We’ve compared the major online video stores like Maxdome, Watchever, and iTunes, and show which video-on-demand service (VOD) is the most flexible.
More and more vendors are looking for smart TV ...
Even if it sounds quite flat, and a touch of tendencies on this contribution: If you use devices with the logo of a given apple, you can watch their films very flexibly - on the computer via iTunes, on the iPad via its video- App and finally by Apple TV streaming box on the TV.
But it's not as easy as this
The collection of purchased movies and series from iTunes is very clear. To do this, you can manage recordings from the TV, such as save.tv or from the hard drive, as well as ripped discs from your own DVD collection in the same iTunes library and transfer them to all other Apple devices.
Flatrates do not have to settle on the TV
On the TV, they land by airplay streaming over Apple TV. The box is in the apple universe so to speak the gate to the big screen, as long as the manufacturer no other TV ambitions pursued. This gate is wide open, flexible and does not cost the world with about 100 euros. The hardware of the Apple TV is powerful - in the current box is the same processgeneration as the iPhone 4S.
Conclusion
But iTunes is by no means all. The Apple video store does not offer a flat rate a la Watchever and does not play the most important role on the market in the rental business, that is, the single issue of current films for one to two days. There are tens of other online video stores, almost all looking for a way to the big TV screen.
Maxdome, for example, is according to own data market leader among the onlinevideotheken in the single copy as well as with the Maxdome package, thus the corresponding Flatrate for 7.99 euro. Amazon gives its Prime customers a film flat rate - annual cost: 49 euros, user number unknown. Watchever offers a fair-trafficked monthly and monthly flat rate for 8.99 euros per month.
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In addition, Sky Snap (price for Sky subscribers: 4.99, otherwise 9.99 euros) - and soon Netflix. They all make fun on the PC or on the tablet, but films should show for an optimal effect on at least 42 inch flatscreen diagonal. So how does it work?
Let's start with the market leader: Maxdome is proud to be available on all mobile platforms as well as on "nearly all Internet-capable televisions". The Maxdome app for smart TVs is actually available on practically all current TV receivers with Internet access on the American market - and on all three major mobile platforms Android. Apart from a few network-capable set-top boxes, , IOS (Apple), and Windows 8.
However, the presentation and, above all, the selection on the TV differs from that in the Maxdome apps for tablets and smartphones - and that is again different than in the Internetbrowser on the computer. The TV app lists only the top 100 titles from the film, series and television sectors, and displays the films that were previously stored on a separate merge list. However, this does not necessarily include films that you bought or borrowed from your computer at Maxdome.
You have to call in the case of doubt about the search function and can then look at the TV. In the Maxdome app on the iPad, on the other hand, only films from the flat rate package are listed. Here you can not order titles for the single fetch. For this purpose, you can quickly find purchased or borrowed titles from the computer via its own menu item.
The Maxdome apps on smartphones and tablets can be very important for TV use, because in doubt they also connect to the TV: Maxdome movies can be moved from mobile devices via Apple TV (iPhone, iPad) or the small network- HDMI-Stick Google Chromecast (Android, Apple and Windows devices) to TV.
The Amazon's instant video film offer also follows the "Flatrate" split for older films and series as well as "single-shot" for current blockbusters - for borrowing, buying or with both options. In the Amazon apps on smart TVs, game consoles and mobile apps, the presentation is uniform: Here, Prime customers can view and watch all films from the corresponding flat rate. Single-shot films can not be ordered either on the TV or on mobile apps. You can only see them here, if you bought them at the computer via the web shop. The apps list these titles in their own "Video Library" section.
The reason why on some devices or in some apps it is not possible to single-download is obvious: Firstly, there is no need to interfere with the risk of hacker attacks on the respective platform. On the other hand, the vendors do not have to pay the usual commissions for in-app purchases. Apple, for example, requires 30 percent of the sales, and commissions are also due on the smart TV platforms of the major TV manufacturers. Only Sony Video Unlimited or Xbox Video are an exception, because the two offers come from the same group as the devices on which the video stores run.
Also Videociety or Videoload offer single broadcasts via the Smart TV. In the case of the former (LG, Philips, Panasonic, Samsung) the payment is made via a credit which is paid from the credit card, or via the mobile phone account. The new smart TV app of the telecom film offer Videoload also relies on these payment options plus the Telekom invoice, if the user has a Telekom connection.
The handling of such payment data on the Smart TV means a greater security and programming effort for the apps. Whether it is because of it is not sure, but both Videotheken are only in comparatively few TV devices usable. A Videoload smart TV app, for example, has been announced more than three years ago for several TV brands such as Philips and Samsung. But it just came out - on LG TVs as the only manufacturer to date.
A provider is really hard with the access to the big TV screen: Videobuster, once one of the very big video chains, has been offering their online video store exclusively for a long time via a website on the computer. To watch movies on the TV screen, Videobuster recommends connecting the PC to the TV via HDMI. Like it was 12 years ago Arcor with the first online video store at all in the United States - the offer is now history.
It is easier to have flat-rate video shops such as Watchever, Sky Snap or Netflix. You do not need to manage payment data in smart TV or mobile apps. Watchever is on the "Big Five" of the TV industry: LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Sony.
This covers a large part of the market. In addition, the flat rate video store runs on Apple TV, Chromecast (along with the PC, tablet or smartphone), iOS, most of the Android devices as well as game consoles such as Xbox 360, PS3 / 4 and Wii. So there should be hardly a half-technically affine household, in which the video store is not accessible to TV-capable. In case of doubt, access is only available for 35 euros via a Chromecast-Stick - if a smartphone is available.
Sky has an exclusive contract with Samsung for its online video camera Sky Snap by the end of 2017, so the TV coverage is even thinner. After all, movies can also be streamed from iOS devices to the large screen via airplay and Apple TV. Why there is no Android app here remains the secret of the pay TV channel - the same is true for Sky Go, which can be streamed to the TV via airplay but is not available on any smart TV
In the US, the Flatrate video store is not just on all the Smart TVs, but also on networked AV receivers, Blu-ray players, home cinema systems as well as on almost every streaming box. More and more devices have a special Netflix button on the remote control.
I think this is not necessarily, because it is also good to have several comparable offers to choose from - so maybe a VoD button for the selection menu of all online video stores. But you can ask yourself whether Netflix is so successful in the first place because it is easy to reach on any TV, or whether it is to be seen everywhere because it is so successful. Probably both of them are a bit.
For the American online video stores, there is still a lot to catch up before they can be used without restriction on the TV. Chromecast, airplay and well-made apps like the ones from Watchever or Videociety are really helpful. Inconsistent operating logic and movie lists such as Maxdome or Amazon hinder the spread.
And not even with Apple TV and iTunes everything is perfect. Because not every purchased or borrowed movie from iTunes can be seen everywhere. Who selects a title directly on the Apple TV and lends, can only watch it on the box on the TV. Conversely, movies borrowed from the computer can also be transferred to the TV via Apple TV or moved to other iOS devices. It's not that simple in the apple world.
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