Vudu Pulls The Trigger On HD

Last week, Vudu (now available for $295) rolled out system software 1.2 in conjunction with HD movie rentals. For the instant playback touted by Vudu, you’ll need about 4Mbps download throughput. Unfortunately, the bedroom segment of my LAN is experiencing some sort of bottleneck. According to a Vudu engineer who pulled my logs, my session was capping out at 2.6Mbps – resulting in frequent buffering pauses during The Italian Job. (For comparison, my laptop reports about 17Mbps wirelessly to router via Speedtest.net.)

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I was pleased with the picture quality and, if memory serves, find it comparable to the Xbox 360 download service. However, Gizmodo really took one for the team by watching Transformers three times (the horror!) to conduct a brief picture quality analysis (above). I can’t say I’m surprised with their findings – while Vudu offers 1080 resolution , the compression needed to squeeze that content into 4Mbps down won’t compare to a Blu-ray or HD DVD offering… Nor should it.

Services like Vudu are about providing instant gratification and given the broadband speeds across the US, this situation will not improve in the near future. Lately, I’ve been using the phrase “higher def” to refer to this sort of content – it may technically be “high def” resolution if we’re counting pixels, but no one would call it picture-perfect. Though it’s certainly a step up from standard definition.

Back to Vudu… New release HD rentals run $5.99, while new release SD rentals are $3.99. Which is comparable to the Xbox 360 ($6) and the delayed Apple TV update ($5). Of course, all these guys face the toughest competition from cable-co VOD/PPV, not each other.

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XM Vista Gadget

I may not always adore my Vista media center, but Microsoft got it right with the sidebar. And I just learned about a worthy XM gadget over on Addicted to Digital Media. I’ve only played with ((XM Online Radio)) a few minutes, but it’s a keeper – the widget is simple and works well. In … Read more

Dave Dumps Vonage, Acquires M-Card

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I had assumed the lawsuits would ultimately kill Vonage… And while they still might, as part of our moving prep, I made the decision to proactively kill service. My 2.5 years with them has been somewhat rocky, including poor customer service and call quality issues. Complaints from folks on the other end of the line is what finally led me to this decision.

In Vonage’s defense, I’ve really appreciated the voicemail->email feature and their pricing was extremely competitive. However, our multiple cell phones and SkypeOut should be sufficient going forward. If not, for the first time in years, we’ll consider going back to a reliable Verizon landline.

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Super Bowl Party Disaster

When I host a Super Bowl party the things I usually worry about is having enough food, making sure my TV and audio are in working condition and there is enough seating. What else could go wrong? Picture this. You have a group of people coming over to watch the most watched game of the … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: HDTV Super Bowl Buying Spree: Connected Home 2 Go The Pros and Cons Of Media Center Vista: Davis Freeberg Hollywood Studios Abandon DVDs in 2008: Connected Home 2 Go HBO on the Web – Not a Time Warner Contradiction: Connected Home 2 Go Supercharge Your … Read more

TiVo Phasing Out Original Series3 Hardware (Production)

Based on an email TiVo reseller DVR Upgrade received, Mgeazone wrote that TiVo’s original Series3 hardware is being discontinued. Both he and I had assumed this day would eventually come, given the newer TiVo HD platform. However, at CES TiVo left me with the impression that they had no imminent plans to pull the plug… … Read more

Breaking News: TiVo v EchoStar

I just got off a plane in Minneapolis and will be tied up most of the day, but learned that the US Court of Appeals has rendered their decision (on testimony I attended). I haven’t had a chance to peruse the document, but here’s a cut & paste of the conclusion:

In sum, because of a failure of proof of literal infringement, we reverse the judgment of infringement of the hardware claims with respect to all of the accused devices. We remand for any further proceedings that may be necessary with respect to those claims. We affirm the judgment of infringement of the software claims with respect to all of the accused devices. Because the damages calculation at trial was not predicated on the infringement of particular claims, and because we have upheld the jury’s verdict that all of the accused devices infringe the software claims, we affirm the damages award entered by the district court.

The district court’s injunction was stayed during the course of these proceedings. The stay that was issued pending appeal will dissolve when this appeal becomes final. At that time, the district court can make a determination as to the additional damages, if any, that TiVo has sustained while the stay of the permanent injunction has been in effect.

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