TV Gadgets & Equipment
With HD becoming the present rather than the future, set-top box producers are going to have to keep up with the technology to stay in the game. Luckily, Vudu is doing just that.
Vudu is a set-top box enabling the purchase and rental of full-length movies to a television using an Internet connection and peer-to-peer technology.
From HD To HDX
As with its rival, Apple TV, Vudu has been offering HD movies for a few months now. But the quality of HD downloads is not generally the same quality of HD movies on the Blu-ray or the (now defunct) HD DVD formats. Until now.
This week saw Vudu unveil what it calls HDX, and it’s a new format which means that content downloaded from the Web will now be 1080p, near-Blu-ray quality for the first time ever.
What’s more, movies rented in the new format will cost exactly the same as normal HD movies: $5.99 for new releases, and $3.99 for catalogue titles.
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Netflix has already revolutionised the DVD rental market, and its now attempting to do the same in the online streaming sector.
How would you fancy a sub-$100 set-top box that plays all manner of Web video on your home television? That is exactly what Roku is aiming to do with its (former) Netflix player.
The set-top-box market is slowly but surely building. Every company seems keen on getting a device out there and in to our living rooms capable of streaming video from the Internet. And there’s now a new contender on the scene.
Can you tell the difference between what all of the different makes of set-top-box are offering? Me neither, which makes any initiative an important one for anyone interested in purchasing one the many on offer.
Netflix has added another content partner to its increasing roster, and this one combines digital downloads with Blu-ray movies. Good news for the companies involved, the consumers, and digital distribution?