Vudu and its funky remote

Set-top box provider Vudu is making moves to better compete with competitor Apple TV.

Having recently brought its price down to $300 for its video downloading box, Vudu's followed suit with its HD movies, which are now in the same price range as Apple's, starting at around $4.

Vudu also updated its software. It added 80 movies to its library in addition to an instant-HD indicator that alerts users when broadband access is high enough for the box to handle HD content. Vudu tends to run slower if users don't have a connection of 2.0 Mbps or greater.

Wired applauds Vudu's user interface redesign, since this is expected to be one of the more important features of set-top boxes in the years to come.