Netflix UK vs LoveFilm

In the US, Netflix is a very big deal. It revealed that in the last three months of 2011, it streamed more than two billion hours of films and TV shows to its members. However, the TV and movie streaming service has only just launched in the UK, and there's been something else filling the void in its absence here - LoveFilm. Is the UK version of Netflix worth cancelling your sub for? Let's find out.

The approaches of the two services are quite different here in Blighty. LoveFilm continues to treat its streaming service like an addendum to its DVD/Blu-ray/games rental arm while Netflix is all about streaming - simple as. LoveFilm also has a 1000-film pay-per-view section featuring many bigger titles, such as the final Harry Potter movie and superhero disappointment-fest Green Lantern - ruling them out for free streaming.

These paid-for movies tend to be the newest releases as well, ensuring that most of the streamed films have at least a fine layer of dust you'll need to blow off them.

Many of the newest films are paid-for from LoveFilm

How you access them is very similar, though. You can watch their wares from your browser, from some smartphones and tablets, from SmartTV services or from the Xbox 360 and PS3 game consoles. Like the BBC iPlayer, support for these two streaming services is set to bleed into just about everything.

What's just as important as ease of access, though, is whether the film library is any good. LoveFilm is perfectly open about how much is available on its service, with around 5,500 ready to stream and an additional 1,000 on pay-per-view. Just over 2,000 of the 5,500 are TV episodes, though, and can charitably be described as re-run fodder - Jeeves and Wooster, Cracker, Lewis and Peep Show the big names in the line-up.

Netflix is less open about what's on its shelves in pure numbers terms. From our count, we found roughly 2300 films and TV shows, but this doesn't relate directly to LoveFilm's numbers - where TV episodes are split up into separate entries. We subjected both services to the IMDb Top 50 test - checking for the big hitters in its famous top 250 list - as well as a handful of TrustedReviews favourites. Both performed pretty woefully, but LoveFilm won out on movie selection while Netflix UK trounced its rival in TV terms.
Cineastes may weep at the current state of movie streaming
LoveFilm has reportedly gone for another round of talks with content providers in response to the arrival of Netflix, and is due to get plenty more BBC TV content over the next few months. But for now the new boy Netflix is a much better option if you're into US TV programmes. Its US alternative offers more than we currently enjoy, but it's still early days for the UK version.