This Service is Terrible!!!

[PJU1971]

I have been a VUDU customer for about 3 years now?In fact, I have one of the original Vudu 250GB desktop devices. I got extremely frustrated with the performance and moved away from using the device. I was always having issues with the box shutting down and freezing up. In addition, during streaming, I had many Friday and Saturday nights where I couldn't complete watching my video rental due to streaming issues. To solve these problems, I invested in the Roku 2 XS. It thought it would work out well because I have about 20 movies that I purchased over the past few years and I liked the idea of having them stored in the Vudu "cloud". Unfortunately, they never stream well and the application shuts down and/or spends a lot of time buffering. Many times the solution is to do a hard re-boot with Roku but, that seems to not be working. I have now moved over to Amazon and Amazon Prime with absolutely no streaming issues?In fact, I often move over to Amazon right after the buffering message starts with Vudu?Can you help or is there anything I can do?

both of my devices the original Vudu set top box and Roku2 XS are hard wired with an ethernet cable

For those of you that share my same frustration, Amazon Prime may be the solution for you. I have been having great luck with their service. No problems with buffering, delays, re-streams to SD, crashes etc...Smooth service...

The question is: Can I get a refund for the 20 movies I purchased over the past couple of years? If I have no access to them, what good are they?

[raaurora]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I have been a VUDU customer for about 3 years now?In fact, I have one of the original Vudu 250GB desktop devices. I got extremely frustrated with the performance and moved away from using the device. I was always having issues with the box shutting down and freezing up. In addition, during streaming, I had many Friday and Saturday nights where I couldn't complete watching my video rental due to streaming issues. To solve these problems, I invested in the Roku 2 XS. It thought it would work out well because I have about 20 movies that I purchased over the past few years and I liked the idea of having them stored in the Vudu "cloud". Unfortunately, they never stream well and the application shuts down and/or spends a lot of time buffering. Many times the solution is to do a hard re-boot with Roku but, that seems to not be working. I have now moved over to Amazon and Amazon Prime with absolutely no streaming issues?In fact, I often move over to Amazon right after the buffering message starts with Vudu?Can you help or is there anything I can do?

both of my devices the original Vudu set top box and Roku2 XS are hard wired with an ethernet cable

For those of you that share my same frustration, Amazon Prime may be the solution for you. I have been having great luck with their service. No problems with buffering, delays, re-streams to SD, crashes etc...Smooth service...

I also have a BX100 and a Roku XD. Before I watch any move on Vudu I recycle the box I am going to watch it on just out of habit. My Roku buffers otherwise (it is only about 12 feet from the wireless router) and my BX100 (directly wired) is also prone to restarting itself in the middle of a movie. I set up Amazon Prime on my Roku...I may check it out as an alternative. Though I still love downloading HDX quality to my bx100 and watching a movie in true 1080.

[Guest]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I have been a VUDU customer for about 3 years now?In fact, I have one of the original Vudu 250GB desktop devices. I got extremely frustrated with the performance and moved away from using the device. I was always having issues with the box shutting down and freezing up. In addition, during streaming, I had many Friday and Saturday nights where I couldn't complete watching my video rental due to streaming issues. To solve these problems, I invested in the Roku 2 XS. It thought it would work out well because I have about 20 movies that I purchased over the past few years and I liked the idea of having them stored in the Vudu "cloud". Unfortunately, they never stream well and the application shuts down and/or spends a lot of time buffering. Many times the solution is to do a hard re-boot with Roku but, that seems to not be working. I have now moved over to Amazon and Amazon Prime with absolutely no streaming issues?In fact, I often move over to Amazon right after the buffering message starts with Vudu?Can you help or is there anything I can do?

both of my devices the original Vudu set top box and Roku2 XS are hard wired with an ethernet cable

For those of you that share my same frustration, Amazon Prime may be the solution for you. I have been having great luck with their service. No problems with buffering, delays, re-streams to SD, crashes etc...Smooth service...

The question is: Can I get a refund for the 20 movies I purchased over the past couple of years? If I have no access to them, what good are they?

Hi PJU,

My apologies for you poor experiences with VUDU. Have you contacted our support team in the past about the issue? Would you be willing to further investigate the issue??

[Guest]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I also have a BX100 and a Roku XD. Before I watch any move on Vudu I recycle the box I am going to watch it on just out of habit. My Roku buffers otherwise (it is only about 12 feet from the wireless router) and my BX100 (directly wired) is also prone to restarting itself in the middle of a movie. I set up Amazon Prime on my Roku...I may check it out as an alternative. Though I still love downloading HDX quality to my bx100 and watching a movie in true 1080.

In some cases the Bluetooth remote may interfere with the Wireless signal strength. As you were saying, the reboot helps in a lot of cases.

[nycomet]

Re: This Service is TERRIFIC!!!

I think Vudu is TERRIFIC!

-- Great selection of HDX movies and TV shows
-- Early digital releases
-- Superb video and audio quality (HDX is 1080p!)
-- Deals to be found during occasional sales
-- D2D allows me to get digital copies of many of my blu-rays and DVDs
-- EXCELLENT PLAYBACK on ALL of my devices:
-------> 55-inch LG 3D Cinema Display with built in Vudu app
-------> Panasonic BDP 310 3D blu-ray player with built in Vudu app
-------> Playstation 3 running Vudu app
-------> Roku 2 XS running Vudu channel
-------> iPad running Vudu app
-------> iPhone 5 running Vudu app

I attribute the great streaming service in part to to my internet service provider: Cablevision. It's high-speed internet is excellent most of the time. But fast internet is even better with a great steaming video service like Vudu.

[MaxH]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I am still using a Vudu BX100 and a BX1000, and I am very happy with their performance. I almost never power cycle them unless they lock up (2-3 times a year I find they are unresponsive, probably due to a power interruption).

I do wish we could get a Vudu app for TiVo, though. I watch almost everything else (Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube) through my TiVos.

[echopulse]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

Well it's not really vudu's fault. TiVo doesn't update their older systems with newer software. The new TiVo's do have a vudu app.

[jeremymc7]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

As I've posted elsewhere I've got a multiple of different devices running Vudu, including some of the original Vudu boxes. Have I had streaming problems, yes, but I've always been able to isolate it to problematic internet provider, router, wireless interference, multiple devices on home network, problem with third party hardware / firmware (GoogleTV, PS3, etc). Not once have I been able to confirm anything was Vudu server related to the streaming. In some case's it was actually my ISP throttling digital downloads from Vudu unbeknownst to me at the time.

[LuzRinggold]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

Well that is sort of the "beauty" of the internet...it's easy to blame it on someone or something else. We have been having more and more buffering and network errors with Vudu lately. It use to be at night during what I would call peek hours, but now it's throughout the day. A movie I was watching earlier this morning (around 10am EST) was buffering about every 10 minutes for about the first half of the movie.

Yesterday I bought a few episodes of a TV show for my daughter and after watching each episode she kept coming to get me because the next episode would give her some kind of network error. After retrying 2 or 3 times it would finally play. This is very frustrating for a child to have to deal with and I almost wish I had just ordered the DVD on Amazon.

Funny thing is that if these problems are on our end or somewhere in between then I would expect to see these problems with Hulu and Netflix since we use these services a bit more than Vudu.

[Guest]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

Well that is sort of the "beauty" of the internet...it's easy to blame it on someone or something else. We have been having more and more buffering and network errors with Vudu lately. It use to be at night during what I would call peek hours, but now it's throughout the day. A movie I was watching earlier this morning (around 10am EST) was buffering about every 10 minutes for about the first half of the movie.

Yesterday I bought a few episodes of a TV show for my daughter and after watching each episode she kept coming to get me because the next episode would give her some kind of network error. After retrying 2 or 3 times it would finally play. This is very frustrating for a child to have to deal with and I almost wish I had just ordered the DVD on Amazon.

Funny thing is that if these problems are on our end or somewhere in between then I would expect to see these problems with Hulu and Netflix since we use these services a bit more than Vudu.

Typically, I don't like blanket assign blame to anything. Each situation is different, and each ISP and home network are different. We're here to help as much as we can. If you're buffering, and are willing to troubleshoot, please submit a support ticket.

[MaxH]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

Well it's not really vudu's fault. TiVo doesn't update their older systems with newer software. The new TiVo's do have a vudu app.

Really? Which ones? I just got a TiVo Premiere 4 and I can't find Vudu on it anywhere.

[nycomet]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

Really? Which ones? I just got a TiVo Premiere 4 and I can't find Vudu on it anywhere.

Maybe it works on Tivo like it does on the Playstation 3 and Roku 2 XS in that you have to go to the channel installer first.

You might need to install the Vudu app on the Tivo before you can use it.

[echopulse]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I guess I was mistaken. I had a Premiere 2, and it didn't have one, but I read somewhere that the 3 did have one, I considered upgrading, but never did. Sorry!

[mike568]

Re: This Service is Terrible!!!

I haven't had any problems with Vudu streaming over Wireless G on my PS3 and on wireless N 2.4Ghz on my Roku 2XS on my 30mbs on my Charter internet connection connected to my Linksys E4200 router and some cheap Trendnet router acting as an access point for my Wireless G devices on my network. I have even taken my Roku 2XS to my mom's house where she has 15mbs with Charter with a cheap Trendnet router with Wireless N and I didn't have any issues. With that said I have the physical disc of the movies/tv shows in my Vudu account and only have it on Vudu because of Ultra-Violet.

If you don't mind posting who your ISP is and what speed you are paying for. Vudu requires more bandwidth because HDX is almost Blu-ray quality. Netflix and Amazon compress their videos based on your internet speed and settings on your Netflix account. If you have a PS3 I would recommend that you download the movie to your PS3's hdd. Your PS3 will still need an internet connection to authenticate you have the rights to the movie/tv show.

[nycomet]

Re: This Service

I agree with ^^^^^^^^

One cannot expect to view streaming 1080p HDX movies if their internet service provider is powered by this: