VUDU, Inc., a leading provider of digital technologies and services that deliver entertainment over the Internet to consumers' HDTVs and Home Theaters, today said it has lowered the price of its on-demand Internet movie player to just $149. Available at Best Buy, audio video retailers, and online, VUDU HD is the only solution on the market to deliver weekly new releases from all the major studios, the largest HD library, the highest quality HD picture quality with HDX, local movie storage and the ability to access popular Internet content directly on the TV.

In addition to the VUDU HD, the company said it is reducing the price of VUDU XL, VUDU's home theater product sold through professional custom installers, to...

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Sounds like a great system. However, I have two reservations:

I would like to control/save-off any movies purchased on my own external drive vice an internet location. Hopefully the USB port will be used to facilitate that.

Second, I have a relatively slow internet connection (Verizon Rev A Air card), my typical connection speed at home (rural area) is typically 400 to 800 kbps. I would like the ability to download a movie completely then play it at my leisure. It was not clear that this scenario could be accommodated.

If anyone out there does the same thing, please respond.

craig1 wrote:Sounds like a great system. However, I have two reservations:

I would like to control/save-off any movies purchased on my own external drive vice an internet location. Hopefully the USB port will be used to facilitate that.

The movies are actually saved locally on the Vudu box, not on the internet anywhere. And there is talk of allowing storage expansion via USB drive ... but you would only be able to play back the movies through the Vudu hardware ... you wouldn't be able to transfer them or play them back in any other way (PC, etc.)

craig1 wrote:Second, I have a relatively slow internet connection (Verizon Rev A Air card), my typical connection speed at home (rural area) is typically 400 to 800 kbps. I would like the ability to download a movie completely then play it at my leisure. It was not clear that this scenario could be accommodated.

If anyone out there does the same thing, please respond.

The movies you rent/buy through Vudu are downloaded, not streamed. You connection speed would simply affect how soon after purchase you could begin watching. At those speeds, I would imagine you could watch SD content immediately, but would have to wait an hour or two before you could begin watching HD content.

Hope that helps,

- Shane

Thanks for the info Shane