You knew good and well
it was coming, and come it has. Starting today, those fortunate enough to own an
LG Broadband HDTV in the LH50 LCD series and PS80 plasma range can tap into
VUDU's growing library of on-demand 1080p films. If you're still skeptical, we'll invite you to surf over to your set's Netcast interface; from there, you can either update your software to gain VUDU access or begin viewing right away (depending on when you purchased your tele). Oh, and if you're thinking of just lallygagging around while the rest of the world takes advantage, you should know that your first
HD or HDX movie rental is gratis for a limited time, so there's some pretty obvious motivation to hop on it. Anyone given it a go? Impressed / unimpressed?
posted Sep 2nd 2009 5:22AM
What kind of connection do you need to stream full 1080p? TWC only offers up to 10Mbps in DFW, and I don't think that's near enough.
i think 2 MBPS is better option
No FiOS out there yet? I remember it being available in Richardson 18 months ago
Not in Euless. this is ATT territory. Uverse only goes to 18Mbps I believe. Better, but still probably not fast enough to stream full 1080p, not to mention the data chock jobs TWC and ATT are famous for. Man, I need to move. :(
That will be more than enough. An UNCOMPRESSED 1080p MPEG2 stream is just over 19 megabits/s... since these will be highly compressed when sent across the network, you'd need much less than that kind of bandwidth. But in any case, VUDU is not a choose-and-stream type setup, it is a download-and-play type setup, so it really won't matter what kind of internet you have... all that will change is how long you are going to wait to watch the video.
Here's the scoop right from the horse's mouth (http://www.vudu.com/product_specs.html):
Networking Requirements
High-speed broadband Internet connection
4 Mbps actual for instant high-definition viewing
2 Mbps actual for instant standard definition viewing
1 Mbps actual for delayed viewing
So, you can use whatever connection you want, but need 4+ megabits to eliminate the need for extended buffering/download time with HD content.
I will be trying this tonight on my 50ps80
Cool, thanks for the info!
I've been always against TV enabled streaming, this technology changes so fast, I rather get external box for $150 and replace it 2 years down the road or get a bit more universal media center "box" (but that is a discussion for different forum)
I have the LH50, 47" and use Cablevision service in NY. I streamed HDX 1080p from VUDU last night and used my laptop to test the connection on Speedtest.net which reported 5+Mbps connection and the movie works and looks great.
Incidentally, I hooked up my TV with the VUDU Wireless Kit.
This is killer... I'm done with rental stores and PPV.
Bought a LH50 a few weeks ago and the netflix is very good, as well I used the vudu yesterday and again i was impressed picture and sound was very good. It makes it easy having it come off the TV without going through an external source first!
Re: the question about bandwidth requirements for 1080p streaming, VUDU offers 3 different resolutions of video, each of which can be streamed adaptively at multiple quality levels, depending on the available bandwidth in the home.
The bandwidth ranges are:
SD 480p: 1 Mbps (Broadcast quality) to 2 Mbps (DVD quality)
HD 720p: 2.25 Mbps (Broadcast quality) to 4.5 Mbps (Near transparent with original)
HDX 1080p: 4.5 Mbps (Broadcast quality) to 9 Mbps (Near Blu-Ray quality)
Depending on the actual bandwidth available to the user, a corresponding quality level is used for the resolution. The more bandwidth you have, the higher the quality.
So, you can stream HDX at broadcast quality with just 4.5Mbps of bandwidth, but you would need 9Mbps to get the highest-quality near-Blu Ray HDX.
Prasanna Ganesan
CTO, VUDU Inc.
This better also become available on the netcast supporting Blu Ray players like the BD370 that I bought last night. . .
5.1 audio?
Apparently this firmware update also adds MKV and XVID playback ability both via the USB AND ethernet... Can anyone confirm?
cool to see that more options to get movies on my tv; and to finally see these services come to the tv instead of the pc and without the need for a separate box
but one question for everybody...there will surely be a charge to watch the movies...the studios are not going to give this for free.why is this so much better that comcast vod or something similar from other cable operators? the cable guys can give me this without having to buy a new expensive tv.