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Vudu vs. Hulu vs. Movies Anywhere: Full Comparison & Verdict 2024

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Vudu vs. Hulu vs. Movies Anywhere: Full Comparison & Verdict 2024

Major cable and satellite TV providers have lost about 25 million subscribers over the past decade, according to research firm eMarketer. More and more people choose to subscribing streaming services to watch movies, shows and live sports. Vudu, Hulu and Movies Anywhere are three most pupular streaming services on the market, you may be confused which one to choose? In this article, I will make a detailed comparison between Vudu, Hulu and Movies Anywhere from price, library content, streaming quality and supported devices etc. to help you decide which streaming services to use.

Cover Photo:vudu.com

Vudu vs. Hulu vs. Movies Anywhere: Overview

Vudu

Founded by Alain Rossman and Tony Miranz, Vudu provides streaming service of full-length movies in the US and Canada. It has been owned by Walmart since 2010. As both a digital rental and purchase outlet and a free streaming service, Vudu covers two major areas of modern on-demand viewing. There are more than 200,000 selections available to rent or buy. Movies are available on the platform the very same day they’re released on DVD. Plus, for a small fee, you can upload old DVDs or Blu-ray discs to create a digital copy that can be watched anywhere at any time.

Source:vudu.com

On the free streaming side, Vudu offers a rotating lineup of movies and TV episodes that can be watched without a subscription, although it doesn’t include any original content. The free section includes ads that can't be fast-forwarded and is similar to free ad-supported streaming services like Tubi and Pluto TV.

PROS	CONS
Big library of rentals and digital video purchases	Most rentals only last 24 hours
Crisp “HDX” video quality: 1080p at 24 FPS	Can't rent some movies
Some movies available in 4K UHD
“Disc to Digital” feature
Offer a lot of free movies and TV episodes

Hulu
Hulu was founded in 2007 through a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast, and AT&T. Originally, the service focused on its over-the-top on-demand streaming service as a cord-cutting rival for Netflix, which first garnered popularity for its DVD-by-mail offerings. Today, Hulu offers both on-demand streaming and a live TV option, which allows viewers to tune in to live channels that were once only available through cable subscriptions.

Source:hulu.com

Hulu's main draw is its plethora of cable TV shows, making it a different style of streaming service than Netflix.Hulu's cable TV content is extremely varied and includes shows from ABC, Adult Swim, Fox, FX, NBC, and many other networks. It is currently available in the US and its territories and Japan, with 23 million subscribers.

PROS	CONS
New content almost daily	Only two people can stream at once
Excellent selection of TV series	Base on-demand plan includes ads
Extensive live TV channel lineup
Original content is great
Available on nearly every media streaming device

Movies Anywhere

Movies Anywhere was originally a service owned by Disney before it rebranded in its current form and became the digital locker so many users love today.Movies Anywhere lets you store your digital media that purchased from major digital movie stores. These include Movies Anywhere itself, where you can buy movies directly, as well as Apple’s iTunes Movie Store, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, Microsoft, and a few more.

Source:moviesanywhere.com

Before Movies Anywhere, if you wanted to watch those movies you would need to do so via the iTunes app and Amazon Prime Video app respectively. No matter if you wanted to watch them on your TV or smartphone, you'd need to open an app for each movie if you bought them in different stores. There was no one place you could see ALL your purchased movies from different stores on your device. However, Movies Anywhere, as the name suggests, is for movies only. It’s not a cloud storage solution like Google Drive or OneDrive.

PROS	CONS
No monthly fee required	Movies from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM will not migrate to your list
A wide range of films to choose
Supports 4K

Vudu vs. Hulu vs. Movies Anywhere: Full Comparison

1. Price

Vudu

Vudu isn't a subscription service, so there's no base monthly price. Vudu offers individual rentals and purchases of movies and TV shows, with rental prices varying from around $3.99 for older movies to up to $19.99 for recent theatrical releases. For some movie options, SD and HD are the same price, but for most the HD version is a dollar more. In addition to individual digital rentals and purchases, Vudu also offers a rotating selection of movies and TV shows that can be watched for free with ads, with no subscription or rental fee required.

Hulu

Hulu's ad-supported,on-demand streaming plan now costs $7.99 per month. To avoid ads, you need to spring for the $14.99-per-month plan. You can bundle Hulu (ad-supported version), Disney+, and ESPN+ for $13.99 per month or get the ad-free version of Hulu in that same bundle for $19.99 per month. College students can get the ad-free version of Hulu for $1.99 per month. The $69.99-per-month Hulu + Live TV (plus ESPN+) plan bundles the service's live TV component with ad-supported access to its on-demand library. If you want Hulu's live channels and the ad-free on-demand package, that costs $75.99 per month.

Movies Anywhere

Movies Anywhere's all the great features are absolutely free to sign up and use, you only pay for the movies you want to add to your collection via purchases made through your connected digital retailers. No subscription fee, no commitments, no extra charges – ever. With Movies Anywhere, you have the option to purchase your favorite movies through any of your connected digital retailer accounts.

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2. Library Content

Vudu

Vudu offers both the paid content and the free ad-supported content. You can buy or rent movies or TV shows. Among its offerings for paid rentals and purchases, Vudu features more than 200,000 selections, including major new releases, some of which are still playing in theaters, and a wide range of older titles, from classics to obscurities.

New releases currently available to rent or buy include several recent Oscar nominees and winners, including Parasite, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Little Women, and 1917. There are also plenty of James Bond films to keep 007 fans busy, as well as endless child-friendly choices like Frozen 2 and Hook.

Variety also exists in the Vudu TV show category. Crime fans can watch the entirety of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Homeland, while comedy enthusiasts can laugh their heads off to the likes of Modern Family, Seinfeld, and 30 Rock. If you opt to rent a movie, know that you have 30 days to watch it. But once you’ve started watching, you’ll only have 24 hours to finish the film.

The free ad-supported library is significantly smaller, but with more than 10,000 movies and shows, it’s still very compelling. There’s a lot of direct-to-video schlock you’ve probably never heard of, like a movie called Medusa about a lady with snakes in her hair. There are also some recent movies like Snowpiercer and Under the Skin, shows like Alf and Hell’s Kitchen, and even some anime like Naruto.
One major weakness Vudu has compared to other video streaming services is its lack of original movies and shows.

Hulu

Hulu's real strength is the thousands of TV shows, as the service has partnered with the big four broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Those channels' top shows are available to stream the day after they premiere, and Hulu also keeps deep back catalogs of many shows. Some cable networks are in the mix as well, such as FX, Bravo, Lifetime, TNT, and Comedy Central, but they don't typically give you the latest season or episodes.

Like Netflix, Hulu has been making more and more of a push towards original content. Some of the best original releases include Castle Rock, Harlots, Helstrom, High Fidelity, Little Fires Everywhere, Marvel's Runaways, The Handmaid's Tale, and Veronica Mars. Ramy and The Act both won Golden Globe awards.

In addition, although best known as a TV service, Hulu has gradually beefed up its movie offerings. You'll find everything from Arrival, Creed, and The Magnificent Seven to Star Trek Beyond and Colossal. Hulu does produce some original movies, such as Happiest Season, Palm Springs (which was nominated for a Golden Globe), Prey, and Run.

Hulu also offers a strong selection of kids' programming, including Cartoon Network favorites like Adventure Time and Steven Universe. It also has a surprisingly vast array of anime on demand, including more than 1,000 episodes of Naruto series along with hits like Bleach, One Piece, Sailor Moon, and My Hero Academia.

Hulu's documentary section features many celebrity biopics. For example, from The Beatles to B.B. King, there are documentaries about the life and times of many beloved musicians.

Movies Anywhere

Movies Anywhere, the streaming hub that pulls together films you purchase for a variety of digital stores.
Here's the current list of digital storefronts that you can link together with your Movies Anywhere account:

iTunes;
Amazon Prime Video;
Vudu;
Google Play/YouTube;
Microsoft;
Xfinity (for Xfinity TV subscribers only);
Verizon Fios TV (for Verizon Fios TV subscribers only);
DIRECTV (for DIRECTV subscribers only).

Movies Anywhere features a wide range of films from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures (including DreamWorks and Illumination Entertainment), The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Twentieth Century Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), and Warner Bros. Entertainment. At this time, movies from non-participating studios such as Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM are not eligible and will not migrate to your movie collection.

Movies Anywhere's content team classifies the films and there are around 2,000 different potential categories as things stand. These are centered around things like genres, franchises, people (say, actors, directors or composers) and themes.It is worthing mentioned that Movies Anywhere does not work with TV shows. As the name of the service suggests, it only works with actual movies.

3. Streaming Quality

Vudu

Vudu has an exclusive type of HD known as “HDX.” HDX streams in 1080p at 24 frames per second, which is similar to HD titles on other services. But Vudu says its quality is better because, among other things, it encodes videos at a higher bitrate. In addition, Vudu also contains an impressive selection of 4K Ultra HD rentals. You can find at least 300 titles in that format.

Hulu

Hulu can stream in different qualities, but without granular options. There are two quality control settings to choose from: Data Saver, which is meant to limit data consumption if you have a stingy bandwidth cap, and Best Available, which does what it says. When selecting Best Available, Hulu’s streaming resolutions and bitrates will automatically jump between the following:

Standard Definition (SD): 1.5 Mbps
High Definition (HD) 720p: 3 Mbps
High Definition (HD) 1080p: 6 Mbps
4K Ultra HD: 16 Mbps

Hulu's originals can also be streamed in high-dynamic range (HDR), HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision on select devices.

Movies Anywhere

If you bought a 4K digital movie, it will stream at that resolution on the app, assuming your device or platform can support it. However, the app currently only supports movies with the HDR10 standard. It does not support movies that use the competing Dolby Vision HDR standard.

4. Supported Devices

Vudu

Vudu works on a broad range of devices, from certain smart TVs and streaming platforms to most phones and game consoles. The currently supported device list reads as follows: Android devices, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, iOS devices, PlayStation 3 and 4, Roku, Smart TVs (select models from LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio), TiVo, Web browsers, Windows 10 devices, Xbox 360 and One.

Hulu

You and your kids can watch Hulu on most devices, including the following: iPhones, iPads, Android smartphones and tablets, Apple TV (4th generation or later), Android TV, Fire TV, Roku, Chromecast, LG TV, Samsung TV, VIZIO Smartc=Cast TV, Fire tablets, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 3 and 4, Xfinity Flex and X1 set-top boxes.

Movies Anywhere

Movies Anywhere Supported viewing devices include Android smartphones, Android TV, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, PlayStation 4, Roku TV, Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and Xbox One. Movies Anywhere can also be viewed on a Samsung Smart TV, a Mac or Windows PC, other smart TVs, or any other device. It's also accessible through a variety of services that support its streaming app or other apps that sync with its collection.

5. Simultaneous Streams

Vudu

Up to eight people can log on to one Vudu account, but the service only provides three simultaneous streams.

Hulu

Hulu's simultaneous viewing options is limited. Subscribers can only stream from up to two screens at a time regardless of subscription tier unless they also have Hulu’s Live TV subscription. Hulu will start kicking people as soon as any more than two begin tuning in at once.

Movies Anywhere

You can concurrently stream your movies and videos from a signed-in Movies Anywhere account on up to four different devices, but you may only stream the same movie on two devices at one time.

Bottom Line

Vudu vs. Hulu vs. Movies Anywhere: Which one Should I Choose?

There is no doubt Vudu, Hulu and Movies Anywhere are all great streaming services on the market.Ultimately, your particular needs will determine which plat form to choose.

As both a digital rental and purchase outlet and a free streaming service, Vudu covers two major areas of modern on-demand viewing. Vudu’s free library is what many flock to the service for. It’s also a go-to resource for anyone looking to rent movies and TV episodes to watch right away.

Thanks to a great selection of original shows and movies—as well as on-demand broadcasts and optional live sports, Hulu is a dependable option for streaming new and classic shows, as well as live TV on nearly every platform. If you prefer a traditional subscription and want access to exciting original shows along with other perks, Hulu is an excellent choice.

Movies Anywhere is a service that lets you sync your movie purchases across participating digital retailers, including Vudu.It is a great place for movie fans to build up their digital libraries, with permanent access to any movies they purchase.