BlinkBox Beta launched a while back as a rival service to the PSN Video store in the UK and rather handily gave away £10 worth of free movies a few days later, an offer many of you snapped up. I’ve now had a chance to take a look around the BlinkBox and compare it to the PSN Video service.
The interface for BlinkBox is accessed by pointing the the PS3 web browser to www.blinkbox.com and it is worth making a bookmark for the page for easy access. When the page loads you will be greeted by a very simple set of menus which are similar in look to the BBC iPlayer interface. The design is basic yet easy to use and within a few clicks your film will be playing in full screen.
The first and most obvious advantage BlinkBox has over PSN Video is that it has TV shows as well as movies. American hits such as Battlestar Galactica, ER, Fringe, Gossip Girl and 30 Rock sit alongside British classics such as Shameless, The Young Ones and Doctor Who (Classic and Nu-Who are both available). Many of you have been clamouring for TV to be added to the UK PSN Video service so may be interested in this feature. Prices for TV shows range from 49p an episode to around £12.99 for an entire series.
When it comes to films BlinkBox has most of the movies that are featured on the PSN Video store plus quite a few more. New releases such as Sherlock Holmes and Green Zone sit aside a vast library of older movies. There is a wide choice so you should be able to find something to entertain you. Movies are available to rent or to buy and are around 50 pence to £2.00 cheaper than the PSN with prices ranging from £12.99 to 50p. There are some bargains to be had, for example Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen can be bought for £2.99 on BlinkBox whilst HMV are selling the DVD at £6.99 – those with more money than sense can buy the same movie for £12.99 from the PSN store.
I did discover a problem in that a copy of Avatar which I purchased via BlinkBox on the PC cannot be viewed using the PS3 interface. I contacted the company to ask them why and they said it was simply a licensing issue. This only applies to a small number of films in the BlinkBox library but is annoying that I can watch the movie on the PC I am typing on right now, yet my PS3 which is barely 2 metres away cannot view the same film.
A major plus for BlinkBox is they provide free television and films and you do not even need to sign up to watch them, you can skip on over to the website right now for some entertainment. As the shows are free there are advert breaks every twenty minutes and sometimes the ads cut in at an inappropriate moment. The free television selection is pretty good and I made a bee line for series one of ‘This Life’, a classic BBC drama which I have always meant to grab on DVD. I had forgotten just how damn good it was and spent the next 45 minutes enjoying the nostalgia. Other free shows include Shameless, classic Doctor Who, Peep Show, Hustle, Adromeda and Macross.
When it comes to free movies then things are not so good / are brilliant – it depends on what kind of films you like. To say the library is trashy would be an understatement. I chose to watch ‘Evil Aliens’, a schlocky horror film that I almost rented via the PSN a few weeks ago because it sounded quite fun. It’s terribly unpleasant and the last “belch” of blood and innards from the pre-credits sequence almost made me lose my dinner, I am quite glad I did not pay to rent it!
The free movies are for the most part either cheap gory horror or soft porn. Titles include ‘Body Chemistry III: Point Of Seduction’, ‘My Bloody Valentine’, ‘The Escort 2’ and ‘The Escort 3’, ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’, ‘Sex and the Teenage Mind’ and for those of you who can’t decide if you want tits or horror, ‘Blood Tide’. The description for that particular movie is ‘Lots of blood. Lots of water. Girls in Bikinis’. Personally I can’t wait to see that well known 1964 classic, ‘Santa Claus Conquers The Martians’. I’m not making that up, honest. Search through the soft porn and you will find the occasional hidden gem such as the original George A. Romero “Night Of The Living Dead”.
Sadly there are two problems that stop me from buying or renting from BlinkBox. Firstly, they do not offer Hi Def, a fatal flaw as far as I am concerned but the few of you who are still viewing in standard def will be less bothered. The other problem, and this really is a deal breaker, is that you cannot download movies to the the PlayStation hard drive. BlinkBox do not have the rights to allow downloads via the PS3.
There less pleasant ways to spend an afternoon than watching William Hartnell rescuing some trapped ‘aliens’ in evening dress so BlinkBox is worth a look for the free content, but until they can sort HD downloads I do not think they will be getting many PlayStation customers.
Try the Blinkbox service for yourself at www.blinkbox.com.
TheShepanator
I completely missed this, I’ll give it a go.
DeathByNumbers
I watched a few movies that I got with the free £10 credit and I was impressed with the quality. It was miles better than my juddery experiences with BBC iplayer and was on a par with virgin medias on demand films (non-hd) through a standard v box. One annoying thing was as it’s browser based was that the screen kept dimming because of the screensaver that needs to be disabled. Still
Prefer lovefilm to streaming though, can’t beat a good DVD or blu-ray!
yarg2k7
problem i got is when the offer on to get free £10.00 credit i used vaious accounts to buy films. ok for the odd film but not a massive library to choose from
bunimomike
The last paragraph says it all, for me. Top article, tuffcub, but I’ll be waiting for HD too.
cc_star
Someone I know (wasn’t me) had a quite a few accounts and had quite a few movies, and was very impressed with the quality… all in all a great service and more often than not priced loads better then the PSN Store
However with several Blu-rays a week landing on my doormat from LoveFilm paying per movie isn’t for me
hairfreax
Im very impressed with all the free content they have, its kept me entertained more than our regular tv content. You should all watch Henry Rollins and his spoken word programmes
PoolieMike
Ah, William Hartnell.
Mick939
Can I still get the fee tenner?
TSBonyman
Thanks Tuffcub, that’s a great link. Lot’s of good stuff in the free section, some classics i haven’t seen for years and some favourites too.
seedaripper1973
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians is absolutely fucking brilliant!