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vudu slaps appletv in the face.

N

nlivo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 18, 2007
914
3
Ballarat, Australia
aristobrat said:
Because the Vudu can rent movies and the AppleTV can't?

I can't believe that for $399 it doesn't come with built-in WiFi. :eek:
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That's because it "streams" everything. Forget WiFi.

Also, I have only 768Meg DSL for budget reasons. This thing won't cut it... DSL where I'm at falls short of the 1.5Meg minimum (I think my neighbors are getting only about 1.2)...
 
gkarris said:
That's because it "streams" everything. Forget WiFi.
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Streams over what? Do you have your DSL modem right next to your TV in your living room? I don't. My cable modem is in my loft, upstairs. So either I run a 200foot CAT5 down the stairs and across the living room to the Vudu, or the Vudo needs to stream wirelessly. :)
 
aristobrat said:
Streams over what? Do you have your DSL modem right next to your TV in your living room? I don't. My cable modem is in my loft, upstairs. So either I run a 200foot CAT5 down the stairs and across the living room to the Vudu, or the Vudo needs to stream wirelessly. :)
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Since they stream everything, and they are going for decent quality, WiFi would be too slow for them...
 
gkarris said:
Since they stream everything, and they are going for decent quality, WiFi would be too slow for them...
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Their FAQ says you can stream live with a 3Mbps internet connection. The slowest WiFi connection (802.11b) can realistically stream at 4.3Mbps. Most folks use 802.11g, which streams at 19Mbps, more than 6x faster than Vudu's minimum required speed. I don't see how WiFi would be too slow. Am I missing something? :confused:
 
aristobrat said:
Their FAQ says you can stream live with a 3Mbps internet connection. The slowest WiFi connection (802.11b) can realistically stream at 4.3Mbps. Most folks use 802.11g, which streams at 19Mbps, more than 6x faster than Vudu's minimum required speed. I don't see how WiFi would be too slow. Am I missing something? :confused:
Click to expand...

Real world falls short. Also, they eventually want to stream HD content...
 
gkarris said:
Real world falls short. Also, they eventually want to stream HD content...
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FWIW, those were real world speeds.

Vudo's FAQ specifically mentions it (by saying if you buy a 3Mbps Internet connection, your real-world speed is likely to be around 2.2Mbps):
VUDU requires a minimum of 2.2 Mbps (usually advertised as 3 Mbps) for instant viewing.
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.. and the speeds I quoted were real-world as well:

802.11b = 11Mbps theoretical, real world = ~4.3Mbps
802.11g = 54Mbps theoretical, real world = ~19Mbps.

If Vudu requires an Internet connection faster than 802.11g's real-world speeds in order to stream a HD movie (which I don't think they do, as there are forum posts on Macrumors where people are streaming HD over 802.11g just fine), their product is in a lot of trouble because most people have Internet connections like yours .... way, way, way slower than 802.11g's real-world speeds. :eek:
 
it is stupid they only have videos but you have got to be honest...the way they have done it is really clever....why have these guys got all the movie studios and apple hasn't? i was under the impressions steve jobs was good at getting people to do things!!!
 
nlivo said:
it is stupid they only have videos but you have got to be honest...the way they have done it is really clever....why have these guys got all the movie studios and apple hasn't? i was under the impressions steve jobs was good at getting people to do things!!!
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If by "clever" you mean "rabidly anti-consumer", you're right.

The Vudu is not only DRM'ed, it also doesn't talk to other devices. You don't have the option to take the content that you purchased, and play it on another device, make a legitimate backup of it, etc.

If you pay for content, it is inextricably married to your set-top box.
 
How is this any different from Pay-Per-View other than you can pick whatever movie you want.

Besides, until they start producing decent movies this isn't worth it. I can't even find a good flick at Blockbuster.
 
QuarterSwede said:
How is this any different from Pay-Per-View other than you can pick whatever movie you want.

Besides, until they start producing decent movies this isn't worth it. I can't even find a good flick at Blockbuster.
Click to expand...

It's different because you get to buy the box for $400. :eek: Seriously a $400 box to rent movies, WTF were they thinking? Who's gonna buy this?
 
natasha69 said:
so its a napster'ed tivo. big deal. been in the works for a long time now.
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I'm still not sure I understand this device at all...

How is it anything like TiVo? It has no mechanism for getting you any TV shows at this point. It certainly can't record the ones coming through your TV. It isn't like Napster (unless Napster isn't even like Napster anymore, x2) in that it doesn't offer a subscription pricing model. It doesn't have any resources to play any content that you already own or access -- no way to rip your existing DVDs, no way to play YouTube content, no way to play home videos, etc, that I can see discussed on the site.

So this doesn't do anything except give you access to a (currently very small) library of on-demand movies, which can also be purchased. The prices for which are roughly comparable to DVD rentals, depending on how you rent.

Forget :apple:tv, TiVo, etc. How can this even compete with XBOX Live Marketplace?
 
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