Lightbox
Six months or so back I was invited to a sneak preview of Lightbox at Event Cinemas Gold Class in Auckland City. Got to say hi to some of the people involved and watched two episodes of Vikings on the big screen. I think it was also the first time I meet @WendyWings in person. All told a good night out. But then we had to wait a while longer for Lightbox to actually launch, and then it wasn’t available on many devices. I had wondered about Lighbox’s viability after a lackluster launch.
Last month however Lightbox partnered with Playstation, and launched a Lightbox Ap for the Playstation 4. This meant that I could actually watch Lightbiox on my TV rather than hunched over my laptop. This was all the motivation I needed to jump in and see what all the fuss was about.
Setting up was a breeze, I had to set up an account on my PC, then download the Ap on my PS4, sign in and start watching. I also downloaded the iPad Ap on my wife’s iPad so she could watch what ever she wanted. Both Aps work well, with an easy navigation system and plenty of content to keep you happy, broken down into genres, with a whole section of kids TV (if you have kids!).
First port of call for me was Hannibal with the marvelous Mads Mikkelsen, then I tried out season one of Weeds (I had been a late adopter of the show, joining towards the end) which looked a lot more like Desperate Housewives that the Weeds I was used to. Recently I’ve delved into something a little darker with American Horror Story, which is slightly disturbing but strangely alluring.
Classic shows like Stargate with the lovely Amanda Tapping temp me constantly, but with new content being added it’s hard to know what shows to invest your time in. Trying to juggle DVD watching and the desire to jump onto Lightbox is a constant problem for me, and I haven’t watched traditional TV since signing up for Lightbox.
The visual and audio quality is great, though you will notice it’s not as crisp as BluRay if that’s what your normally watch stuff on.
The big thing of course is the total ease of use and the sense of total control. No more having to get up and swap discs whilst having a binge session, and no more having to wait for a program to start, or having to endure adverts. Everything is instant and available 24/7.
For me, it will be hard if I have to go back to traditional TV, and I would say that Lightboix is here to stay, no matter what competition may arise. So long as they keep building on the good content they have now, and keep expanding the supported devices.
I’m a bit of an old school guy, I love to read my books on paper, and cherish my DVD collection, but Lightbox’s instant pleasures has me embracing this new digital life.
For a free 30-day trial of Lightbox register at www.lightbox.co.nz. Rating: A range of content is available.
FILMGUIDE rating:
