All through April, we’ve been comparing video-on-demand services to find the best match for our readers. This time, the Netflix juggernaut is pitted against Walmart’s Vudu service, which offers an impressively technical picture quality. Netflix has its problems with the streaming service, not least is the buffering, and it’s available in 1080p via your game console, but can Vudu’s own digital conversion convince FilmBuffs to switch over?

Formerly a set-top box company, the Walmart-owned Vudu has been concentrating on its VOD services recently. It has some impressive technical features regarding film quality, but is it worth the price of a rental?

Price: The pay-on-demand service is around 99 cents to $5.99 for a one-time rental, depending on whether you’re renting in SD, HD or HDX (which we’ll come back to) and special promotions.

Selection: A solid selection of major movie releases and quite recent, too. Movies are generally released on the same day as the DVD, as opposed to Netflix’s 28-day delay. There’s a lot of TV on here, as well, and they offer the pilot episode of the long-awaited (for, ahem, certain people) The Legend of Korra ahead of its release. Vudu also offers some indie movies while they’re still in theaters, although the rental cost for these is usually a little higher.

Ease-of-Use: There are a few search functions available, such as genre-tagging, by director name or by actor, and the results turn up in an interface similar to IMDB’s. Vudu also sorts movies into themed collections, like a more generic version of those you see on FilmBuff. Plus, there’s actually a FilmBuff collection.

Devices: Vudu is available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and pretty much every standard Blu-ray players and HDTVs (if you’re not using something you bought at a shady Chinese market), and the web interface is standardized for tablets.

X Factor: Vudu’s proprietary HDX format can do a whole bunch of things: primarily it offers Blu-ray-like HD picture quality over a broadband connection. It’s not quite as good as Blu-ray, but it does a whole lot of interesting things, such as processing contrast values in real-time to eliminate noise and preserving original film grain in a way most digital conversions won’t. Vudu’s commitment to how a film not only looks but feels is impressive. It is, however, the most expensive format in which to rent movies.

Netflix is the leading VOD service in the United States. Alongside its VOD services, Netflix is also a DVD distribution service that works on a mailing system. Lately, the pricing is complicated. You already know this from our previous post on Netflix.

Price: $7.99 for unlimited streaming and another $7.99 for unlimited DVDs to your house, plus an extra $2 for Blu-ray discs.

Selection: An estimated 17,000 titles are available for streaming. There’s a lot of good stuff and a lot of not-so-good. There’s a wide range of older movies and TV shows that you can’t find on other VOD services, so on selection alone, Netflix probably beats Vudu.

Ease-of-Use: In theory, all you need is an Internet connection. The recommendation service leaves a lot to be desired (someone should make a Tumblr blog out of their hilarious categorization errors, if that’s not already a thing).

Devices: Windows and Mac computers, iPhone, iPad, Windows 7 phones, Roku, TiVo, the new Apple TV, Google TV, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, HDTV sets and Blu-ray players.

X Factor: Netflix stores a petabyte of data on its servers, which includes master copies of movies from studios encoded into 50 different versions, each based on video and audio quality. It’s not quite as technically amazing as Vudu’s HDX conversion, but the sheer scale of it is awe-inspiring.

WINNER

Both services have their ups and downs, but in terms of picture quality, Vudu is unrivalled.

But with VOD, the question is “how good does my Internet connection need to be?” and the answer for Netflix is a measly 500 kilobytes per second, minimum. Compare that with a whole megabyte for Vudu’s SD service. We don’t even want to think about what you’d need for their HDX format (a quick Google search tells us it’s 4.5Mbps). ‘Buffs need to ask themselves whether it’s worth paying their providers through the nose for the experience.

In the last few years, there’s been a shift in the moviegoing norm toward watching movies on the computer, rather than on DVD or Blu-Ray. But if you’ve put down some serious capital on a large TV, you’re probably going to want to kick back on the couch and stream Shame (okay, Hot Tub Time Machine) in eye-blistering HD. Chances are, you don’t want to fuss around with the interface too much, either; who wants to click through menu screens for half an hour just to find something he might like?

Two video-on-demand services offer the kind of service you’re looking for: Hulu Plus and soon-to-be newcomer Voddler. But which one is the better option for the comfortable FilmBuff?

As it stands, Hulu is very much the standard for many a FilmBuff household. The basic service is a constantly-updated selection of TV shows from providers like NBC and Comedy Central. Back in the dark days of November 2010, the Plus service was launched, which offers a greater selection of movies and TV shows for a monthly price.

Price: $7.99 per month for unlimited streaming of everything in the Hulu Plus library.

Selection: It’s practically overwhelming in the TV section, but the movies on offer leave a little to be desired. That said, there’s some interesting stuff in here, such as the cult favorite, Ip Man, and even some Rifftrax (a modern-day Mystery Science Theatre 3000), as well as some interesting documentaries. But it seems Hulu is still very much a TV-on-demand service rather than a movie-on-demand one; the selection can be a bit weird. What the hell is Titanica?

There is, however, an exclusive range of movies from the Criterion collection, which might swing the vote. It depends on your priorities: would you rather watch a whole season of Lost or a single hit of Good Will Hunting?

Picture Quality: One of the benefits of handing over eight of your hard-earned dollars is the TV-quality HD streaming. We can’t find fault with it. It’s glorious.

Accessibility: The interface is minimalist, the selections are ranked in order of popularity which is, as you’ll know if you’ve ever attempted to use a VOD service, a huge boon. FilmBuff has spent whole evening lost in catalogs sorted by alphabetical or — movie gods, help us  — ‘by rating’ algorithms. However, browsing with a TV remote can be a little frustrating.

Devices: Windows and Mac computers (through Hulu.com or the desktop application), most iDevices, Roku, PlayStation 3, TiVo Premiere, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and some HDTV and Blu-ray players.

X Factor: As well as the devices we listed above, Hulu Plus is also available for the Nintendo 3DS. Bizarre? Slightly. But you’ve got to respect a company that offers HD streaming on a three-inch screen; that’s the kind of forward-thinking FilmBuff can’t help but appreciate.

The Scandinavian VOD service Voddler has been touted the “Spotify of movies,” either because of its peer-to-peer service, or because it’s taking a while getting to the United States. Although it may not be here yet, Voddler does have a couple of features that could make it worth the wait: it’s primarily designed with large TVs in mind, and the movies are never streamed from a central server but rather from the nearest customers to you. It’s a unique approach, which is why it’s gaining so much attention from the international movie industry.

Right now the biggest downside is that Voddler is in the beta phase of development and only available in the Nordic European countries, so unless you’re in Denmark, Finland, Sweden or Norway (or you’ve got a good proxy service), you’re out of luck. However, the company is expanding to North American and European markets very soon (the Spanish launch took place on March 23rd).

Price: Ad-based: newer releases are available with a ‘Plus’ subscription or on a pay-per-view basis (37 SEK, or about $5), but you can stream older movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Nines for free, as long as you don’t mind a couple of ads before the movie starts.

Selection: As far as selection goes, the library is a little eclectic. The new releases aren’t always that new (we spotted Killers in the pay-per-view section, and we’d hesitate to call that new), but the quality and variety are solid. Meanwhile, the free-to-view movies are, for the most part, the kind of DVDs you might find in a bargain bin. It looks like it will be worth paying for the Voddler Plus service when it rolls out over here.

Picture Quality: User reviews range from acceptable to excellent, which would indicate it depends on your Internet connection. Overall, it’s comparable with the BBC’s iPlayer, which has been setting the gold standard for streaming video-on-demand for a few years now.

Accessibility: The interface is large, chunky and perfectly clear; exactly the kind of menu you’d want to browse from the other side of the room. The Voddler website also gets bonus points for explaining its error codes from the sidebar, so if there’s a snafu, you know exactly what’s gone wrong. But…

Devices: You’re going to have to connect your laptop to the TV screen. It’s not all that difficult (all you usually need is a cable). Voddler is available on Mac and Windows systems, as well as a variety of portable devices: specifically, iDevices and Android or Symbian-enabled smartphones.

X Factor: Aside from the “do I have to get up and mess around with it?” question, Voddler is also striking deals with a great number of international distributors, which should allow for a greater selection of foreign movies in the future.

Winner

Hulu Plus wins out for its accessibility to the U.S. market, particularly in that you can stream from your gaming consoles, but Voddler might be something to keep in mind when your subscription runs out.