Vudu’s name is changing to “Fandango at Home”

dantheclamman@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 93 points –
Vudu’s name is changing to “Fandango at Home”
theverge.com
18

Who is making these idiotic decisions ?

Probably some highly paid executive.

Probably the same one trying to convince me that my "4K Digital streaming copies" are absolutely streaming at 4K and not 1080P.

Being bought by Fandango, and then wanting more brand recognition probably had something to do with it.

Vudu is a better name, but Fandango is a more recognizable name. I get it.

Still, they should just market Vudu more. Fandango at Home is a stupid name thought of by corporates. At least, it's not Fandango+ or whatever... which I'm sure was on their list.

And some upper manager probably got a bonus bigger than what I'll earn in a decade for this rebranding.

It’s like some kind of black hole powered by stupidity rather then gravity…

Is Vudu a us-only kind of thing? never heard of it

It's definitely US, but could be elsewhere. Used to be owned by Walmart before Fandango bought them.

What made it great is that you could take all your old DVD and Blu-Ray collections and convert them to digital streaming for like $2 each. If you did ten or more at a time then you'd get a 50% discount... so basically $1/disc. If you wanted to up-rez a DVD (SD to HDX) then it would be $5 per disc or $2.50/disc if you did ten or more.

This was great back in the day when converting movie discs to hard disk at home was time consuming and expensive and complicated. Getting a 1080p copy of my old DVDs for $2.50 each was a lot better option than paying $10-15 again.

You just had to put the disc in a tray for Vudu to scan it. That's it. You could technically borrow other people's collections as well. Now, I think they have you scan a barcode with their app. Once 4K versions came out, I don't think they allow for upgrading your collection to that which is a shame. I also don't think they do the 50% discount for converting 10 or more discs.

Still, Vudu always seems to have them best sales. Just wish there was a better upgrade process from SD or HDX to 4K. Right now, it seems like it's the same price as everyone else.

In the US at least, it's one of the bigger VOD/PVOD services, where you can buy and rent movies and TV shows. It also integrates with MoviesAnywhere, a service that lets you sync Disney, WB, Sony, and Universal movie purchases between multiple VOD/PVOD services like Vudu, ITunes, Amazon, Google, etc.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


“We will still have the same great films, shows, deals, and bundles, plus your library will stay right where it’s always been,” the company said in a post on X (via 9to5Google).

Fandango shut down its previous FandangoNOW service when it scooped up Vudu, so perhaps it’s not a surprise that the company ultimately wanted its own name back in there.

Vudu has been a go-to for home theater enthusiasts over the years for several reasons.

Years ago, the company’s streaming bit rate and video fidelity was a step above most competitors.

And under Walmart’s stewardship, Vudu also launched unique programs like disc-to-digital, which allowed consumers to pay low prices to add movies to their digital locker — many of which would then be compatible with Movies Anywhere.

This initially required going into a Walmart store, but eventually Vudu streamlined the process to where you only needed a smartphone.


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