VUDU is a USA based online streaming company, allowing users to buy or rent movies and TV shows on a range of devices like tablets, smartphones, computer, smart TVs, VUDU-enabled devices, etc. You can also watch free movies online in its “Free Movie On Us” section. Walmart acquired the company in the year 2010.
The service is only available in America. However, if you want to watch it from other countries, then you can look for web proxies or proxy server. Other option could be finding legal movie torrents.
You need to sign up for viewing any video content on VUDU.
In this article, I will provide you with detailed VUDU review from different perspectives such as the category of movies and TV series, paid vs free, video quality, video player options, supported devices, VUDU application for smart devices, and more.
VUDU website interface
VUDU website interface is neat and clean. It took less than a second to load the site. The top header has links to sections like Deals, Services, Movie on US, Movies & TV, Sign In/Sign up and Search bar.
Movies and TV show tiles are arranged according to various genres. You can peek into the details of any film or television show by hovering your mouse pointer over it.
How to login or sign up
You can either create your account or sign up via your Facebook or Walmart credentials. The entire process will not take more than a few seconds. I did face issues when I signed up using my Facebook ID.
After signing up with Facebook ID, I did not get any email containing default password or an option to reset the password. I had to manually click forgot password option on VUDU to generate a new password with the help of my email ID.
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Ultraviolet integration – Digital rights locker
Ultraviolet is a cloud-based digital rights locker that allows people to store purchased licenses of different movies and TV shows. There are several retailers, like VUDU, Flixter and CinemaNow, who has integration with Ultraviolet. So, once you create a free account on Ultraviolet, you can easily integrate it with VUDU.
The most significant advantage of Ultraviolet is that if you have purchased any movie from a partnered retailer, then you can watch the same film on any different retailer free of cost. This logic stands well even if you buy a physical disc that includes an Ultraviolet activation code. You just have to add its license to your Ultraviolet collection.
Do not get confused Ultraviolet as a cloud storage service. It does not store any video content but only licenses. You are allowed to share your Ultraviolet library with another five users.
Category of movies and shows
VUDU has a collection of more than 23,000 online video content (inclusive of films and television shows). I can bet that you will be more than impressed by seeing the collection of movie flicks and TV series on VUDU. Some of the movies are added to its collection right after they release.
There is a multitude of ways to search movies and TV shows on VUDU. You can browse video by genres such as Popular rentals, Trending movies, Free movies on us, Independent cinema, In theatres, Trending TV, Free episodes, etc.
Also, you can filter moves per collection such as Kids zone, Horror, Marvel, Star Trek, International cinema, etc. If nothing works out then, you can search film & shows by titles.
Individual titles will provide you with information related to movie description, cast & crew, trailer, reviews, option to add in Wishlist, available video resolution and cost to rent & own.
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Pricing structure
When it comes to price point, VUDU is different than other similar paid on-demand service providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. You do not require to pay one-time subscription fees on VUDU. There is pay as you go option. You can either rent or own films and TV series.
You can rent movies at a price point of 99 cents to $5.99. Whereas, if you want to purchase a movie or TV show then you may have to spend between $4.99 to $24.99. Cost varies with the resolution of any title. It means HDX movie may cost you more than its SD version.
You can store a rented title on VUDU box for maximum 30 days before being watched. Once you start watching the borrowed content, then you must finish it within 24 hours.
As mentioned before, there is a separate section, Movie On US, which features only free movies. But the collection may not be as fresh as it is in the paid section.
Video quality
You will be delighted to know that on VUDU you can stream videos at the best possible video resolution available as on date. Available video resolutions are 480p, 720p, 1080p and 2160p or 4k. It has alone over 13000 titles in HD resolution, which is the largest collection on any service of its kind.
VUDU can play videos in HDX format. HDX is nothing but full HD 1080p resolution at 24 frames per second. This technology is similar to Blu-ray disc.
There are several movie titles, such as Wonder Woman, Thor, Avengers, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc., which are available in 3D version.
Video player options
The video player on VUDU has all necessary options like play/pause, volume control, video scrubber, closed caption/subtitles, option to change video resolution and full-screen mode.
Ad or no Ad
You will not encounter any advertisements while watching paid titles. However, if you wish to view free video content, then you will face Ads intermittently during the video play. All free movies are marked as “FREE WITH ADS”.
I must say that the collection of free movies is decent if compared with other free streaming services. There are movies like Vanilla sky, Ronin, Shutter Island, Walking Tall, Dark blue, Universal Soldier, Soloist, Agent Cody Banks, Brothers, and more.
Even some of the best free online movie websites, such as Crackle, Popcornflix, TubiTV, Yidio, Viewster, etc., do not have the comparable collection of movies in HD resolution.
My buffering experience on VUDU
My home internet speed is less than 3Mbps. I faced a tough time buffering video content with more than 720p resolution. VUDU does recommend following internet speeds for a bufferless streaming experience:
- SD (480p) – 1Mbps
- HD (720p) – 2.25Mbps
- HDX (1080p) – 4.5Mbps
- UHD (4K) – 11Mbps
In short, you require minimum 1Mbps internet speed to watch an SD or 480p video smoothly.
VUDU application availability
VUDU does have free movie apps for various platforms. You can download its application iOS as well as Android smartphone and tablets. Other devices which support VUDU are Blu-ray, Smart TV, Roku, Chromecast, PlayStation, and Xbox.