This blog post provides my first impressions on the UK only NowTV internet movie streaming service from Sky.
For the last few days my wonderful girlfriend and I have gorged ourselves on movies via a NowTV trial, devouring Hollywood blockbusters at an unhealthy pace. We watched Harry Potter and chums wave sticks around. We’ve witnessed Green Lantern fight an ever expanding dog’s mess. We saw Jack Sparrow hurl himself off numerous objects, all for… doesn’t really matter. With wanton abandon, akin to Trafalgar Square pigeons, we fed hungrily on the offerings presented, even if on occasion we should of avoided.
NowTV has a better calibre of blockbuster movies than Lovefilm or Netflix UK. Plus if that wasn’t good enough for your movie needs, you can always watch Sky’s very own movie channels live.
There was only one stream hiccup, when Green Lantern kept pausing to rebuffer. So with much sorrow (not really), we departed the service and came back an hour later, to watch Hal Jordan pirouette with a lack of grace across our screen.
When the credits to a movie ended, we reluctantly pulled ourselves away to perform home DIY, to clean our apartment and to have a life away from the rectangle screen. Like an all you can eat buffet, it is important to moderate your consumption. That is where the problem lies with these internet streaming services, the better they are, the easier it is to neglect other aspects of life. Plus I must leave plenty of good movies to enjoy another day!
We have only used the service via a laptop hooked up to our large flat screen, so with regard to tablets and other devices, alas I have no insight. Using Internet Explorer and Microsoft’s Silverlight, on an old Core Duo laptop the service works well. Though I understand my laptop’s cpu fan has reported me to its union.
Will we stick around after our trial? I’m not sure it will be good for our health, but now we’ve tested the service, the price per month on first reflection, seems reasonable. Though I would like to see some TV shows gracing the NowTV service, trying to seduce me.