Entertainment For Lively Minds
So, who's had a rattle at Netflix then?
I noticed a new icon appearing on the PS3 on Sunday so I downloaded the software, and sure enough, Netflix was live and working when I got home from work last evening.
There's a months free trial and after that it'll be €6.99 a month, presumably a fiver in the UK.
I was gobsmacked by it. Spotify isn't live in Ireland so the whole thing of having a natty interface that allows you to click and select was quite cool. It seems ideal for those movies or TV shows that you're not convinced you really need to own, but which you'd like to see all the same. I watched one and a half episodes of Misfits last night, but I'll still buy (at some stage) an Indiana Jones box-set.
I tried a few searches. De Niro, drew a big fat nothing. Bog all in the line of Clint Eastwood. One Carry on movie (up the Khyber). It's got The Princess Bride, and a few seasons of Dexter.
It's not limited to the Playstation. It works on Xbox, Wii and obviously PC/Mac and tablets/phones.
Anybody else piled in? Any blog users in other territories able to confirm if they eventually increase the bill of fare?
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Saw that Netflix had gone live
I use LoveFilm. Pay £10 per month and get sent 2 dvd's at any point in time with freepost envelopes. Also get access to the streaming service which works well. It's a great way to eat up you broadband though if you don't have an unlimited deal though. It is the future.
I've been on it in Canada for 6 months
It costs 8 dollars per month and has a selection of older movies, most of the ones I didn't watch when they were popular in the theatres or the video store.It does have newer movies all the time.It is starting to get HD. I am starting to watch The Killing,and The Walking Dead at the moment.For 8 dollars a month I feel it is worthwhile.
I use it in the US
It's $8 a month.
Off the top of my head I have watched:
All the Dr Whos since the relaunch
Inspector Gently
Frost (you may be able to see a trend emerging here)
Sherlock
I have a bunch of movies stacking up.
My observation is:
Movie coverage is patchy. It really depends who they have deals with. Similarly the TV shows that they get.
Being in the US makes my TV life both easier and more complicated at the same time. Judicious use of Netflix, AppleTV and HBOGo means I can live off the Internet for most of my televisual needs
I just quit Lovefim...
I had been with Lovefilm for around a year, initially using the disc by post service, and then downgrading to the streaming-only package when the xbox app launched last month, but wasn’t particularly impressed by it.
I signed up for the free Netflix trial for use on my xbox yesterday, and although there seems to be less content than Lovefilm, what is there seems more appealing. There are a lot of US drama & comedy series available (such as Breaking Bad & Arrested Development) that I am keen to catch up on. The Lovefilm TV offerings are limited, mainly consisting of the things that could be found for free on 4od or the ITV player services.
In terms of films, I have noticed a fair amount of crossover between the two services. Lovefilm has overall more movies, yet browsing their website is a chore and it is easy to overlook content.
I also found a lot of streaming content available via the Lovefilm website was not available on the xbox and ipad apps. The Netflix content seems to be available consistently across all platforms.
Its early days, but for now my £5.99 will going to Netflix.
Having used Netflix for the past year
from my mansion in New York I agree with El_Nobel that its strengths are tv series and documentaries. I love the convenience of typing one word "Frasier" and having all 11 series instantly at my fingertips - especially as I'm not the type who wants to clutter up the place with box sets. Filmwise I'd agree Netflix doesn't look so impressive if you make specific searches. I find it works better if you treat it as a film club with a menu for you to sample. The site recommends you use the "rate movies" function to improve suggestions and this does work quite well. A good trick here is to rate any films you would like to see with four stars then, if they are on the site, they will appear in the "watch it again" list. Troll Hunter appeared on Netflix before it reached the cinemas in these parts. I knew this because it popped up in my "watch it again" box immediately when it came on the site as I had given it four stars when rating movies previously. Although NF is not great for bang up to date blockbusters, more massive-friendly stuff (classics, independents, top foreign fare) is very well represented (This week I will be mostly watching Le Quattro Volte and Cave Of Forgotten Dreams).
Another tip: content on Netflix tends to pop in and out of existence like a character in Rentaghost. I've just finished watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos. I started a year ago, savouring it one episode a week. Then, as I was halfway through, it vanished for about nine months only returning recently. In fact many of the films I've enjoyed most this year are offsite now. But a couple of less celebrated films I enjoyed would be:
Following (Christopher Nolan's UK debut)
Half Nelson (featuring Ryan Gosling's starmaking performance)
Terribly Happy (a Danish sort-of-Noir which I may have enjoyed more for the style than the substance)
The Horde (a nihilistic French Zombie movie)