How many stored Movies

[Cjohn17]

Re: How many stored Movies

This is not the same situation you have in a computer where programs try to run as fast as possible. There would be no benefit to reading a movie 10 times faster than you can show it.

I disagree. If you are filling up and emptying large sectors of the hard drive, over time and heavy use it will become an issue. You also have start up software routines as well as system operating software that could be affected. That means navigating menus and icon displays will slow and start ups could be affected. Especially as the movie library grows, menu navigation speed will be an issue. System level operations, if corrupted by bad hard drive sectors, could cause the box to fail. So it's not just about playing the movie back.

Basic care of a hard drive is not to underestimated. I would like to know what VUDU does to minimize this issue. It actually should be a no brainer question and the VUDU programmers, if they are competent, most likely will have considered this issue and prepared a solution.

[NA9D]

Re: How many stored Movies

Basic care of a hard drive is not to underestimated. I would like to know what VUDU does to minimize this issue. It actually should be a no brainer question and the VUDU programmers, if they are competent, most likely will have considered this issue and prepared a solution.

I don't know if it's in Vudu's interest to reveal such information. Why not ask them for their encoding and encryption schemes as well.

Look, I've had the same 300 Gig Seagate hard drive in my Replay TV for about 2 and a half years or more now. I've filled it up, deleted it, filled it up, deleted it over and over and over again. I've never had a problem or an issue due to any sort of fragmentation issue.

Cjohn, as a beta tester, you have access to information the public does not have. I know you are trying to play devil's advocate for the public here, but perhaps you should ask about such things like this in the beta forums. You might get a more detailed answer there that would satisfy your curiosity and requirements. Then you could come here and post a "sanitized" version (within the parameters of the NDA you signed) for the public about what you have learned and how you feel confident in the product.

The reason why the moderators have so much confidence in Vudu and what they are doing is that we've had discussions with ALL levels of engineering at Vudu and have learned over the past 10 months about what a great and competent group of people they are. There's people at Vudu that have been with Tivo, Apple, SlimDevices, ReplayTV, etc. It's a great group and I think you and the public can be confident in the fact that they have developed a very quality product.

Their programmers know what they are doing. When the HD films come available in a few hours (for some a few minutes or they already are available in the East Coast now), I think you and everyone else will be amazed at the quality of the picture from a 4 Gig file size. As has been publicly stated, Vudu is using the industry standard H.264 file format but we don't exaclty know their encoding or compression scheme. It's just smart they used that format.

in terms of the UI slowing down as the library size grows - it doesn't. When we started testing last February we had about 100 movies. The UI is as fast now as it was back then.

Use your privileges as a beta tester to learn more in depth about the product where you can. There's a lot of people in the public who wanted to be beta testers but where turned down. You are fortunate and you should take advantage of it.

[redwein]

Re: What's Inside?

I've been with DirecTV and TiVo many years and their equipment has always been reliable.

The DirecTivo is not offerred by DirecTV any more. If you want an integrated DVR and tuner these days, I believe you need to get DirecTV's own DVR, which I have been told by those that use it, is a piece of junk. I have a real hard time understanding why you put so much faith in all that is not Vudu and none in Vudu itself. I mean it isn't like DirecTV, Tivo or Vudu make their own disk drives for goodness sake.

[Cjohn17]

Re: How many stored Movies

Apple internals for all their products are well known through their fan sites. As VUDU has none yet, that's why I asked. DirecTV has dissolved their relationship with TiVo for a variety reasons. I suspect because TiVo's business model was incompatible with DirecTV's and they were late on equipment upgrades. My confidence has always been with DirecTV and their long history of customer satisfaction which I can attest to.

TiVo has always been a profit loser and rarely turns in a decent quarter. They have flirted with financial disaster a number of times over the years. Hey, aren't the VUDU start-ups ex TiVo?

As I said, VUDU has not yet earned any consumer confidence. That comes only with a high level of customer satisfaction and long term equipment reliability. I think you would understand that customers will reserve their judgement on both after some time has passed.

[NA9D]

Re: How many stored Movies

Apple internals for all their products are well known through their fan sites.

And I posted a tear down site for you.

As I said, VUDU has not yet earned any consumer confidence. That comes only with a high level of customer satisfaction and long term equipment reliability. I think you would understand that customers will reserve their judgement on both after some time has passed.

Absolutely, I'd agree however, you have to give them some level of initial trust in their product or wait to see what happens. So far, Vudu has been very responsive to customer requests. Let's look at what's happened in the last 2 months:

- Increased the viewing time to 48 hours on some studios - Based on customer request (and I am sure they are trying to negotiate this for all of them).
- Added ability to control the box over the network - Based on customer request
- Added a "coming soon" section - Based on customer request
- Added rental and purchase dates to movies coming soon - Based on customer request
- Giving away two free HD movies and a $50 new activation credit

And trust me - there is much more to come.

[redwein]

Re: How many stored Movies

As I said, VUDU has not yet earned any consumer confidence. That comes only with a high level of customer satisfaction and long term equipment reliability. I think you would understand that customers will reserve their judgement on both after some time has passed.

I partially agree in that customers need to gain confidence that Vudu will remain a viable company and their boxes won't become paperweights. I just don't think it follows that they would have any reason to believe that their disk drive, or any of the other hardware components produced by hardware vendors, would fail in a Vudu box more than in any other device containing them. Plus, they give you a 1 year warranty on the hardware.

[redwein]

Re: How many stored Movies

My confidence has always been with DirecTV and their long history of customer satisfaction which I can attest to.

Like I said, those that I know that have a DirecTV DVR call it a piece of junk. Those that went from a DirecTivo to the DirecTV DVR complain even louder. That doesn't sound like good customer service and satisfaction to me. I actually switched from DirecTV to Comcast (after being a DirecTV customer for 10 years) so I could have an integrated Tivo/Tuner (Tivo series 3). Several of my friends have gone that route as well. So while you may think they are great, it certainly isn't true that everyone thinks that way.

Personally, I feel quite confident that Vudu will stand behind its hardware. Their challenge is to work things out with the studios so that we get the movies we want, the way we want them. I would bet you any amount of money that hardware and software issues will not be the big hurdle for them.

[Cjohn17]

Re: What's Inside?

The DirecTivo is not offerred by DirecTV any more. If you want an integrated DVR and tuner these days, I believe you need to get DirecTV's own DVR, which I have been told by those that use it, is a piece of junk. I have a real hard time understanding why you put so much faith in all that is not Vudu and none in Vudu itself. I mean it isn't like DirecTV, Tivo or Vudu make their own disk drives for goodness sake.

Recently I dumped the DirecTV HD Tivo for the new DirecTV HD Plus DVR with Intel chipsets for two reasons; one DirecTV is migrating to MPEG4 and TiVo wasn't offering a box capable of decoding MPEG4 and the coming 100 HD channels, and DirecTV upgraded my equipment for free. I've had two DirecTV HD Plus DVRs for about a month and both operate very well. The menus are quick to navigate through and very easy to use. The picture is outstanding (I have a Sony 55" LCD) and the sound is wonderful (Yamaha 6.1 system).

I've been with DirecTV since their very inception. The customer service is always outstanding and the quality of the product has been terrific. If you have cable, I feel bad for you.

In a sense VUDU does compete with DirecTV. Their pay-per-view offerings will include many more new release HD broadcasts. VUDU can't even offer some movies for rent that have been on Blockbuster shelves for years yet. DirecTV also offers not only pay-per-view HD & SD programming, they offer time shifting with their DVR boxes. So recorded movies and programs can be viewed anytime, not on a lame VUDU rental 24 hour clock. Also, DirecTV start up is much cheaper than the VUDU box and the installation is usually free. Really, VUDU is competing with DirecTV, DISH, Blockbuster, and cable.

All these media delivery services are well established and enjoy a high level of consumer support. I hope VUDU can someday say the same. As to faith in VUDU, why would anyone be foolish enough to trust a new product with no track record of success? It's WAY to early to call VUDU a success.

Finally, I reason I was attracted to VUDU by the well advertised "vast" rental content on demand. So far, I ain't seeing it - and I'm not the only one who's noticed the lack of quality rental content. The "coming soon" feature you so are so fond of is just a bitter reminder that content that is available at a local rental store won't be available on VUDU for another 3-4 weeks!

BTW. I was invited to post my comments here by the VUDU team (as a beta tester) and to provide honest criticism. I hope this robust debate is appreciated by the moderators and they understand that a frank discussion of VUDU's plus's and minus make for a better product. And no, I do not have any inside information that has been provided by VUDU to me. I have no more info than a regular Joe does.

In fact, I haven't even been compensated yet, as per the beta test agreement, for the movies that I'm required to rent. The movies I was told to rent by VUDU, 2-3 a week. VUDU owes me money for three months of rentals. I'm told that it's complicated process to reimburse the beta test group and we're told to be patient. Patience and VUDU seem to be a common theme.

You so shouldn't have opened that inside info issue with me.

[Cjohn17]

Re: Defragging the VUDU Box

Umm... actually, anyone with more than just basic computer knowledge understands that filesystem fragmentation is only an issue with poorly written filesystems. Here's a rudimentary explanation of why file fragmentation isn't an issue with most Linux filesystems:

http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/item...ment/index.php

While I don't know what the engineering team is using for a filesystem (or an OS), I would be willing to bet it's not a FAT variant and isn't subject to poor file handling. There are other things that can happen to a disk, but file fragmentation should be a non issue so you shouldn't have to worry about a performance hit due to file fragment seeking.

How can I say this without sounding disrespectful... I do suspect that the VUDU box is a Linux system or some other propriety software (I think the latter). As to defragging Linux, yes & no... it depends on which variant they are using. You should also know that their are many Linux defragging software programs for different variants. A simple Google search provides several links to Linux defragging software sites.

[redwein]

Re: How many stored Movies

Your views about customer satisfaction with DirecTV and their DVR are not universal and I truly believe they are not representative of the general consensus on the product. I am limiting my discussion to that point since my original response to your comments on this thread pertained to your questioning whether you could "trust" the Vudu hardware and software and used DirecTV as a comparison. I will emphatically state that you can not claim that the DirecTV DVR is a "more liked" piece of equipment, or that it is superior from either a software or hardware perspective. That is just making stuff up if you say it is.

[redwein]

Re: Defragging the VUDU Box

A simple Google search provides several links to Linux defragging software sites.

A simple search also shows that there is general disagreement among experts about the need to defrag and under which circumstances it may make a difference. With Linux, there is actually less disagreement with the consensus opinion that it really isn't necessary. I respect your right to disagree but I believe stating your view as though it is accepted fact on this matter is actually a bit misleading.

[Cjohn17]

Re: How many stored Movies

I guess that's why so many sites offered Linux defragging utilities if needed. But that's not my original question; what does VUDU do as far disc maintenance, if anything? If not, why not? We're also assuming VUDU is a Linux based software. The review linked by NA9D says nothing about the operating system.

Will VUDU offer a maintenance/replacement agreement should the disc fail past the warranty period? How long will it take to repair and reload a VUDU box? These are pretty simple questions, boys.

I'm not sure what redwein is claiming with regard to DirecTV HD Plus DVR equipment vs. VUDU. My experience with all of my DirecTV equipment over the many years has been exceptional. My friends who have like DirecTV equipment has been exceptional. DirecTV has earned the J.D. Power and Associates awards several times for outstanding customer service.

To date, what has VUDU earned? All any of you can point to is two free movies and a software update that tells customers that new releases available at Blockbuster today won't be ready to rent until mid-December. That's pretty damning and sad.

Hardware and software issues will not be the big hurdle for VUDU, according to redwein, but apparently getting new releases to rent is.

[Cjohn17]

Re: Defragging the VUDU Box

A simple search also shows that there is general disagreement among experts about the need to defrag and under which circumstances it may make a difference. With Linux, there is actually less disagreement with the consensus opinion that it really isn't necessary. I respect your right to disagree but I believe stating your view as though it is accepted fact on this matter is actually a bit misleading.

I did not state as a matter of fact. General disc maintenance is a fact of life for most users. But Linux is not my area of expertise. But there is also a school of thought, according to several sites that some Linux variants do need disc maintenance. Again, we are assuming VUDU is a Linux operating system. None of the moderators know.

I am a long time OS X user and we think of Linux users as UNIX's poor hillbillies. ; )

[redwein]

Re: How many stored Movies

I'm not sure what redwein is claiming with regard to DirecTV HD Plus DVR equipment vs. VUDU. My experience with all of my DirecTV equipment over the many years has been exceptional. My friends who have like DirecTV equipment has been exceptional. DirecTV has earned the J.D. Power and Associates awards several times for outstanding customer service.

Do you work for DirecTV? Here is a link that shows some pretty dissatisfied DirecTV customers:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cable_tv/directv.htm

Search for DVR. You will see that it is described as "inferior" for example. Now these are real customers too so clearly not everyone agrees with you. You can also easily Google to find out what people think about their DVR. Again, you seem to be taking your own experience with them and declaring their products and service superior as a result of it. I'm simply saying that while you are certainly entitled to your opinion, please recognize that it is an opinion and that others will disagree with you.

[redwein]

Re: Defragging the VUDU Box

I did not state as a matter of fact.

You kind of did. Your exact words were "Anyone with a moderate understanding computer knowledge understands this issue." That certainly sounds like a declaration of fact to me.