Vudu Rundown

Katherine Boehret over at All Things Digital gave the online movie service a test run:

I downloaded two romantic comedies: 'Music and Lyrics,' starring Hugh Grant, a $4 rental, and a Diane Keaton movie called 'Because I Said So,' which I bought for $20. I also rented 'Zodiac,' a suspense movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, for $4. Movies that you own never expire, but rented flicks must be watched within 30 days and expire 24 hours after you start watching.

Aren't those prices essentially what you pay for rental/purchase at a store? I'm not sure how that's competitive. Katherine continues:

As is, its lackluster selection, high prices and slow downloads make it more of a letdown than anything else.

Unless you live several miles from a store that sells and/or rents DVDs, or you don't own a car and the only way you can get to such an outlet is by cliffside goat trail, I don't see why anyone would want one of these boxes. But still, I think there's a great future for online movie services...someday...somebody's going to get it right.

Vudu, Or, The Continuing Demise Of The Movie Theater

Select any of 5000 movies from most of the major Hollywood studios, press play, and start watching immediately: That's the Vudu pitch. The Vudu box (pictured with remote control) feeds the picture to your TV set from the Vudu database via the internet.

Vudu has sidestepped the two curses that plague the movie download experience -- the inherent delay while waiting for the download, and the smallish display size of the average computer monitor.

Here's a quick rundown of the tech aspects -- The picture would start immediately because the beginning of the most popular movies would be stored on the Vudu box's internal drive. The rest of the movie would start downloading while you're watching Act I -- you enjoy the movie right now and avoid the dreaded 'sit and stare'.

Peer-to-peer data exchange would allow for speedier local downloads -- thus preventing the Vudu central server from being bogged down by tens (or hundreds/thousands) of requests for the same movie. Peer-to-peer download allows the Vudu set-top box to search other Vudu users for the requested movie. Your set would download a few minutes of the movie from one Vudu user, and a few minutes from another, etc. This way the rest movie can be assembled in the background while you watch the first few minutes. And -- you get to watch on your deluxe super-wide TV with the best surround-sound money can buy.

Rental would be 2 or 3 dollars. Purchase price would be comparable to the retail price of a DVD.

The way movies are being purchased and watched is changing everyday, and theaters continue to be cut out of the picture. NYT has a story, and podcast coverage. Vudu website (where you can participate in a beta program free).

For some perspective, Engadget and NewTeeVee offer coverage.