We know it’s a touch late to be ordering up a gift for unwrapping on the 25th, but this one just might be worth the IOU you’ll likely be forced to give. VUDU’s movie set-top-box, which typically goes for $299, is now priced at just $99 for a limited time. Of course, VUDU forces you to purchase $50 in movie credits along with it (thus the asterisk being applicable here), but it’s not like you’re just going to buy this and never watch anything, right? There’s also a bundle that includes a Wireless Kit at 50% off (now just $49), making the grand total for a VUDU, $50 in movie credits and a Wireless Kit only $198. Let’s just say now is about the time to buy if you’ve been holding off on a VUDU — we hear those HDX titles are mighty tasty!

[Thanks, Rob]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

VUDU price dramatically slashed to $99* for the holidays originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Lots of news on the VUDU front today, starting with the announcement that the grossly overpriced VUDU XL is finally shipping to all three people who forked out for one. Moving on to more important matters, the forthcoming v1.3 software — which is hitting barely a month after v1.2 was loosed — will open up the VUDU Vault. Put simply, this feature will “enable consumer to move owned titles from the VUDU hard drive to a secure area on VUDU servers to free up space for additional purchases.” As expected, the feature will only be available on “select titles,” but hey, we suppose we’ll take what we can get. Moving on, VUDU is also announcing the $39 IR receiver kit for both the original STB and the XL, which will “allow for the operation of the service using approved programmable remotes.” Lastly, v1.3 will bring about a numerically listed Most Watched overlay as well as improved searching for TV episodes. No word on when the update will start being pushed out, but we’d guess it’ll be sooner rather than later.

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Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Granted, we did just ask you how you’d tweak the VUDU, but we’re fairly certain none of you would recommend over doubling the price. Nevertheless, VUDU is apparently hoping that folks not quite ready to pull the trigger on its original set-top-box will be totally enthused about dropping a cool grand on the XL. Apparently, this one sports a fair bit more internal space (1TB to be exact) — enough to hold 500 SD movies. If you’re wondering if any films other than the Bourne trilogy will be available to take advantage of all this new space, VUDU is apparently aiming to unleash 70 of ‘em later this month. Oh, and those high-definition films will run you $5.99 (new titles) / $3.99 (”HD classics) to rent, but hey, what’s that after you’ve laid down $999 for the box itself?

[Image courtesy of VUDU]
Read - VUDU XL has 1TB of storage
Read - 70 new HD films coming to VUDU

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