Stream of online TV shows and movies starts flowing

Irish broadband users are at last getting a wide range of movies and TV on-demand

IT’S BEEN a long time coming but, finally, Ireland is getting the mother of all streaming movie services.

In early 2012, Netflix will be available here and in Britain with big studios including Miramax, Lionsgate and MGM signed up as partners.

The ability to stream on-demand content over a broadband connection has been around for years but Ireland has been a laggard in terms of services offered due to licensing restrictions and other barriers to entry.

This is changing, however, albeit slowly as native services like the RTÉ Player offer the chance to catch up on television shows while iTunes has a growing digital rental library.

So what are the streaming options for Irish consumers?

NETFLIX

Netflix started out in the United States in 1998 as a DVD-by-mail service.

The premise was that a flat-rate monthly subscription granted unlimited access to DVD rentals, which were ordered online and returned by post.

The business model hasn’t really changed much but the technology has.

Subscribers can now stream unlimited video on-demand.

The great thing about Netflix is the ability to rent movies instantly with one click or tap. You can do this through your PC or Mac but Netflix is also available on a large range of devices, including the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3, Internet-connected televisions, Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.

While you can’t download and store movies for offline viewing, the upside is that your hard drive isn’t filling up with weighty downloads.

The Good:It works on a wide range of platforms.

The Bad:You don't physically own movies for offline viewing.

SKY GO MOVIES

Just in time for the festive season, Sky has launched a new on-demand streaming movie service. This is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to Sky TV customers. For the first time, subscribers to Sky Movies have the ability to stream films over wifi on several devices, with 3G streaming to be introduced by the end of the year.

Mirroring the satellite and digital Sky Movies service, movies come on stream as available. Expect some Yuletide classics like the Grinch, Love Actually and A Christmas Carol.

The Good:Make the most out of your Sky Movies subscription.

The Bad:The back catalogue is not comprehensive.

RTÉ PLAYER

Most of RTÉ’s home-grown content is here to watch on-demand as are the usual soaps, drama series and magazine shows like Eastenders, Top Gear and Two and a Half Men. It’s a catch-up service so you’re only going to get the latest couple of episodes directly after the broadcast date but there is a Live TV option for sneaking in a bit of Home and Away while dining al desko at the office.

While the interface is well-designed with intuitive navigation, it is a pity that a smartphone or iPad app version hasn’t been developed yet.

The Good:It's free.

The Bad:It's got Craig Doyle's the Social on it.

3 PLAYER

Much like the RTÉ Player, 3 Player offers "catch-up" TV so the latest episodes of Coronation Street, Emmerdaleand Come Dine With Meare available. There's a handy pop-up calendar to find and play shows from the last month.

Twitter integration means that there's a hash tag linking straight to the online conversation, something that viewers of Tonight with Vincent Browneand the X Factormight appreciate.

The Good:Social networking integration.

The Bad: The "live" mode only offers certain programmes.

4oD

Channel 4 has been offering this catch-up series for some years now and it shows. This service has the ability to save half-watched shows in your history for resuming later and also add ones you are watching to a favourites list for easy access. There is also the ability to set up pin protection for parental control.

4oD has the usual catch-up service but also offers a partial archive of older shows like Father Ted, Black Booksand the IT Crowd. It is also available as an iPhone and iPad app.

The Good: Good comedy and documentary selection

The Bad:The archive of older shows depends on Channel 4 reruns.

BBC iPLAYER(international)

Earlier this year, the international version of the BBC iPlayer app was released in Ireland. While there is a subscription fee, this service offers full series of BBC's best including The Blue Planet, Doctor Whoand The Thick of It.

This is only available on the iPad and is a different service than the web-based BBC iPlayer available in the UK; while this is essentially a back catalogue of BBC programming, the British version is offered as a free catch-up service. This app is beautifully designed, image quality is great and it also streams over a 3G connection.

The Good:Content does not depend on broadcast date.

The Bad:It's expensive (€64.99 for a one-year subscription).

AERTV

This service is from broadband provider Magnet and offers live streaming of all free-to-air TV channels available in Ireland. It works on the desktop and laptop as well as tablet devices and smartphones.

Aside from the usual RTÉ1, RTÉ2, TV3 and TG4 there are seven others including 3e, France 24 and Russia Today.

This isn’t a catch-up service nor is it intended to be: it’s basically like having a television tuner built into your computer or smartphone so you get live television as its broadcast.

The Good:Free live streaming TV

The Bad: None to speak of.

iTUNES FILMS

While iTunes is not streaming per se, it does offer movies on demand for rental or purchase. You can start viewing your film while it is still downloading.

This is essentially a digital, on-demand replacement for the physical DVD or Blu-ray rental store and, as more people get decent broadband speeds, it will eventually replace its bricks and mortar predecessor.

There is a wide selection of mainstream movies and the option to rent, or download, a regular or HD version. If you’re a movie fan, however, you’ll soon find your hard drive filling up: the average HD movie takes up about 3-4GB of space. Pity it costs roughly the same to buy a digital version as it does to buy a physical DVD in a plastic case.

The Good:Ability to transfer your movies easily between iPhone, iPad and desktop.

The Bad:You'll have to invest in some storage.

XBOX LIVE VIDEO MARKETPLACE

This streaming movie rental service has been available in Ireland for well over a year now. Although it has the instant satisfaction of streaming HD movies directly to your television, the service started out with quite a poor offering; new releases and a handful of old movies.

It seems to have improved a bit but, unlike US account holders, we still cannot purchase TV shows.

On the other hand, subscribers to Sky Digital can access the Sky Player service through their Xbox, including all on-demand content offered by Sky.

The Good: Sky Digital integration.

The Bad:Limited choice.

HULU PLUS

Hulu Plus is a US-only service that offers streaming movies and television shows on demand across several platforms, including the iPad, Android, desktop and internet-connected televisions. Content comes from Fox, NBC, Comedy Central and National Geographic among others so you’re talking about the Simpsons, Family Guy and Glee.

Because Hulu Plus is not available in Ireland, sites like this can detect when they are visited by an Irish IP address.

There are several proxy/VPN (Virtual Private Network) subscription services out there that get around this by providing the user with a US IP address (or in the case of the ITV Player or the British version of the BBC iPlayer, a UK IP address).

The Good: Quality content from the big TV studios.

The Bad: Not available outside of the US.