Vongo (video on demand service)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Vongo was a
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
service, owned by Liberty Media/
The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...
's Starz Entertainment, parent company of the Starz network, that allowed users to download and view movies for a fixed price per month. As of August 1, 2008, Vongo stopped accepting new subscribers and was discontinued on September 30, 2008.


Service provided

"Vongo" was a service that allowed users to rent movies by download. It provided access to the Starz television channel, and contained a small library of movies. It also included a
Pay Per View Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
option. Starz Vongo had a small and growing selection of titles; more movies added weekly; satisfactory video quality; compatible with Portable Media Center 2.0 devices; some movies available with DVD-like bonus materials. In October 2007, Starz Entertainment acquired Internet distribution rights for more than 100 feature films from Screen Media Ventures including films starring Will Ferrell, Angelina Jolie, Ralph Fiennes, Peter O'Toole and Mariel Hemingway. The statistical make-up of Vongo video offerings during January 2008: * 1526 titles provided * 88% provided for download in portable format * 9% provided in widescreen format * 8% provided with a Pay-Per-View fee * By Genre: 40% Drama, 24% Comedy, 13% Action, 12% Westerns, 10% Music, 8% Family/Kids, 8% Romantic, 8% Sci-Fi/Horror (Note: same title can appear in multiple genres) * By Rating: 25% R, 17% TV14, 14% TVPG, 13% PG-13, 12% TVMA, 11% PG, 4% TVG, 3% G * 53% are rated under the
MPAA rating The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
system * 47% are rated for TV broadcast


Technical overview

Vongo used Adobe/Macromedia Flash software. The software was compatible with PCs running
Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
or Vista and eventually supported Windows XP X64 and Vista X64 edition. Movies could be transferred and played on up to three devices but could not be transferred to external drives or other storage media. Movies downloaded through Vongo were viewable within the confines of a certain time period; most newer movies were available for 4–6 months, while other programming could be as long as 12–24 months. Once a movie expired, it was automatically deleted from the user's hard drive. There was an average download time of 30 to 40 minutes on a 90-minute movie. Vongo also ran inside
Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a defunct digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate ...
. Vongo films were then available on Microsoft's
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
and other Windows Media Center Extenders. Vongo had a tiered support structure. Initial support was provided through the website through "Ask Vongo" which provided answers from the support knowledge base.


Criticism

Vongo was preinstalled on HP and
Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...
computers during the time of its existence, and users found the program to be nearly impossible to remove without making registry edits. This difficulty has led to its classification as a virus by many users. Vongo also tried to keep accessing the Internet every two minutes if it is blocked. When this was combined with design errors in the Symantec firewall, which did not support a "Block Always" choice, a user could end up with 720 Security Alert: Medium risk messages for each elapsed 24-hour period. These had to be cleared before the Symantec firewall came up to date on current queries. Under certain circumstances, this could completely block usage of web browsers until this queue was cleared or the machine was rebooted.


References


External links


Home page

Extremetech review of Vongo



Overview of Vongo 2.0 with Vista and Xbox 360 Support

Vongo Application
{{Video digital distribution platforms Subscription video on demand services Defunct subscription services Defunct video on demand services Products and services discontinued in 2008 Former Liberty Media subsidiaries