From Doug Aamoth at CrunchGear:
Hey what’s another box underneath your TV, right? Especially when it’s got movies streaming directly from Movielink and Blockbuster, yeah? According to Reuters, Blockbuster “is developing a set-top device for streaming films directly to TV sets and is expected to announce the offering sometime this month.”
So we’ll have another Vudu-like hardware box just for movies, your digital cable converter box, perhaps a DVD player, and one or two consoles. I can currently consume movie content through my cable box, my DVD player, and/or my Xbox 360.
Blockbuster’s going to have to sell people like my parents on this device because there’s not much chance that it’s going to be different enough from other current options to convince younger generations to A) buy the box and then B) pay for movies when most of us already have the “A” part in some form or another.
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It better be able to do HD
It’s a little late Blockbuster…. The real surprise here is that this company hasn’t gone under yet… I mean it would be pretty hard to actually run a business this bad, even if you tried.
They should give it for free, bundled with subscriptions, like mobile phones.
HD would be the only thing that would get me to use it. Otherwise, my media pc works just fine, thank you very much. Oh, and I am not limited to subscription-based service.
I have a Vudu - easy to use, lots of movies, and absolutely terrific service.
The only knock is their catalog is still far from complete, and new movies are always only to buy for the first month or so. but I’ve been gladly finding some gems I didn’t even know of [especially indie movies].
@Crazyglues I agree they are constantly playing ketchup whether it’s Netflix, Apple or whoever. That’s the problem with being a lumbering Giant with an out of date business model. They needed to be innovative and cutting edge to stay in front.
This new idea appears to be nothing new at all. Obviously it’ll have to be HD, (may even have a blu-ray slot if they want to be half serious about it too) - they’ve got to give them out for peanuts if they want any traction at all and make the money on monthly subscriptions.
My Comcast box already does this and they don’t dick their customers around like Blockbuster does.
Doing business with Blockbuster is like doing business with a drug dealer. Well maybe not quite the same…I think drug dealers have better customer service and more consistent pricing.
Good luck with that, Blockbuster.
The only Blockbuster in town closed and in its space…a buffet.
It’s actually called Vudu and is VooDoo?? Yikes.
Where did you get that illustration Erick?
Again - it boggles the mind that somebody is trying the SAME business model I worked on with http://Free.TV EIGHT years ago, but with a stOOpid URL.
Does ANYONE want to use the domain Free.TV ? Contact me at OpenDomain
Geez, what’s with all the blockbuster hate? Nobody’s done streaming right. I’d still rather walk to the corner and rent a movie for four bucks than pay hundreds of dollars for a set top box and wait hours for a compressed movie to download.
Suuuure…. another box to buy/install…. DOA
It will be interesting to see if Netflix tries something like this (if they haven’t already) just to compete.
@14
Netflix already has something in the works.
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/.....-part.html
Blockbuster, Netflix, etc. will all fail at this game because people willing to pay for VOD already have a box through their cable, satellite, or telephony provider that can do this. They control the distribution.
Why not just partner with Apple on this one instead of trying a new hardware play?