"Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

[JamesS]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Thank God for the competition on the internet, or Walmart would be ruling us.

Just wait until they announce the merger with Amazon!

[bobpaule]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

My Rowenta German iron's power cord broke so i went looking around. In the end i ended buying an $9 iron from Walmart because i could cut off the cord and use it on the Rowenta as opposed to paying $18 for the cord at a family owned electrical supply business.

Thank God for the competition on the internet, or Walmart would be ruling us.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

That's absurd. You could argue that it's only correct to watch it in a movie theater, or perhaps there is only 1 "correct" seat in the theater as the people in the back get a different experience than the people in the middle.

I really don't think that's a fair analogy.

The reality is this is entertainment and it's sole purpose is to entertain viewers in whatever way the prefer. It isn't about correctness.

Fine. Do what ever makes you happy.

[MaxH]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I think you are right there. There is plenty of that stuff available via standalone (PC) means that I doubt many providers will go in that direction. In fact, many of the studios (like Disney) do not like the idea of their content being listed on devices beside the other.

It's their company, but the After Dark section actually had been carefully sandboxed already. As I've said elsewhere, the way it was set up before you could have the adult section completely gone from your box by changing one setting on your online account, I believe they shipped them that way by default. I had it set up so that you had to enter the Parental Control to even access that channel at all. You could also have had the adult content freely accessible and mixed in with the rest of the content, but it would have been trivial to take just that option away, and that would have left consumers with a choice as to whether to access that content or not.

[redwein]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

I think you are right there. There is plenty of that stuff available via standalone (PC) means that I doubt many providers will go in that direction. In fact, many of the studios (like Disney) do not like the idea of their content being listed on devices beside the other.

Again, Comcast and DirecTV are VOD providers (very, very large ones) and they do also have adult content. Also, like I said, I think old musicals shouldn't be available. You can get that stuff plenty of other places too.

[larrs]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

In my opinion Wal*Mart is an insidious retailer.

It's not like there aren't other national retailers available for consumers to choose from that treat their employees better and are more responsible to the communities they serve but are still price competitive with Wal*Mart.

One such retailer that comes to mind is Target. Even if you were to discard how Wal*Mart operates they don't provide nearly as pleasant of a shopping experience as Target does.

I think WM is a great retailer (but I will give kudos to Target as well, but they do not have the selection of WM). I worked for them back in college and made a bunch of money on the few shares of stock I bought in the purchase plan- they paid me decently and benefits were good.

WM does alot of good things as far as retailers go. I can't imagine what DVDs or Blu Rays would cost if WM hadn't pushed the price envelope. They could do the same for download content...

[larrs]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Nothing wrong with After Dark going away. Many other companies don't have that kind of content either. I wouldn't expect many companies to keep selling content like that in the same situation. With a larger entity it can probably be more of a PITA.

I think you are right there. There is plenty of that stuff available via standalone (PC) means that I doubt many providers will go in that direction. In fact, many of the studios (like Disney) do not like the idea of their content being listed on devices beside the other.

That being said, I could see WM going so far as to require a PG13 version of R movies being made available (OK, maybe not requiring, but "encouraging"). I am torn on that. I guess it would be OK as long as the regular R version is also available....

[redwein]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

They don't have that content in my area on comcast. They have some adult oriented stuff, but nothing even close to the harder core stuff I saw available from the After Dark section.

Well if the adult area is sufficeintly isolated from the non-adult area, then the extent of hard coredness really isn't an issue. Even if it were identicaly to what's on Comcast/DirecTV (and I've seen some plenty hardcore enough stuff there as well as in hotels), it wouldn't be suitable for families and would require the parents control over what they let their children watch.

My point was that simply having adult content available doesn't seem to tarnish the reputation of the many reputable companies that both do provide adult content and count families among their customer base. Once adult content is available it just needs to be controllable so that only those that want it get it. Anybody who gets upset about an offering that they can completely block from their own viewing simply because others might want to see it has overstepped their bounds, in my opinion.

If it were up to me, there would be no old musicals allowed as I don't want my kids exposed to that kind of behavior, lol.

[aaronwt]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

You mean like Comcast and DirectTV having PPV adult content? Last time I checked they were very, very large companies. They have it right alongside family oriented content. They seem to be able to trust their customers to "handle it" and don't seem to suffer any harm from providing it.

Then there is the fact that just about every major hotel chain seems to offer adult content PPV and I know they include families in their customer base. I just don't buy the large entity argument. It's just Walmart acting as the morality police which does bother me. They are free to sell what they want of course just as I am able to patronize whomever I wish if I don't agree with them.

They don't have that content in my area on comcast. They have some adult oriented stuff, but nothing even close to the harder core stuff I saw available from the After Dark section.

[redwein]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Nothing wrong with After Dark going away. Many other companies don't have that kind of content either. I wouldn't expect many companies to keep selling content like that in the same situation. With a larger entity it can probably be more of a PITA.

You mean like Comcast and DirectTV having PPV adult content? Last time I checked they were very, very large companies. They have it right alongside family oriented content. They seem to be able to trust their customers to "handle it" and don't seem to suffer any harm from providing it.

Then there is the fact that just about every major hotel chain seems to offer adult content PPV and I know they include families in their customer base. I just don't buy the large entity argument. It's just Walmart acting as the morality police which does bother me. They are free to sell what they want of course just as I am able to patronize whomever I wish if I don't agree with them.

[aaronwt]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Wow. Another company swallowed up...After dark going away, the censorship is setting in. It's only time before I'll be looking for an alternative option to replace Vudu. It's a damn shame. Sellouts...

Nothing wrong with After Dark going away. Many other companies don't have that kind of content either. I wouldn't expect many companies to keep selling content like that in the same situation. With a larger entity it can probably be more of a PITA.

[gatchel]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

Wow. Another company swallowed up...After dark going away, the censorship is setting in. It's only time before I'll be looking for an alternative option to replace Vudu. It's a damn shame. Sellouts...

[aaronwt]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

"I might change my decision on a standalone BD player if VUDU starts offering HDX titles with higher quality audio playback, which I read a rumor about somewhere."

aaronwt-I don't understand what you're saying. You can get HDX titles with 5.1 surround sound through your LG BD390. Why on earth would you sell your LG BD390 that has a great interface with vudu? If vudu were to go out of business you're stand alone boxes would be worthless while the BD390 has the capacity to someday add perhaps a worthy replacement.

vudu will continue to support their stand alone boxes as long as folks have them but they will spend most of their energy into their streaming service they provide for media devices that interface with them.

5.1 surround? I had that back in 1997.

I'm talking about high quality audio. Dolby True HD/DTS MA. Right now VUDU is using DD+ which is cetainly better than DVD but

I'm also going away from Discs. I'm using my media players to view BD ISOs. I'll be selling my BD390 because it makes more sense for me to keep my PS3 Slim as a Tertiary VOD source.(With VUDU as teh Primary and the Xbox 360 as a secondary VOD source)
DD+ is nice but there is not much differcne between the 640kbs DD+ from HDX and the DD that it is transcoded to in the VUDU box.

I still might just sell the LG BD390 and get the BD570 instead. Maybe. Once I have everything sold, I'll decide then.

[vudu4me]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

"I might change my decision on a standalone BD player if VUDU starts offering HDX titles with higher quality audio playback, which I read a rumor about somewhere."

aaronwt-I don't understand what you're saying. You can get HDX titles with 5.1 surround sound through your LG BD390. Why on earth would you sell your LG BD390 that has a great interface with vudu? If vudu were to go out of business you're stand alone boxes would be worthless while the BD390 has the capacity to someday add perhaps a worthy replacement.

vudu will continue to support their stand alone boxes as long as folks have them but they will spend most of their energy into their streaming service they provide for media devices that interface with them.

[vudu4me]

Re: "Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service"

In my opinion Wal*Mart is an insidious retailer.

It's not like there aren't other national retailers available for consumers to choose from that treat their employees better and are more responsible to the communities they serve but are still price competitive with Wal*Mart.

One such retailer that comes to mind is Target. Even if you were to discard how Wal*Mart operates they don't provide nearly as pleasant of a shopping experience as Target does.