Vudu SELLS 3D Movies, You Just...Can't Watch Them?!

 

I have gotten a few e-mails about 3D movie on Vudu.  As you are all aware I am a staunch support of disks.  I refuse to buy digital content unless I absolutely have to.  I want to own my content, I don't entirely trust the cloud, and I don't like the idea that stuff I buy digitally can be taken away with the click of a button.  Heck, I want to pass on my massive movie collection on to friends, and even Apple won't really let you do that.  I made this site because I want to fully support BluRay 3D and (hopefully) Ultra BluRay 3D formats in the future.  That said... I understand where many of my readers are coming from.  Yes, it would be nice to have "Frozen" (which seems to have become an unofficial mascot here) on BluRay 3D, but if a digital copy is all we're going to get here... well, then some of you want to know how THAT experience is!

I must begrudgingly admit that this curiosity makes a whole lot of sense.

While I don't want 3D movies in digital format (the streaming quality is MUCH more unpredictable), it is a reality that for some people a digital copy is better than no copy at all, so I decided to take it upon myself to see how the quality of a stream held up.  Since Vudu is the only major streaming site I can think of that sells movies in 3D I decided to start there.

Thankfully, Vudu made this easy by grouping off their 3D offerings into a separate category so I could browse the selection.  I also noticed that some Disney 3D shorts were being sold, and since the idea was to judge the 3D experience on experiences that likely weren't coming to disk, those seemed like a good place to start.  I picked up "Toy Story: Small Fry" and "Tangled Ever After."  I want into the app to view them and was shocked to discover there was no "Watch" button.  Yes, despite the fact that I have a 3D TV, the Xbox One is 3D capable, AND the fact that I've watched BluRay 3D disks on this thing MULTIPLE times, for some reason I can't stream 3D content on Vudu!  This makes so little sense I am almost at a loss for words.  Of course, while Vudu has always been my service of choice for my digital movie locker, the app IS pretty backwards thinking in several key areas (it probably deserves a special blog post all to itself in the future)!

One thing for sure is that this is something worth investigating further.  Is this a basic feature of the Vudu app?  What about Vudu on PlayStation 4 or *snicker* Wii U?  What about BluRay player apps?  I'm assuming the smart TV apps will pick up the 3D, but the point is EVERYTHING should be playable in 3D so long as the consumer has the proper setup!  What's the point of selling the content at all if people can't even view it?!  We'll be looking into this in more detail in the near future.  In the meantime, if anyone at Vudu wants to reach out to us and clarify what systems/devices will play 3D (and how) that would be very useful!