With movie and retail giants like Netflix and Amazon entering the movie download fray, early on-demand content pioneer, VUDU is differentiating itself from the rest by becoming the first movies-on-demand provider to deliver full HD 1080p content to existing customers. Premiering this week with 50 titles including The Fast & the Furious-Tokyo Drift, Chronicles of Riddick-Unrated, Rambo and Kings of California, HDX titles will be available at no premium over current high definition rental pricing ($3.99 to $5.99 per rental).
To coincide with the frame rate most commonly used for both major and independent films (24 frames per second), HDX movies will be available in 1080p/24 format. By delivering movies this way, VUDU eliminates the need for the HD telecine interlacing process normally used to convert the 24 FPS movie to 1080i/60 for broadcast (and the subsequent de-interlacing process), while simultaneously reducing bandwidth and file size requirements by about 20%. This bandwidth savings allows VUDU to allocate more space for audio: a full 640 KBPS (kilobytes per second) for Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This equates to about 40% more audio information than what's available on a standard DVD. This should translate to a richer smoother sound to accompany the 1080p picture.
Download times are quoted by the company as being about twice the length of the movie itself (at a high speed 4 MBPS connection). Customers who don't want to wait around can choose the standard definition or the "Instant HD" version of the film which begins playback virtually immediately.
Although DISH Network beat everyone to the 1080p Video on Demand punchline with TurboHD in August, DISH requires a monthly service fee in order to access TurboHD content. VUDU does require the purchase of their set-top box but there is no monthly fee. Movies are available to rent in the HDX format from $3.99 to $5.99. Standard HD and SD titles are also available on VUDU for purchase for a one-time fee that varies per title.
In order to give HDTV owners a picture that holds up even when blown up to home theater-sized screens, VUDU's developed TruFilm™ technology at the core of HDX which optimizes the encoding, transmission, and display of HDX titles.
More information: www.VUDU.com
