LoveFilm TV review: Free movie streaming tested on Samsung TV

Free movie streaming is now available on Samsung televisions as the LoveFilm app goes live. LoveFilm, the UK's leading film rental site, is offering online streaming on its own Web site and via Samsung's Internet@TV service. We tried it on the excellent Samsung 55C8000 55-inch enormo-telly, because that's how we roll.

To access streaming, whether free or pay per view, you'll need an Unlimited LoveFilm account -- the kind that lets you have as many films as you want in a month, starting at £10 for one disc at a time. Cheaper light-use packages are available without streaming, starting at £4 for two discs a month.

LoveFilm is also available on Sony systems, and will be added to Samsung Blu-ray players later this year.

LoveFilm on the telly

The app lets you search the entire catalogue, and offers simple list-management options. You can fast-forward and rewind through films at up to 128x, but the buffering means you can't see where you are as you move through the film, so it's pretty hit and miss. Pause a movie on your telly, and you can resume watching it at the same point in a browser on any computer.

Film stock

The 3,300-strong selection of free films boasts a wealth of decent titles, stuffed with classic and international heavyweights such as Tell No One, His Girl Friday, Chopper, Requiem for a Dream, Infernal Affairs, My Left Foot, Festen, The King of New York, The Counterfeiters, Oldboy, The Third Man... and the memetastic Downfall. There's also loads of telly, including Peep Show, Shameless, Sharpe and the classic series The Prisoner.

If you're desperate for newer fare or Hollywood hits, you'll have to watch through the browser instead of the app. Pay per view films cost £3.50 for 48 hours. They include a mix of new films such as Sherlock Holmes and Where The Wild Things Are with classics from The Godfather to Dirty Dancing. Ad-supported films such as The Proposition can be watched for free online but not on the Samsung app. There's no streaming for mega-blockbusters such as Star Trek, but you can rent them on disc and delve into the cult and classic catalogue while you wait for the rattle of the letterbox.

Click 'Continue' to see more on the features and setup process, or skip straight to page 8 for our verdict.