Showdown: Apple TV vs. VUDU

[Shane]

Thank you for taking the time to post Carol, and welcome to the forum!

I believe I hit on all the points you mention, although I did not go into the detail you did. Stay tuned ... in the next few weeks I have a full review of VUDU coming out.

Enjoy,

- Shane

[jordanm]

Shane, I for one await your full review of Vudu with full enthusiasm just so I can show it to my wife. She loves our cable subscription with HD because of the DVRs, and I hate it because we have so few HD channels that when Cox adds 3 as it doing 3/16/08, it is a big deal to/for it.

I could not care less because it still only has about 20 HD channels, if that. Bring on Vudu, Dish, D*TV, anything else, please! I miss Voom with all of its HD channels (30+) and HBO, Starz, Sho, Max, and others as well. It was much easier than Dish or D*TV say they could do at my home, since they believe those 2-tuner/2TV boxes are the answer. While Voom boxes had no DVRs yet, at least you got one for each TV. I could see two or three Vudu boxes around the house.

Now if only AppleTV was 1080p and still saved off to or played from PC! That would be sweet, as I could then play YouTube video, and soon that material will be HD, as well.

[hartjeff12]

Shane,

Excellent job on comparing Vudu and AppleTV. A lot of people are interested in viewing Internet content on their televisions so maybe you could compare AppleTV and the video game consoles including the Xbox 360 in this area. Does Vudu allow you to do this also?

[hharris4earthlink]

In case you missed it, I thought David Pogue's comments were apropos to this discussion. See link below.

Henry

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=1 ... 4642831374

[Shane]

Shane,

Excellent job on comparing Vudu and AppleTV. A lot of people are interested in viewing Internet content on their televisions so maybe you could compare AppleTV and the video game consoles including the Xbox 360 in this area. Does Vudu allow you to do this also?

Thanks Jeff,

I actually have another article in the wings here that should be published this week that will not only include information on Apple TV and VUDU, but other internet players as well: Microsoft Xbox Live, Netflix, Amazon Unbox, Dish ON DEMAND, etc.

It should be exactly what you're looking for.

Cheers,

- Shane

[mjm7496]

If the purpose of of this article is, "comparing these two services for the purposes of movie viewing alone.", then you left out a major component. What about movies you already own? Can they stream TV's and movies to the Vudu from your computer? I have 3 Apple TV's spread around my house and have the ability to watch any of my 300+ movie collection as well as hundreds of TV shows that I currently own. I guess if you simply are comparing movie RENTAL services then this doesn't come into play, however for watching movies that you rent or already own then the Apple TV would win hands down. As far as 1080p content... How many people have 1080p TV's or sit within the 3-4 feet that you would need to in order to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p? When it comes to storage space then with an Apple TV, which can connect wired or wireless unlike the Vudu, is virtually unlimited in storage capacity just as the Vudu is. You can add USB external HDD's to the Vudu I think) This is important because you can buy the cheap $229 Apple TV 50GB and stream all your media and use external drives with iTunes. Also an added benefit for the Apple TV is that you can rent a movie on your Apple TV and then transfer it to iTunes to watch on your iPod if something comes up. Also if you rent movies with the intent to watch them on your iPod you can sync those to your Apple TV. As far as buying movies you can do that in iTunes now in SD, but I know you'll be able to buy them in HD on the Apple TV before long. How do I know this? Well they actually screwed up the other day and had some HD movies listed for purchase on the Apple TV.

I realize that the Vudu may have better video quality, but from other reviews I've read the difference is not noticeable at normal viewing distance. Sure you can probably sit 2' from the TV and pick out some minor differences, but I don't think this makes up the difference between the units. I also don't like that HD movies cost more on the Vudu player. I think eventually the libraries will even out, but it does look Vudu has the edge there for now, but I know that Apple TV has added a ton of movies recently. I'm sure Vudu has as well, but I don't have exact counts. I think the scariest thing about the Vudu is that when/if it goes out of service your movies will no longer be downloadable if you don't have a backup locally. How easy is it to backup your movies on the Vudu? I know on the Apple TV they will sync to you iTunes and is easily backed up. (Especially if you use Time Machine!) I would surprised to see Vudu last if it doesn't partner up with someone like Netflix, Blockbuster, or Amazon. This particular industry is so hard and expensive for a startup company to get into. Making in this investment in Vudu right now is riskier then HD-DVD was IMO and look at the horsepower behind that one.

I think if you add up everything included with the Apple TV then this comparison isn't even close. Things like:

YouTube
Podcasts
Music purchases and music from your own library
Photo slideshows
Viewing other people's video and photos from Flickr and .mac
Playing iTunes music from any stereo in your house connected via Airtunes or an Apple TV

All this being said if you have a Vudu and you like it then no one should try to make you feel bad about it and the same goes for any other device. People get so defensive about their gadgets these days! Hehe. I just thought there were some other benefits of the Apple TV that should be pointed out. After all if it's just about rental services then Netflix wins hands down.

[akirby]

I think you're making a bad assumption about viewing distances and screen sizes. I'm sure those with 65-73" RPTVs or 86-100" Front projectors can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at "normal" viewing distances. Not everyone owns 42" flat panels.

[mjm7496]

You are absolutely correct. If you have something like a 65" TV or larger you could benefit from 1080p. I wonder if there are enough people in that market to carry a product like this? Who knows... It will probably work because there are legions of people that think their 37" Vizio, they watch from 15' away, HAS to be a 1080p model.

[Shane]

Thank you for the detailed reply ... I have commented below:

If the purpose of of this article is, "comparing these two services for the purposes of movie viewing alone.", then you left out a major component. What about movies you already own? Can they stream TV's and movies to the Vudu from your computer? I have 3 Apple TV's spread around my house and have the ability to watch any of my 300+ movie collection as well as hundreds of TV shows that I currently own. I guess if you simply are comparing movie RENTAL services then this doesn't come into play, however for watching movies that you rent or already own then the Apple TV would win hands down.

That is correct, this was a comparison of rental/purchase and not for playing back recorded material.

As far as 1080p content... How many people have 1080p TV's or sit within the 3-4 feet that you would need to in order to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p?

"Number of people" is not the point. The point is that the higher quality is available with Vudu, for those who seek it.

When it comes to storage space then with an Apple TV, which can connect wired or wireless unlike the Vudu, is virtually unlimited in storage capacity just as the Vudu is. You can add USB external HDD's to the Vudu I think) This is important because you can buy the cheap $229 Apple TV 50GB and stream all your media and use external drives with iTunes.

I agree, it would have been useful to point out that Apple TV does support wireless while the Vudu does not.

Also an added benefit for the Apple TV is that you can rent a movie on your Apple TV and then transfer it to iTunes to watch on your iPod if something comes up. Also if you rent movies with the intent to watch them on your iPod you can sync those to your Apple TV.

True, but the focus of the article was for watching high quality content on large-screen sets ... not portability.

As far as buying movies you can do that in iTunes now in SD, but I know you'll be able to buy them in HD on the Apple TV before long. How do I know this? Well they actually screwed up the other day and had some HD movies listed for purchase on the Apple TV.

Not sure what you mean here. Apple announced at the beginning of the year that HD was available, and in 720p ... and their library has about 100 HD movies currently. Note that these are only available via Apple TV, not iTunes.

I realize that the Vudu may have better video quality, but from other reviews I've read the difference is not noticeable at normal viewing distance. Sure you can probably sit 2' from the TV and pick out some minor differences, but I don't think this makes up the difference between the units. I also don't like that HD movies cost more on the Vudu player. I think eventually the libraries will even out, but it does look Vudu has the edge there for now, but I know that Apple TV has added a ton of movies recently. I'm sure Vudu has as well, but I don't have exact counts.

This is highly subjective, and has to be left to the viewer to judge whether or not there is a perceived difference in their environment. In mine, there was a noticeable difference. Was the difference worth the $70 price difference? To me, it was.

As far as title counts, Apple TV has about 1000 titles and Vudu has over 6,000 titles. Both services have about 100 titles available in HD.

I think the scariest thing about the Vudu is that when/if it goes out of service your movies will no longer be downloadable if you don't have a backup locally. How easy is it to backup your movies on the Vudu? I know on the Apple TV they will sync to you iTunes and is easily backed up. (Especially if you use Time Machine!) I would surprised to see Vudu last if it doesn't partner up with someone like Netflix, Blockbuster, or Amazon. This particular industry is so hard and expensive for a startup company to get into. Making in this investment in Vudu right now is riskier then HD-DVD was IMO and look at the horsepower behind that one.

When you purchase a movie on Vudu, it is downloaded to your unit for viewing. I have verified with them that even in the worst case scenario of them going out of business, your Vudu unit will continue to work and your movie will continue to be viewable.

I think if you add up everything included with the Apple TV then this comparison isn't even close. Things like:

YouTube
Podcasts
Music purchases and music from your own library
Photo slideshows
Viewing other people's video and photos from Flickr and .mac
Playing iTunes music from any stereo in your house connected via Airtunes or an Apple TV

As clearly stated at the beginning of the article ... I intentionally left those comparisons out. If that is important to you, this comparison is not of much use.

All this being said if you have a Vudu and you like it then no one should try to make you feel bad about it and the same goes for any other device. People get so defensive about their gadgets these days! Hehe. I just thought there were some other benefits of the Apple TV that should be pointed out. After all if it's just about rental services then Netflix wins hands down.

Very well said. I too like Netflix, and am a subscriber, but I must say that I LOVE being able to sit down in front of the TV and pick something to watch without managing a queue or taking a trip to my local rental store. Convenience is king.

Please keep in mind that the result of the showdown was not a "hands down" winner ... as you can tell they are both very close in feature, function and cost. Going either way won't be a bad decision.

I have both still hooked up to my TV, and when I sit down to watch a move, I'm always turning on the Vudu ... not the Apple TV. But reviews, by nature, are opinion ... your mileage may vary.

Thanks again for taking the time to point out these additional aspects.

- Shane

[mjm7496]

Thanks for responding Shane! I see that the Apple TV now has 200 movies in HD. I'm guessing Vudo has expanded to the same number, but on their webpage I only see 72. How have they been about adding HD content daily/weekly? The Apple TV seems a bit slow from DVD release to publishing it on iTunes, but they do seem to add something new just about every day. Some have been under 30 days even though that was what the stated delay was supposed to be. I wonder how Vudu has gotten around this or are you seeing close to a 30 day lag on most releases now too?

For all those people out there that want to point out that I'm probably just some Apple fanboy I wanted to add that the reason I know a LITTLE bit about the Vudu is that I was doing a little research about it because I was just thinking about buying one. While I do love the Apple TV I am always looking for something else to play around with. I was thinking about moving the Apple TV to another room and buying another device to replace it with some added functionality/quality for my 50" Kuro. I have tried an XBOX360 and found it to be lacking in every area except their movie rentals. I also did some research on the PS3 and being it lacks a movie rental service and has a dreadful interface for this type of use it doesn't fit the need.

I really wish that Vudu would add the ability to stream my own media! I could live without some of the niceties that the Apple TV has, but I need the ability to play my own stuff as well as rent movies. Do you think that this is something that Vudu could/would consider offering in the future to stay competitive with the current and future set top boxes?