Dolby Podcast Episode 39, April 24, 2008
All about VUDU, a very easy-to-use set-top box that delivers high definition movies or TV shows to your TV via the Internet: Jack and Craig interview Roderick Alemania from VUDU, and find out how VUDU works and how easy it is to set up. Listener, Blake, asks about the differences between power conditioners, surge protectors and battery back up devices.
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Mentioned in this Episode
[intro music]
Jack Buser: Hello! And welcome to Dolbycast, the insider's guide to entertainment technology from the experts at Dolby Laboratories. I'm Jack Buser.
Craig Eggers: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And we're here to give you the straight talk on everything you need to please your ears.
[musical interlude]
Jack: Here we are again, Craig.
Craig: Here we are again.
Jack: How you doing?
Craig: This is podcast number 39. Did you know that?
Jack: Are you kidding? We're already up to 39.
Craig: Yeah. The next one will be 40.
Jack: Time flies when you're having fun.
Craig: Scary. Very scary.
Jack: So, Craig, today, I noticed, in your hand there, you're holding a little something. It looks like a free oil change...
[laughter]
Jack: What is in your hand there?
Craig: Well, in our last conversation, we talked about the converter box program and the transition to digital television here in the United States.
Jack: Yes.
Craig: And I actually have two TV converter box coupon program cards.
Jack: Let me see that.
Jack: So they're $40 each.
Craig: $40 discount on purchase of a converter box.
Jack: Wow.
Craig: So, if you have an analog television set here in the United States, and February 17, 2009, as we said before...
Jack: They switch off the analog, yeah.
Craig: They switch off. Take this little card into your retailer. There's converter boxes in the retailer.
Jack: That looks like a credit card. Those are plastic credit cards.
Craig: This is a plastic credit card.
Jack: Yeah, this is the coolest thing. I've got to see this.
Craig: You want to see it? There you go.
Jack: Oh, it's very cool. For those of you listening—obviously, we don't have a video podcast, but if we did, you would see a pretty sophisticated looking card here. They're red. They're the size of a credit card, made of plastic, hologram on it and everything. This is very cool.
Craig: It's very cool.
Jack: Very, very cool. Well, Craig, I look forward to seeing what you pick up with those coupons.
Craig: I'm going to get one of those.
Jack: Yeah, totally.
Craig: But we have to say to our listeners, if you have digital satellite, if you have cable television, this is not an issue for you.
Jack: Yeah. Yeah. That's true.
Craig: Or even if you have an HDTV set that receives over-the-air broadcasts...
Jack: That's true.
Craig: This transition is not an issue for you. But if you have analog television sets, you're hooked up to an antenna, and you want to keep receiving signals after February 17, 2009, got to contact the government.
Jack: Absolutely. Well, listen, guys, we have a very special podcast today, very special. But before we get to our guest, I'd like to really quickly do a question. This question comes from Blake. And Blake says, "OK. So, really quickly..." That's how he starts out his message, so we'll try to make this quick. [laughs] "What does a home theater actually need, a power conditioner or a battery backup/surge protector?"
Craig: I think that's a good question. And the question pertains not just to home theater, but PC applications, or if you're watching a video game on a television set...
Jack: Absolutely.
Craig: You might want to consider one of these 3 tools.
Jack: Absolutely. So we really should separate them into 3 categories here. We'll cover them separately, Blake. The first is a power conditioner. So, Craig, what are the situations where you might need a power conditioner?
Craig: Power conditioner is when you're experiencing extremes in voltages. I know that I use them a lot for trade shows and high-end events.
Jack: At trade shows. That's right. So, when you say fluctuations in voltages, I think it's important to understand that's the voltage coming from your wall.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: So, if you have an older house, like I do in San Francisco, you're not always exactly getting 120 volts out of your wall socket. I mean, it can go down to 110 or up to 130. The power is very inconsistent sometimes, in old buildings, especially at trade shows, [laughs] where you have no idea what your voltage coming in is. And what a power conditioner will do is...
Craig: Level that for you.
Jack: Right.
Craig: Basically, provide a consistent stream into your audio/video device, and in doing so, in practice, providing a more consistent, higher-quality audio/video experience.
Jack: Yeah. A lot of people swear by the power conditioner, saying, "Look, they're absolutely necessary because that's the way to get the best performance out of your device. Your device was designed for a particular voltage. If you can level out that voltage and basically condition it and make it a pure power signal, you'll get a better overall experience." I haven't experienced that so much, but I bought one because, I'll tell you, my house just has really old wiring. [laughs]
Craig: There you go.
Jack: And I just didn't want anything getting busted.
Craig: And like I said, for any trade show we do, we generally use a power conditioner.
Jack: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Craig: But I think, first and foremost, the one thing you have to do is protect against brownouts.
Jack: Yes. So tell me about brownouts.
Craig: Good example: my parents live in Texas, and depending on the demands from the power station, you may have huge fluctuations, when the voltages may go down.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: And then, all of a sudden, the system comes up to full power.
Jack: [laughs] Yeah.
Craig: You get this surge of power through the line, which could, quite frankly, knock out your component.
Jack: That's right. So, our long-time listeners may know: I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the thunderstorm.
[laughter]
Jack: And I remember, every time you'd hear lightning, my mother would say, "Turn off the TV. Turn off everything because there's a thunderstorm coming, an electrical storm coming." And so we turned everything off. And that's where a surge protector comes in.
Craig: Oh yeah. And when I lived in Illinois, I actually had a thunderbolt strike about 5 feet from the house.
Jack: Yes. It'll knock your TV out, right? [laughs]
Craig: It knocked out my home theater system.
Jack: That's right. So, getting a surge protector, that is my baseline. No matter what, at least when you get your power strips, make sure it's got a surge protector built in. And obviously, the better surge protector you get will be able to protect against higher spikes and more power coming through. So, surge protectors, for me, are a must, especially if you live in an area where there's a lot of electrical storms.
Craig: Truly. Now, you educated me on battery backup.
Jack: That is cool.
Craig: Being a gamer now...
[laughter]
Craig:... I recognize what you were talking about, which is, when you go to shut down your console, what happens?
Jack: That's right. So the deal is, with a battery backup, what that does is, if your power goes out for a particular amount of time—not that our power would ever go out here in California. Ha ha ha. [laughs] But when your power goes out, what a battery backup will do is the battery backup will kick in so that, even though there's no power coming to your house, all your electrical devices will be able to stay on for some period of time.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: And the nicer the battery backup system, the longer your stuff will be able to stay on—essentially. That's over-simplifying it.
Craig: So, if you have a DVR and you're trying to record a program...
Jack: That's right.
Craig: The power goes down, if you've got battery backup, you're taken care of.
Jack: That's exactly right. Or more importantly, for me anyway, is, when you're playing PlayStation and it says, "Updating firmware. Do not turn off the power, or else you're going to brick your console..." [laughs] For me, that's really important, because if there's a blackout while you're updating the firmware on your device or you're saving your game, you could be in some big trouble.
Craig: So a surge protector or battery backup might be great if you have a PC-based home entertainment system, too.
Jack: Yeah. So, Blake, you said "real quick, " and I know we took a long time to answer your question, but hopefully this gives you a good idea of what those 3 devices do. Obviously, it's best to have all 3; that way, you're protected against any of those situations. But, I mean, you're just going to have to make decisions based on where you live and what kind of problems you've been experiencing, if any.
Craig: There you go.
Jack: So, we're going to go to a break. When we come right back, we're going to be here, joined by Roderick Alemania from VUDU, who has released a cool new set-top box that allows you to download high-definition movies over the Internet. We're going to hear all about it when we come back.
Craig: You're not excited about it, are you?
Jack: I am.
[musical interlude]
Jack: Hey, listeners, you can now call in your question to our new toll-free phone line: 888-6-DOLBYC. That's the letter C as in "cast." That's 888-6-DOLBYC.
[musical interlude]
Craig: And we are back at Dolbycast. And Jack, I have visions of Jimi Hendrix.
Jack: Why is that, Craig?
Craig: “ Voodoo Child ”.
Jack: Oh, boy!
Craig: And you have become the Dolby voodoo child.
Jack: Hum a couple bars for us.am
Craig: Can't do it. Can't do it.
Jack: Why? Come on. OK, fine. We won't bug you about it.
Craig: Not going to go there. Not going to do that.
Jack: But now, in all seriousness, VUDU, very cool new device. We are joined here in the studio with a very special guest and an old friend of mine, Roderick Alemania.
Craig: Roderick is Vice President Of Content Acquisition for VUDU. Welcome, Roderick.
Roderick Alemania: Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. How are you?
Jack: Oh, thanks for coming. Oh, doing great.
Craig: Glad you're here.
Jack: So, I guess the first question, for all our listeners out there—some might already be customers, but for those that aren't, what is VUDU?
Roderick: Yeah, thanks. So, VUDU—spelled, actually, V-U-D-U—is a set-top box, like you mentioned, Jack. We distribute movies, television shows, largely entertainment. Anything that you can see on your television, we deliver it in beautiful 1080p HD, and in Dolby Digital Plus.
Craig: Glad you're here.
Jack: So, I guess the first question, for all our listeners out there—some might already be customers, but for those that aren't, what is VUDU?
Roderick: Yeah, thanks. So, VUDU—spelled, actually, V-U-D-U—is a set-top box, like you mentioned, Jack. We distribute movies, television shows, largely entertainment. Anything that you can see on your television, we deliver it in beautiful 1080p HD, and in Dolby Digital Plus.
Jack: [laughs] That's right. 5.1 surround sound.
Craig: So, Roderick, it's a set-top box. So, what do I need to receive programming, receive signals, and what do I need to hook it up?
Roderick: Sure, sure. So it's incredibly simple to hook up. It connects into your television. If you have a high-definition TV, plug your HDMI cable into VUDU, HDMI cable into your TV, plug it into the Internet, turn it on. One of the things, you'll want to make sure you have a high-speed Internet connection.
Jack: Right.
Roderick: At least 2 megabits per second, if you want standard-definition movies delivered instantly. If you want high-definition movies delivered instantly, you need at least a 4 megabits per second connection.
But that's one of the key things about VUDU: everything that we deliver right now, it's an instant experience. So let's say, for example, come home late from work, I haven't seen No Country for Old Men. I go onto VUDU, flip through the interface, click on it, purchase it. "Watch now." Boom.
Jack: And you're watching the movie.
Roderick: And you're watching the movie.
Jack: So, for the listeners out there, I've got to admit, I am a satisfied customer of VUDU, personally. I bought the box, love it. I cannot say how cool it is to have, at your fingertips, so many movies and TV shows. I mean, it is just the coolest thing. It's truly this promise of the Internet that they've been talking about for so long. And again, I don't want to expound too much. But really, how many movies and TV shows do you think are on VUDU now? I mean, it's an incredible amount.
Roderick: Right. So we launched VUDU in October, and we launched with over 5, 000 movies on the box.
Craig: On the box. On the box.
Roderick: Yeah. On the box, yeah. So, 5, 000 movies that you could access instantly.
Craig: Instantly.
Roderick: That could either be purchased or video-on-demand. And we launched with all the major studios and their content on VUDU. And it's an amazing service. Before I started working at VUDU, I actually purchased one, and I was blown away by the experience.
Jack: It's totally amazing.
Craig: Now, question: do I purchase every movie I watch, or do I pay a monthly subscription and get X amount of movie titles? How does this work?
Roderick: Right, right, right. So VUDU, right now, the product itself is $295. There are no subscription fees. So it's the equivalent of buying, essentially, a DVD player, but an incredibly smart one. It's the equivalent of having like a Blockbuster store sitting in your home.
Jack: In your living room. [laughs] That's right.
Roderick: In your living room. And instead of asking someone, "Is such and such movie available?" you can find it on there. If you want it, you can either purchase it, if it's available for purchase—and that's a function of the studios, if they allow it to be purchased—or you can rent it. And again, that's a function of whether the studios have it within a window where you can rent or buy.
Jack: That's right. Now, what's interesting about when you buy the movie, as opposed to rent it, is it's a little bit different. Could you talk a little bit about the difference between rental and purchase?
Roderick: Sure. So, when you actually purchase a movie, it's burned permanently into VUDU. So VUDU has a 250- gig hard drive in it.
Jack: That's right.
Roderick: And so you'll always own that movie. So it's like, essentially, owning a DVD without creating the waste of a jewel case...
Jack: [laughs] That's right. That's right.
Roderick:... that you'll never use again that's just collecting space up.
Jack: So, just while we're on the subject of purchase, I will give a one-user scenario here. I purchased The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, [laughs] which I use all the time with my 3-year-old. It's there on my VUDU. Anytime she's going a little hyper, it's "sit down," cut on the projector, fire up SpongeBob on the VUDU. And it's great. It's absolutely instantaneous. And it's there for all of time.
Roderick: Yeah. It's probably one of the cheapest babysitting services that we've seen in quite a while.
Jack: It really is. [laughs] It really is.
Craig: So, Roderick, you mentioned, when I purchase the box, these movies are actually preloaded on the box.
Roderick: Actually, the movies are not necessarily preloaded on the box, but they're available on VUDU. Everything we do is delivering the movie using the Internet, so that's why you need your high-speed Internet connection. We'll use the No Country for Old Men example.
Jack: Great movie.
Roderick: Yeah, great movie. Awesome movie. That scene where he taps you on the head.
Jack: Totally. [laughs]
[laughter]
Roderick: Maybe we should spend some time giving away the plots of different movies. I'll make sure everyone hates me.
Jack: "It ends like this." [laughs]
Roderick: So, what happens is you'll start the movie, and right when you start the movie, we load the first couple seconds of each movie on the box.
Craig: OK.
Jack: Buffer it.
Roderick: Yeah. It'll start playing instantly. What happens is our peer-to-peer network—which is proprietary and it's protected, so there aren't security issues—will automatically start looking for other peers that have the content on it, and it will start progressively downloading the movie for you.
Jack: It's very cool.
Craig: Wow.
Jack: But all this happens transparently, right? As far as you know, you push the button and the movie plays. [laughs]
Roderick: Yeah. So that's one of the amazing things about VUDU. There's so much technology in the product, but it's so transparent to the user.
Jack: I know.
Roderick: It's literally you plug it in and you play.
Jack: It goes.
Roderick: I mean, my aunt, who I would say probably has a hard time using an ATM machine right now, she even thought it was that simple.
Jack: [laughs]
Roderick: She's like, "Really? So I plug it into my TV, and then I plug it into the Internet"—I was surprised she had the Internet—"and then I turn it on, and it worked."
Jack: [laughs] Yeah. Absolutely.
Craig: I mean, the user interface really is the key to successful products going far. It really, truly is.
Jack: Absolutely. And it's worth talking about that, too: user interface. Craig. You bring up an interesting point. User interface on VUDU is quite unique. Maybe you should talk a little bit about that.
Roderick: Yeah. So I think this is one of the areas where I think we absolutely nailed the user experience on it. Everything from the actual user interface on the television to the actual remote control is really, incredibly intuitive.
Jack: I know.
Roderick: The remote control, first off, doesn't have that many buttons on it, so it's not like your typical cable or satellite remote, where you have to have an advanced degree in physics to figure out how to change inputs, or go to channel 265 and you either press enter or select and you do different things. It's really the equivalent of a mouse scroll wheel, and you scroll it, and then you literally press on it, just like you would a normal mouse.
Craig: Very cool.
Jack: It's so easy.
Craig: Yeah.
Roderick: And it's radio frequency enabled, so it's incredibly fast and responsive.
Jack: I know. What's cool about it—so, again, I'm a user of the device, so I'll give a little anecdote. The remote control, I just leave on my coffee table. And people always ask me what it is, because it's this cool shape. It's very hard to describe. You'd have to go onto vudu.com and check out pictures of the remote control because it's very, very innovative. But it's so simple. I leave it on the coffee table, and somebody says, "What's this?" And I say, "Try it. Turn it on." Just don't say a word, and people just use it.
Craig: Very intuitive.
Jack: Yeah.
Roderick: So, a kind of case in point. A couple things. Actually, David Pogue from The New York Times gave the VUDU remote—I may mess up exactly what the exact word he gave us, but it was one of the best innovations for 2007. So, that said, before I was working at VUDU, I bought it, and I let my 4-year-old son play around.
Jack: Not a problem.
Roderick: He figured out the UI. He figured out the remote.
Craig: [laughs]
Jack: [laughs]
Roderick: And the next thing you know, $50 later into that experiment...
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: Yes. Yes.
Roderick: I'm like, "Hey, who's buying all the cartoons in Spanish?"
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: So, Roderick, you mentioned that you're doing 1080p. But you are doing standard-definition and high-definition content on VUDU?
Roderick: Yeah, that's correct. So we're actually delivering standard-definition if the asset from the studio is delivered in standard definition, and then high-definition. So, for example, Transformers, when that came out on HD, you could watch it in a 1080p experience. And it was awesome.
Jack: Yeah. I got that one. That was cool.
Craig: So, if I'm watching HD, Roderick, is there a premium for HD content on VUDU?
Roderick: Yeah. So HD content, which is usually video-on-demand, is usually a dollar more.
Craig: That's not bad.
Roderick: No, not at all. It's an amazing experience.
Craig: A dollar more for high-definition? That's great.
Jack: Yeah. And we didn't really cover rental. I do want to jump into rental. We talked a lot about purchase, but let's talk a little bit about rental. What is the average rental cost?
Roderick: So the average rental is usually anywhere between $3.99 to $4.99. It really depends upon, if it's a new release, it's obviously going to be on the $4.99. But, if it's something older and in the library, you're going to pay a little bit less.
Jack: And the difference between rental and purchase... I told the story about purchasing a movie, and it's just on the box anytime you want it. But rental works a little bit differently. Can you talk about that?
Roderick: Yeah. Fundamentally, it works the same way, actually. Both assets are burned onto the hard drive, with the exception of, when it's a rental, it'll be written over after the 24-hour period.
Jack: Right. Right.
Roderick: And within that 24-hour period, you can actually watch the movie as many times as you like.
Craig: That's cool.
Jack: That's right. That's right. Now, you get 24 hours, when you start the movie.
Roderick: That's correct. So it's 24 hours from when you start the movie. Essentially, the rules are you have 30 days to watch it.
Jack: You have 30 days, which is cool.
Roderick: 30 days to watch it.
Jack: I mean, that's one heck of a rental, right? [laughs]
Roderick: Yeah. No, it's 30 days to watch it once you purchase it.
Jack: Right. But once you've started it, you start the 24-hour clock.
Roderick: You have, essentially, a 24-hour period.
Craig: So you could decide mid-week what you want to watch on the weekend, order the stuff, and then...
Jack: Totally. And then it's just sitting there. Yeah. Absolutely.
Craig: Yeah. That's cool. That's very cool.
Jack: It's very cool. It's absolutely cool.
Craig: So we're going to take a break again. But when we come back, I want to talk to Roderick about how we hook a VUDU box up to our home theater system.
Jack: Absolutely.
[musical interlude]
Craig: Hey, listeners, got a question for Dolbycast? Contact us at dolbycast@dolby.com, or our new toll-free number, 888-6-DOLBYC.
[musical interlude]
Craig: And we're back at Dolbycast, here in Studio B at 100 Potrero.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: Welcome back, Jack.
Jack: Yeah, welcome back.
Craig: And welcome back to our very special guest, Mr. Roderick Alemania from VUDU.
Jack: That's right. Now, we wanted to talk a little bit about connections. And Craig, you had some questions regarding how to hook up the VUDU, what are all the different kinds of connections?
Craig: So let's start at the low end of the process, if you will, OK? So, Roderick, I have an analog television set with component video, composite video, S-Video. Can I utilize those connections on the back of my television set with a VUDU box?
Roderick: Yes, you can. We've developed the VUDU so you can essentially watch it on any TV, whether it be your grandma's rabbit ears TV...
[laughter]
Craig: I've got my card here!
[laughter]
Roderick: All the way to the high-end, high-definition TVs that have HDMI. So we've made it a product that essentially anyone can use.
Craig: OK. So let's graduate to a high-definition display, because I know Jack has one.
Jack: Yes. You have one.
Craig: We all have one, right? So, you said you had HDMI.
Roderick: Yes.
Craig: So the HDMI will carry an audio stream as well as a high-definition video stream.
Roderick: Correct.
Craig: You've also got component video output?
Roderick: Yes.
Craig: OK. And if I use component video out on my VUDU box, I'd want to have an optical out on the back of my VUDU box to connect to my home theater receiver also.
Roderick: Have it.
Jack: Cool.
Craig: Excellent.
Jack: And coaxial as well.
Roderick: That's correct.
Craig: So, channel 3, channel 4...
Roderick: You are correct, sir.
Jack: [laughs] This is amazing.
Craig: Wow.
Jack: Basically, any possible connection, pretty much, you guys have.
Craig: That's cool.
Roderick: It slices. It dices. It's amazing.
Jack: What's cool for me, though, is the HDMI. One cable, audio and video. You literally plug in the HDMI on your TV into the VUDU, you're done. It's great.
Craig: And I should also mention that VUDU was one of our first partners with Dolby Digital Plus.
Jack: Absolutely. So, Roderick, why did you guys choose Dolby Digital Plus?
Roderick: Well, we're delivering a really high-quality experience to our customers, and service. And if we're going to provide an HD signal in 1080p, we should do something that also reflects the actual sound.
Jack: That's right.
Roderick: I mean, who would want to watch something in HD if it came out in stereo?
Jack: [laughs] That's right.
Roderick: It's like buying a Porsche and putting regular gas in it.
Jack: [laughs] That's right. That's right. So you guys chose Dolby Digital Plus.
Roderick: Correct.
Jack: And one of the cool things about the VUDU is that all the movies are in Dolby Digital Plus, but when they get down to your box, your box is actually turning that Dolby Digital Plus signal into a Dolby Digital signal, so that it's compatible with any receiver out there with Dolby Digital.
Roderick: Yep. That's correct.
Jack: I mean, that's just amazing.
Roderick: Like I said, what we've done a great job is making the user experience so plug-and-play and so easy for anyone, depending upon if you have the gazillion dollar high-end system or just my grandma's TV.
Jack: Yeah.
Roderick: And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to plug it in. It figures it all out for you.
Craig: So hook up your component video and your optical out, and you can select Dolby Digital on your AV receiver, and you're there.
Jack: And you're done.
Craig: Or you could just do a single connection with the HDMI cable, and that cable would carry your high-definition video as well as a Dolby Digital signal.
Jack: Your Dolby Digital.
Craig: It's decoded by your AV receiver. You're in business.
Jack: And you're done. And what's cool is it's just so simple to set up. I cannot emphasize that enough. The way you guys designed that box—I mean, it's just a no-brainer, right? You plug it in and you're done. It's just too cool. It's just too cool the way you set it up.
Roderick: The best part about the VUDU experience, though, really, is it's easy to set up, but more importantly, you get what you want instantly.
Jack: Yeah.
Roderick: People can talk about the technology here, the technology there. At the end of the day, people see a movie, they want to watch it, they want to have a great experience—or a television show, or whatever you might see on TV. The great thing about VUDU: it's easy to find. You hit "Buy now" or "Rent now", "Watch now" and boom.
Jack: [laughs] And there you are.
Roderick: There you are.
Jack: High-def, 5.1.
Craig: I would even wager that VUDU might even be green, because when you consider that gasoline is $3.71 a gallon...
Jack: That's true. Well, that's just it.
Craig: Think about it.
Jack: The number of nights we've been sitting there in my living room, and I've got a stack of movies over here. "What movie do you want?" And, "Oh, I don't want to watch any of those movies." And, a-ha, now I just turn on the VUDU box and I say, "I have so many movies here, there is no way we are not going to find something to watch." And we don't even have to get up off the couch.
Roderick: It's great. Take, for example, by the time this podcast comes out, we'll have Juno. Having 2 kids, I don't get a chance to go to the movie theaters. And stuff like that, where I can see Juno instantly...
Jack: [laughs] Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's right. Well, listen, Roderick, thank you so much for coming in.
Craig: Thanks a lot, Roderick.
Jack: For all our listeners, I'm sure they appreciated this. If you're wondering about VUDU, the website is vudu.com.
Roderick: Yeah, www.vudu.com.
Craig: I just want to ask one last question.
Jack: OK. Yes, yes.
Craig: Where can I buy a VUDU box?
Roderick: So you can actually buy a VUDU at several places.
Craig: Other than going over to Jack's house and lifting his.
Jack: [laughs] Yeah, right.
Craig: [laughs]
Roderick: We're selling VUDU, currently, online on our website.
Craig: OK.
Roderick: We actually just launched a relationship with Best Buy.
Craig: Oh, really?
Jack: Oh, that's great.
Roderick: Yeah. We launched the initial relationship in Southern California Best Buys, so you can buy them down there. Magnolia, or Tweeter on the East Coa st. Or if you're doing something on the high-end side, a lot of the high-end home theater installers, we have a relationship with.
Craig: Any international plans?
Roderick: Yeah. We need to nail the US first, but absolutely. VUDU is ready to scale internationally. Take, for example, if I go out and acquire the ultimate Bollywood collection, I mean, you have a small, little population in India that would just love something like that.
Jack: [laughs] Right. There might be a few people interested in that.
Craig: Just a few.
Roderick: Just a few.
Jack: Well, listen, for all our listeners, if you want to learn more, again, the website is vudu.com. I highly recommend this device. It is absolutely game-changing. Very amazing. Roderick, thank you for coming in.
Roderick: Thanks for having me.
Jack: Craig, until next time, sir.
Craig: Thank you for inviting Roderick.
Jack: [laughs] Any time. Any time.
Craig: You know what? This was great.
Jack: Please come back. All right.
Craig: Thanks, Roderick.
Roderick: Thanks for having me.
Jack: All right. One last thing. One last thing. Dolbycast@dolby.com if you've got any questions about VUDU or you've got any questions for us here at Dolby...
Craig: And the magic phone number.
Jack: Oh! Everyone's favorite phone number...
Jack and Craig: [together] 1-888-6-DOLBYC.
Jack: That, again, is 1-888, the number six, Dolby, the letter C. So, please, call us. Write us. If you've got any questions for VUDU or Dolby, we'll be happy to answer them on-air. See you again next time.
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