Deal of the Day: $200 Vudu Movie Credit

While most of the world is talking about Vudu’s new higher definition HDX content (which I haven’t tested) today, what got my attention is the $200 movie credit being run in conjunction with Best Buy’s nationwide rollout. Purchase a $295 Vudu box via BestBuy.com or a brick & mortar location by the end of the year and receive $200 of content. While their HD library has lagged the competition in the past, the Vudu box provides a superior movie experience over a Xbox 360 or AppleTV. If you can consume $200 worth of content in four months, $95 for Vudu is an excellent deal. Two possible gotchas:

  • If BX100 is returned to Best Buy for refund or credit, CUSTOMER’S CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED FOR PORTION OF MOVIE CREDIT THAT HAS BEEN USED.
  • Movie Credit may not be applied towards any content on the AVN Adult Channel.

10 thoughts on “Deal of the Day: $200 Vudu Movie Credit”

  1. Yeah, this credit caught my attention as well, I have been looking for one as a gift, thinking of just buying on ebyea fro 150$ or so, but this deal is smoking (especially if one could do a 15% off coupon at BB)

    I think i’ll pull the trigger on this one as a gift, but:

    Buyers should read the OTHER HEADLINES about VUDU and their potential questionable financial solvency. Not sure what would happen if they went the way of the pets.com sock puppet!

    I do like the VUDU box, and find it for the money and for the usability a really excellent choice for VOD.

    I still have my 3+ 11.99$ NFLX account, since I like to get BLU-RAY discs on the DAY THEY ARE RELEASED and the quality of the BLU-RAY still tops everything.

  2. $200 credit makes the price of VUDU just $99+tax which is plain awesome (wish I waited for this deal to get my second box). NYT (David Pogue) mentioned they got $47 million round of funding too.

    Also, CEPro published an article before CEDIA where they talked about VUDU super-charging HD catalog (1000 movies). Hopefully, that’ll show up soon and in HDX :)

    P.S. Having seen HDX on VUDU, I agree with Pogue that it looks great. Not quite as good as Blu-Ray, but is as good as it gets when it comes to downloads. Don’t know if anyone will attempt to go higher given all the bandwidth caps being implemented.

  3. Dave,

    I think you’ll see a noticeable improvement with HDX. Even though you won’t see the full resolution, the additional bit rate will still allow you to experience more detail, particularly in dark or fast-moving scenes. You’ll also get better audio.

    Patrick
    Sr Product Manager, VUDU

  4. Thanks, Patrick. I’m setting up my new review unit now. (I shipped the first to Engadget HD afficiando Ben Drawbaugh for eval.) I may need your help linking a web account for order. Will be in touch.

    PS Good move on the ‘combined placards’ – that was a complaint I had, didn’t make sense when compared to say Xbox 360 movie downloads. Looks like I’m stuck on 1.6 software for the moment though…

  5. Dave, my TV is 720p and I can tell a difference. Both are 1080p to begin with, but HDX has more detail, less artifacts, and better sound (don’t have to adjust volume up). The best thing is that price is the same & you can order it online in advance. I also think other providers might not be able to match VUDU because of bandwidth costs (since VUDU is P2P based, they presumably pay less).

  6. Dave,
    You say the Vudu box provides a superior movie experience over 360. Aside from the availability of AVN content, how?

  7. It’s a better experience – discovering and navigating content. (Though I’m still seeing separate tiles for HD and SD copies of clicks.) There’s also more choice than Xbox and PS3 as far as I know. For digital movie download hardware, it’s my favorite device. And I’ve had them all at this point.

  8. @ Alexi — aside from what Dave said, it’s also damn near silent. 360 ain’t quiet and even PS3 gets loud (own both). Plus, the RF remote is cool — you can hide the box anywhere and still use it.

    IMHO, the main thing VUDU needs to improve is adding more TV shows.

  9. Looks like VUDU has a holiday special deal – $99 with pre-payed $50 movie credits. Much better than Best Buy deal to me.

Comments are closed.