Filed under: Internet, Video, Web
First look at Epix internet movie channel
If you don't have Verizon FiOS you can request a 3-day weekend trial of the service, but I'm not entirely sure what the point is, since Epix doesn't plan to launch a web-only version anytime soon. Perhaps they're hoping you'll contact your local cable, satellite, or other TV provider and request they add Epix to the lineup.
If your invitation hasn't come through yet, you can take solace in the fact that I did score an invite. OK, that may not be much comfort, but I did manage to grab a bunch of screenshots of the user interface. It's kind of a mixed bag right now. The search function works quite nicely and you can click the watch button from the drop-down menu that appears when you're searching for a movie -- if the movie is available. Unfortunately, there are a ton of listings for movies that you can't actually watch yet, including Star Trek, GI Joe, and The Godfather I, II, and III.
You can also browser for movies by most watched, newest, genre, or other collections. You can also see all the movies from A to Z.
Browsing is sort of a cumbersome task though, since you have to scroll through thumbnails of movie posters. If it's not clear what movie you're looking at, you can mouse over the cover to see the title, but it may take a moment for the title to show up. And in the genre section, many movies are listed more than once (for example, the same title might show up in comedy, award winners, and action). And it's clear the web site wasn't really designed for geeks, because the sci fi category is dead last, which means you have to do a lot of scrolling before you get to it.
On the bright side, video quality was pretty good and you can even click a button to check your bitrate and other settings, which are automatically adjusted based on your internet connection settings.
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Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SleepingPanda said 5:47PM on 10-31-2009
Oh great. Yet another US exclusive VOD website. I can say that I love where they're going with this stuff, but until they make it International friendly, it won't be appreciated. Much like Pandora, Hulu and BBC iPlayer. Come on, already.
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Todd Loren Sinclair said 6:52AM on 11-01-2009
$9.99 a month ... yeah, like that will fly!!!!
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codeman38 said 6:52AM on 11-01-2009
Are there any captions or subtitles available?
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Nicholas said 6:52AM on 11-01-2009
Not as far as I can tell, I got an invite. Don't see subtitles. Audio is stereo, not 5.1, and the picture quality is good, but it's like Netflix's HD-- a little more compressed than I'd like. Driven by Flash 10.
Brad said 7:59AM on 11-02-2009
I had the pleasure to get the invite for EpixHD but to answer your question about closed captioning (CC) or subtitles. The answer is, they do not provide either at the moment. I was hoping the author of this article would write about the disadvantages for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Not to mention that many hearing people use captioning for their benefit as well.
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