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Video-on-demand service LoveFilm has improved its video output to offer high-definition streaming in the UK and Germany.
Subscribers to the Amazon-owned service in both countries will be able to access full 1080p resolution HD video at no extra cost on PC or Mac, and 720p video in the UK on Xbox 360 games consoles and Samsung and LG connected TVs.
However, users must have a 4Mbps or higher broadband connection to view 720p content and a minimum 12Mbps connection for 1080p content.
LoveFilm said it will expand its catalogue of HD titles in the coming months, with initial UK streaming content to include TV dramas such as Lost and Ghost Whisperer; documentaries like David Attenborough’s Planet Earth; and films including The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
The move comes as LoveFilm tries to fend off competition from its closest UK rival, Netflix. The US VoD service began offering HD streaming on PC and Mac in 2010 and used the quality of its streams as a major selling point when it made its European debut earlier this year. Though it currently claims to offer “high-quality” rather than high-definition content in the UK.
The news comes in the same week that LoveFilm signed a deal with NBCUniversal to gain exclusive second pay window rights to Universal Pictures films. The video service already has similar deals in place with Sony and Warner Bros.
