Fascinating Sci-Fi Home Theaters
Gorgeous Celebrity Home Theaters
Our favorite themed home theaters.
Apple's most innovative products.
Print
Email
Comments (1)
Share
Blu-ray and Downloads: Why Both Are Worth Offering
It doesn't need to be one or the other -- each has a compelling reason to offer to your customers.
The future is finally here.
At countless tradeshows over the past couple decades, I have often heard the promise that someday soon we will have Internet connections fast enough for instant HD movie downloads, or that the next video disc format will deliver such spectacular picture and sound performance that it will truly rival a movie theater.
For the first time, we finally have both of these exciting ideas incorporated into products that you should be offering to every one of your customers.
No one who watches movies on the home theater system your company installed for them has a valid reason to say no to one or both of these products.
What are these glimpses of the future here today? They are Blu-ray and digital downloads.
For your customers who demand only the highest quality video and sound performance, turn their attention to your newest offering of Blu-ray disc players.
Now that the format war is over, they should have no objections once you demonstrate the awesome picture and sound quality that this high-definition format offers. Hook one of these babies up to the Internet and you have some really cool BD-Live capabilities with interactive multiplayer video games, online movie trailers and special features that can be downloaded to the player.
The BDP has the latest and greatest sound decoding formats (Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio) and a better picture quality than downloads.
With a minimum 2 Mbps Internet connection and a credit card, Vudu offers the ability to give your customers the video store in their home, with access to more than 6000 DVD- and HD-quality movies and TV shows for rent and/or purchase, all with instantaneous viewing.
The content is all at the same price (or less) than they are currently paying for their local video store without late fees or trips to the store to pickup, or, better yet, return their overdue rentals. It's like Netflix on steroids without having to wait by the mailbox for your next few discs to trickle in.
The new Vudu XL VBX1000 is targeted directly at the CI market. It features a larger 1 TB hard drive and a higher price than its baby brother, the VBX100, which is sold mainly through national chains and big box retailers.
The XL was designed for integration with Crestron, Netstreams and other remote control systems. With a retail price of $999, it's a great way to get back a bit of those profit dollars you no longer make now that LCDs and plasmas are half of what they cost only a couple years ago.
Other download options exist on the market, including VideoGiants, Netflix and CinemaNow.
When you offer both Blu-ray and downloads, you have all the bases covered. Plus, you're offering a profitable solution that also most likely lead to additional sales of new audio components with HDMI switching, wireless routers, cables and everything else that is needed to support great high definition video.
At a time when our industry is undoubtedly suffering one of the worst downturns since the inception of CEDIA, these products represent two of the best opportunities you have ever had to enhance and upgrade your customers systems since the introduction of the CD player.
Get out there and sell!
Greg Pass is the president of SuperVision Audio+Video, a custom installation and system integration company located in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, California.
At countless tradeshows over the past couple decades, I have often heard the promise that someday soon we will have Internet connections fast enough for instant HD movie downloads, or that the next video disc format will deliver such spectacular picture and sound performance that it will truly rival a movie theater.
For the first time, we finally have both of these exciting ideas incorporated into products that you should be offering to every one of your customers.
No one who watches movies on the home theater system your company installed for them has a valid reason to say no to one or both of these products.
What are these glimpses of the future here today? They are Blu-ray and digital downloads.
Blu-ray Offers Quality
For your customers who demand only the highest quality video and sound performance, turn their attention to your newest offering of Blu-ray disc players.
Now that the format war is over, they should have no objections once you demonstrate the awesome picture and sound quality that this high-definition format offers. Hook one of these babies up to the Internet and you have some really cool BD-Live capabilities with interactive multiplayer video games, online movie trailers and special features that can be downloaded to the player.
The BDP has the latest and greatest sound decoding formats (Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio) and a better picture quality than downloads.
Vudu Downloads Offer Convenience
With a minimum 2 Mbps Internet connection and a credit card, Vudu offers the ability to give your customers the video store in their home, with access to more than 6000 DVD- and HD-quality movies and TV shows for rent and/or purchase, all with instantaneous viewing.
The content is all at the same price (or less) than they are currently paying for their local video store without late fees or trips to the store to pickup, or, better yet, return their overdue rentals. It's like Netflix on steroids without having to wait by the mailbox for your next few discs to trickle in.
The new Vudu XL VBX1000 is targeted directly at the CI market. It features a larger 1 TB hard drive and a higher price than its baby brother, the VBX100, which is sold mainly through national chains and big box retailers.
The XL was designed for integration with Crestron, Netstreams and other remote control systems. With a retail price of $999, it's a great way to get back a bit of those profit dollars you no longer make now that LCDs and plasmas are half of what they cost only a couple years ago.
Other download options exist on the market, including VideoGiants, Netflix and CinemaNow.
When you offer both Blu-ray and downloads, you have all the bases covered. Plus, you're offering a profitable solution that also most likely lead to additional sales of new audio components with HDMI switching, wireless routers, cables and everything else that is needed to support great high definition video.
At a time when our industry is undoubtedly suffering one of the worst downturns since the inception of CEDIA, these products represent two of the best opportunities you have ever had to enhance and upgrade your customers systems since the introduction of the CD player.
Get out there and sell!
Greg Pass is the president of SuperVision Audio+Video, a custom installation and system integration company located in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, California.
Subscribe to the CE Pro Newsletter
1 Comments
Page 1 of 1 comment pages
CE Pro received the following comment from a reader.
“VUDU does not = Blu-ray. This is the case because according to their sales people they are offering 1/3 Blu-ray quality on a 4mbps connection. True 1080P Blu-ray would take at least a 12mbps connection. All content lovers in our opinion want instant content viewing over low bandwidth with the highest picture quality available.”