digital artifacts with one film. Others we watched were fine, but apparently, it happens now and then.
Oddly, the VUDU channel on the LG Blu-ray was the only one we could get to work. The CinemaNow option consistently froze the player, and the YouTube channel always claimed a problem with network congestion. We tried to download a firmware upgrade, but it wouldn't load. LG support didn't have an answer, but we didn't push too hard since we mostly wanted to try the VUDU service.
VUDU is now available on LG and Mitsubishi devices, but it should be on Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, and Vizio products sometime in 2010. With Walmart as its new owner, it might finally get the retail push it needs to become a household name-although that's far from certain, since Walmart's previous online efforts haven't gone well. If you have a phobia about subscriptions, however, only want to rent movies occasionally, or just want more new releases, VUDU is a strong option.
Though none of the boxes we tested are perfect, each of them has its own strengths to fill the gap while you're waiting for the next generation of internet-connected TVs.
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