Vudu, Inc.

Infobox Company
name = Vudu, Inc.

type = Private VC-backed startup [ [http://www.vudulabs.com/images/Fact_Sheet_Launch.pdf VUDU - Home ] ]
genre = Net TV
foundation = 2004
founder = Tony Miranz and Alain Rossmann
location_city = Santa Clara, California
location_country = USA
location =
origins =
area_served =
industry = P2P/TV
products = Vudu set-top box
services = Video Content Delivery
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 85
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
owner =
slogan = Your Video Store (in a box)
homepage = [http://www.vudu.com/ www.vudu.com]
dissolved =
footnotes =

Vudu, Inc. is a media technology company responsible for the development of the Vudu box, which is an interactive media device used to distribute full length movies to any television, using peer-to-peer TV technology.

History

Vudu was founded by Tony Miranz and Alain Rossmann (the creator of WAP). The Vudu box had been secretly in development since 2004, but on April 29, 2007, "The New York Times" revealed that Vudu had signed deals with many movie studios and independent distributors to deliver access to the nearly 5,000 films currently in the company's collection. [Stone, Brad. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/business/yourmoney/29vudu.html?ei=5058&en=128197e77beabd7a&ex=1178424000&adxnnl=1&partner=IWON&adxnnlx=1177809072-5p+PRtXb6clAmPsgAulVlA&pagewanted=all Vudu Casts Its Spell on Hollywood] ", "The New York Times", 2007-4-29. Retrieved on April 29, 2007.] Unlike most other movie download services, and like the Apple TV, Vudu does not require a computer or cable box, but only to have access to a broadband internet connection.

The product team is made up of veterans from TiVo, WebTV, Openwave, 2Wire, Slim Devices, OpenTV, and Danger, Inc. Vudu has received $21 million in venture capital funding from Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital. [ [http://hpinnovator.com/index.php?articleID=11435&sectionID=269 Faultline: Vudu, RawFlow and Joost all target web video services] ", HPInnovator", 2007-5-2. Retrieved on May 21, 2007.] Before the "New York Times" article, little was known about the company, which operates within a non-descript building in Santa Clara, California.

Technology

Movies are streamed over a broadband ethernet connection with MPEG-4 video and Dolby Digital Plus audio [ [http://www.dolby.com/dolbycast/transcripts/2008-ces-roundup.html Cool Products & Dolby’s Booth at CES 2008 – Dolby Podcast ] ] . Standard definition movies are then upscaled to higher resolution (HD) [ [http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gizmodo-exclusive/exclusive-pics-of-the-vudu-+-video-store-in-a-box-256044.php Exclusive Pics of the Vudu - Video Store In A Box] ] and High Definition movies can be output at 1080p. To ensure instant playback, the beginning of every movie in the catalog is loaded on the box. In peer-to-peer network, each box is used to serve content to other boxes. The rest of the movie begins to download while the user watches preloaded segment of the movie.

Competitors

*Apple TV
*Amazon Unbox with TiVo

See also

*Interactive television
*Internet television

References