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.
Andrew Palozzo
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:36 AMThe need to expand on their library to really have a true netflix competitor..
Col
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:53 AMBut with a VPN still required for netflix access in Australia they are not a true competitor.
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:34 AMNetFlix subscription fee: US$7.99/month
unblock-us.com account: US$4.99/month
Current exchange rate: US$1.00 = AU$0.983283
Total Cost $AU$13.20
How isn’t NetFlix a competitor?
Sam G
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 8:02 PMI think he means that to most non-tech savvy people it’s not really a viable option.
Drew
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:59 AMBecause NetFlix market is North America and QuickFlix is Australia, NetFlix doesn’t allow people in Australia access.
You are just circumventing their restriction system, NetFlix is not competing with Quickflix.
Tom Banks
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:59 AMYou think they would have launched this with a killer lineup to tempt people. It’s a fail so far, but I’ll give them a bit of time before I completely dismiss it.
Mayav
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:01 AMSorry new hotspot shield ios app 0.99/month + plus netflix @ $7.99/month is still cheaper…
Josh
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:06 AMVery disappointed. I have a netflix account and was looking at disconnecting it if quickflix was a decent opposition simply because netflix and vpn can be fickle at times up here in FNQ. However, upon browsing quickflix library that they are offering for streaming, there is no way that is happening any time soon. It is a shocking selection of movies, very disappointed.
sdf
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:12 AMI think its a start. I will probably end up getting it in a few years when the catalog expands a bit. But remember its early days. I’m sure netflix catalog was pretty shitty in the beginning
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:28 AMThe only thing that would really tempt me to use QuickFlix is if they offer at least one of two features:
- A lot of local content, both movies and TV shows.
- Dramatically increase the amount of new content available, and price themselves more competitively with NetFlicks, and get their content unmetered with my ISP.
Yes, NetFlicks isn’t available in Australia, but you can still sign up for a scription service with them AND run your content through a US subscription DNS for less thank QuickFlix are charging – plus you get exponentially more content.
Update your DNS settings on your XBMC box, and install XBMCflicks and you’ve got a dedicated subsription video streamer on your TV. Now do that with QuickFlicks.
Cameron
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 11:38 AMIt’s good news that a service like this has started in Australia. But there is a LONG way to go for it to be something I’d pay for.
They really need to improve the content (obviously).
There is a big question around quality…… they claim 720p for HD content. We’ll see.
Audio needs to be DRAMATICALLY improved. 2 channel audio hasn’t been acceptable as a default format since VHS days. If I can get better audio on my 15 year old DVD there’s something wrong.
It’s good they’ve got a PC/Mac version now, but it’s hardly enough. You need to get a Linux version for all the HTPC’s out there. Also things like XBoxes and PS3′s need their own versions (possibly a Wii version as well). It needs to be across all the things people have attached to their TV’s that can support this.
Sam
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 2:18 PM@Cameron – You’ve had a DVD player since 1996? Impressive considering the format was only launched in Australia in 1999…
OK, I’ll stop being anal retentive now.
Fair point though, I agree that only including 2 channel audio is a step backwards, but there was also a similar step back in the trend towards MP3 from CD Audio.
IMO, I don’t have a problem with stereo. I definitely enjoy surround when available, but I don’t watch enough films to utilize it at home. Because surround sound is all but dead on HD TV anyway, I’m more inclined to spend more on a better quality stereo set up in my own home.
Josh
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 12:28 PMI was ready to buy a subscription as soon as it came out, but with a selection like that? Only one or 2 movies that I might watch, I had may as well buy them individually off Bigpond Movies. If their selection starts getting bigger quite rapidly (as in, at least 5 or 10 a day) then I’ll consider it.
Jay
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 4:13 PMCan someone please tell me how you get netflix in Australia? Thanks
j03w
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 9:00 PMwell let’s hope they come up with the deal with ISPs and telcos for unmetered usage
and give them a bit of time I think they will come up with wider movie range soon enough
smith
Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 2:44 AMI’m a Quickflix member, and when they release it on the PS3, I’ll probably change plans. I agree that the selection is limited at the moment, but as I prefer Blu-rays, I’d use the streaming to fill in the gaps between discs arriving.
Pete
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 11:18 AMGood god I just tried to signup to test out the streaming service. Don’t bother. The website is junk and I couldn’t even work out how to do just that.
hannah
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 2:11 PMit says that there is a prblem with plackback because ive been trying to watchnow what do i do???