If Vongo gets their way, you'll be seeing Starz!

January 04, 2006 at 01:02 AM in Movies | TV

Starz Entertainment Group has launched Vongo. Vongo is touting its service as better than services like NetFlix and Blockbuster in that it is offering a $9.95 a month Movie service that requires no mailers, no trips to the rental store and best of all, you get to keep the videos anywhere from several days or weeks to several months depending on the title. How do they do it? Vongo uses broadband delivery to get the movies to you. That in itself is nothing new but as the download begins, approximately 30 seconds after starting the download, you can begin watching the video full screen on your PC or optionally on your TV if your PC has TV Out. You can watch a multitude of movies without waiting for them to be qued up and mailed to you and you get to keep the movies as long as Vongo has licensing rights. It's 100% legit, 100% legal and you can even watch live streams of Starz! Movie channel through the service. Finally the media providers are getting the right idea.

I downloaded the client software and my first reactions to it are very good. It has you register with them, you can pick from 2 options, Free service which allows for pay as you go viewing or the $9.95 a month unlimited service where you have unlimited download capability. They do require a minimum 300Kbps download speed on your connection and they show you right in the registration window how fast your speed is which is handy. I opted for the Free service with the option to upgrade at any time to the $9.95 a month service. Digging deeper into the FAQs, Vongo lists the following system requirements:

Vongo System/Account Requirements:

U.S-based Internet address

Broadband connection with a download speed of 100 kilobytes per second or higher for Pay Per View, 300 kilobytes per second or higher for Vongo Membership

Windows Media Player 9 or higher

Windows 2000, XP or later

One gigabyte of available hard drive space (3 gigabytes recommended)

700 MHz Intel Pentium III processor or greater (supports simultaneous record/playback features) 128MB of RAM

Full Duplex sound card and speakers

16-bit sound card and speakers

65,000-color video display card set to display at 1024 X 764 or higher

Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Windows XP.

Portable Media Device Requirements:

Portable Media Device with Windows Portable Media Center (PMC) V.2

Does Vongo use DRM? You better bet they do but this is so they are able to deliver great quality movies, granted not full DVDs, to you over broadband for less than NetFlix charges for DVD rentals. I have been using NetFlix for some time now and have enjoyed their service but the possibility of having a movie I want to watch on demand is a tempting idea. Check Vongo out yourself at www.vongo.com