RSSVudu takes a shot at the home theater crowd
By Tim Conneally | Published November 18, 2008, 11:36 AM
On-demand video service Vudu has released its second generation player, and this time it's not targeting the average set-top box consumer, it's targeting the high-end media consumer with its rackmount XL2 HD streamer.
Vudu debuted last year with a $399 set top box that allows its users to stream movies on demand for between 99ยข and $2.99 each, or to download them to the unit's hard drive for between $4.99 and $14.99. In competition mostly with AppleTV in the subscriptionless, on-demand streaming market, Vudu differentiated itself by focusing on HD content, and by being the only mainstream connected set-top-box to offer adult content.
Recently, the company expanded its HD catalog to 1,100 titles, claiming the "world's largest streaming HD library." Now firmly marketing itself as a high definition, high-end service, Vudu has unveiled its associated $1,299 player, the XL2.
The aluminum rack-mountable unit is designed for integration into home theater setups, has a 1 TB on-board HDD, offers IP and IR remote control input, can route and switch incoming HD signals and output them in 1080i high-definition, and output its own HDX and TruFilm streams in 24 fps 1080p with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.
I might be wrong but don't see this taking off. If you require special hardware for your proprietary content you need to heavily subsidize the purchase prize. 1300 bucks doesn't sound compelling for something that might go out of business the next month. Why can't they just release a software or add-on card (USB2 or whatever) based solution?
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