iView - you complete me

I’ve been surprised at the number of people who don’t know about the individual online catch-up services the free-to-air channels offer. For free. It’s most surprising because both Channel 9 & the ABC do offer frequent advertisements about their services (FixPlay & iView respectively).

With that in mind, this is my review of the services, their workings & their offerings…


ABC’s iView

Modelled very directlyon the BBC’s iPlayer service, iView set the standard early. LOTS of content, really easy to use, and in partnership with a number of Internet Service Providers (e.g. iiNet) ensuring that access to this service was not included in your download limit. Does not contain all televised content, however does contain a significant back catalogue including a lot of ABC2 children’s programming. It scales to fit your browser window and runs full screen almost independent of your internet connection speed (faster is always better, however). iPhone app exists that plugs into this content; iPad app due “soon”. A leader in online catch-up television for the Australian market.

Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 5/5
Delivery: 4/5


SBS’s Watch Full Episodes (then click on “Watch Full Episodes” link)

A pop-up window to run this is very 1995, but the application within is still strong. Again, lots of SBS content available very quickly after inital broadcast (some immediately after, most dropping at midnight at the end of the day of screening). A strong contender that, given funding, could compete with the iView offering for quality.

Ease of use: 3/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 2/5


Channel7’s Plus7

I still don't get what the "plus" bit is about

Reflecting on the ratings battle that exists currently, the catch-up service offered by Channel 7 is neck & neck in terms of quality (and similarity in style) to that of Channel 9. Lots of local content, lots of archived content, slick in presentation. Advertisments are embedded in the page & not in the stream of the show, which I find to be important (if I’m watching it on your site, don’t interrupt me with ads when I’m already paying for the download costs). Given the boiling battle of breakfast, Channel 7 are smart enough to not load up this service with a full version of Sunrise, but rather an edited highlights package “Sunrise Extra”. Mind you, if you own a Telstra NextG compatible phone, you can watch Sunrise wherever you are as it has been recently added as unmetered content – a smart move for commuters across the nation.

Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 4/5


Channel 9’s FixPlay

See everything written for Channel7, & change all references to Channel 9. Both services don’t simply focus on their primary channel either with Go! & GEM content featured within FixPlay as 7TWO & 7Mate is for Plus7. There is no Today Show catch up offering available. As Channel 9 have a standing integration deal with Microsoft (Ninemsn), this service uses the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in as opposed to the Adobe Flash plug-in used by all other services – so you’ll need to install this application the first time you try to watch anything online (if you’ve not already).

Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 4/5


Channel 10’s Full Episodes & Video

By far the worst of the 3 commercial station offerings, due mainly to the fact they integrate ads into the program as you watch it – and they can’t be skipped. Channel 10 also opt to deliver their programs in segments, so to watch a show you need to either build a playlist of the segments you want beforehand, or roll the dice & click on the first segment and let the show run. I’m torn as to the usefulness of this delivery method: it’s good if you just want to watch that last bit of a show that was cut off when you recorded it last night; it’s bad because you get ads inserted before each segment starts & these are downloaded by you at your cost. It also means you can’t absorb yourself in the show proper.

Ease of use: 3/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 2/5


Which of the services is your favourite? What you seen done differently to make the ultimate catch-up TV service?

 

Image Sources: rbi.com.au; tvcentral.com.au; allofit.com.au; google.com