14 DAY TRIAL // Yes, folks, Christmas is back in town and it's again that time of the year when the various consumer electronics manufacturers are trying to entice us (or fool us) into spending our hard-worked cash on some pretty sweet deals. And the latest such announcement comes from VUDU and Sharp, who have decided to offers their customers a special bundled offer: for every Sharp AQUOS TV with a diagonal larger than 42 inches, the respective persons will also get one free VUDU set-top box.
"This holiday offer guarantees that new owners of the finest high definition product in the world will have direct access to lots of great content with superior picture quality," said Bob Scaglione, senior vice president and group manager, Product and Marketing Group, Sharp Electronics Corporation. "Through this offer, new AQUOS owners will be able to instantly enjoy thousands of movie titles, television content and more on a pay as you go basis."
And if you were wondering just who VUDU is, you should know that they're a company that provides access to a huge online library of various multimedia content, from blockbuster movies to TV programs, all obtained via the company's partnerships with the biggest names in the industry. The process of delivering the respective content to the user's entertainment center is carried out via the company's special set-top box, which retails on its own for around 400 US dollars, while the prices for one-time rentals range from $0.99 - $3.99, and prices for purchased movies range from $4.99 - $19.99, depending on the age of the movie.
Furthermore, just last week, VUDU became the first service to offer an HD movie for digital purchase on the same day and date as the title was released on both Blu-ray and HD DVD high definition formats at retail stores.
Moreover, for the VUDU titles that are not natively in HD format, VUDU up-scales content to a quality comparable to1080i/1080p24 for a picture quality that is superior to an over-the-air broadcast and better than most DVDs. Because the box is always connected to the Internet, VUDU can continually update the quantity and quality of the content available to customers. Each week, new content is added to the VUDU service giving consumers instant access to the new content they most want to watch.
"We're adding loads of HD quality content to the VUDU service so AQUOS owners will have thousands of new and classic movies, TV shows and more from which to choose. HD movies will be lighting up high definition screens everywhere across America this holiday season," said Tony Miranz, VUDU's Co-founder and EVP of Sales and Business Development.
High-end TVs and set-top boxes that access online multimedia content....hmmm, that really looks like the future of entertainment centers, don't you think?
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