It was supposed to arrive on November 10 but got delayed by a few days. Quickflix’ WatchNow streaming service has finally been officially released for computer users, letting you stream as many movies as you want for $14.99 a month.
Leaving aside the issue of how much bandwidth you’ll chew through, the big question is: what movies can you watch? Based on the Featured movie list on the site right now, new releases are not a priority. The highlighted titles are Batman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, The Iron Giant and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Fine movies all, but not exactly the latest thing.
The streaming service is already available on Sony Bravia TVs and will be added to the PS3 later this year. Quickflix is recommending a minimum connection speed of 1Mbps to use the service. Tempted? Traumatised? Torrenting? Tell us in the comments. [Quickflix]
Republished from Lifehacker
Todd
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:12 AMWhy can’t Netflix just come to Australia already?
Glenn
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:18 AMBecause the accountants can’t work out how much Australian Tax to apply :)
z3d
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:33 AMi just cancelled my Netflix account. The content was pretty good a year ago with plenty of new stuff but now it really sux. I hadn’t used it for ages so replaced it with Hulu plus. I can imagine Netflix would only be further gimped if they brought it here.
Churchado
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:17 AMAvailable on Bravias? Not my 2 year old set as far as I know..
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:56 AMWhat model do you have? From my understanding, if your TV came with Qriocity; then it should also be eligable to receive QuickFlix. If you haven’t already, run a manual “Scan for new content” on your set – it should fix the problem.
light487
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:22 AMI was considering grabbing a subscription when I saw the last overpriced Foxtel ad on TV.. but I’ll have to wait to see what the list of titles is like first. I have plenty of streaming services at my disposal that are free.. FengXing, PPStream etc..
light487
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:27 AMAlso.. according to their own website.. the minimum recommended is actually 1.5Mbps not 1.. and recommend at least 3.5Mbps for Hi-def.. I have 20Mbps so that won’t be a problem.
When they talk about “registered devices” they only list Sony Bravia TVs.. but this article and previous ones suggest that a PC can be used to play the movies.. is that correct? Or do I need a Sony Bravia for this service?
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:53 AMInternet enabled Bravia TV’s were first to receive the service a few weeks back (it’s on my TV, but I haven’t used it); with, according to this article, PC based access only just becoming available now. I’d suspect that QuickFlix may be a bit tardy in updating their website.
Ro.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:50 AMKeen to see this added to XBMC solutions such as Plex or Boxee… Otherwise it would just be a pain in the arse to use on the TV.
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:51 AMAs I said over on LifeHacker; I’m not impressed at the price, the selection they have, or the fact that it’s metered content across all ISPs.
NetFlix still represents better value, even after you include the subscription fee for a portal into the US to give you access.
light487
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 11:25 AMWell to be fair the metering is not QuickFlixes fault.. but yes, you still need to consider that.. not that a decent internet plan should be worried too much by that.. still a consideration. The selection is definitely a killer for me.. I just checked out what they have for offer and it’s severely lacking.. I’m not too worried about new titles.. but even the old stuff is a very short list.. Compared to $24 for a foxtel movie package, the price is not outrageous though.
Yes, it needs to be improved.. but it’s not like we have a lot of choices, without circumventing region locking.
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:55 PMNot QuickFlix’s fault per se; but by the same respect, they either haven’t attempted, or haven’t succeeded in negotiating with ISP’s to have their content unmetered.
While a generous broadband connection will often remove the need for unmetered content; it’s not so helpful for those of us in Regional Zone 2. The most I can afford for internet is about $60/month, and that only buys me 20+20GB on my current ADSL2 plan.
Sicarius123
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:12 PMThe only way these streaming services aren’t rubbish is if they are available to consoles.
Like hell I’m watching a movie on my laptop, or plugging it into the TV every time I watch a movie. Also no interest in a stand alone device for a particular brand of streaming, ala bigpond movies.
light487
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:39 PMHrmm.. that may be.. but not everyone in the world has only a laptop. My setup has a 24″ widescreen monitor for desktop and second “monitor” is a 42″ LCD TV.. I watch all my downloaded content on that TV..
Would be nice to see some further integration beyond the planned PS3 inclusion later this year though.. like, for example, WD Live TV integration and other wifi/network enabled set-top boxes.
Greg
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:42 PMBring it to real media players and you have a product that would be useful. Otherwise you’re stuck in the confines of a PC. And PC->TV is a joke, as everyone knows.
JB
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:42 PMcombined with their dvd rental i think they are the best overall movie provider available in oz. As an exclusive streaming service no, but once they’ve added some more movies and at least some new releases then maybe. the important thing is we (Australian’s) now have some competition in this niche so better deals, better service is on the horizon.
These guys have already signed with PS3 for release by years end and I’ve read a few reports of Xbox coming on board next year once their deal with foxtel clears. so things definitely hotting up!! – about bloody time if you ask me
linpndut
Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 3:04 PMhttp://www.superlogix.net/quickflix.com.au-downloader/index.htm
GetFLV can help us download videos from quickflix. Have a try, and hope you like it!