Some people who want to watch a movie at home wait for Netflix to mail it to them on a disc. Others click on a link at Netflix or other Web sites and immediately watch films, TV episodes or sports events streamed to them on the spot.
But streamed shows can be ephemeral ? they depend on a good broadband connection, and they pass by as they are viewed, unlike downloaded videos that can be watched later offline. And some shows can?t be found again at a site that once provided them, because they are meant to have a limited run.
Now, for $5 a month, a new service called PlayLater lets subscribers copy streaming video as it shows up at 30 sites, including Netflix, Hulu, PBS, ESPN and CNN, so they can watch it later.
With PlayLater, viewers can stockpile episodes of their favourite television shows on their hard drives and thumb drives, just as they copy programmes on a digital video recorder for later viewing.
PlayLater has many restrictions ? it works only on PCs, and the videos made with the software may be watched only on the PC licensed by PlayLater to record the show, or on another PC that shares the license. And it doesn?t work with iPhones, iPads, or mobile Android devices, although Jeff Lawrence, the chief executive of PlayOn, the Seattle company that offers the subscription service, said these apps would be available soon.
?The number of people who watch streaming video is climbing,? said Radha Subramanyam, an executive at Nielsen, the ratings firm, ?and so is the time they spend watching.? Netflix subscribers spent an average of nearly 8.5 hours doing so in June, she said.
?Everyone streams across all ages,? she said, ?but some age groups stream more than others.? She said that there were strong numbers for both the 18-to-24 and 24-to-35 age groups.