Reply to: Best TV service for someone who rarely watches TV

[Zero Liability]

Lovefilm is best for the new stuff (Blinkbox is better in some respects for the occasional viewer), Netflix for the older stuff.

[vetran]

prime , freeview & freesat.


plenty to watch.

[original PM]

I have a BT box - which gives all free BT content + freeview - could upgrade but I am tight

Amazon Prime on PS4 - agree not much new to watch but plenty of old stuff

SKY on PS4 - using one of my brothers sky go accounts - useful if you have a friend who is willing - you can get up to 4 devices rather than 2 for an extra fiver a month.

Having said all that I rarely watch TV for anything other than sports - mainly the kids watching Disney channel.

Also think I will just extend my BT subscription to get European football rather than paying the fiver a month

[Halo Jones]

We use Amazon prime & blink box, covers what we need

[vetran]

If you go for Freesat with the Freetime UI, you'll get the warm, comfortable feeling that comes from knowing your set top box is running code I worked on (gig in Cambridge the other year)

Did Humax intentionally make their units look like a fisher price toy? its a bit sad I know but I'm not placing a boiled sweet lookalike on top of the Panasonic HT, do like the Humax 1800 but too few applications for it.

[woohoo]

I find Netflix a tad limited for content and new additions - I've heard ours is but a pale imitation of the USA offering - also the menu imho is pants

I used netflix with a vpn service so had access to the US stuff, can't remember it being that much better - but that was about a year ago.

[VectraMan]

I find Netflix a tad limited for content and new additions - I've heard ours is but a pale imitation of the USA offering - also the menu imho is pants

YMMV of course but I tried Amazon Prime first and couldn't find a single thing to watch, and with my TV's somewhat outdated internet video the interface was terrible and the picture quality poor. On Netflix I've got loads of stuff in my list to keep me busy for months, and since I got a Chromecast it plays in proper HD (5.8 Mb which is more or less as good as Sky) and I can control it from my Android tablet, which is brilliant.

I'm only keeping Sky for the F1 coverage at the moment, but I think when the season ends I'll probably ditch it. The other slightly annoying thing is that a lot of the free channels (Film 4, E4, ITV 2/3/4 etc) are only in HD on Sky.

[mudskipper]

Cheers all. Bit of hmm about Netflix and Lovefilm there so maybe Freesat and Amazon might be a good combo. Still got a sat dish on my wall after all.

PS Darn it forgot to log out of my Sockie. But it was obviously me anyway. Isn't he sexy?

[NickFitz]

If you go for Freesat with the Freetime UI, you'll get the warm, comfortable feeling that comes from knowing your set top box is running code I worked on (gig in Cambridge the other year)

http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/freetime

EDIT: typical session getting HD simulcasts displaying correctly, using a test transmission from the future (see timestamp in upper left of screen):

[Albert Steptoe]

Cheers all. Bit of hmm about Netflix and Lovefilm there so maybe Freesat and Amazon might be a good combo. Still got a sat dish on my wall after all.

PS Darn it forgot to log out of my Sockie. But it was obviously me anyway. Isn't he sexy?

[minestrone]

Think I'm calling it a day on all the SKY channels, I used to watch a lot of films but I can't get 5 minutes since fatherhood, the sports are now too expensive, BT want another fiver a month next season for Europe. Time to call it a day. I'll probably save about 800 quid a year.

[anonymouse]

Lovefilm? When was the last time you lot watched a film?

In February 2014, Amazon announced that it would fold LoveFilm's streaming service.

I just tried Netflix for the 4K stuff, it was worth it for the novelty value (and good picture quality), but not worth the extra. Their original stuff is getting good, Sense8 took a time to get into, but the next series should be better. Just watched "Better Call Saul", good intro to BB. Just watching Lillyhammer now.

Then I'll cancel my free 30 day subscription, and on to Amazon to see what they've got.

If you've already got Sky, then downgrade to Freesat from Sky (just keep the box & card, but no subscription). Then just get a streaming device, Amazon firestick, Google Chromecast, blu-ray player, Now box, PC, console, etc. Most devices seem to have the same providers.

[SueEllen]

Freeview/Freesat

And netflix or lovefilm.

Both netflix and lovefilm can be watched on other devices like laptops, phones and tablets.

[Platypus]

Torrents gives you all you need at no cost, although can be faffy. And illegal. I cancelled my Netflix last year because the content was really limited I thought. Try the one month for free? Getting US Netflix isn't that hard as someone else but I still found it limiting. I keep my Sky sub so that the box records stuff

[Zero Liability]

Amazon Prime/Lovefilm are the best combo, IMO. It gets the newest film releases before NoW TV, and you can order series to watch. I like Netflix as well, very decent, and there are ways to tap into the US version, although the British one has improved over the last year or so. Comes to about £20 pm for all of them, with no TV licence needed. Now TV does get the latest series earlier though, and is about £5pm (if you opt to cancel before it is due to renew, they will discount it to about that much.)

If you had to pick just one and aren't too fussed about the timing, I'd say Netflix is best.