There is little doubt that the capacity to watch films online reliably and inexpensively is a radical step forward for the movie industry, and not just rentals. Watching films online is quicker and more convenient than the ways we have traditionally enjoyed films at home, and it removes the need for costly and space consuming DVD collections.
But, while this is all true, can the online market keep up with the advances in quality that the film industry is offering on a seemingly relentless basis?
Obviously, few computers will be able to allow users to watch 3D films online, and this seems to be a hardware issue – 3D laptops are still some way away. But the question also exists for watching films online in HD, demanded by many discerning movie watchers these days.
Can watching films online offer the same kind of quality as we get from Blu-ray DVDs, even when connected to a TV?
Naturally, this all assumes that you can connect your computer to your TV using a HDMI cable, or have an HD monitor, but the real question is if a high quality picture can be streamed smoothly enough for watching HD films online to be as practical and easy as the service offered ought to be.
Indeed, even LOVEFiLM’s new online film directory warns that the picture quality may not be as good as standard TV or DVD signals. This is due to a variety factors; the films are compressed in order to allow for streaming, and many computer monitors were simply not designed with the frame rate of a movie in mind.
This does not mean that watching films online should be discounted. The positives outweigh the negatives significantly, but LOVEFiLM have to work within the limitations of the hardware. As computers get better and better and superfast broadband is rolled out across the UK, allowing for larger films to be streamed, watching films online has got the potential to become the standard way of enjoying films.
