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BicBasher
Elite

Comparing PPV on-demand movie services

I'm sure most of you have tried the other on-demand movie services where you can rent a film, including new releases before they're in the shop, but are they any good?  I've tested most of them using my LG Smart TV (and a Now TV box for Sky Store) and here's what I think.

 

Blinkbox:

 

Positives: 

 

Easy to use interface
Wide selection of movies

Special offers on back catalogue titles.

Films stream without buffering

Abilty to stream your own Ultraviolet purchases

Occasional discount vouchers for TalkTalk customers.

 

Negatives:

Highest resolution is 720p

Owned by TalkTalk which has had it's own problems recently

No longer can collect Clubcard points since Tesco sold the business

 

Wuaki.tv:

 

Positives:


Wide selection of movies

Some offers on back catalogue titles

Occasional special offers, such as weekend HD films for £1 vouchers emailed to customers

 

Negatives:

The family filter is TOO good, if you don't set it to 18, none of your purchases execpt for U will show in your library using the LG app.

Films struggle to stream for the first 5-10 mins, then stablise.  Not great if you've just spent £4.50 on a film.

Highest resolution is 720p

 

Sky Store:

 

Positives:

 

Wide selection of films with a DVD sent in the post if you buy (rather than rent) the film.

If you want a copy to stream as well as a hard copy, Sky Store is perfect.

Streaming is excellent.

 

Negatives:

 

Only avaliable to Sky customers or those with a NOW TV box.

Watching via a Now TV box, the output is 60Hz, so could expect motion judder on fast scenes.

Films are only avaliable to rent in SD and overpriced compared to rivals.

720p output.

 

Amazon Instant Video:

 

Positives:

 

HD films are 1080p and priced on a par with Blinkbox.

Solid streaming at all times using a ADSL2+ connection.

Films can be purchased from the website or the LG TV app (as well as other apps that support Amazon).

A subscription for Amazon Instant Video Prime films is the cheapest on the market at £5.99pm, but doesn't cover new releases.

 

Negatives:

Clunky LG app interface, which makes it hard to find films.  Easily resolved by using the Amazon website or smartphone app
Some films for rent are free if you're a Prime customer which is a whopping £79 per year.

 

 

 

 

Networking Spec - ISP: TalkTalk VDSL2 @ 76mbps | Amazon Fire TV Cube 2nd Gen, Chromecast 3rd Gen WiFi, Motorola Moto G9 (Android 11), Dell PC with Windows 10 Home Edition using Now TV Player.
9 REPLIES 9
4268
Legend 5
Legend 5

If you are EE customer you can rent a Wuaki film for £1 mid week.
Please take a moment to click thanks or marked as solution if this answered your question. I am a community contributor and pop on when I can.
commanda6
Legend 5
Legend 5


@BicBasher wrote:

I'm sure most of you have tried the other on-demand movie services where you can rent a film, including new releases before they're in the shop, but are they any good?  I've tested most of them using my LG Smart TV (and a Now TV box for Sky Store) and here's what I think.

 

 

Sky Store:

 

Positives:

 

Wide selection of films with a DVD sent in the post if you buy (rather than rent) the film.

If you want a copy to stream as well as a hard copy, Sky Store is perfect.

Streaming is excellent.

 

Negatives:

 

Only avaliable to Sky customers or those with a NOW TV box.

Watching via a Now TV box, the output is 60Hz, so could expect motion judder on fast scenes.

Films are only avaliable to rent in SD and overpriced compared to rivals.

720p output.

  


Hi all @BicBasher

 

Nice post you did there. It provides a lot of useful information people Smiley Happy your post actually makes it clear that a lot of services don't provide 1080p (FHD). Many services only provide 720p (HD). It's only the big guns such as Amazon and Google, which provide 1080p. So it's not unusual that nowTV and sky store to provide a maximum of 720p.

 

I would like to provide a bit more information on sky store. Sky store is available to anybody, not just sky or now TV customers, but anybody that doesn't have a sky or now TV account will have to create an account on the sky store website before they can use the service.

 

The service is available on the following devices:

  • Roku
  • nowTV box
  • youview boxes
  • android
  • iOS
  • sky plus boxes
  • PC

 


I do not work for Now . I am simply a Now customer trying to help I am a Community Contributor This means that I know a lot about the service. But just like you I am still a customer. This means I cannot help you with issues that would involve looking into your account directly. A member of the now TV forum team or live chat will need to assist you with these issues.
BicBasher
Elite

@commanda6   Thanks for the clarification of the Sky Store service.   It was admittely the least used service that I used.

 

I also forgot to review Google Play.

 

Positives:

 

1080p streaming

Stream to your Android device or Chromecast

Wide selection of movies

While using Chromecast, it appears the 50Hz films have been re-encoded to 60hz to stop motion judder.

 

Negatives:

 

Need a phone, tablet or PC using DLNA to cast a film to Chromecast.

Google account required.

If they film stops, depending on your handset, it can be a clunky issue to get the film back to the scene in the film.

No Smart TV app.

Networking Spec - ISP: TalkTalk VDSL2 @ 76mbps | Amazon Fire TV Cube 2nd Gen, Chromecast 3rd Gen WiFi, Motorola Moto G9 (Android 11), Dell PC with Windows 10 Home Edition using Now TV Player.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@BicBasher Google Play Movies & TV is also available on Roku and ios.

commanda6
Legend 5
Legend 5

@BicBasher wrote:

@commanda6   Thanks for the clarification of the Sky Store service.   It was admittely the least used service that I used.

 

I also forgot to review Google Play.

 

Positives:

 

1080p streaming

Stream to your Android device or Chromecast

Wide selection of movies

While using Chromecast, it appears the 50Hz films have been re-encoded to 60hz to stop motion judder.

 

Negatives:

 

Need a phone, tablet or PC using DLNA to cast a film to Chromecast.

Google account required.

If they film stops, depending on your handset, it can be a clunky issue to get the film back to the scene in the film.

No Smart TV app.


Hi @BicBasher

 

Just to add to yours and @Anonymous Users comments about Google play

 

There is a smart TV app on Sony android-based smart TVs

 

Also, your Google play movies and TV purchases for also be available to you through YouTube under purchased videos if you login to your Googe account. This means that your purchases are available to you on virtually any device which has a YouTube app. Although you won't always be able to play your purchases in HD through YouTube. Although you will be able to play back your purchases HD. if you use YouTube app on the current gen games consoles (PlayStation four and Xbox one. The youtube apps on the current gen consoles are also 1080p enabled). Your movie and purchases will also playback in 720p in the YouTube app on Roku, although as mentioned, there is a dedicated play movies and TV app for Roku. Which I believe plays things back in 1080p


I do not work for Now . I am simply a Now customer trying to help I am a Community Contributor This means that I know a lot about the service. But just like you I am still a customer. This means I cannot help you with issues that would involve looking into your account directly. A member of the now TV forum team or live chat will need to assist you with these issues.
BicBasher
Elite

Thanks again @commanda6 and @Anonymous User for their help in compling the additional platforms.

 

I'm not fully aware of all the additional platforms each VoD rental service has, so based it on my own observations.

 

 

Networking Spec - ISP: TalkTalk VDSL2 @ 76mbps | Amazon Fire TV Cube 2nd Gen, Chromecast 3rd Gen WiFi, Motorola Moto G9 (Android 11), Dell PC with Windows 10 Home Edition using Now TV Player.
SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

commanda6 wrote: Hi all @BicBasher

Nice post you did there. It provides a lot of useful information people Smiley Happy your post actually makes it clear that a lot of services don't provide 1080p (FHD). Many services only provide 720p (HD). It's only the big guns such as Amazon and Google, which provide 1080p. So it's not unusual that nowTV and sky store to provide a maximum of 720p.

 

I guess one way NOW TV and Sky Store could compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix would be to offer 1080p video and Dolby Digital audio exclusively for use with their non live streamed movie content... Job done Smiley Wink

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Google play content is also mirrored to youtube apps so does not need a seperate app some times for play back on devices

Purchases need web browser support true...

BicBasher
Elite

Google Play and Movies is now on LG Smart TV sets.

Networking Spec - ISP: TalkTalk VDSL2 @ 76mbps | Amazon Fire TV Cube 2nd Gen, Chromecast 3rd Gen WiFi, Motorola Moto G9 (Android 11), Dell PC with Windows 10 Home Edition using Now TV Player.