Walmart's Vudu Spark streaming stick now available for $25, free after offers

[Shawn Knight]

After appearing in an FCC filing last November, Walmart’s streaming media dongle is now available for purchase online and at select retail locations.

Much like its competition, the Vudu Spark is an HDMI dongle that connects to your television using HDMI and draws power via USB. Hopefully your telly has a USB port as there isn’t a USB power brick included in the kit. You also get a wireless remote that looks sufficient enough for the job.

Priced at $24.95, the Vudu Spark appears to be a steal as it supports 1080p video playback and up to 7.1 digital surround sound. And for a limited time, buyers also get a $5 credit each month for the first five months which essentially makes the dongle free of charge over the long haul.

So, what’s the catch?

With the Vudu Spark, you don’t get access to Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go or any other service you can think of. That’s because the Spark only connects to Walmart’s Vudu network. Sure, you’ll find over 100,000 titles on Vudu but the lack of functionality will likely be a deal-breaker for many.

What’s more, Vudu is already available as an app on several existing platforms so it’s hard to see why anyone would be interested in the Spark over a do-it-all solution like Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku Streaming Stick, etc.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59513-walmart-vudu-spark-streaming-stick-now-available-25.html

 

[Uncle Al]

I'm all for anything that sends the message to the cable companies that they better start allowing the customer to tailor what they want for a reasonable price. I'm tired of so many on line shopping channels and "crap TV" channels, then having my old favorites now moved into tier 2 so they can charge me more for another bundle I don't need.

 

[Tanstar]

If there is a $5 credit for the first 5 months, doesn't that mean their is a monthly service charge?. If not, then what are they applying that credit to? That is information this article is missing

 

[tipstir]

I had a few devices that gave me $5 each so it was fun. But the real cost is the better the HD like HDX those cost the most. It's more of rental online shot per movie. They had RCA box for the same amount to use VUDU service. But like my SONY N100 and N200 Network Media Players they can now access VUDU with the latest patch from SONY.