FilmFlex alternative
 

I recently wrote to the Virgin on Demand people, as well as FilmFlex:

"This is not so much a suggestion towards a new service, but more of an
enhancement to an existing one; Virgin Media provide movies on demand
- movies are charged per viewing - via a third party, you, FilmFlex. It
seems to me that Virgin and you are missing a trick here: Netflix (of the US)
provide streaming movies (from a catalogue of 12,000, as opposed to
your 500) on demand at a fixed monthly cost (you can watch the same
movie as many times as you like, for example). Netflix has signed
deals with the likes of Samsung, whereby Samsung, via a firmware
update to their ethernet compatible blueray players (the P6000 or
P6050 in the UK) can include Netflix with their blueray players,
built-in.

Now, although Netflix is not here in the UK, I believe they will be
soon, and then all Samsung need do is update the firmware of their UK
version blueray players; I have one of these players and I must admit
that as soon as this service is here in the UK, I'll be signing up to
their monthly subscription.

Why do you not, say, partner with LoveFilm to provide a catalogue
similar in size to that of NetFlix (or, indeed, one similar in size to
that of Lovefilm's DVD rental service)
to provide streaming movies for a fixed monthly fee; I believe Virgin
Media and you need to move away from the dated movie rental format and adopt
the subscription format (which provides much better value).

It seems rather silly (considering Virgin's - in my opinion - superior
infrastructure to that of the States) that a streaming, on-demand
Netflix-like service is not here in the UK, on Virgin;
http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyD...nkctr=nmf_nfrd
and http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyD...lnkctr=nrd-l-n
make interesting reading - mainly the second link.

Me and the other half (the lover) find lots of independent films (you
know, the arty kind) are only available from the likes of LoveFilm: 1.
My life as a dog 2. Hero 3. The Barbarian invasions 4. Before Sunrise
5. Before Sunset 6. About ******* 7. Latter Days 8. Another Country 9.
Igby goes down 10. Party Monster 11. Anything Else 12. La mala
educacion 13. Motorcycle diaries 14. All about my mother 15. Angels in
America 16. Happy Together 17. The safety of objects 18. Kolya 19.
Central Station 20. Spirited Away 21. Tea With Mussolini 22. Goodbye
Lenin! 23. Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie) 24. Les Temps Qui
Rest (Time to leave; in english -- or at least i think it is) 25. The
Page Turner.

I'd happily pay what i'm paying to lovefilm to Virgin (you) instead -
and a little more, too, for the convenience for having it piped direct
to my living room; your independent movie selection is rather limited,
I feel. This £3-odd for a movie to have for a limited time is
disappointing, to say the least."

I wondered what you chaps (ladies too) thought?

Re: FilmFlex alternative
 

6 months later but I read this post whilst trawling the internet for alternatives to netflix in the uk. Good post

I have read reviews of just about every post-based rental service in the UK and apparently they will not give you your top choices and are slow or give scratched dvds etc. I am already put off but I would definitely subscribe to netflix if I could. Imagine wiring a pc through a tv directly connected to the web and having that instant watch feature. This is the future of movie watching :D

My wife pays £50 a month to sky and has the movies package. We haven't watched a single movie for a week because it's all trash.

In the new year, I will do the following - go over to virgin, have no movies package and get the amazing deal on the + box that you only get as a new customers (we still have the old sky box! sky want about £200+ for the upgrade!). Only trouble is, what about the movies?? I hear netflix will be providing a uk-based service. THE SOONER THE BETTER. I think I might buy some Netflix shares :D hehe

Re: FilmFlex alternative
 

Virgin Media launch their new IPTV platform soon, and my belief is that this will herald the advent of much better choice on the system, with movies and TV programmes available that are sourced from the internet.

In the meantime, you can access pay per view movies from Filmflex and/or subscribe to Picturebox for £5 per month.

I agree that Sky Movies is disappointing. The same old stuff is on time and time again. I've watched only 2 films from Sky Movies in the last six months. The price I pay per film doesn't bear thinking about!

Re: FilmFlex alternative
 

IPTV is a delivery method, it does not mean the source of the content changes and it's certainly not movies and TV from the internet!

As for FilmFlex, it's owned by Disney and Sony, two big studios. Picturebox is Universal.

So why would Virgin want to go from dealing with the Studios direct, to dealing with a 3rd party who deal with the studios?

Re: FilmFlex alternative
 

As I understand it, there is no technical reason why they can't offer more stuff now. There are, however, licencing issues. These would still exist whatever distribution system vm use.

Vm switching to an ip based system doesn't mean we will get any more content any more than Bt switching to an ip based system means they will be offering premium rate services..

Re: FilmFlex alternative
 

EPIXHD is looking to launch in the uk and i hope that virgin gets it as they have a chanel and also on the pc as well !

If you wonder what it is check out epixhd on twitter and the EPIXHD.COM .