Best Movie on demand service for TV with an emphasis on New Releases? (1 Viewer)

[Dave*S]

I hope this is the right sub-forum for this question My son just signed up for a 1-month trial of Netflix, set it up on the Wii & was disappointed at the selection of newer & New Release Movies. He’s not really interested in the movie-by-mail concept, preferring to be able to stream a movie when the mood strikes him. He’s also not much interested in watching TV shows (on demand, anyway). My wife & I feel similarly, so Netflix & their 28 day delay is not for us. I briefly looked at Vudu, Blockbuster & Amazon & they seem similar, with Vudu & Amazon seeming to be the better of the three. What service has the best selection of new release movies on demand & the most reasonable prices? I guess $3.99 for a new release isn’t horrible, but 24-hours to view is too short in my opinion. For $3.99 I’d want at LEAST 3 days, but I guess 1 day is the standard. Another consideration is how to stream the movie to the TV. We don’t have a HTPC. We have a 50” Sony Bravia KDF 50E3000 (BRAVIA Internet Video Link Ready) with a Wii & an older Toshiba HD-A3 DVD player (yeah, I guessed wrong) & some older model Sony DVD player. We don’t have a Blu-Ray player, but that’s on our ‘list’ & I will select one that offers the most options for movies on demand. We could buy a streaming device, like the Roku, if necessary. At one point I was seriously considering the Sony BDPS570 Blu-Ray player in part because of the selection of streaming services available through it, from Sony Bravia Internet Entertainment . It doesn’t do Vudu though. We have fairly decent 10 Mb Internet service & the wireless router should be well within range of the TV. I also have a home run back to the router/switch in the area of the TV, so Ethernet is an option as well. One question is can you use the Roku on more than one TV? Our adult son’s room is upstairs & he watches a lot of movies on his smaller LCD TV. If he rents a movie, could we move the Roku downstairs & watch it on our TV? Eventually we will get a Blu-Ray player that does Netflix & Amazon, but until then, we will probably share the one Roku. This brings up another question; is there a device that streams Amazon AND Vudu? I know some high-end TVs do both. Thanks in advance for any & all advice. ~Dave

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Dave*S My son just signed up for a 1-month trial of Netflix, set it up on the Wii & was disappointed at the selection of newer & New Release Movies. He’s not really interested in the movie-by-mail concept, preferring to be able to stream a movie when the mood strikes him. He’s also not much interested in watching TV shows (on demand, anyway). My wife & I feel similarly, so Netflix & their 28 day delay is not for us. I briefly looked at Vudu, Blockbuster & Amazon & they seem similar, with Vudu & Amazon seeming to be the better of the three. What service has the best selection of new release movies on demand & the most reasonable prices? I guess $3.99 for a new release isn’t horrible, but 24-hours to view is too short in my opinion. For $3.99 I’d want at LEAST 3 days, but I guess 1 day is the standard. Another consideration is how to stream the movie to the TV. We don’t have a HTPC. We have a 50” [url=http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Bravia-KDF-50E3000-50-Inch-Projection/dp/tech-data/B000SSRC46/ref=de_a_smtd]Sony Bravia KDF 50E3000 (BRAVIA Internet Video Link Ready) with a Wii & an older Toshiba HD-A3 DVD player (yeah, I guessed wrong) & some older model Sony DVD player. We don’t have a Blu-Ray player, but that’s on our ‘list’ & I will select one that offers the most options for movies on demand. We could buy a streaming device, like the Roku, if necessary. At one point I was seriously considering the Sony BDPS570 Blu-Ray player in part because of the selection of streaming services available through it, from Sony Bravia Internet Entertainment . It doesn’t do Vudu though. We have fairly decent 10 Mb Internet service & the wireless router should be well within range of the TV. I also have a home run back to the router/switch in the area of the TV, so Ethernet is an option as well. One question is can you use the Roku on more than one TV? Our adult son’s room is upstairs & he watches a lot of movies on his smaller LCD TV. If he rents a movie, could we move the Roku downstairs & watch it on our TV? Eventually we will get a Blu-Ray player that does Netflix & Amazon, but until then, we will probably share the one Roku. This brings up another question; is there a device that streams Amazon AND Vudu? I know some high-end TVs do both. Thanks in advance for any & all advice. ~Dave

There are major changes coming for Vudu. Major. You might want to wait just a short bit (really short, by the end of the summer) as there are announcements coming. There are great options coming that will do what you are after.

 

[Dave*S]

[FONT= 'arial']Can you provide any details, or point to threads, or other links with information on this?[/FONT]

[FONT= 'arial'] [/FONT]

[FONT= 'arial']We're looking to get something now, so will probably get a Roku Video Player now & then see what Vudu comes out with. It might be nice to have the option to stream both Amazon & Vudu, since neither requires a subscription & having both just provides more options. I don't know if we would take advantage of Vudu's HDX format, but we'd like to try it.[/FONT]

[FONT= 'arial'] [/FONT]

[FONT= 'arial']In any case, having the Roku on one TV in the house & whatever device is required to take advantage of Vudu's new technology on the main TV would be convenient, so the purchase of the Roku would not be a waste.[/FONT]

Originally Posted by mattCR




There are major changes coming for Vudu. Major. You might want to wait just a short bit (really short, by the end of the summer) as there are announcements coming.


There are great options coming that will do what you are after.

 

[mattCR]

Can't. NDA. But you might be able to find some things through google. But Walmart's desire to be agressive with Vudu isn't a secret at all, and Vudu will head to many platforms.

 

[Dave*S]

What I've found Googling Vudu is that Vudu recently ceased manufacturing Set Top Boxes (STBs), in favor of a new business model of Vudu as a service, negotiating agreements with manufacturers to include Vudu capabilities in Internet connected TVs & Blu-Ray players. This is interesting to me because the menuing system is downloaded each time its accessed, meaning updates will be as easy as launching the applet. I see that some devices offer access to Vudu, while others offer "Vudu Apps", a suite of free Internet services like Pandora, Picasa, Flickr, The New York Times and The Associated Press.

Based on articles & reviews I've read, I'm now leaning towards Vudu, as the movie service of choice. But again, we're not willing to wait, so I have a few options;

Ruku for access to Amazon Video on demand now & wait till the newer models of Blu-Ray devices come out, or buy an inexpensive Blu-Ray player with Vudu inside in hopes that firmware upgrades in the player & Vudu software upgrades will enable new features, or if not, we could relegate it to a secondary TV in the house & buy a new Blu-Ray device to get the newest technology.

So, what is the least expensive Blu-Ray player that offers acceptable Vudu performance?

We don't need wireless capability, because we have wired network access in all rooms where there's a TV. My understanding is that like any high-bandwidth streaming application, Vudu provides much better reliability & performance if connected by Ethernet.
What I've found Googling Vudu is that Vudu recently ceased manufacturing Set Top Boxes (STBs), in favor of a new business model of Vudu as a service, negotiating agreements with manufacturers to include Vudu capabilities in Internet connected TVs & Blu-Ray players. This is interesting to me because the menuing system is downloaded each time its accessed, meaning updates will be as easy as launching the applet. I see that some devices offer access to Vudu, while others offer "Vudu Apps", a suite of free Internet services like Pandora, Picasa, Flickr, The New York Times and The Associated Press. Based on articles & reviews I've read, I'm now leaning towards Vudu, as the movie service of choice. But again, we're not willing to wait, so I have a few options; Ruku for access to Amazon Video on demand now & wait till the newer models of Blu-Ray devices come out, or buy an inexpensive Blu-Ray player with Vudu inside in hopes that firmware upgrades in the player & Vudu software upgrades will enable new features, or if not, we could relegate it to a secondary TV in the house & buy a new Blu-Ray device to get the newest technology. So, what is the least expensive Blu-Ray player that offers acceptable Vudu performance? We don't need wireless capability, because we have wired network access in all rooms where there's a TV. My understanding is that like any high-bandwidth streaming application, Vudu provides much better reliability & performance if connected by Ethernet.

 

[Dave*S]

My son decided on the Amazon Video on Demand via the Roku HD. I'll report back here with our impressions.


He'll have it connected to the smaller LCD TV in his room most of the time, but we will borrow it to connect to our main 50in TV to see how we like it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My Pansonic BluRay player has Amazon Video On Demand built in as part of the Viera Cast feature. Quality is very good; prices are a bit steep compared to iTunes or the Redbox down the street. If someone's downloading a big file on one of the computers, the video will pause to buffer periodically, but otherwise I haven't had any problems. I mainly use the "New and Free" category.

 

[Dave*S]

The Roku arrived today & my son had it hooked up & configured in about 20 minutes. At least 5 of that was finding the HDMI cable I had "filed" somewhere. He connected it via Ethernet to our 10 Mb Internet service, then registered on the Roku site from his laptop & the box immediately picked up the registration. He then signed into his Amazon account & the box was immediately configured to rent moves.


I have to say that the OOBE was pain-free. My son tells me the menus are intuitive & very easy to navigate. Searching Amazon on the Roku is essentially identical to searching on the site, it auto-completes & makes suggestions based on what you enter.

He selected HD in the Roku & played a 2 minute HD preview & he says it looks amazing (Book of Eli).


So far He's extremely satisfied & feels that the Roku meets his desired objective perfectly. He was pleased that some of the New Release movies have 48 hour rentals. "The Book of Eli", for example, is a 48 hour rental.


I just may buy a Roku for the main TV & not worry about VUDU capability.