Hands on: Netflix UK review

Netflix has finally made its way to the UK, bringing film and television show streaming to our computers, smart TVs, games consoles, tablets and smartphones

Of course, we're already au fait with all that thanks to Amazon-owned Lovefilm, which offers a similar service at a similar price point. So can Netflix take the incumbent streaming champion on?

Design

Once you've signed up to Netflix, you'll be forgiven for thinking you've slipped off the site and on to YouTube, so similar is the design and branding.

There's something a bit off about the design; it's got a slightly cheap feel about it, as though it were created in Word or something.

Beautiful it may not be, but the Netflix homepage is functional. You're presented with a variety of genres to browse through based on your preferences and ratings, as well as your Facebook friends' favourites.

If none of these take your fancy, there's a search box in the top right-hand corner into which you can tap titles, actors, directors or genres to find what you're looking for.

Hovering over any of the titles on screen brings up a synopsis box, as well as a star rating of how much Netflix thinks you'll like it – these are a bit hit and miss, but more on that later.

Library

This is going to prove the big sticking point for a lot of potential Netflix subscribers.

Although Netflix has already talked about the unlikelihood of its incorporating bleeding-edge releases, its TV back catalogue is impressive – you can catch up on current darlings like Breaking Bad, old favourites like Twin Peaks, British hits like Spooks and, er, Cracker and get down with amazing shows like Arrested Development that may have passed you by on whatever pay-TV channel they aired on in the UK.

But the library is currently limited at best and, on the movie front, there are a lot of holes. As a straw poll, we tried Kubrick (none), Spielberg (barely any) and 3D-loving James Cameron (it returned results for Cameron Diaz instead).

But that's not to say there isn't plenty to keep you busy, and the Netflix recommendation system should highlight similar titles and other films you might not have actively searched for yourself – and, of course, the library is only set to get more comprehensive, albeit with older titles.

The recommendations engine is where Netflix comes into its own. It's not perfect (it thought we might want to watch Brothers Grimm which we really never would), but it is impressive.

First up, it'll come up with personalised genres based on information you give it – at sign up, spend a couple of minutes telling it what types of movies you watch sometimes, often and never, and it will serve you up some eerily specific options ("Visually-striking mind-bending films", for example, and the slightly less PC "Wacky foreign comedies").

The Facebook integration, if you choose to use it, could also prove useful. Sadly your reviewer only has one Facebook friend currently using (or admitting to using) Netflix – but as we gain more, the friends' favourites section should prove a bit more useful and mean we're never out of stuff to talk about at the digital watercooler.

A word of warning: once you've connected your Netflix account to your Facebook page, it will share what you're watching by default (because it's basically free advertising for Netflix, see?). If you don't want people to see what you're watching, you can click the Don't Share This button in the top right hand corner of the screen; you might want to do this quite sharpish.

In fact, this Facebook integration will prove a bit of a pain for anyone sharing an account – say a couple living together, or a set of housemates. It may be better to simply disconnect the two accounts, although then you miss out on the social features.

Another problem for cohabitants is that your differing opinions will render the recommendations engine a little less useful. While this is fine if your tastes diverge massively, it's less ideal if you have similar genre preferences but differing opinions on specific films.

Netflix has plans to segregate accounts, but for the time being your best bet is to just suck it up, or pay for two separate accounts.

One consideration Netflix has taken in this arena is to separate the childrens' content out – although it doesn't leave them with a walled garden to play in (they can simply click out into Netflix proper and all the age-inappropriate content it contains), it does mean that your kids can watch as much Pingu and Disney Channel fare as they'd like without it mucking up your grown-up recommendations.