Why Does ATV Offer More HD New Releases Than VUDU?

[mraub1]

Is this a licensing thing or a technical thing? Or both?

I watched my first VUDU HD download last night on a 10 foot wide screen with a 1080p projector and anamorphic lens. I was impressed with the quality. Though perhaps not as sharp as a good Blu-ray transfer, it looked very film-like. This is really all the video quality I need to be happy. It is much superior to upscaled DVD's.

I'm disappointed, though, that Apple TV appears to offer a lot more new release HD titles to rent than does VUDU. I know the studios are playing their usual silly games with this newer, higher resolution content, but if one VOD can offer a movie in HD, all should be allowed to make that sale (we're not asking them to give their stuff away; we're willing to pay for it).

Does anyone have e-mail contact for the studio executives who make these decisions? Maybe they need to hear from their customers.

MIKE

[Rusdude]

It's somewhat disappointing that Vudu hasn't been able to keep its HD lead and ATV now has 2-3 times more HD movies (recently I read that ATV has around 300, not sure if it's true).

[aaronwt]

saturaday we watched three movies. We ended up watching one on VUDU, one on Xbox Live and one on Fios VOD.
Each title was only available in HD on the provider that we watched it on. Ideally we would have watched all of them on VUDU. All the providers had the Sd versions but not the Hd versions.

[Rusdude]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

saturaday we watched three movies. We ended up watching one on VUDU, one on Xbox Live and one on Fios VOD.
Each title was only available in HD on the provider that we watched it on. Ideally we would have watched all of them on VUDU. All the providers had the Sd versions but not the Hd versions.

I am not surprised that different service offer different content (although, that IS irritating), but rather how fast ATV was able to overcome Vudu in the number of HD movies. I don't know if it's just the fact that some HD rentals are expiring/being blacked-out on Vudu, but it seems that the pace of adding HD content is slooooow.

P.S. Having said that, I am actually shopping for the 2nd Vudu box now.

[kikar]

While I am impressed with the quantity of HD movies available on Apple TV I am not impressed with the quality. I guess my wife and I are spoiled by the Vudu experience. Last night we rented a movie that I didn't see on Vudu in HD (I always check Vudu first) "Mama's Boy" a John Heder comedy. First the movie looked slightly better than a Vudu SD encode. Then on my 20 Mbs connection I still had to wait a minute or two to begin watching. My wife was getting irritated that we had to wait to watch. Vudu does spoil a person. Vudu have out "appled" Apple. They made VOD an easy to use, high quality, enjoyable experience.
That said, while I wish Vudu had many many more titles in HD I don't want it if it sacrifices quality.

PS... I wish Vudu had more TV shows as well, but that is a different post.

[NA9D]

I have been told that Vudu adds the HD content as they get it from the studios.

[Rusdude]

Originally Posted by NA9D

I have been told that Vudu adds the HD content as they get it from the studios.

I think we understand that -- we just want studios to be more generous to Vudu!