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Vongo Starz Play Review
- Unlimited Access: $9.99 ($5.99 for Verizon customers)
- 14 day free trial
- USA only
- Windows only
- Over 2500 titles to choose from
- Previously known as Vongo Starz Play
- Preview trailers for free
- Free download manager software
- Instant messaging support
- Latest releases to classic independent movies
- Extra content like live concerts and anime
- Download movies to your computer
- Parental controls
- Start watching after only a minute
- Watch on your TV
- Copy to up to 3 different devices
- Keep titles for as long as they are available on Starz-Play
- Recommended titles based on your viewing history
- See the titles other members are watching the most
- Watch on a compatible portable player
- Watch on your Xbox 360
Starz Play is a high profile movie download service offering lots of Hollywood movies as well as specialist content. It has recently taken over the Vongo service and now is provided in conjunction with Verizon - meaning it's available to US based customers only.
We were a bit confused when we first set off to review the Starz Play service as many of their links still refer to the old Vongo service which used to offer Starz Play. What's more Starz Play is a service in itself which is provided through a third party (currently only the Verizon internet service in the US) so some links refer to that as well. Despite this disjointed, split personality style web site, if you do manage to arrive at the correct page first time, signing up and downloading are a breeze. For the record we recommend trying to go through Verizon's online shop first!
Like most movie download providers Starz Play requires that you download a piece of free software to start watching movies. It's only a small download and the software itself is very easy to use which makes managing your downloads and movie watching very simple. We particularly like some of the jazzy graphical effects going on when you select a movie for more detail. It's not quite iTunes standard but it does make the whole download process a bit more enjoyable.
The actual content on offer is a mixture of new release movies, such as No Country For Old Men, combined with older Hollywood titles like Beethoven! Somewhere in the middle is a whole load of specialist content covering areas like extreme sports, art cinema, anime and more, which adds extra value to the service. With just over 2500 titles in the library Starz Play does not have the biggest collection of the services we have reviewed, but it does seem to change its content regularly.
The fact that it changes content regularly can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how often you watch movies. This is because Starz Play operates a subscription based service where you get unlimited access to a title while it is still available online. This means that if a movie is only available for a week online you can download it and watch it as many times as you want in that period, but it will be automatically deleted after that. As long as you are organised with your viewing it's not a problem because the web site gives plenty of information about how long a title is available for.
To facilitate this kind of subscription based service all the content you download is protected by the Windows Media DRM mechanism. This means that although the movies you download are stored on your computer and you can watch them without being online you will periodically have to connect to update the licenses for them. The set up allows you to copy the movie to three different devices after downloading - including PlaysForSure compatible portable devices.
We think the Starz Play service is pretty good value for money. At $9.99 per month for unlimited downloads with a 14 day trial it won't break the bank to give it a try - especially considering that this is about the price of two and a half to three rental downloads from other services. Verizon customers have it even better though as they can get the service for the discounted rate of $5.99 per month - which is added straight on to their Verizon bill.
Starz Play is a great service for those who aren't too bothered about getting the biggest new releases the minute they come out. Although you will find many of these on the service, they perhaps aren't added as soon as on some others. The other drawback is that you can't download to keep with this service. On the plus side you get unlimited access to a large and varied content library for a very reasonable monthly price. Even better is that there is a 14 day free trial so there's no excuse not to give it a try!
>> Visit Vongo.com
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