| Author | Thread |
|
|
02/10/2009 11:04:29 PM · #1 |
For Xmas I got an HD plasma TV but I've got no HD signal...to get it would be bloody expensive. I pay $15 for cable and to get HD cable would run $75+. I mostly watch stuff on Tivo, and it's not an HD tivo box, so I'd need a new one of them too. I don't have a bluray drive or any movies, so regular DVD is about it.
But I saw an ad for Vudu //www.vudu.com/ and it looks very interesting. $149 isn't terrible and we rent movies from blockbuster so there'd be no real new cost there (other than the convenience of it would probably have us renting more movies.).
I was wondering if anyone has vudu or knows anything about it first hand.
|
|
|
|
02/10/2009 11:13:22 PM · #2 |
| Does your area have access to over-the-air HD? You could get that for the cost of an antenna. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 08:33:09 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Does your area have access to over-the-air HD? You could get that for the cost of an antenna. |
Probably, but it's only the 3 or 4 local channels, the networks. I've considered it, but I'm about 70 miles from th town where they are, the terrain here is very hills, and almost everyone here's had cable for 30 years cause reception sucks, always has and I assume will with the HD signal as well.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 08:50:17 AM · #4 |
| I don't know too much about Tivo because I have the HD DVR for only 5 extra dollars a month. But if you just want clearness for regular TV/DVD instead of HD just buy an optical cable and it will be really clear on the new TV's. |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 10:12:56 AM · #5 |
aren't optical cables for audio only ? that's how our set up is.
optical audio and HDMI for video. but the cable box likely has at least componant video outputs - and the new TV definatley does have componant inputs . if the box has the output but you don't have the cable to connect to it - you might be able to swap the box out at the local cable company location, and last i did that they gave me a set of cables with the box - componant video being on of them ( Blue, Red, Green plugs ).
Originally posted by Chinabun:
But if you just want clearness for regular TV/DVD instead of HD just buy an optical cable and it will be really clear on the new TV's. |
Message edited by author 2009-02-11 10:13:26.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 10:21:29 AM · #6 |
| i dont know if there is any correlation, but as for the blockbuster part, i get my movies on netflix, and stream them online through my xbox, basically its unlimited movies a month for about 10$, and the quality is superb (unless the movie is old of course) |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:12:06 AM · #7 |
Chris, your post created some interest in me. Vudu’s idea sounded fantastic. But me being who I am started looking for real critiques by real people. The biggest complaint was lack of good movies as in most titles are B movies, and major studio selections, MGM, ect. follow DVD by 3-4 weeks. Another note the download of movies take upwards of 4 hours. For me I will still stick with Redbox.
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:16:58 AM · #8 |
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:26:18 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
 |
Another man done gone.....
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 11:48:47 AM · #10 |
I dont know. I know what an HDMI is but that cable looks completely different then the one I'm talking about. We use ours for the video and gaming. It makes the image crystal clear. I thought it was called an opital cable, guess not!
Originally posted by soup:
aren't optical cables for audio only ? that's how our set up is.
Originally posted by Chinabun:
But if you just want clearness for regular TV/DVD instead of HD just buy an optical cable and it will be really clear on the new TV's. |
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2009 01:04:21 PM · #11 |
this is an optical audio cable.
this is a coaxial audio cable. there is the coax audio cable pictured here, and the old school coax video cable ( not pictured - the screw in type that will not give you the best picture. )
this an HDMI video/audio cable
this is a componant video cable
this is a DVI cable - only for HD video - older than HDMI
as far as i know - the best video is through an HDMI cable. the best audio is through an optical audio cable.
the second best set up would be.
a coaxial audio cable, and a componant video cable. or a combination of optical and componant, or coaxial and HDMI. depending on what kind of input/outputs you have available.
HDMI is capable of carrying both digital and audio. but you run into a snag if you want to run your system through an A/V receiver. unless you want to spend a ton of money on the receiver ( one that isn't just a pass through of signals ) - you'll end up connecting the video ( HDMI ) to the TV itself, and the audio ( optical ) to the receiver. or using the HDMI connection solely for video ( into the reciever as a pass through and back out with a 2nd HDMI cable to the TV ), and having a seperate optical ( or coax ) cable into the recivers audio in ( no audio is fed to the TV ).
i know this seems a bit off topic - but making the most of what you have is a good thing. if you understand what all the pieces are - you'll be able to make better use ( potentially ) of the equipment you already have.
Originally posted by Chinabun:
I dont know. I know what an HDMI is but that cable looks completely different then the one I'm talking about. We use ours for the video and gaming. It makes the image crystal clear. I thought it was called an opital cable, guess not!
|
|
|
|
|
02/12/2009 08:43:44 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by alans_world:
Chris, your post created some interest in me. Vudu’s idea sounded fantastic. But me being who I am started looking for real critiques by real people. The biggest complaint was lack of good movies as in most titles are B movies, and major studio selections, MGM, ect. follow DVD by 3-4 weeks. Another note the download of movies take upwards of 4 hours. For me I will still stick with Redbox. |
The DL part was what I figured - as long as you plan a day ahead it's not an issue. Now their site says it's instant..buffering maybe? Internet speed maybe is a factor? Speedwise I blow away their specs.
They say they get teh movies the same day they're released. A few days is no biggie, but a month might bother me on some titles. You can't search their site without signing up/getting a login which I didn't do, but might see if I can just to snoop a bit.
As to some of the other suggestions: I got no cable box. Cable comes in to a splitter, one line to the Tivo box and one to the TV (so the tivo can record one show while I watch another). There are component cables from Tivo to the TV, but it's really a moot point as I'm not recording at max quality on the Tivo box anyway. My home theatre DVD player also runs component, but DVDs are not HD (although I think they look better than cable).
I get the 'basic' cable package for $15 a month and because I got high speed internet all the other channels get in, for free. HD cable runs $75 a month- so to get it would cost me $750 a year, and if I record programs to Tivo (which is not HD) then I'm not getting to see the programs in HD unless I watch them live - so football and my kids watching cartoons and maybe the news would be all I'd see in HD. The box rund $250-300 and only holds 20 hours of HD programming which if you have Tivo now you know isn't much at all.
The comcast website is useless on what i'd get for how much. They're listing a 'special deal' on the internet I get now and it's $10 more than I'm paying. THey list 3 or 4 packages but don't show what's included. Have a package with and without HD at teh same name and price... They offer an HD DVD so their site says, but again, no info, no price, no nuthin.
|
|
|
|
02/12/2009 09:36:03 AM · #13 |
I did a quick test. Miracle at St. Anna (Touchstone Pictures) is currently available at Redbox (DVD). At VUDU it is not currently available nor does it show in it's "Coming Soon" section. Seems some of the complaints are founded.
|
|
|
|
02/12/2009 09:59:33 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
The comcast website is useless on what i'd get for how much. They're listing a 'special deal' on the internet I get now and it's $10 more than I'm paying. THey list 3 or 4 packages but don't show what's included. Have a package with and without HD at teh same name and price... They offer an HD DVD so their site says, but again, no info, no price, no nuthin. |
I already had HD on Comcast, signed up for Comcast TiVO for an extra $5.95 a month. I don't recall what I'm paying for the HD "upgrade" offhand. But now I got the Comcast version of the TiVO service and when it's working it's terrific. I had Comcast DVR before, but when I went HD that turned out not tohave anywhere NEAR enough storage space; the TiVO service offers a lot more. It has been buggy though, and apparently it's a software issue that is system-wide.
R.
|
|
|
|
10/11/2011 01:13:06 AM · #15 |
I dug up this old thread, I just discovered a blue Ray DVD player we bought awhile back comes with vudu.
What I have gathered so far is that you rent or buy a tv episode or movie and then you can watch it from your computer or your TV.
They give you $5.99 in your account so I thought I would try it out with the first episode of "Breaking Bad" in season 4. My husband and I have already watch the last 3 seasons on netflix and so far this is the only place I have seen that has season 4.
Anyway, I can watch it from my computer with no problem. But I really would rather watch it from my TV, but every time I try it stops about every 5 seconds to buffer. I don't know why it would do this, I have comcast internet and the speed is more than enough.
I'm hoping someone else out there might use vudu and have some answers for me. I know I can just connect it from my laptop to the TV with my HDMI cable but it's kind of a pain plus you can't use the remote to pause it and rewind, also a pain. So streaming through my Blue Ray seems like the best option, I just wish I could get it to work.
HELP PLEASE :)
|
|
|
|
10/11/2011 07:48:30 AM · #16 |
jen,
streaming in the US just isnt there yet, mainly becuase of the paltry internet speeds, it may be fast for browsing and downloading but high bit rate video takes a huge amount of bandwidth and we just dont have it.
if you are looking at the best possible picture, your options are renting blurays, getting a hd feed from a providor or antenna or downloading tv shows from a torrent.
netflix has the best picture i have seen so far, mainly becuase they dont stop to buffer, they just dial down the bitrate to keep the stream going.
edit, rereading your post, is the bluray player hardwired or wifi? unless you have wireless n, which still may not be good enough, hardwired is the way to go with streaming. also the bluray has less memory than the laptop, so if it can't build up enough of a buffer its going to stutter. like i said earlier we dont have the speeds for realtime streaming. a bluray movie runs about 20GB, where as standard dvd is about 4-5GB. so you can imagine what kind of connection and memory buffer you would need to download and stream a high bitrate HD movie.
Message edited by author 2011-10-11 07:57:58. |
|
|
|
10/11/2011 09:35:19 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by mike_311:
jen,
if you are looking at the best possible picture, your options are renting blurays, getting a hd feed from a providor or antenna or downloading tv shows from a torrent.
|
Thanks I will have to check out torrent.
Actually I don't really care that much about picture quality, I even bought the lowest quality picture there was available because it uses a less speedy Internet connection. I tested my Internet and it runs at about 10 Mbps the minimum for the highest quality picture is 4 Mbps and the tv episode I rented the lowest quality picture and it only requires 1 Mbps.
My netflix is streamed through my Wii and runs seamlessly so I am thinking it has something to do with the device it is being streamed through. |
|
|
|
10/11/2011 12:02:55 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by sjhuls:
Originally posted by mike_311:
jen,
if you are looking at the best possible picture, your options are renting blurays, getting a hd feed from a providor or antenna or downloading tv shows from a torrent.
|
Thanks I will have to check out torrent.
Actually I don't really care that much about picture quality, I even bought the lowest quality picture there was available because it uses a less speedy Internet connection. I tested my Internet and it runs at about 10 Mbps the minimum for the highest quality picture is 4 Mbps and the tv episode I rented the lowest quality picture and it only requires 1 Mbps.
My netflix is streamed through my Wii and runs seamlessly so I am thinking it has something to do with the device it is being streamed through. |
netflix buffers to a point but it doesn't maintain a constant bit rate, if the bandwidth chokes, netflix dials down the quality to maintain a constant feed, it works really well. i noticed that cbs online used to do the same thing as opposed to other streams that try to keep the highest quality and will stutter if the buffer runs out. also the wii isn't an HD device so the bitrate of the SD feed is far lower than the feeds of other sources, so its no surprise you are getting smooth video.
just be careful with torrent, its not legal and the content owners watch who's downloading what. my advice is to either pay for cable or to rent blurays. the only time i download anything is if something happens and my dvr in my pc doesn't record a network show from the antenna, those are generally safe since the original feed is freely available to anyone anyway, i dont download shows from hbo or showtime nor do i download movies, those get watched and i have gotten warnings from my isp for the tv shows and people have been getting sued for movie downloads, plus i have learned that i shouldn't steal :)
|
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Prints! -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/25/2024 09:37:54 AM EDT.
