VUDU on Yahoo

[redwein]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

Well of course whoever delivers on those things will have an advantage.

[timchen]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

More, a lot more titles
Lower basic box price (like close to $100)
Better rental deal

These are from my original post #64, they still stand no matter which movie delivery method Vudu wants to compete with.

I don't even like Netflix as a comapny. My co-workers went there and play dog eat dog. Our talk is falling back to Netflix repeatly since they are hard to avoid if we want to talk about competition for Vudu. Since they have both e and post serverice delivery...

[redwein]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

First, Netflix is a technology company. It was web tech only and now they are developing a box (if that makes you more comfortable).

And I don't think mbustin meant Netflix has a more secure technology than Vudu does. I think they offer about the same level of security, at least on paper. (how many encrypt bits?) Studios will consider who is more likely to leak the key? (there are more than one cases when company went bankrupt, their security key went out of control) And if the key does leak, who can they seek more damage back from?

Again, we must often think outside of the technology box.

What I meant was that Netflix does not make their money selling technology. They make their money renting movies. They, like just about every other company, use technology to accomplish their primary objective. I agree they do also build technology as well for the same purpose. So I don't think they have an edge up on the technology side of things.

I disagree with the point that studios are more likely to trust them. The current evidence is that they are trusted equally. They have the same size library as Vudu at this point. If they were more trusted, they should have a substantial lead over Vudu in library size. Any claims that they have won that battle are downright wrong and any claim that they will win it are speculative at best.

One final note on this topic. I don't understand the point of this comparison about what Vudu has and what Netflix will have. They have made no announcement about when or if they will ship anything and we can't know what it really is. It almost seems like this is an attempt to get people to stop buying what is here today based on the promise of something better tomorrow. Am I missing something?

[timchen]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

I'd agree, but timchen was the one who brought up Anthony Wood...

For opening statement. Then I lead it to Vudu....

Anyway, I think Anthony is a great starter but not a very detail oriented CEO. That's why we had another CEO after him at Replay. Then Replay got bought and went through many layoffs... I would blame Replay bugs on those layoffs in which we lost most of starting engineers.

And, don't predict what Netflix will do base on Anthony experience. This time he is only the surface person. I was surprised by the direction they are going this time; it's very "not Replay". Or maybe they don't replay same mistake twice?

[mbustin]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

MacWorld and Rolling Stone have articles on Vudu, so the word spreads ...

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

I think this is really not about anthony wood at all. I think Netflix is a tad bigger than one person.

I'd agree, but timchen was the one who brought up Anthony Wood...

[bqmeister]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

I think this is really not about anthony wood at all. I think Netflix is a tad bigger than one person.

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

I want to make some comments here...

First of all, the news that Netflix was going to come out with a Video on Demand box is really not news. It was announced months ago that Anthony Wood was leaving Roku to join Netflix specifically to make an internet appliance for downloading content. Those of us who've been in the beta test community discussed this long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Now, I will say that I have been somewhat of an Anthony Wood Fan. I own 6 Replay TV's (4 are active), 2 Roku Soundbridges and 2 Roku Photobridges. But Mr. Wood has some weaknesses. He seems to get bored with products after a while and either doesn't completely finishes them or lets them die an untimely death. Case in point in particular is the Roku Photobridge. Roku just suddenly stopped all development on the product after months and months of saying that things were "temporarily on hold." Then there's the ReplayTV that still has bugs in it (ie: double select bug when using web based remote control and the infamous DHCP bug). Now ReplayTV's problems were not entirely Mr. Wood's fault, but I think by the time they started having the major problems, he may have split the scene.

I was disappointed Anthony left Roku. He's still the majority owner and is still involved in some level of the company, but it's still somewhat disturbing that a great technologist leaves a company he started to go work for someone else.

I think under his direction Netflix will produce a very good product and competition is good for everyone. However, Anthony Wood is not infallible and has weaknesses like anyone else...

[timchen]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

So if Netflix comes up with a more secure technolgy, I agree they would have an edge. However, Netflix isn't really a technology company so I see no reason why they should get the benefit of the doubt at this point. Remeber, Netflix, this company that you suggest would be more trusted, isn't any more trusted than Vudu today with what studios are allowing them to electronically distribute. They both have 5,000 movies or so that they are allowed to distribute. If Netflix was going to be more trusted, I would honestly expect to see evidence of that today in their electronic distribution licensing.

First, Netflix is a technology company. It was web tech only and now they are developing a box (if that makes you more comfortable).

And I don't think mbustin meant Netflix has a more secure technology than Vudu does. I think they offer about the same level of security, at least on paper. (how many encrypt bits?) Studios will consider who is more likely to leak the key? (there are more than one cases when company went bankrupt, their security key went out of control) And if the key does leak, who can they seek more damage back from?

Again, we must often think outside of the technology box.

[redwein]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

I think Netflix's size, clout and proven history may give them an advantage when it comes to success. Not from a technological standpoint, but because of selection. Studios might give Netflix more leeway if they can demonstrate a secure technology, as opposed to trusting a small startup ....

I think studios only care about the security of the technology. I really don't think that they will care who comes up with it. They won't take any company's word for it. They will do their own determiniation using technology experts.

So if Netflix comes up with a more secure technolgy, I agree they would have an edge. However, Netflix isn't really a technology company so I see no reason why they should get the benefit of the doubt at this point. Remeber, Netflix, this company that you suggest would be more trusted, isn't any more trusted than Vudu today with what studios are allowing them to electronically distribute. They both have 5,000 movies or so that they are allowed to distribute. If Netflix was going to be more trusted, I would honestly expect to see evidence of that today in their electronic distribution licensing.

[mbustin]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

Plus, Netflix would face the same issues with audio as Vudu.

I think Netflix's size, clout and proven history may give them an advantage when it comes to success. Not from a technological standpoint, but because of selection. Studios might give Netflix more leeway if they can demonstrate a secure technology, as opposed to trusting a small startup .... and for some of us, selection and availabity are the most important considerations - providing the experience can come close to Vudu's ... just speculation at this point obviously. It will be interesting to see what Netflix comes up with, and how Vudu can respond ....

[redwein]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

Plus, Netflix would face the same issues with audio as Vudu.

[NA9D]

Re: I am back

Vudu vs DVD: par video quality, sub-par audio quality(feature).

Why must you insist that the sub-par audio is a feature? One geek on Yahoo claimed this and now this is the number one fault of the Vudu. Yes, not enough movies are in 5.1 but again, that is NOT the fault of the Vudu but the studios who don't release source content in 5.1...IT IS NOT A FEATURE!!!!

[redwein]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

You are correct. They are all in play. In fact, I said the same thing. There are several things we do not know, however. They are:

1. When would Netflix ship such a box? If they were to do it today, it would have a dramatically different impact than if they did so in a year.

2. How will the Netflix box feature set compare with Vudu's as far as consumers are concerned. You listed 4 things which were the "big" issues. 3 of them were quite small for me and the 4th (library size) was in no way an advantage for Netflix (See their website. They claim over 5,000 titles in their on-demand service, not the 85,000 available in their DVD delivery service).

2. How deep are Vudu's pockets themselves? They could possibly have ample funding and view Netflix entering the market as an encouraging sign that they are on the right track. If they have a sufficient head start and enough money, they could still come out on top.

Honestly, I don't know if getting bought will ever be Vudu's best option or not and I really don't think you do either. That's my biggest disagreement with you. You speak as though you know exactly how the chips in many unknowns will fall. You also show a lot of bias in that assessment. That's what I think is premature.

[timchen]

Re: VUDU on Yahoo

Thiese are all captial at play. For same box to build, 10,000 units probably will cost $200 each, 1M will likely drop to $120 ea. Same scheme applys to licence and rental deal. If Netflix does come out such a solution, the best way out for Vudu is to find someone with deep pocket yet doesn't have that technology to back (such as Blockbuster)