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Now that Netflix has finally landed on our shores, it’s time to have a look at what we actually get for our £5.99 and compare it to what our original streamer, LoveFilm, is currently offering.
On the face of it, LoveFilm wins on the price front right now. Literally hours after the announcement of Netflix pricing with in the UK, Amazon spat out a streaming-only LoveFilm plan rolling in at a quid cheaper than Netflix’s £5.99.
It’s unknown whether it’ll stay that way mind you, as LoveFilm’s £4.99 has been labelled as an “introductory” price, so it could go up. But for now, LoveFilm is cheaper for streaming-only.
LoveFilm’s DVD and Blu-ray library is quite sizeable, but unfortunately the same can’t be said for its streaming library. That’s not to say it’s tiny, there are about 6,000 titles currently available with 4,000 of those being movies, and Amazon is adding new titles rapidly. The catch here is that over 1,000 of the latest films are not included with your subscription package, and you’ll have to pay up to £3.50 to watch them. But having said that, LoveFilm’s streaming library includes quite a lot of recently released and big-name films, including the likes of Harry Potter, Horrible Bosses, Unknown, and the Green Lantern.
With Netflix, on the other hand, you get access to everything in its library with one flat fee — there are no pay-per-view options. Unfortunately, Netflix’s movie collection isn’t as strong as LoveFilm’s on the face of it — at least compared to those in LoveFilm’s pay-per-view section — and it doesn’t publicly list how many films and TV shows it currently has for UK streaming as far as I can see. There are a few big-name and recent films, but if you’re looking for the latest blockbuster releases, Netflix isn’t going to cater for you as well as LoveFilm might. Netflix does, however, have an OK back catalogue of older films — but compared to what’s available in Netflix’s US library, it’s hard not to feel like we’re getting stiffed a bit.
Both services also have exclusive deals sewn up with movie studios, so you might find you simply can’t get a particular film on one service because the other has it. For films though, LoveFilm is more likely to float your boat. But then again neither streaming-only service can really match up to what’s available on DVD or Blu-ray from LoveFilm still, and I can’t see that changing within the near future.
Of LoveFilm’s 6,000 streaming titles, 2,000 odd are TV episodes. Unfortunately they’re not exactly organised in an easy to browse fashion — they’re all lumped in as single episodes, not delineated into TV shows or seasons. It makes trying to find particular TV shows quite hard, and proves to be a too frustrating an experience for me to use on a daily basis.
Most of the TV shows come from Channel 4, old BBC programs, or are kids TV shows. There’s the odd episode of Poirot, Robot Chicken and several seasons of Peep Show among the mix, so there might be something decent to watch in there. But I can guarantee you’ll be excruciatingly annoyed by the crappy organisation long before you find any hidden gems in the mess.
On the other side, TV is something Netflix does really well; at least from an organisational standpoint. Each show is listed by the show title, not episode, so you can easily browse TV shows for something new to watch. Each show is divided into series, and subsequently into episodes – frankly, this is how it should be done. Take notes LoveFilm.
We already know that Netflix signed-up the BBC for their back catalogues, and they’re all present and accounted for. If you’re partial to a bit of British TV like Poirot, Lewis or Fawlty Towers, Netflix will do you right. Other highlights include American TV shows like South Park, Arrested Development, 24, Prison Break, Dexter, and Heroes, something LoveFilm doesn’t really offer in abundance. Unfortunately, again comparing what Netflix is offering in the UK to what you can get in the US, I can’t help but feel we’re getting a raw deal — there’s no Bones, or Monk, or the absolutely fabulous The Good Guys for instance. I’m assuming that’s down to licencing issues, and there’s a possibility that these kind of shows could be added at a later date, but for now you’re out of luck if you love watching a forensic anthropologist and a FBI agent bust down doors and lock-up murderers.
On the quality front, there’s not really much of a comparison. If you have a fast enough connection 5Mbps and above should probably do it, then Netflix will furnish your screen with 720p streaming video and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound; if you’re lucky enough to have a solid 8Mbps or above connection and a PS3 or computer, you can even pull down a 1080p full HD stream. While it’s certainly not as good as the kind of video you get off a Blu-ray, it is really quite impressive and compares really well with the current broadcast TV HD offerings from Sky, Virgin, FreeSat HD and Freeview HD.
Unfortunately, this is where LoveFilm is perhaps at its weakest. Even though LoveFilm requires a 2Mbps connection for smooth streaming, it’s only in SD and according to its support centre, only pushes out 800Kbps at 2Mbps (LoveFilm’s been in touch to say that a recent update pushed out streaming up to 2Mbps, despite what its support centre currently says). This essentially means that the video will look fine on a small device, but when you push it onto your TV it might not even look as good as standard definition TV — certainly it isn’t much competition to Netflix’s HD streams at the moment.
Again, Netflix certainly has the edge over LoveFilm in the delivery department. You can stream on a whole variety of devices including iOS and Android devices. The three major consoles are supported, along with the Apple TV, some Smart TV and Blu-ray players and of course, a PC or Mac.
LoveFilm on the other hand will stream to some Smart TVs, home theatre systems and Blu-ray players; the PS3; the iPad, and a PC or Mac using Silverlight. There are a few limitations on what you can watch on what device though. For instance, you can’t watch pay-per-view movies on the PS3 or other devices like you can on a PC or Mac.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear winner here. Both LoveFilm and Netflix have their strong points. LoveFilm has more current and big-name movies, where as Netflix has more TV shows and has an interface you can actually use without tearing your hair out. On the quality front, Netflix wins hands down, and you can stream Netflix to a greater variety of devices. But it’s also £1 more expensive.
My advice is to take both LoveFilm and Netflix up on their free trial offers and test-drive them for yourself. I’m intending to maintain my LoveFilm disc subscription with streaming on the side (£9.99) and add Netflix into the mix for TV shows. If you only want both for streaming, that’ll set you back just £11 a month. That’s not bad in the grand scheme of all things media, especially when you look at just how expensive a TV subscription to Sky or Virgin is.
At any rate, there’s never been a better time to cut your pay-TV subscriptions and go purely over-the-top in the UK. Neither Netflix nor LoveFilm might deliver everything you want to watch right now, but it’s certainly a great start. Let’s hope having the two of them battle it out will bolster their libraries giving us more on-demand content and keep prices low. We’re still in recovery from the recession, so the cheaper the better in my book.
Image credit: Boxing gloves from Shutterstock
lock-up murders.
#corrections
lock-up murderers.
Thank you. Murderers indeed.
Loveflim wins hands down for me. I can upgrade, downgrade and freeze my subscription whenever I like.
Netflix offers nothing like that.
And the disks by post is the killer application for me. I don’t want to watch compressed HD content, I want to watch the Blu-Ray uncompressed fullHD 7.1 as intended.
I agree, getting Blu-rays from LoveFilm is great. But when I want to watch TV shows, I want to watch them instantly, not wait for the disc to arrive.
Problem is that it’s not comparing like-for-like.
The pricing for the disc service means that you save nothing and get less (I.E. a whole two hours streaming and three discs a month).
You have to compare the streaming with streaming to get an accurate comparison.
I get two discs at a time and unlimited streaming for £9.99 but you can get unlimited streaming-only for £4.99 right now from LoveFilm.
Sorry, yes; comparing the streaming with streaming is fine.
I don’t think that comparing the disc service with the streaming service is right though (Due to cost and the fact that it’s totally different methods of consuming and delivery).
Trying to keep the comparison nearly the same (On price at least – which is going to be pretty important to most) means you get the three discs and two hours streaming – to get anything better you need to pay near double.
I have compared like with like. Amazon now has a £4.99 streaming-only package — no disks, only streaming. But I think it’s right to say that the DVD/Blu-ray selection is miles bigger than what’s available for streaming and that’s still true of what’s available for streaming in the US, not just here.
Sorry Sam, the (first) comment was at MikJe, not you! lol
Oh my kingdom for an edit button.
I can get you an edit button on 16th Jan, no sooner. Now about this Kingdom of yours, nice is it?
Plus a decent reply system – the kingdom is a small sink estate in Liverpool.
You’ll be lucky to get any kind of comments system if that’s all you’re offering
Could be worse; it could be on the proposed HS2 rail line.
I was on the £5.99 2-disks deal and I rang them up to cancel; they offered me the £9.99 deal for the same cost.
My biggest gripe with Lovefilm is you can’t stream some of the brand new movies that you can request via DVD. Don’t really get it.
@MikJe It’s hard for Netflix to offer upgrades and downgrades of service when they only have one level at the minute!
You’re supposed to be able to cancel your netflix in three clicks but it’s yet to be seen whether this removes all your information like ratings or keeps it for later.
I tried to sign up the other day for a new account. It told me the email address was already in use and I should sign in to my old account.
I signed in with the account I had cancelled in the US over 3 years ago. All my ratings etc were still there. It downgraded my cancelled US DVD account to an active UK streaming account.
At the moment, for me (as a Sky and Sky Movies subscriber) neither are worth my money.
I used to have a Lovefilm subscription and enjoyed the fact that I could rent games too, but I cancelled it in the end as I wasn’t using it enough to justify the cost.
I logged back into Lovefilm last night to have a look at the choice and was disappointed to see that not much has really changed in the couple of years I’ve been away. Ok, there are a few more streams available, but some big films aren’t even available to rent any more (and I remember reading that one studio has pulled out entirely).
I signed up for the Netflix free trial and whilst I’m impressed with the quality of their stream, the content left a lot to be desired. I’m sorry, but if your company’s name is “Netflix” I expect to be able watch films. I couldn’t find many decent ones. Searching for Ridley Scott brings back nothing, searching for Steven Spielberg brings back Saving Private Ryan and 1941. Searching for Batman brings back 3 Bollywood films!
I know the choice will probably improve over time, but at the moment I don’t see either of them tempting me to end my Sky Movies subscription (and thereby lose films from Sky Anytime+, which is also great considering it’s basically free).
Overall, I’m a tad disappointed by it all.
Me too and I was really looking forward to Netflix. We always get stiffed this side of the “pond”.
I’ve been a LoveFilm member for over 3 years now and even though I don’t probably get my money’s worth out of it all the time, I never use the streaming service so Netflix is out of the question for me.
I rarely get time to watch a full film in one go so I take advantage of being able to pick up where I left off on a disk.
I downgraded from paying £18+ a month for a two disk with games package to paying £11 for one disk and game package. Then recently they dropped the price by £1 and added an extra disk, how can I argue with that?
With NetFlix you can pick up where you left on your stream, I watch films sometimes in 4 bits, not only can you pick up where you left off on that movie, it saves where you are on multiple movies. It’s instant and the quality is MUCH better than lovefilm streaming which you will be use to. Alot of people on love film dont like streaming because they are use to the awful quality love film provides and can’t imagen it being better elsewhere. I was so anti streaming but Netflix has completely convinced me. However my connection is 50mb so maybe it wouldn’t be as fast for others?
I have been using Lovefilm for 3 years and before that when I was in the states I used Netflix which I used to love. However I dont think I will be switching over at the moment, the things that really bug me about love film are the quality of the streaming, which has got sllightly better but is still awful. The other thing is the order in which they send the discs. In the US version of netflix, the sent you the discs that were on the top of your list and then moved down the list, so if you wanted something fast you put it on top, as long as it wasnt a hotly in demand title you would get the movie. However lovefilm just sends them out randomly. I have had some films on my list for years and they are all set on high priority, I have complained about this once and somehow they manged to send me one of the movies on the top of my stack.
If netflix can do these two things better then I might switch,i think the libraries will eventually equalise.
I do have a subscription for blu-rays from LoveFilm which I’ll probably stick with for now as it’s a great service. But in terms of streaming; until Lovefilm or Sky releases an app for Android, and Lovefilm upgrades its streaming quality, then Netflix is the clear winner for me. Works great on my tablet, and theres plenty there for me to watch
Both streaming services seem pointless unless you have unlimited bandwidth. I’m not about to increase the cost of my internet AND pay for this service.
Good point, I hadn’t thought of that. Never been interested in connections with download limits myself. I guess people plunk for them to save a few quid.
I used to have Lovefilm but switched a couple of years ago to Blockbuster because at that time they had a better selection & a couple of films I wanted which Lovefilm didn’t. Price-wise there was little difference but also got a few treats like vouchers for free in-store rentals etc.
Recently switched to Lovefilm for their free trial & streaming (very very disappointing from consoles). Film-wise they’ve improved from where they were but I agree with you on the woeful set-up for TV selection. I’ll give Netflix’s free trial a go and see if that improves the streaming but they both need to up their catalogues to get me interested long-term.
P.S. Heros #corrections Heroes (?)
Yeah for sure, there’s a long way to go to get a comprehensive library from either of them. And thanks
It may be worth baring in mind that you can now stream LoveFilm onto the xbox360 too via it’s app.
But only a small selection of its library, and only in SD. Which, frankly makes it utterly useless.
Netflix has me won as a streaming service hands down. Better selection of material (though I hope it will expand quicker than other video rental library services we’ve had in the past…) and excellent quality streaming on almost every device you can own (here’s hoping for a Chromium app to be finished soon for Linux viewing). For £1 more a month? So, so worth it.
I joined yesterday to use Netflix on my Samsung D8000 TV. Samsung do NOT at present have an application for Netflix on ther Sart Hub system.Samsung technical will not comment on WHEN or IF there will be a dedicated app.
Looks like I will be the first to cancel a useless (although free at present) contract !!
It’ll be interesting to see how fast Netflix can get its apps onto Smart TVs. If every TV sold came with the ability to stream Netflix without any additional hardware I’m sure it’d take off like a rocket.
Great article Sam. I just hope that Sky and Virgin won’t start muscling the media companies in order to make the survival and quality of the content suffer for these two companies, apparently HBO is doing this at the moment in the U.S..
Interestingly, Netflix admitted that Sky was probably their main competitor because of this exact reason – SkyAtlantic has a ton of deals with original TV content from HBO that Netflix is stronger with in the US. If true, it’s a pity.
Yeah, I’m getting the impression that the studios consider pay-TV and streaming services to be in the same boat, which is a shame for those of us who don’t want to fork out for a Sky sub.
I think lovefilm and netflix are equally rubbish right now, the choice of content from netflix will get better but right now it is a complete joke, lovefilm choice is a little better but doesn’t have the quality, yet I have rural broadband that can hardly get 1.5mbps, so the quality is a non-starter. I think it is time the government sort peoples streams out, they keep saying they will, pricks, and then get some good content on a service, but right now, for a nation that is happier than any other to embrace technology, my backside sure does hurt.
I’ve been playing with netflix today (yay funemployment) and I’m impressed. AppleTV organisation and layout is excellent, kudos Apple/Netflix. Quality for HD stuff looks great at 720p and SD stuff looks okay too. iOS apps are well done too, watched a film last night on my iPad and it was a pleasurable experience. Haven’t tried it on PS3 yet (is there much point really?) so can’t comment on it.
Content wise Netflix has some good catalog titles, but lacking in the latest stuff (but then Lovefilm charges you for the latest stuff too so on a pure subscription vs subscription point maybe it’s a moot point) As you guys said the TV selection is much better and beautifully organised (something I felt has always needed improving in LoveFilm) so that’s nice.
At the very least Netflix has enough to keep me occupied for the price point at the minute, when browsing their library I had a enough “ooh I’ve wanted to watch that again” moments to make it worthwhile.
Interesting that Netflix hasn’t gone after the mail order DVD market yet, but then I suppose it’s something that LoveFilm do well, so logically it’s better that they go after the steaming market.
oh, and the ability to pick up and resume on a mobile device is quite handy too, though this is the one thing that could be improved on AppleTV (in fact there is nothing on AppleTV about resuming stuff unless you find the movie/episode and choose view, when it then asks if you want to resume)
I’ve noticed that if you have any sort of active proxy/IP befuddlement system set up (like unblock-US) you can get access to the US Netflix library, even when you’ve signed up in the UK
Not entirely kosher, and certainly not fair comparing this to Lovefilm.
Now if only I could find a way to get a Hulu plus subscription without a US credit card….
I’ve had a play around with Netflix on my computer and phone and have to say I’m rather enjoying it. Lovefilm having a bit of competition can only be a good thing.
The one thing that is doing my head in though, is I still can’t get the PS3 app to work. The icon to install it isn’t there. I had this same problem a while back when the “My Channels” icon wouldn’t appear, so I couldn’t access iPlayer.
Really starting to annoy me. Want to make sure I take full advantage of my free month!
Any ideas?
While its nice to see Netflix making it to the UK, I find their list of content lacking and Lovefilm isn’t much better.
Until they can buy large amounts of US shows away from Sky, I wont be buying a sub from them.
Sky can whistle for my money to since they cost an arm and a leg. Mind you Sky is the 800 pound gorilla in the room and I think that its going take a mighty bit muscle to shift or cage it.
This is the same crap that happened with the Music industry, the TV and Film industry is refusing to shift its butt and if it doesn’t soon the net generation will move it for them and to their detriment no doubt.
You’re spot on with the similarities to the music industry there.
http://gizmodo.com/5873567/new-release-delays-means-even-dvd-subscription-services-are-getting-worse
After reading the above article I’m amazed at how naive the film industry is. If they think that restricting how customers can watch films is going to combat piracy, they’re going to be in for a massive shock.
stop on post, they need to understand and accept those easy money days are gone, still billions to be made but from a smaller split of a global money.
Have been streaming movies on the kids’ xbox for last few years and whilst it’s expensive the choice of latest films is far far better than either Lovefilm or Netflix. Like everything else content is king (ok the delivery mechanism needs to be good as well). Will look at Netflix again in a few months to see if selection has improved.
I picked up a Galaxy tab the other day & thought I would stream from Lovefilm’s website to find they have got rid of Flash and are using Silverlight. So long android & linux customers! There’s no timescale for an android app, so I may be moving to Netflix. The addition of new titles to Lovefim’s streaming service is lousy, so no tears there.
Posted a Comparison / Thoughts Video between NetFlix UK and LoveFilm. Features a look at the Xbox-version of the app, along with a few features not taken into account in the article which hope you’ll find useful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr85R-ac5h0
Bear in mind, we’re just a small, two-host Discussion / Debate Show!
Thanks,
[TEChBrits]
As it’s already been hinted at, both Lovefilm and Netflix will lack any real streaming threat while all of the current rights to air movies and US content are held with Sky (with the odd exception). So it’s a little unfair to write them off just yet.
It looks like a bold move by Netflix to break into the UK market a year or two ahead of the contracts with Sky ending (2013 I think?) but with good reason, it gives them a chance to get a user base and their name in the UK known.
Lets imagine for a minute they manage to strike some deals and get the rights with the big film studios, imagine having all of lovefilms DVD/Blu-Ray catalouge available to stream straight to you PC/TV/PS3/XBOX/Tablet/Phone all for the mear sum of £5.99 p/m
‘Hell Yes!’
Dare I say that might even win over some pirate downloaders.
You see that only thing in the way of us and that gloriouse future is backroom deals struck between movie companies and big corporations.
Good luck to Netflix and Amazon, just hope it’ll end up with a better experince to all us customers, if it becomes half as good as in the US we are in for a treat!
I’m with both, I cannot wait for DVD’s to come through the post so I normally watch them online, however, LoveFilm doesn’t really have a big choice of films. Their watch online player is pretty awful too.
NetFlix has one of the best online video player implementations I’ve seen. I like the fact that I don’t have to watch it full screen in order to get rid of all the other shit I’m not interested in.
Well I’m impressed Netflix appeared on my Apple TV’s on day one and the streaming quality is very good indeed, yes there are some gaps in their content at the moment but I’m sure more deals will be signed as time goes on.
Best of all there are numerous US TV shows I’ve wanted to see and never had time, £5.99 a month is a bargain.
After a week of my trial I’ve downgraded by Sky subscription with an eye to cancelling in future.
I’m really using my unlimited Sky Broadband now as Netflix estimate around 2GB an hour for HD streaming, I estimate I’ve used 40GB streaming alone in the last week!