Movie download options

[Ghoulish Delight]

BluRay may have won the war of the HD hard media, but I'm still of the opinion that it won't be long before hard media is a thing of the past.

Last year we spent several months beta testing a set top box (called "Vudu") that delivers streaming movies to rent and purchase instantly. Two clicks of the spiffy scroll wheel on the RF remote and you are watching a movie with no waiting.

Since then, both Apple and Microsoft have entered the fray with the latest update to AppleTV and XBox360 respectively.

Here's a decent comparison of the 3 services.

http://gizmodo.com/363600/apple-tv-v...oad-battlemodo

They aren't kidding when they say that the Vudu user interface is great. By far the best thing about it. It should also be noted that while Vudu doesn't officially support it, I was able to use a wireless network game controller to connect to my WiFi network with no issue at all and no noticeable effect on content delivery.

It's still definitely too early for any of these to be DVD/BluRay killers. The cost is too high, the content is too limited, HD is JUST starting to be feasible (some of Vudu's HD comment streams instantly, some needs time to buffer), and people are still attached to physical media. But in testing the Vudu, I was REALLY impressed for being a first generation product.

I hope in the long run that it catches on. Perhaps someone will start offering a subscription-based service a-la netflix. But even if they remain pay-for-play, if the selection grows and hardware costs drop, I'd consider dumping netflix in favor of instant delivery. Between the Netlix streaming content and Amazon Unbox through the TiVo, it's getting pretty easy to not have to bother sending discs back and forth already.