Vudu 2.0 out in December

Just after announcing their upcoming PS3 version, Vudu has demonstrated their version 2.0. This update features mostly a better user interface that takes into account that screens are now wide (16:9). To reflect that, Vudu has used the real-estate in a different way, allowing for more information to be visible. For example, basic movie information is now available on the same screen that you use for browsing. There’s no need to go into “info” and go back – except if you want to see all the details. Vudu 2.0 will also feature personalized recommendations based on your usage pattern (a little like Netflix).

The rest is pretty much the same, but with a better, more practical presentation. Vudu 2.0 will come out in December on all platform at once. That’s possible because there’s only an embryo of a “Vudu app” installed on each machine. Vudu is a pure web-based service and even the user-interface is rendered on a remote server and streamed back to your device (I bet that the Netflix folks are so jealous of that…). Because of that, they can roll out a new version to everybody — at once. Cool stuff.

At the moment, what’s really missing are the TV shows, and possibly some freebies, but it looks like the best paid video streaming… just got better.

PS: to be clear, Vudu for PS3 on November 23 is 1.x. The PS3 will get 2.0 in December like everyone else.