The internet has changed our day-to-day lives dramatically, and one of the areas that's seen the biggest impact is TV.
When it comes to online streaming services, the BBC has led the way with iPlayer, showing us what's possible with on-demand television.
iPlayer launched in 2007 and has been hugely successful, but the BBC's competitors haven't been sitting idly by. The terrestrial channels might not have the same resources as the Beeb, but their offerings have been catching up fast.
Satellite behemoth Sky has also been honing its on-demand service, Sky Go. Unlike many of the other products here, it isn't free (unless you're already a Sky subscriber), but with bespoke apps for a range of platforms, it looks like it could give iPlayer a run for its money.
There's also YouView, which had a long and difficult launch, but could be about to shake things up. Four years in the making, it's a unique product that brings together the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BT and TalkTalk, and combines its online streaming services with PVR functionality. The objective is to blend broadcast TV seamlessly with the internet.
Finally, we have Lovefilm and Netflix, which are best known for on-demand movies, but dabble in TV shows too. These services have changed the way we watch TV, and we've set out to discover which one is best.
Can the BBC's terrestrial rival compete when it comes to streaming?
Unlike the BBC, Channel 4 is a commercial broadcaster with far fewer resources at its disposal, so 4oD was never going to be as polished as iPlayer, but it performs well. The website is attractively laid out, and there are various ways to browse the impressive archive.
Much like the iPlayer website, you can browse shows by popularity, date and genre. There are also Collections, which gather together various programmes that feature the same stars. To play a video, just click on it.
There are no fast-forward or rewind buttons, but you can drag a slider to skip through a programme. This works well on a PC, but running 4oD via a set-top box or console makes things trickier. There's no HD content, but on the whole the video quality is very good.
One excellent feature you won't find in most other on-demand services is audio description for users with impaired vision. Not all programmes support it, but a lot do, and it can be turned on by pressing the 'AD' button. Subtitles can be activated in a similar way.
You can add shows to your favourites, or create playlists and queue up shows.
Channel 4 is a commercial broadcaster, so its service includes unskippable ads. In the past these were annoying, because you would often see the same one every time you clicked a video. Thankfully, that has been corrected and adverts are now much less disruptive. They rarely play before a video starts, instead appearing during the natural ad breaks of the programme.
The 4oD service also has a great archive of older shows - something iPlayer lacks.
Although the PC experience is great, on consoles and set-top boxes, 4oD is a little disappointing. In most cases it's just a skinned version of the web page. That's not necessarily bad, but it's more fiddly to control with a remote control or games controller than a mouse and keyboard.
Verdict
4oD is going from strength to strength, with a greatly improved web version and excellent video quality.
Score: 3/5
Auntie has long reigned on the web, and she's hanging onto her crown
The recent London Olympics provided both a challenge and an opportunity to the BBC's on demand service, and it more than lived up to expectations. iPlayer provided 24 simultaneous high definition live streams, accessible over a number of platforms - from the usual web browser-based service to iPlayer apps on smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes and games consoles.
Many of its competitors have been catching up fast (most noticeably Sky), but the BBC certainly hasn't been resting on its laurels, and has made a number of significant improvements to iPlayer in recent months.
One excellent new feature is the ability to pause a live TV show that you're streaming through the service. Hovering over a live broadcast also opens up a handy 'Restart the current programme' option, which takes you to the start of the show that's currently on air. Both these features make iPlayer more like a PVR than ever, and are crucial steps towards making watching live TV online more attractive than on TV, a feat that no ondemand service has yet achieved. It's not flawless though, and there's currently no HD option for pausing and re-watching live TV.
The interface has been revised over the years, and its latest incarnation is easily the best. You can browse and search for programmes by genre, TV channel, popularity or through featured picks. Hovering over a programme's thumbnail brings up options to watch the programme straight away, add it to your favourites, or download it to watch later. Downloads are available to watch for 30 days, and you can set up iPlayer to download future episodes in the series.
Although the playing field has been levelled a bit, BBC iPlayer still boasts some of the best features, keeping it ahead of the competition.
Verdict
There's a reason iPlayer is so popular: it's easily the best streaming service right now.
Score: 5/5
Can the fifth terrestrial channel stand toe-to-toe with its older rivals?
Channel 5 began in 1997, mainly showing bawdy films. It's re-branded itself numerous times since, and bought the rights to other stations' floundering shows, including the likes of Neighbours, Big Brother, and Home and Away. It has also launched two digital channels: 5USA for glossy American serials, and 5star for endless repeats of the core offerings, interspersed with late night teleshopping.
Its on-demand service, Demand 5, has a purple and black colour scheme that, although similar to iPlayer's black and pink, looks a little rough around the edges. The content is oddly aligned too, with unused space taking up much of the page.
The archive itself seems almost completely random. The schedule only stretches back a week, so if you want to find a particular episode you'll have to browse through the show's back catalogue to find the one you want. There is a huge amount of content available, with programmes stretching back to 2010 - it's just rather tricky to find it all.
If you're a fan of adverts then Demand 5 should be your first port of call. Before we could watch a programme, we were presented with five attempts to sell us stuff, and there are banner adverts embedded on the web page for each show. We thought ITV Player was bad, but Demand 5 takes the biscuit, and then tries to sell said biscuit to you.
The player itself is similar to ITV's: it's programmed in Flash, there's no HD option, and it lacks the ability to download shows. At the time of writing, England and South Africa are battling it out at Lord's - surely a huge catch for Channel 5 - but disappointingly there's no option to watch it live online.
Compared to the other slick services, Demand 5 feels messy. If you're addicted to Home and Away, Neighbours or Big Brother you might find it useful, but in this case we'd recommend you start watching better shows.
Verdict
We'd love to give this five stars, but as it stands it's the worst of the bunch with no high definition option and intrusive ads.
Score: 2/5
The UK's first commercial TV station goes online with a slick-looking player
Unsurprisingly, ITV's online TV catch-up service is chock full of adverts. Watch a 30-minute programme and you're presented with a couple at the start, followed by a batch of four every 10 minutes, and a couple at the end. It's just about forgivable given ITV's status as the UK pioneer of TV advertisements.
Things have come a long way since its launch in 1955 though. It now runs four channels alongside its once-analogue offering: the trashtastic ITV2, repeat-central ITV3, sporty ITV4 and child-centric ITV5.
Each of these channels is available on ITV Player, with archives stretching back to the previous 30 days' content. The website itself is neat and well-presented, with concise thumbnails for each programme and, oddly, no banner adverts, although the ads seem to have been hidden in the shows themselves.
Unlike iPlayer, programmes here are presented strictly in standard definition, which feels like a missed opportunity given ITV's enthusiastic adoption of the HD format on living room screens. It performs well enough in standard definition, with little lag or stuttering, but it still looks flat compared to the HD videos we're used to on YouTube and iPlayer.
There's no option to download programs to watch offline, although they're broadcast in Flash, so some (slightly dodgy) internet tinkering might enable you to accomplish this. ITV offers an app for Android and iOS devices, but this is sub-par compared to the web offering, with frequent stutters and has sound synchronisation issues.
A couple of years ago, ITV's service would have been a neat addition to the world of internet TV, but compared to the BBC's slick iPlayer it feels like it's missing some key features - especially in the HD and offline departments.
ITV will need to improve it, if only to drive people into its incessant but doubtless lucrative advertising.
Verdict
The only way to catch up with Jeremy Kyle, but it's lacking in some key areas. HD programming would be welcome.
Score: 2.5/5
Access hundreds of movies and TV shows for £5 a month
Lovefilm is Amazon's online movie rental service, and it comes in several varieties. The Instant flavour, on test here, is purely internet based: you click a film from the extensive library and it plays. Other versions offer the ability to rent films and have them delivered by post.
The Instant system costs £4.99 a month, the postal service is £5.99, or you can have both for £7.99. The latter option will only let you have one disc at a time. There is also a one-month free trial available here to give it a spin.
The beauty of Lovefilm Instant is that it lets you watch films on so many different devices. Many modern smart TVs and Blu-ray players have the Lovefilm app installed by default. If you have an Xbox or PS3 you can access the Instant library, and there are versions for iPad and PC too.
The iPad app is particularly useful if you travel a lot. If you're stuck in a UK hotel with a suitable broadband connection, you can access Lovefilm just as readily as you could at home. The interface differs depending on which device you're using, but it's always easy to use.
Films and TV programmes are broken down into Families and Categories. Within each of these groups you'll find an array of thumbnails. Just pick one and you're done. Picture quality is excellent, with HD versions on tap, and playback is smooth.
So what can you watch? This is where Lovefilm disappoints slightly. Amazon claims there are over 5,000 movies and TV shows available, which sounds impressive. Sadly though, the very latest blockbusters aren't available for streaming.
Amazon makes a newer and wider selection of movies available via its postal subscriptions service, while Instant provides an expansive library of older films. That's not always a problem though, and you're guaranteed to find something to watch.
That goes doubly if you like watching big budget TV series like Prison Break or Life on Mars. Letting Amazon store the shows will save you a lot of shelf space!
Verdict
A huge selection of movies on pretty much any device, all for a fiver a month. It's a shame the latest films aren't available.
Score: 5/5
Meet the web's hottest movie and TV streaming service
Somewhere, in an alternate universe, piracy doesn't exist. Instead, we pay a pittance for instant, high-quality streaming of pretty much every movie or TV show imaginable. Our universe doesn't quite have that yet, but Netflix is pretty close.
For six quid a month you are given access to an enormous library of content across PCs, consoles, connected Blu-ray players, internet TVs, smartphones and tablets. Netflix UK is £5.99 per month, and there's also a one-month's free trial available. It's a flat-rate, unlimited service, so you won't click on a film only to find you've hit your rental limit, or that it's a pay-per-view title.
Check your broadband's small print though; streaming lots of video can easily burst through ISPs' monthly bandwidth caps.
Netflix uses Microsoft's Silverlight to stream movies to your browser, and on a decent broadband connection it delivers impressive results: where HD versions of movies were available, they looked great on a big HD TV. Playback, fast-forwarding and rewinding were instant on our cable broadband connection, although sometimes fast-forwarding caused the quality to drop from HD to SD for a few seconds until the streaming buffer caught up.
For HD viewing you really need a reliable 5Mbps (720p) or 8Mbps (1080p) connection, since Silverlight's adaptive streaming degrades on the fly when a connection is too slow or congested, and video quality depends on what you're watching.
Recent films and TV programmes are generally flawless and usually in HD, but some of the encoding of older content is hopeless. Although Netflix UK works fine on a PC or Mac, it's better suited to the living room. If you've got the right cables you can connect your PC or Mac to your TV.
Netflix UK is available on some connected Blu-ray players and TVs, and you can also get apps for iOS and Android phones, Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii.
Verdict
It works very well, the apps are great and the all-you-can-eat model is simple. It's also available on a wide range of platforms.
Score: 3.5/5
Take your Sky subscription with you, but you can't have everything
Sky Go has a simple premise - it lets you watch "TV you love on the move." All you need is a Sky subscription and an Apple or Android device.
Assuming you do, all you need do is download the free app and enter your Sky ID. If you don't own a tablet or smartphone, you can use Sky Go on your Windows PC or Xbox 360. If you're using the former, you'll need to install Microsoft Silverlight from www.microsoft.com/silverlight first.
Sky Go is essentially free - or to put it another way, it's included in the overall cost of your existing Sky subscription. Getting up and running is easy: all you need do is enter your Sky ID when prompted and you're pretty much done.
It's also worth remembering that each subscriber can watch on two devices simultaneously. You can register your mobile devices through the Sky website.
With the app running, you're presented with a huge list of shows you could watch. We say 'could watch', as their availability is limited by the type of Sky account you have. This might sound a rather obvious point, but it would have made for a neater interface if the system only presented a menu of what you can actually see as opposed to everything that's available in the Sky universe.
That minor gripe aside, the rest of the system is flawless - just tap a programme and start watching. Picture quality is excellent if you're using the system using a fast broadband connection (ours was 4MB).
Ultimately, Sky Go lives and dies by the content you can access through your normal TV subscription. If you're a football fan and have shelled out for the broadcaster's full footie package then you'll love being able to watch matches on the move. On the other hand, if you only have a basic package and sometimes struggle to find something to watch at home, you'll only find the problem exacerbated when you're out and about.
Verdict
Watch Sky channels and shows you on your tablet, smartphone, PC or Xbox - but only if you're already a subscriber.
Score: 4/5
Catch-up TV with a free Sky Go film rental trial and a great interface
YouView is a new Freeview service offering both live and on-demand TV from the UK's five terrestrial channels, along with any offered through digital terrestrial services. The innovative features here are the integrated programme guide and the seamless cross-platform search. It's incredibly slick.
There's a TV guide button for instant access, and an 'i' button brings up programme details or film synopses. Better yet, if there's a trailer for a forthcoming programme, pressing the green button on the remote sets it to record.
You can also access the Sky Now movie rental service. There's a 30-day free trial of the package, which usually costs £15 per month, and you don't need to be a Sky subscriber. Netflix and Lovefilm are likely to become YouView stablemates in time, too.
It's not all good news, though. Sunday's TOWIE wasn't available for viewing on Monday evening (though Celebrity Masterchef was quickly available via iPlayer), and when flaky bandwidth interrupted playback, iPlayer didn't resume, as it does on our Sony Play TV-PS3 combo.
The 500GB Humax DTR-T1000 is the first PVR to feature YouView. Its two Freeview tuners can record one programme while you watch another, or record two programmes simultaneously while you watch something you recorded earlier.
The £299 PVR has HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports. We used a pair of 500Mbps HomePlugs to stream content via cable broadband (a 3Mbps service is recommended). After a few seconds of buffering, playback was stutter-free. Wi-Fi is not supported on this PVR, unlike the broadly similar BT Vision service. BT and TalkTalk folk will soon be offered branded YouView PVRs, with the potential for more content.
Verdict
Dual Freeview tuners, all the terrestrial catch-up TV players, and movie rentals. It looks set to get even better in the future.
Score: 4.5/5
One of the most glaring facts that this group test has revealed is the huge disparity between the ad-supported on-demand services and those that get revenue either from subscriptions or through the TV licence fee.
While the paid-for services have slick, attractive interfaces with great features and enough bandwidth to host high definition programmes, almost all the ad-supported ones have slightly rougher edges and lack HD content. Channel 4's 4oD and the new YouView service (which is free after the initial cost of the box) are exceptions to the rule here, with impressively polished offerings and surprisingly unobtrusive adverts.
BBC iPlayer still came out on top of the terrestrial channel offerings though, and Lovefilm impressed us too.
When we started this group test, we wanted to know whether any on-demand service could beat the BBC's iPlayer. A few of its rivals came close, but none managed to match its sheer quality.
Although not technically free (it's supported by the licence fee), the amount of content and number of features offered by iPlayer are amazing. Best of all, the BBC continues to update and refine its service regularly to ensure that iPlayer remains top of the league.
The sheer number of films and TV shows available for £4.99 a month makes Lovefilm our streaming service of choice for the value award.
The fact that it's available on a number of different platforms gives you even more options for watching movies and TV when and where you want to. For just £7.99 a month you can add Lovefilm's postal service, which sends out discs for you to rent - an excellent service in its own right.
