VUDU first to sell permanent HD movies
updated 08:10 am EST, Tue February 24, 2009
VUDU HD Movie Sales
VUDU on Tuesday staked out its position network media hubs by becoming the first to sell permanent downloads of movies in HD for its own device. The VUDU Box, XL and XL2 can now keep full-length titles in either the company's regular HD as well as in its 1080p HDX format rather than having to rent them. The initial lineup will include movies like Man on Wire and War, Inc. and should see every future movie made available to buy as well as rent in HD on the same day as it's available on DVD.
Movies are available immediately and carry prices from a near-DVD $14 to just nearing Blu-ray titles at $24.
The addition gives VUDU a crucial edge over competitors such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple currently allows permanent copies only of HD TV shows and SD movies while renting HD movies in 720p; devices like the Xbox 360 have similar limitations for the Xbox Video Marketplace and are confined to a rental-only model for Netflix. While VUDU's competitors haven't explained the decision, the VUDU line starts with a minimum 250GB hard drive and so has more space for typically multi-gigabyte titles than the 160GB Apple TV or 120GB Xbox 360 Elite.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 1999
DRM
Maybe if I could download the movies I purchase in standard H.264 format and transfer them to my computer, re-encode them for my iPhone, burn them to DVD, etc., then this might be interesting to invest in. As it is, the movies you "buy" are trapped on your VUDU box, and if that thing dies, so do your movies. If VUDU goes out of business, there go your movies. You'd have to be insane to invest your money in DRM'd content you don't control. Just stick to the shiny discs; at least you'll always be able to easily circumvent their copy protection and use the content as you please.