Review: Vudu Movie Service (Part 2)

Part 1 of my Vudu review focused on the Vudu service and my movie watching habits. Part 2 looks at setting up and getting the Vudu box online.

The Setup
Getting the Vudu box connected was straightforward. Connect the included yellow, red, and white cables, connect the Ethernet cable, screw in the small RF antenna, and plug in the power.

Make the Net Work
Since Vudu relies on the Internet to get its movies, you need a decently fast Internet connection. Vudu has their speed test application to test your connection. My Road Runner connection fluctuated in test results anywhere from 2300 kbps to 4000 kbps for downloads and 750 kbps for uploads, getting a green light for Vudu use.

But here’s the tricky part. My cable modem and home router are no where near my television set. How do I get the Vudu in my living room connected to my cable modem in another room? You gotta go wireless! The Vudu has a wired Ethernet jack and does support Wi-Fi via a wireless adapter according to the Vudu FAQ. The FAQ also has a list of tested routers but does not show my router of choice, Apple’s AirPort Extreme. But I can safely say the Vudu works with the Airport Extreme base station.

And here’s another wrinkle with this wireless setup. The 802.11n AirPort Extreme is just the base station providing wired and wireless connections. How do I connect the Vudu that is rooms away? Fortunately, I also have the “companion” product, Apple’s AirPort Express. While I mainly use this pair for streaming music to my home stereo system via Air Tunes, together both devices allows for a wireless distribution system (WDS). Luckily, I already had a WDS set up so plugging the Vudu box into the AirPort Express is all that was needed to get online.

Initialization
Once connected and powered up, the Vudu box plays an audio and video test to help confirm the setup. Then the Vudu box automatically goes through a four step initialization process:

1. Pairing the remote with the Vudu box
2. Viewing a Vudu tutorial
3. Checking for online software updates
4. Informing users to leave the Vudu box powered on

The overall initialization process took about 15 minutes as software version 1.1.2 was downloaded and installed.

Once complete, you’ll see the Vudu navigation screen and can start looking for movies.

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