I first reported on XStremeHD just a few weeks ago, when they dropped a press release which was sparse on details. There still isn’t a lot to go on, as they’re holding their cards close to the vest in anticipation of making announcements at CES next month. Some details are starting to trickle out however. From their CES page we can glean that they’re using Seagate hard drives, and that they’re using DTS to encode their 7.1 audio.

An article in PC Magazine sheds a little more light. XStremeHD will have a ’server’ in the home, which receives the content from the satellite. There will be three models of server, with capacities ranging from 500GB to 2TB, with the low end storing 30 to 70 titles, and the high end up to 280. (I’m guessing the third, unmentioned size is 1TB.) The server can distribute content to media receivers around the home.

XStremeHD will used leased transponder capacity to delivery content to a small dish at the home. Which satellites will be used is unknown, but it is known that they will not be using DirecTV or DISH Network birds. Users will be able to self-install the dish, or they can utilize an installer to set everything up. Content will be distributed in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats in full 1080p, with audio up to 7.1 channels. That compares favorably with Blu-ray or HD DVD for movies.

What isn’t clear is the way the content will be distributed. Will be a pre-downloaded, as Moviebeam used to do, so that users can only watch the films already stored locally? Or will it use on-demand streaming to provide a wider assortment of content, like VUDU does? Or some combination, say where the first X minutes of a number of programs are stored locally and the rest is pulled down dynamically, to allow immediate viewing while giving the system time to download more? The article doesn’t really clarify that at all. It opens with this:

A new service that will fill a set-top box with high-definition, pre-downloaded movies will launch early next year…

But it later states:

The technology will apparently use streaming; Gonzalez claimed that consumers will be able to watch movies within five minutes.

So which is it? I guess we’ll find out at CES.

The same article has some info on VUDU. While the MSRP is $399, it seems VUDU also sells the boxes for just $99 to “evangelists”. It sounds like they’re seeding boxes with users willing to talk them up online:

However, Cosson also confirmed a report by blogger and former Wall Street analyst Henry Blodget that VUDU offers discounts to “evangelists”. Although the VUDU boxes are normally $399, VUDU offers evangelists the option of buying the box for $99, together with an additional $99 worth of movie credits.

“There is no quid pro quo,” Cosson said. “We are just giving them suggestions to what they should do as an evangelist.”

According to an e-mail Blodget said he received, VUDU suggested that evangelists “educate others about the benefits of getting movies delivered over the Internet and directly to the TV,” “respond to third-party blog postings,” “participate in online surveys and help us shape the product’s evolution,” “present the product to friends and acquaintances by hosting movie parties,” and “be [VUDU's] eyes and ears in the marketplace.”

Heck, for $200 (box and movie credits), I’d probably check it out too. While I don’t like the idea of Yet Another STB in my entertainment center, it would be easier to swallow if the costs weren’t so high. $400 buys a TiVo HD and a decent service period, and then you can use Amazon Unbox for movies. While Unbox is still SD only, it is expected that TiVo will be adding HD downloads (maybe we’ll hear something at CES). And right now VUDU is still really SD, the handful of HD content is more a demo/trial at this point. If VUDU could find a way to drop the acquisition costs and make their money on the content, I think they could shift some more boxes.

Via Gizmodo.

A recent player in the Yet Another STB market, VUDU launched less that two months ago with a $399 price tag, but now they’ve cut the price to $249. I’d have to suspect that means early sales volumes were disappointing. I don’t know of early adopters will get some kind of compensation, a la Apple and the iPhone, or if they just get the warm fuzzies of having their VUDU first. If you bought a VUDU for $400, I’d love to hear what, if anything, VUDU offers you for paying full-freight at launch - leave a comment.

Even at that price, I’d have problems recommending VUDU to anyone who wasn’t a *serious* movie buff. Someone who would be renting movies several times a week, if not nightly, to justify the purchase of a uni-tasker STB (as Alton Brown might say). If it drops under $200 my reservations would decrease. Get it down to $99 and no problem, I’d probably pick one up just for the hell of it. But if someone had ~$250 to spend I’d sooner recommend a TiVo HD. I think most people would get more use out of a DVR than the VUDU - and the TiVo always has Amazon Unbox as a download option.

VUDU needs to lower the price further and/or add more capabilities to the product to provide what I’d consider a good value. Ideally they’ll make their software, which is quite well done, a service on other platforms - TiVo, SlingCatcher, Blu-ray or HD DVD players, etc. Convergence, it is time. (I’d really love to see it as a service on the SlingCatcher.)

Picked up from ZatzNotFunny.

Yes, that headline is harsh, but that’s how I feel. Dave Zatz picked up on more info that supports the rumors that NetFlix is still working on a set-top box for movie rentals. This is a long running rumor, which arose after the announced TiVo-Netflix partnership collapsed. TiVo, of course, ended up partnering with Amazon for Unbox and Netflix started streaming video online.

I feel very strongly that, at this point, a one-trick pony is doomed in this market - unless it is very, very inexpensive. Even then consumers have ‘box fatigue’ and are tired of putting Yet Another Box in their entertainment center and finding a place to connect it. Convergence is where it is today - which is why Unbox on TiVo was a great idea - and Netflix on TiVo would be too. This is also why Apple TV has been lackluster at best, and Akimbo and Moviebeam pulled out of the hardware market completely - and why I believe VUDU will fail as well.

We have VOD available through pretty much ever cable and satellite operator now. TiVo has Unbox. Xbox has video downloads - including HD. Sony just announced they’ll be bringing downloads to the PS3. Modern hardware is so powerful that it can perform many functions, and do them all well. There just isn’t a place for a horde of single-purpose boxes today. The comments on the ZNF post seem to agree with my viewpoint as well.

Netflix should partner with someone - or multiple someones - who already have STBs in the market. TiVo has said their partnership with Amazon isn’t exclusive - so they’re a possibility. Microsoft would likely welcome more content in XBox Live for 360 downloads. Netflix could do downloads, or streaming, to a PC and support viewing over a Media Center Extender. Or work with the MCE companies to stream right to the MCE over broadband.

Stop reinventing the wheel. Unless your system requires specialized hardware (like a Slingbox), we don’t need a new box. Something like the SlingCatcher I understand, it is a client for another hardware device and isn’t a one-trick pony.

Back in April we first heard about the new startup, Vudu, and their self-named set-top box for broadband video. Well, now it looks like they’re ready to ship. The New York Times, Yahoo! News, and USA Today all have articles on Vudu.

Personally, I’m impressed as a geek by their BitTorrent-like technology, but I’m not impressed by it as a product. It is yet another set-top box you need to buy and put in your entertainment center - for $399, not cheap. And you need a reliable high-speed Internet connection since it downloads movies on-demand. Low-end DSL and cable modem services may not be fast enough, and dial-up is, of course, right out - you need downloads of at least 2Mbps. You’ll also need to be sure your broadband provider doesn’t have usage limits since you’re Vudu will be downloading a lot of data - and uploading it as well.

Uploading? Yes. Vudu works like BitTorrent, peer-to-peer (P2P). When you select a movie to watch your Vudu box begins downloading it. But it doesn’t just download from Vudu’s central servers, but it will download portions of the film from other Vudu units out there that have already downloaded the film. The more Vudu boxes which have the film, the faster your box can pull the pieces together. So your Vudu will also be a node on the Vudu P2P network, serving data to other users.

Of course, the $400 for the box just gets you the box. You have to pay for the content as well. Movie rentals range from $.99 to $3.99 - with Hollywood blockbusters and new releases toward the high end of the range, and nth-tier direct-to-video releases at the low end -as you’d expect. Vudu also offers purchases for $4.99 to $19.99. Vudu is launching with a library of roughly 5,000 titles. Current content is all SD, though the Vudu will up-convert content to pseudo-HD via its HDMI connection. Vudu plans to offer real HD content in the future.

I just don’t think it is worth it. You can get a TiVo and have a premium DVR - with access to Amazon Unbox downloads. And the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD will also up-convert content over HDMI - and Unbox is reportedly going to offer HD content in the future as well. Alternatively, Microsoft offers downloads, including HD, for the Xbox 360. And you can get a 360 for less than a Vudu - and you’d have a game box which can also be a DVD player - and HD DVD with an add-on. Sony will also be launching a download service for the PlayStation3, which will likely include HD content. The PS3 is a little more than the Vudu, but you also get a great game platform - which also plays (and up-converts) DVD as well as playing Blu-ray. And then there is Apple TV, which provides another platform for getting downloaded content on your TV, with more capabilities than the Vudu. And, of course, Netflix is always an option.

Based on the price and the narrow feature set, I just think there are better options.

EDIT: Gizmodo also has a review with a lot of photos.

VUDU put out a press release today…
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Gizmodo reported Saturday on a new consumer electronics box launching this summer, VUDU. And now the Sunday New York Times has a long article on VUDU.

VUDU looks to be primarily a competitor with AppleTV. It is a small box, described as being about the size of a hardcover book, that connects to your TV and home network and allows you to download video. It seems similar to past dedicated appliances such as Akimbo and MovieBeam. Both of those services bombed in the market. Akimbo has refocused more on service than the device, offering their content via Windows Media Center PCs now. MovieBeam is effectively dead, it remains to be seen if they re-launch.

So, what sets VUDU apart? The hardware is more advanced. They’re using MPEG-4, and the box has HD output. The box has HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite output. Audio has optical digital out, coax digital out, and RCA stereo. There is an Ethernet port for the network connection (but no built-in WiFi). A USB port, what appears to be a coax jack (but I can’t read the label), and, interestingly, an ‘IR Out’ jack - not sure what that would be used for. The remote control is funky - just five buttons and a scroll-wheel. Other details, such as the size of the hard drive, have not been revealed. The final price hasn’t been announced, but it is currently set at around $300 - the same price as AppleTV.

VUDU works a bit differently from the other devices as well, similar to the Joost software currently in beta - it utilizes P2P. Instead of all downloads coming from one central server, VUDU units use a BitTorrent style P2P network so that other VUDU boxes that already have the content will send parts of the file to the requesting unit. This will greatly reduce download times, just as BitTorrent does. Additionally, VUDU will use a predictive system, in a way similar to TiVo Suggestions. Based on predictions of which content is most likely to be rented, VUDU will download the start of the video file in advance. This allows the user to start playback immediately, while the unit continues to download the rest of the file in the background. That’s pretty clever.

But, more than the hardware, VUDU seems to have managed to do something no one else has yet been able to do, including Apple - they’ve already negotiated content deals with every major studio - except Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as several independent studios. From their site:

VUDU has struck unprecedented deals with seven major studios and numerous independent and international distributors to offer thousands of titles, from mainstream new releases to smaller, more specialized films. Via their broadband Internet connection, VUDU users will have the ability, on a studio-specific basis, to rent or buy movies and begin viewing them instantly.

According to the New York Times articles, VUDU already has over 5,000 titles licensed - before they even launch, from the seven major studios and 15 smaller studios. That’s 10 times the 500 films Apple offers from just two major studios.

VUDU’s is headed by people with a lot of experience - two of them are ex-TiVo employees. Edward Lichty, VUDU’s Chief Operating Officer, spent eight years at TiVo. VUDU’s Vice President of Engineering, Andy Goodman, was the second hire on TiVo’s software team. There is even more from the Times article:

By mid-2005, after raising $21 million from two Valley venture capital firms, Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital, Vudu was ready to begin designing the box itself. Mr. Rossmann said he advised Mr. Miranz to “get some DNA from the company with the closest experience to what we are going through: TiVo.”TiVo’s set-top boxes have snared a passionate audience over the last decade by offering time-saving utility with a simple user interface. Vudu hired 11 TiVo veterans to help steer product design and manufacture its box.

Since VUDU is a 41 person company, as per the Times article, more than a quarter of the company is ex-TiVo.

VUDU emphasizes the video purchasing, and it isn’t clear if the device will act like a media center extender and allow access of any local media. I would hope that it would, it appears to have all of the bits to do so and it would make the box a lot more useful if it did more than just download video from the net. Being able to access local music, photos, and video would make the device much more useful.

In any case, it would be yet another box to have under the TV - and it is getting a little bit ridiculous. I’m a gadget geek, and I have two TiVos, a DVD/LD player, VCR, A/V receiver, and Slingbox Pro under my TV - and an Ethernet switch to handle the devices. TiVo already handles local media - music and photos, and transcoded video. Amazon Unbox gives it movie downloads - the main thing lacking right now is HD content for the Series3, but this is supposed to be coming. Even with the content deals, are consumers willing to pay another $300 for another box that just allows them to pay for downloadable content? Even as a gadget geek, I’m not sure I would be willing to - especially if HD content comes to TiVo Unbox. Microsoft already has downloads on the Xbox 360, including HD content. And Sony will be bringing downloads to the PS3 - which is probably why they’re not dealing with VUDU.

It seems they’ve thought about that too:

Vudu executives even consider the possibility that their hardware box might eventually melt away, with its services running as the video-on-demand feature in a satellite box, video game console or a new breed of high-definition televisions.

Personally, with all the TiVo connections, my dream would be to see this service land on the Series3. (I doubt it would appear on the Series2, since they don’t do MPEG4.) It could also land on devices like the SlingCatcher. I would like to see more convergence, fewer boxes.