On Demand Movie Services:

Everyone enjoys sitting back to watch a movie, be it action flick, rom-com, animation and so on, what we as consumers (that is such a great industry word isn't it) we as consumers also have very rigid standards and expectations on what type of experience we should be getting from our on demand services.

As usual you have the financial constraints to consider with each service as well as overall quality and amount of titles on offer, As for options well there are plenty, I myself have tried each of the following services in order to see which comes out top;

1: LoveFilm.

Love film player, better known for its large collection of movies and TV shoes which can be sent to your door, the service also offers you to sign up and watch movies on-line. You can stream to an I-pad, a PS3, an Xbox 360 or any desktop or laptop computer. The selection of titles on offer is quiet extensive, you can also search by genre or collections and has something for everyone.

The drawback with the player, especially on devices such as the Xbox 360 or PS3 I have found to not be that good an experience, this has been backed up with friends view as well in that the player User Interface (UI) has not been very user friendly, and once you find a title to watch the movie it buffers a little, this would usually be fine if it did not sometimes stop and buffer during the film.

 Here is the standard love film player as shown on a PS3 system, it wasn't very user friendly, did not list all titles in a category very well and had playback issues.

Here is the much improved Love-film player also running on the PS3, films are a lot easier to find, TV shows have gotten larger and there's also a 30 day free trail.

Films I watched used an 8mb internet connection with no other devise accessing my network, however the problem persisted in most films to the point that you would need to close and restart the player, it also would not always output to the correct scale of the T.V. leaving you with a less than 4:3 standard image.

I am happy to report however that as of the 9^th June Love film have finally redesigned the user interface and improved all of the above problems, no doubt to compete with other services. Now you are able to watch a film in full without issue, it is also a lot easier to find titles to watch, with still the largest collection of titles to stream.

2: Netflix

One of my favourite services overall which is easy to set up and start watching, when compared with the newly refurbished Love film player. Netflix is subscription based and costs £5.99 a month; you are also able to watch movies and TV shows on a Computer, Laptop, PS3, Xbox 360, I-pad or IPhone.

It is a great service because it was designed very well to start with; films load in HD within seconds and have no problems during watching. The site also suggest and recommends films based on films or shows you have watched and rated customizing the experience to your own tastes, you can further tailor it using the Netflix website account management.

The choice of titles is pretty good, even though not as large as Love films offering content is updated monthly with new titles being made available while some older ones are removed.You select films by choosing a category, within each category you can scroll through 75 films, multiply that by even 10 categories and that's a lot of viewing right there. An impressive affordable movie and T.V. streaming service defiantly a solid contender for the number one spot.

3.: Now TV

Sky’s latest bid to corner the on demand movie market previously available on computer and Xbox 360, now also available on PS3 and I-pad . Again the service itself is great content plays in HD and has no or little viewing problems associated with it. Sky also boasts that they release new titles before anyone else, a rather bold statement indeed then.

However Now TV does not seem to have as many titles as Netflix and less than love film, it does have new releases such as Sky fall but frankly there is a lack of content once you’ve watched the films that appeal to you, making you wait for an update that may or may not contain something you want to see.

In addition to this the price for Now TV has been cleverly advertised, but in short it is the most expensive of all three services, and at present I would only recommend using the trail version as you will more likely get though most of the relevant content for you.

If you sign up using a PS3 for example there is an offer which lets you watch as many titles as you like for 3 months for only £1, no obligation. After that the price goes up to £5.99, not bad is it, not bad until you read the smaller print and find out after this intro offer the service then costs £15.99 a month contract. 

This is not only ridiculous for the small amount of titles on offer but money grabbing compared to Love film or Netflix, if you want to watch the latest live sports that will cost you an additional £10 pass. The service side of things, delivering HD movies fast with a few early titles is really good, but it’s not £15.99 a month good.

4: BlinkBox

Blink box offers a different approach to streaming movies, instead of being subscription based it acts as a more of a pay as you go option. You can either rent and watch movies or buy them to keep for viewing whenever.Prices start from 99p (notice I used the word "Start from" indicating that you could easily spend £2.49 or £3.49 to rent and even higher for buying new movies.

This may be good for people who like to sometimes watch and rent movies but it is much cheaper to go with either Netflix or Love-Film when you consider that the cost of renting two movies could be a months subscription to Netflix for example, which allows you to watch as many movies and TVshows as you like.

Also available on most platforms such as Computer, PS3, Xbox 360 and I-Pads, it is the second most expensive option next to Now TV-and you are not really getting value for money compared to Netflix or Love-film, unless you want to watch new movies only sometimes in which case this may be a good deal for you and allow you to stay in control compared to subscriptions, additionally you also receive Tesco club-card points for each movie rental or movie bought.

Verdict:

On reflection then if you want a decent amount of titles in full HD or Std definition depending on your internet capabilities, on different devices with a low monthly subscription, then Netflix seems to be paving the way and holding the top spot with Love film edging next to it. Both Netflix and Love-films subscription options include a handy auto-renewal mode, so once your payment details are entered you need not worry about payments.

For a much larger catalogue of movies and T.V. shows the next choice is Love film, which also has the added layer of also renting movies not available for streaming, as well as video games, although price does depend on what you select there are a good few package options to choose from. 

The user interface of the player has also been greatly improved for an easier viewing experience. With Now TV coming in last due to lack of content and price, however the trial and Ps3 offer allowing you to watch 3 months for just £3 should be taken as it is about the best bargain they will give you.