TV and movie viewing habits are changing. Cable and satellite companies have targeting, and catering to, consumers with high-definition big screen TVs. Now, it’s time to deal with smaller screens. 41% of mobile device users say they watch videos on their phone, according to Business Insider. That’s up from 20% in 2012. Tablet users are beginning to mirror their home TV watching on their devices.

Services like Netflix and Hulu have already made their way into the mobile market. Consumers want choices. They want to be able to watch their favorite shows at home on their HD TVs as well as on their smartphone or tablet. Giving them this seamless capability is the goal of streaming digital services. The arena is competitive and it is heating up.

You Can Take It With You – Hulu is seeing a growth in subscriptions (and their competition with cable companies) by producing their own programs, IT World online reports. Previously just portals to existing TV and movie content, services such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon are creating their own unique content.

This blurs the distinction between TV and streaming Internet content. But that goes both ways, as cable providers are branching into mobile themselves. According to Cable-tv, cable and satellite providers are also offering mobile content via smartphone apps.

Briefly reviewed on The Verge, DirecTV Voice is a mobile app being released shortly in beta. This app lets the smartphone or tablet user search the DirecTV database for content, schedule it to be recorded, or start it playing either on the mobile device or big screen. Here, they hope, is the seamless content viewing consumers want. A person could start watching CNN on their HD TV at home and takes it with them on their smartphone to the office.

Where To Start – If a person can get cable TV content on their mobile devices and streaming Internet content on their HD TVs, where does one start? A Business Insider review of Netflix and Amazon Instant Video rate them very close in features. Their streaming content is available on iPads, iPhones, Kindles, Blu-Ray players and Smart TVs.

As the consumer use of mobile devices to watch TV shows and movies grows, cable companies will be pushed to deliver more features to compete. A big hurdle for these companies will be price. At $7.99 a month for Netflix and $79 a year for Amazon Prime, which includes streaming content, cable services will need to come up with more value for their $100 plus monthly charge.

Everyone Can Watch What They Want – Imagine mom and dad, son and daughter at home in the evening, all wanting to watch something different at the same time. If you had an HD TV in the living room, family room and in each of the two kids’ rooms, how much will it cost to watch different programs on each screen with the cable TV provider? When decoder boxes are factored in, it can be a ton of money.

Mobile Magazine reports that Netflix is ready to release a four-stream subscription option for $11.99 a month. Add a $25 cable from eBay for everyone to connect their tablet or smartphone to their HD TVs, and the problem is solved, cheaply. This is one area where the streaming Internet providers have flexibility over the cable TV companies.

Cable TV To Go, Please – If a person doesn’t have cable TV, they can go directly to the source. HBO offers all of their program content on their website, HBO Go. Subscribers log in with their account information and watch what they want. They can even watch it on their favorite mobile device.

What if someone shares their account information with other family members or friends? That doesn’t seem to be a problem, according to a Business Insider report on HBO Go. HBO realizes that it’s tough knowing who is really logged into the their service. But they do know that people are watching their programs. One possibility is that once they’ve reached a point of market saturation, they change their policy and offer online subscriptions to those people who can’t do without their programming.

A War Where the Consumer Wins – The competition to win over the consumer with their mobile viewing habits will result in more apps, more options and features, and probably better pricing. People are watching the various players to see what innovations come out of the battle. This is not an area where revamped features will excite consumers. It will be the new, never-before-tried concepts that will draw in the mobile consumers.

It is no secret to Netflix users that there had been some major problems over the Christmas period, and we published details on Netflix going down on Christmas Eve in this article. The outage started on Dec. 24 at 12:24pm PST, which Amazon explained in a recent apology about the problems that affected Netflix’s business.

We received over 200 comments from our readers about the Netflix outage, and these people were using a number of devices to access Netflix. None of these devices worked and each showed different errors that pointed to obvious problems early on, which had been at a time when most people wanted to relax and watch some on-demand entertainment right before Christmas Day.

Amazon has published a detailed account of what went wrong on Dec. 24 here, which delivers a breakdown of different times and what happened at each point. They don’t mention the Netflix problems directly, but do acknowledge other businesses that rely on their Elastic Load Balancing Service for cheap and reliable hosting.

It seems that the real problems started after some data got deleted during a maintenance process, which then resulted in a lot of errors for the technology that’s needed for load balancers to perform optimally. Have a read via the above link, and let us know what you make of this technical account of what went wrong?

Netflix users angry over outage – if you were not happy with the problems on Christmas Eve, then we’d love to know how you feel now after seeing everything explained by Amazon. Do you blame Amazon, Netflix, or neither? It is worth noting we use Netflix a number of hours every week, and have done so for over a year. Our experience with Netflix overall is a happy one, how about you?

One of the busiest times of the year for TV entertainment is over the holiday period, and considering this extra demand it wouldn’t surprise some people that Netflix has experienced a Christmas Eve outage. The official Twitter account updated within the last hour, and explained in a tweet that Netflix are sorry for going down on Christmas Eve.

The timing is not good although their engineers are already fixing the Netflix problems today, but the Twitter account is yet to post another update. You can see the original tweet below that gave the first status update.

We have seen Netflix experience login problems at various times of the year, like in October 2 years ago, but these issues normally occur when demand is higher. Let us know if Netflix is down in your location, and if you’re having problems signing in share what part of the world you’re in below. Has the service been pretty reliable for you this year?

You can also track updates directly on Twitter via @Netflixhelps, which also updated within the last couple of hours explaining they’re “aware” that some members have problems streaming TV shows and movies. At the time of writing it seems that the issue is still not resolved for a number of PR readers.

This is really going to suck on a holiday if Netflix is not up soon, and you might have to resort to regular TV viewing for now. Feel free to share a comment if Netflix comes back up for you, and remember your location and how you’re accessing the service.

There is no denying the success of Netflix, which now has well over 30m members in the UK, US, and a number of other countries. Consumers are starting to understand the benefits of streaming TV content, and while in some cases it’s being forced upon them with Connected TVs, Sky TV software updates that promote On Demand content, and a number of other services in all corners of the globe. You’ll find Netflix on your iOS and Android device thanks to apps, also on the PS3, other consoles, Apple TV, and a lot more, so why is it that Netflix for Linux is such a problem?

Netflix for Macs and PC is not a problem, but it seems there are a lot of Ubuntu Linux users that want to use Netflix and are upset about the lack of support. Within the last few days some hope has come in the way of an article that claims “Netflix on Ubuntu linux works“, although it might not be as simple as some people hope. The install instructions have been improved and updated within the last 24 hours, which can be seen in this article here. The Netflix Desktop app allows Linux users to benefit from the streaming service with Wine on 32-bit Ubuntu, and it starts with opening a terminal window and running a few commands. Again these can be seen in the above link, although we’ve seen a few users complain of problems but there’s a lot of support from those behind this app, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble in getting everything up and running.

Do you want Netflix for Linux, and if so have you tried the above solution? We’ve heard some unfounded claims that Microsoft want to “stop Linux from growing“, and might be using some methods to stop certain software from being supported by Linux, although again these are claims by upset Linux users, but at the same time it is interesting discussion.

We’re pleased to say that the Netflix app for iPad has now been given an update, which will now see app given a makeover with all the movie icons and menus updated to Retina Display quality.

If you have the Netflix app already on your new iPad, you will have most likely installed the latest update already. If not though, you can simply go to the app store and install the app to check out the higher quality on offer – it does look rather nice.

Unfortunately though, Netflix still can’t offer HD video streaming on the iPad. When talking about the update to the iPad, a statement on the Netflix Twitter page teases that HD movies are still in development and that they will ‘follow later’. Some changes that we can tell you about though include general stability fixes and improvements to Airplay and VoiceOver, as noted by The Verge.

If you feel that the time is now right to explore Netflix movie streaming on your new iPad, you can head to the iTunes page here for further details. Considering that Netflix already allows 1080p streaming to Apple TV, you have to feel that it is only a matter of time until we see it on the iPad as well.

Are you a happy Netflix customer? Let us know what changes you would like to see in the next update, other than HD video streaming.

The company is set to launch a new redesigned internet TV service in the coming weeks, and according to FT.com consumers will be offered a more personalized service along with social media elements. BT is planning to bring with the redesign more interactivity along with the large library of on-demand content.

Its service provides customers a pay TV service that includes movies and live sports via the internet, and is being used by the telecoms company as another way to generate revenue besides the traditional phone and broadband services.

Users will get a system that provides personalized recommendations that are tailored to the viewer’s tastes. There will also be some social media involvement brought by BT Vision that is being enhanced in preparation for the YouView internet TV launch. This is being supported by the company along with the main TV channels. This will be available on YouView that is the next version of the Freeview platform thought to be launched in May.

BT Vision has not lived up to expectations since it was first launched as it faces stiff competition from the likes of Sky TV, Virgin Media, and Amazon’s Lovefilm. BT has revealed that during its second quarter up to September, 41,000 new customers signed up to its service, which was the highest number for over two years.

This brings the total of subscribers to the service to around 639,000, and is far less than the two to three million BT had wanted by 2011. Do you have BT Vision?

We have a brief roundup of Vita-related information to share with you now who those of you that missed the event, with US Vita fans arguably the ones who can be most pleased. After its announcement on the PS3, it has been confirmed that Netflix streaming video content will also become available for the Vita and further good news is that Netflix are trying to get the service up and running in time for the US Vita launch on February 22nd.

Being primarily US-based, don’t expect this to appear outside of the US, although Europe and specifically the UK may get an alternative service in LoveFilm so it is not too bad. Netflix is obviously very popular already with home console owners, and the idea of being able to stream movies away from home is a pretty mouth-watering prospect for those with a steady WiFi connection – 3G would obviously be very costly due to high amounts of data neeed to stream movies.

Also new for the PS Vita is Sony’s Music Unlimted Service, a premium service which will give you instant music on your Vita at the cost of $3.99 a month. That price seems pretty reasonable to us, although the Vita could be seen as an ideal product for other streaming music services in the future. Sony will offer Music Unlimited, but imagine the possibility of Spotify appearing sometime in the future as well – music lovers will be all over that if it happens.

These two reasons alone make it obvious that the PS Vita will not be marketed as just a gaming device. Netflix and Music Unlimited will give gamers an opportunity to use their new handheld in a similar way to the PS3, i.e as an entertainment device. Let us know your thoughts on the addition of these two new services – does it now make the Vita a lot more appealing in your eyes?

Only yesterday we reported to you about the Netflix streaming service that had crossed the pond and launched in the UK. Now Roku has followed it over to the country with the launch of two set top boxes. According to an article over on SlashGear consumers will have the choice between the Roku LT and Roku 2 XS boxes.

Both of the devices support HDMI and RCA connections for your TV, alongside Wi-Fi to connect to your network. The Roku 2 XS also has a wired Ethernet input as well. The basic level Roku LT offers support up to 720p, with the more expensive Roku 2 XS supports 1080p Full HD.

The higher specified of the boxes adds some casual games that include Angry Birds along with a motion controlled game remote, which uses Bluetooth to connect to the main box. It also has a microSD slot for storing extra games, and a USB port to play music, videos, and view photos via a USB drive.

It offers access to Netflix, Facebook, Flickr, and Crackle among other services. Available to pre-order now the Roku LT is priced at £49.99, and the Roku 2 XS is available at £99.99. Both devices will begin shipping towards the end of the month.

Will you be getting a Roku box?

Amazon has decided not to take the Netflix launch lying down as its competition for consumers money just got more intense. TechRadar are reporting that Lovefilm will now undercut the new Netflix offering by introducing an unlimited streaming service for £4.99 per month, which compares to Netflix’s service that is priced at £5.99 per month.

Users also get a similar thirty day free trial of the service, and the deal has been available for a few weeks now, but Lovefilm has stressed the £4.99 price is here to stay and won’t be going up. Users will have access to an unlimited amount of content that can be streamed to a number of devices.

These include the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Apple iPad, and a number of Smart TVs from the likes of Sony and Samsung amongst others. The company also took the time to reveal it now has two million paying subscribers, and had a record amount of new customer’s joining during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Exact numbers were not given of how many joined but the company did say there were “hundreds of thousands” signing up between October and December 2011. The company does offer a postal service to consumers as well with DVDs and games on offer.

Have you used Lovefilm in the past?

Previously users couldn’t access the app on the PS3, but from today the service is now live and users can sign up for a one month free trial via the Netflix website. Then if you want to continue using the service it will cost £5.99 per month to watch unlimited movies and TV shows.

There are a number of different ways to get the streamed content to either your TV or mobile device, but you will need a good internet connection. You can simply watch on your computer or connect your laptop to your TV via a VGA to HDMI cable. Besides the PS3 the service is also available on the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

There is a free application for the Android, iOS and Windows platforms allowing you to watch content on the go. Not all Android and Windows devices are supported though. Users can sign up to the service via Facebook that will allow you to share and discover what your friends are watching.

If you sign up to the free trail you will need to cancel the service at the end of the month or you will then be charged the monthly fee. The new service from Netflix goes up against Amazon’s Lovefilm but promises older BBC TV shows after agreeing a deal with the broadcaster.

Will you try out Netflix?