BritBox - Yet another streaming service

[Malcy]

The film collections aren't full unfortunately. Only 4 Hitchcock's bit maybe they'll add to them.

On the plus side it has Bugsy Malone.

[Noodle Lizard]

It's been around for a while in the US - I use it as an occasional add-on channel to Amazon Prime. It's generally got a pretty good selection of TV especially: all the Inside No 9s, Pyschoville, Blackadder, Detectorists and such.

[Bennett Brauer]

A bunch of Bottom arse?

Front-loading it with high-profile easily available sitcoms and anodyne David Jason's A Very Martin Clunes Journey to the Land of Joanna Lumley's Discovery with Michael Palin documentaries seems stupid to me. Mine the archives and I'll happily pay.

[Jittlebags]

Not much support on smart tellies? Nothing on WebOS.

[Ignatius_S]

Not much support on smart tellies? Nothing on WebOS.

It's going to be available on range of TVs that have Freeview Play TV -  availability will vary but it's meant to by the end of the year.. I suspect that the reason that Samsung had compatibility straight away was because of some kind of deal.

[Ignatius_S]

Will be leaving out the more problematic shows of the past:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/07/britbox-uk-networks-plan-to-tackle-netflix-amazon-and-apple-tv

Not sure how problematic Till Death Us Do Part is. When it was repeated on BBC 4, there weren't any issues – nor when a lost episode was recreated with Simon Day as Garnett. With the latter, I recall one reviewer being sniffy about the source material but they were either unfamiliar with it or being disingenuous.

Elements like the generational clash between Alf (and to a degree, Else) and, Rita and Mike, are interesting from a social point of view and still work as entertainment.

On the other hand, Love Thy Neighbour is not only problematic but a poor show.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Signed up for a trial. Few films I tried play (old ones in HD but have this really annoying smoothed/blurry sheen to them all) while TV programmes all make the app crash?? So that's a bit odd.

Irritating as I'm blowing my trial while still in Ireland, so I get an app that half works on my phone and get the "US/Canada only" page while trying to log in on a laptop.

Besides that issue I really love the selection! Whole bunch of stuff I've been wanting to watch for the first time (including stuff I didn't know was available in HD so that's a bit bonus) and things I've wanted to watch again for ages but has never shown up on Netflix. Once I'm settled back home, assuming the content isn't on rotation I'm sure I'll really enjoy it and it'll be worth the price .

[Sebastian Cobb]

It's going to be available on range of TVs that have Freeview Play TV -  availability will vary but it's meant to by the end of the year.. I suspect that the reason that Samsung had compatibility straight away was because of some kind of deal.

Hi, I used to work in a software development team for a national television station; Samsung used to give us demonstration televisions with beta versions on them. We essentially bundled the same html5 apps for freeview play, fire stick, youview and samsung, the main difference between all of them was which hardware decoders their televisions could cope with (DASH/mp4/hls, usually) and how they accepted our code. Samsungs required the web apps bundled as a signed file rather than a website that could be fetched remotely. They also treat their televisions like phones, in that they will drop support hard and fast after a new model has come out.

My advice to anyone in the market for a new television is to avoid the 'smart' features entirely, they're going to get dropped by the vendor. Just buy a firestick or nowtv (roku) thing.

[Malcy]

Signed up for a trial. Few films I tried play (old ones in HD but have this really annoying smoothed/blurry sheen to them all) while TV programmes all make the app crash?? So that's a bit odd.

Irritating as I'm blowing my trial while still in Ireland, so I get an app that half works on my phone and get the "US/Canada only" page while trying to log in on a laptop.

Besides that issue I really love the selection! Whole bunch of stuff I've been wanting to watch for the first time (including stuff I didn't know was available in HD so that's a bit bonus) and things I've wanted to watch again for ages but has never shown up on Netflix. Once I'm settled back home, assuming the content isn't on rotation I'm sure I'll really enjoy it and it'll be worth the price .

Noticed that effect on a few things and it's a bit annoying. I think my DVD's of Only Fools & Horses are better quality than what BritBox have!

North or south Ireland? I thought it was Geo blocked and wouldn't work there.

The interface for it is really shite though. Home, classic films & recently added. That's your options. Recently added works as a sort of A-Z as it's just launched but it crashes my browser half way through.

I've found it easier to search on my phone and add things to 'my list' then scroll app the way down to the bottom of the page on my tv and get what I want to watch from there.

Really have to crank the sound up as well. Around 4x what my TV's usually sit at and even then it can vary and need more at times.

[imitationleather]

A bunch of Bottom arse?

Front-loading it with high-profile easily available sitcoms and anodyne David Jason's A Very Martin Clunes Journey to the Land of Joanna Lumley's Discovery with Michael Palin documentaries seems stupid to me. Mine the archives and I'll happily pay.

Yeah. Just been browsing and it is all bland celebrity travelogues and recent ITV dramas that I am too young to be in the demographic for by about three decades.

Going through that programme list feels like a terrible and anxious Sunday evening.

[Gurke and Hare]

Yeah. Just been browsing and it is all bland celebrity travelogues and recent ITV dramas that I am too young to be in the demographic for by about three decades.

I was wondering if rather than trying to compete with Netflix etc, whether they're trying to target a demographic that doesn't currently use streaming services? The target audience for Midsomer Murders probably aren't big Netflix users are they?

[Malcy]

I was wondering if rather than trying to compete with Netflix etc, whether they're trying to target a demographic that doesn't currently use streaming services? The target audience for Midsomer Murders probably aren't big Netflix users are they?

I think it has Love Island but thankfully no other similar shite.  Another plus.