Evangelist program

[redwein]

Re: Evangelist program

Redwein,

I think the question that you raise about time frame is an interesting one. I do not think that six months to a year is a reasonable horizon for Vudu. As I said in other posts, I think Vudu has to take serious action to define itself in the short-term. Think about Verizon's claim to have a 1000 items for HD-VOD in 2008. Whether Verizon will follow through on that or not is moot. The point is that they have the resources to roll that out much more quickly than Vudu. I think Vudu is a great product (I'm an evangelist) but in order for it to survive it has to define its niche (or niches, pl?) and do so quickly. If Verizon, or anyone else, met half their goal, Vudu would be irrelevant. No one would be willing to pay $399 for a service, most of which you could do for free.

I think "6 months to a year" falls within Verizon's 2008 projection so I don't see the issue there with the timeline that I suggested. Also, I am not aware of anybody who will give me Vudu functionality for "free". I suspect that I will have to become a paying customer somewhere along the line. As for the cost of the box, I bought 4 Tivo series 3 boxes (@ $600 to $900 per box) when I could have got Comcast's DVR for free. I also bought 3 iPhones (and many others did too) when they could have got "free" phones from their own wireless provider.

You are just wrong about interpreting the 3 as "not good" the way the poll is structured, given that it is described as "good". It reflects the reality that everyone agrees that the studios need to play ball if this is going to ultimately succeed. If the majority of votes was 4 or better, given what the votes mean, it would indicate that has already occurred, which I think you would agree is ridiculous. My own personal vote of a 3 was intended as a positive but realistic and thoughtful vote.

I'm not saying that Vudu can remain static or complacent on either their library offering or the price for the box, etc.. However, your doom and gloom prediction is way too simplistic to reflect reality.

[NA9D]

Re: Evangelist program

we have the opportunity to shape the service towards our own ideals. Kind of exciting to me.

This is a HUGE statement here and you've grasped something very fundamental. Vudu is a small enough company to be able to listen and react to the needs and wants of its customers. Customer feedback already has resulted in additions to the Vudu firmware. Vudu staff and management regularly read these forums and are very in tune with what the users feel and want. The management team is VERY hands on. The early users have the power to help shape the product.

[cfisher]

Re: Evangelist program

Redwein,

I think the question that you raise about time frame is an interesting one. I do not think that six months to a year is a reasonable horizon for Vudu. As I said in other posts, I think Vudu has to take serious action to define itself in the short-term. Think about Verizon's claim to have a 1000 items for HD-VOD in 2008. Whether Verizon will follow through on that or not is moot. The point is that they have the resources to roll that out much more quickly than Vudu. I think Vudu is a great product (I'm an evangelist) but in order for it to survive it has to define its niche (or niches, pl?) and do so quickly. If Verizon, or anyone else, met half their goal, Vudu would be irrelevant. No one would be willing to pay $399 for a service, most of which you could do for free. One thing we don't talk about much is advertising. Incorporating advertising into the Vudu experience may be the only way to bring the price of hardware and software down. It may also be the only way to keep revenue coming in when the demand for the boxes stagnates as other VOD services improve. As for the poll, we are arguing about whether "3"s are good or not. I don't think anyone at Vudu should be happy with a "3". I am not sure why we spend so much time on the forums bickering about the quality of the service and so little time thinking about how to improve it. Evangelist or not, I think we are lucky to participate in Vudu early. If, perchance, someone other than the moderators are following our discussion, then we have the opportunity to shape the service towards our own ideals. Kind of exciting to me.

[Nded]

Re: Evangelist program

....snip... If you look at the descriptions of what each vote means, you can see that this poll was not created by professional pollsters. Imagine that.

Thanks for noticing . I guess this means I've retained my "amatuer" status rating for the upcoming pollster olympics.

[redwein]

Re: Evangelist program

Unfortutanely, both are critical for Vudu's success and no matter how much one loves the box, it's going no where without content.

Many people, myself included, don't see it in just the absolute terms of "unacceptable" and "fantastic", being completely unsatisfied until it gets to the latter. It seems reasonable to judge it based on its current state compared to other VOD vendors out there for the time being. Of course it needs to improve in time but I would argue that it doesn't need to happen overnight or in one fell swoop. It needs to make steady progress over a reasonable time frame. I consider 6 months to a year to be reasonable. From the progress that has been made to date, I feel fairly confident they will get over the hump in plenty of time to make this thing successful.

[redwein]

Re: Evangelist program

If you'll trust that I know a few things about market research, the proper way to read a 5 point scale is 5's + 4's= good, 3's indifferent, and 1's + 2's= bad. With that, you've got 3 good, 9 indifferent, 13 bad, and a meaningless sample size.

I voted 3 and I considered at positive vote. I most certainly was not indifferent. Of course, I read the descriptions of each vote. Your "proper" way of reading a vote assumes that the poll was built using matching guidelines. If you look at the descriptions of what each vote means, you can see that this poll was not created by professional pollsters. Imagine that.

[dvcii]

Re: Evangelist program

Still haven't made the call. I can afford the $400 gamble to stick with it knowing the box may be a brick a year from now; however, just to be clear, I think the box is great but the content unsatisfactory. Many here seem to consider these as two unrelated issues. Unfortutanely, both are critical for Vudu's success and no matter how much one loves the box, it's going no where without content. If there's a big addition of current titles in HD with 5.1 sound, I'll be doing cartwheels and giving you 5's in your survey.

[NA9D]

Re: Evangelist program

Best of luck with your poll.

Are you planning on returning your Vudu since you seem so displeased with it?

[Nded]

Re: Evangelist program

...snip...If you'll trust that I know a few things about market research, the proper way to read a 5 point scale is 5's + 4's= good, 3's indifferent, and 1's + 2's= bad. With that, you've got 3 good, 9 indifferent, 13 bad, and a meaningless sample size.

That would be based on a big assumption that the 5 point scale being evaluated was scientifically valid. That scale was put together in a shoot from the hit fashion by yours truly, and doesn't really have a real negative response (i.e. 1 star should be I don't like it at all and I want my money back, moving the other categories up 1 star each, and throwing out the current top option, as it really is unlikely to ever be ideal in anybody's mind (unless something big happens).

If you look at it that way, I believe Jon's position is valid that 3/4 stars are positive votes. Blame the current version of the poll on the madman that designed it!

[dvcii]

Re: Evangelist program

Best of luck with your poll.

[NA9D]

Re: Evangelist program

We ran the poll because we are interested about what people think of the database. When I say "I don't care about the results", it means that they don't scare me and that it doesn't really matter if they are negative.

Also, since I am the person who put the poll up there, I think I am the one who can interpret the results. The 3 star rating is definitely NOT a rating of indifference. The phrase "It's good and I'm convinced it's going to get better" is not a measure of indifference...If you can honestly say you think something is good and going to get better, you are not being indifferent but positive.

Why are you so negative?

[dvcii]

Re: Evangelist program

I don't care what the results are.

So why then did you run the poll?

I consider 1 or 2 stars to be a very negative view.
I consider 3 or 4 starts to be a very positive view.

At present, the votes are 13 for negative and 11 for positive. 2 votes is easily overcome. If you look at the previous pole when the database was nowhere close to what it is now, the positives blew away the negatives as was pointed out.

If you'll trust that I know a few things about market research, the proper way to read a 5 point scale is 5's + 4's= good, 3's indifferent, and 1's + 2's= bad. With that, you've got 3 good, 9 indifferent, 13 bad, and a meaningless sample size.

[NA9D]

Re: Evangelist program

Easy fellas-- I gave no intrepretation of the data. Judging by your responses, you seem to be defending Vudu in the face of results you don't like. Why run a poll if you're going to get defensive about what it says?

If you don't want people drawing conclusions from the results, just delete the thread.

I don't care what the results are. Most forum users haven't voted yet and most of those who voted 3 or 4 the last time we ran the poll haven't run yet either.

I consider 1 or 2 stars to be a very negative view.
I consider 3 or 4 starts to be a very positive view.

At present, the votes are 13 for negative and 11 for positive. 2 votes is easily overcome. If you look at the previous pole when the database was nowhere close to what it is now, the positives blew away the negatives as was pointed out.

Oops...another positive just checked in on the "3s" - 12 votes now to 13. Hardly a slamming rebuke of Vudu with a lot of users/votes outstanding!

[dvcii]

Re: Evangelist program

So would it be safe to say that a boatload of rentable HD would have an impact on the survey?

That would change my vote for sure.

[dvcii]

Re: Evangelist program

Easy fellas-- I gave no intrepretation of the data. Judging by your responses, you seem to be defending Vudu in the face of results you don't like. Why run a poll if you're going to get defensive about what it says?

If you don't want people drawing conclusions from the results, just delete the thread.