I was recently asked if my family would like to watch Despicable Me 2 on Blinkbox. Having seen neither the film nor used Blinkbox before I was only too happy to agree.

For the uneducated (this included me until a few days ago) Blinkbox is an online instant viewing service where you can rent or buy movies/tv and view on demand. As a long time user of Lovefilm and Netflix I was ready to be unimpressed with Blinkbox but it is slowly but surely winning me over!

Movie/TV Selection

Blinkbox has a clear edge over many of its competitors when it comes to new releases. We watched Despicable Me 2 several days before it was even released onto DVD and a year before it will appear on other instant viewing services.

Price

If you want to rent a film then expect to pay around £3.49 for the newest releases. This is instantly available and can be viewed as many times as you like over 48hours.

If you’d rather buy the movie then you will pay more, Despicable Me 2 cost £10.99 which allows it to be viewed whenever, wherever! I must admit to being sceptical over the viability of permanently buying a film online. The advantage is being able to view over several devices (tv/computer/tablet etc) no matter where you happen to be. The disadvantage is not actually owning a physical disc, I can see arguments for either option and I haven’t come up with a clear winner yet.

Load Speeds

So far Blinkbox hasn’t stalled, buffered or failed to load no matter what speed our home internet was running at. We watched during the day, weekend and evening and never saw a loss in service.

Can it really replace a DVD rental service?

At first glance it would seem impossible that Blinkbox could be a viable alternative to a limitless DVD rental service offered elsewhere. However I think there’s a good argument that it can be an economical option. With our last DVD rental service we were only receiving about 4 DVDs a month. Of those 4 we tended to receive 1 of our top choice films, the random nature of such services means that you never know what you’re going to get and you can potentially wait a long time to see a new release. With Blinkbox you can choose to watch any movie straight away, if you only want to see 1 or 2 big releases a month then being able to pick and choose seems preferable and possibly cheaper overall.

Can it replace other instant TV/movie services?

I don’t think Blinkbox can offer a complete solution if you watch a lot of on demand TV and film, it just wouldn’t make financial sense.

Final Thoughts

My current thinking is that the best option for us both in terms of selection and price is to keep up with an instant viewing service like Netflix and add in Blinkbox for those must see new releases.

We’re lucky that our TV is able to run Blinkbox so the simplicity to view films at the touch of a button without searching for a DVD is great.

I don’t think we’ll be renting films every day because the cost would be prohibitive, however being able to view movies that haven’t even been released to buy is a significant advantage. The kids said it felt like they were at the cinema!

Despicable Me 2

‘Now that the ever-entrepreneurial Gru has left behind a life of super crime to raise Margo, Edith and Agnes, Gru, Dr. Nefario and the Minions have some free time on their hands. But just as he starts to adjust to his role as a suburban family man, an ultra-secret organisation dedicated to fighting evil around the globe comes knocking. Now, it’s up to Gru and his new partner, Lucy Wilde, to discover who is responsible for a spectacular crime and bring him to justice. After all, it takes the world’s greatest ex-villain to catch the one vying to take his place….’

Not much I can say about this film except that it’s incredibly funny and I think I need a few ‘Minions’ to help around the house and provide comic relief. There’s enough humour to keep adults entertained as well as the kids and it makes for all round great family viewing.

Details

To check out Blinkbox for yourself click here. They are currently running a promotion where depositing £1 will give you £5 in credit.