Vongo Review 3 - Tried Again
I have been swamped at work on Meez, so I haven't been blogging at all, but I was recently on a long business trip, so I thought it was the perfect time to try out the Starz Vongo video service again to see if it had improved since my previous attempt in January.
The short answer is that is has not improved in any meaningful way, still consigning it to a niche category not attractive to most users, even media junkies like myself. The quality of the downloads is still too low in today's much higher resolution environment. The quality of the video catalog is still really erratic, meaning that I had to stretch a bit to find 4 titles to watch out of the 1,000+ that were available, but that was a stretch (e.g. Stealth is a simply terrible movie, but it's the #2 movie behind the always memorable Bewitched). The non-PC devices you can move the content to aren't yet widely held enough to be meaningful, which is not Vongo's fault, but is still an issue. The best part of Vongo is its customer service - although they make you call to cancel, they quickly answer the phone, they're knowledgeable and polite, and they understand when you cancel.
Vongo is a good platform - with an increase in resolution and an expansion of the type of content available (why can't they add TV shows?), as well as the inevitable expansion in compatible non-PC devices, it may become an attractive service, but it's not there right now.
All valid points and thanks for taking the time to test out the Vongo service and post your thoughts.
In terms of the resolution, many of the most recent releases are encoded at 1.3Mbps which provides a picture quality approaching that of a DVD for playback on PC or TV. Vongo will be looking to increase the encode rates on most of its other movies over the coming months.
As for portable devices - stay tuned.
Posted by: David | May 22, 2006 at 12:11 PM
The most difficult problem to overcome with Vongo is that they charge for what someone can do for nothing if they apply themselves a little. The Sling box can take not only Starz titles but every title on cable and copy it in broadcast quality. Then you can use your personal use licensed copy...which is legal...and then stream it over your broadband network to your cell phone or Wi-Fi connected notebook, OR just keep an MPEG-4 copy on your notebook for travelling. Why even use Vongo...let alone pay them.
Also, their titles are like we have all experienced on Starz cable channels...you have to try to find content you like...and I mean really try. Haha. For the likes of me I just do not understand why anyone pays to watch movies they really don't like. Vongo offers concerts and TV shows too? Oh really...wow...again maybe I can just copy legally what is on my cable already and save it on my PC. Anyway, just buy the DVDs you like and be done with it.
Posted by: Blake | May 26, 2006 at 05:27 PM