Yes, lots of people have been asking for it and yes, it’s taken us a little while to get here, but LOVEFiLM Instant titles are now available in High Definition. At no extra cost.
There are around 900 HD titles as we go live on 30th May – roughly 200 films and 700 TV episodes – and we’ll be adding more to the roster all the time.
Films in HD include those with an epic sweep, like The Way Back and Apocalypse Now; as well as LOVEFiLM Instant favourites like RED, Attack the Block, Eclipse and Gnomeo & Juliet.
TV episodes in HD include beautiful documentaries like Planet Earth and Human Planet; as well as long-running sagas like LOST, Ghost Whisperer and Robin Hood.
How can you tell if a title is available in HD? Well, it will be clearly marked with an ‘HD’ badge on the packshot and on that title’s main page. And we’ve gathered some of them together into collections like Beautiful Planet and Family Fun.
HD streaming will be available on the Xbox 360, on TVs & Blu-ray players from Samsung and LG, and on PCs & laptops (Windows and Mac).
We’re working hard on bringing HD to Sony TVs & Blu-ray players, and to the PS3™ – which is already streaming in higher than standard quality (though not quite HD at this stage) – and we don’t currently have studio rights to stream HD on iPad.
| Device | Maximum Resolution |
| Xbox | 720p |
| Samsung TV/Blu-ray | 720p |
| LG TV/Blu-ray | 720p |
| Desktop (PC & Mac) | 1080p |
You’ll need a minimum internet connection speed of 3 Mbps to watch HD 720p; and a minimum internet speed of 12 Mbps to watch HD 1080p – but don’t worry, it’s all automatic.
Because all internet connections can vary in speed, our service automatically selects the best video quality for uninterrupted viewing, switching seamlessly between full HD, lower HD, or standard definition, dependent on the bandwidth available.
If you can, use an Ethernet cable rather than Wi-Fi to stream to get the best quality of playback.
And it’s worth checking your monthly data allowance with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) – watching 2 hours of HD content at 1080p will consume about 10 Gigabytes of data.
We’re as committed as ever to providing our customers with the best quality in viewing entertainment, so we hope you enjoy LOVEFiLM Instant films and TV episodes in HD.
You can find more info and our HD FAQs here…
Ben Lavender, Digital Product Director
It’s been a bit of time coming (I’ve been on this project myself since last November!), and we designed it from the ground-up for iPad. So a whole lot of love has been poured into it (as well as some blood, not a little sweat, and a few tears too), and we hope you like it as much as we do.