Review: Trialling the GO!View service on the PSP

The PSP has been trying to get a foothold in the on demand media market for while now, and it hopes that its Go!View service will be the one to establish it in the publics mind. We’ve told you already about its functionality and video on demand service, but how is it from a users perspective? Here’s my tale…

Signing up

It’s a pretty straightforward system. I was trialling out the touted one month’s free trial and happily entered my name, email, address and bank details… Hang on, I thought this was free? Ah, this would be when your one month expires and you love it so much you don’t want to leave. But what if you don’t want to stay with the service? Do they send you an email reminder? No, and if you forget you’ll get charged- as I noticed on my statement the other day. Boo. On the plus side it’s only £5 for one package so it’s not bank breaking, but still annoying.

Log In

Once you’re remembered your user name, password AND pin, you get into the service.

Content
You can navigate around the free content which is quite impressive and includes shows like Heroes, Desperate Housewives and LOST, as well as football and rugby for the sports fans. Whilst it may have the shows you like, it’ll cost you if you want to watch the later ones available as they aren’t in the free service. You’re looking at £3.50 to rent Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and you can only watch it on the PSP, not the laptop as well. Everything you download has an expiry date, from 14- 30 days, even the free content.
You do get a reminder on the PSP though when it’s about to expire. It’s the TV to rent service I’m really not a fan of as I feel £1.50 for an episode of Heroes Season 2 it’s too much, especially if you’re looking to get the whole season on your PSP.

Navigation

The site is easy to get around with content put into categories of Sport, Entertainment ad Comedy, plus TV to rent and Films to rent. Each category has sub-categories that include sections like drama, horror etc. I’m a bit confused as to why entertainment and comedy are separate, as I feel they should overlap, but hey, it’s still a fledgling service.

I like how they’ve included unusual programmes, as I was privy to shows I’d never heard of before, such as Lovespring International, an anarchic US sitcom about a dating agency.

There are couple of issues though, as though they may have many series in their selections they don’t include every episode which is annoying and there’s also no option to download a series at a time, and you have to do it individually.

Connection and Transfer

Simply download the free software to your computer, launch it and plug in your PSP. Put it on USB setting and it will connect and then simply choose what you want to download. You can download it to the software separately and then transfer it later to save you time. It’s a reasonably fast process and very easy to use.

Customer Service

Amazing! The FAQ section is very comprehensive and though I struggled to unsubscribe from the service (tricky navigation) they sent me a detailed email telling me how to do it. Five out of five

Verdict
There are still a couple of flaws with the service and the site though very attractive doesn’t have as much content as I’d like. It would be nice if you didn’t need to use bank details to join, but the superior customer service means leaving the service is easy, as is any queries about content or choosing your selections. It still needs work to be truly great, but I’m very impressed so far, and as it has just left beta it can only get better.

Check out Go!View here.

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