The Formula 1 season has ended and Viaplay has now been active in theNetherlands for nine months. It is high time to see how you like the serviceafter a long time and whether it is worth extending your subscription.
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Viaplay review update: 9 months after launch
At the beginning of March, Viaplay was launched in the Netherlands, theservice when it comes to live sports, including Formula 1, football and darts.However, you can also go there for all kinds of films, series anddocumentaries. In our review we were not blown away by the service and we didnot get further than a 6.5 as a grade.
We are now more than nine months further and that is why it is time to checkwhether and how Viaplay has improved. In doing so, we mainly ask the questionof whether we are going to extend our annual subscription or not. Curious?Read more quickly in this review update!
Complaints, complaints and more complaints
When Viaplay was released, complaints poured in. Taking out subscriptions didnot go well, logging in to the service via providers did not work and thenthere was the mediocre quality of the streams. From blocky images to low framerates or streams that cut out completely. Not exactly useful if you watch afootball or Formula 1 match.
The complaints continued, various authorities, including the Consumers’Association, started to get involved and Viaplay promised to compensatevictims. The best part of the story is that the service did not believe you onyour blue eyes, but simply had to make and send videos to show how badly thestreams were going. Then it was decided whether or not you were entitled tocompensation.
We ourselves have also suffered from a faltering live stream, or a stream thatdid not work at all. We have no major complaints, but in 2022 it will be timeto come up with 4K support, something that “is not possible at the moment dueto the system and its limitations”. Not all services have 4K image quality, bythe way; SkyShowtime also lacks this option.
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Offer is nothing to write home about
In addition to live sports, Viaplay offers all kinds of other content, such asfilms, documentaries and films. At the release we wrote about the offer thatit was far too scant and that has improved slightly. There are indeed morefilms and series now, but that too remains very limited. You don’t have toturn to Viaplay for big blockbusters; services like Netflix, HBO Max, orAmazon Prime Video are still the better choice. And exclusive series can becounted on one hand, for example Billy the Kid.
Time for some figures and comparisons with the Viaplay offer in March. Then wecounted 13 science fiction movies, 20 horror movies and 27 adventure movies.At the time of writing, that range has been expanded to 15, 39 and 98 piecesrespectively. That is certainly more, but it is of course also about thetitles that you can view.
These are often films from years old, which you have probably already seen.Since the Formula 1 season has ended, exclusive F1 documentaries have alsobeen made by Viaplay, starring Max Verstappen. That’s nice, but not enough.
Live sports: Viaplay has to keep tinkering
We mainly watched Formula 1, but also kept an eye on coverage of other sports– such as the World Darts Championship. Unfortunately, we still see problemswith the resolution, glitches and we also read about such issues on variousinternet forums.
Viaplay itself said earlier that because such sports are broadcast live, itpresents all kinds of technical pitfalls. That will be fine, but it is truethat the service has been active in other countries for years – and there arefar fewer problems there. For example, in Sweden or Norway you can watch a lotin a 4K resolution, even live sports. Then it is a bit of a shame that this isnot possible in the Netherlands.
Apps, Chromecast or streaming
You can watch Viaplay via the apps, website or the corresponding televisionchannel of your provider. The app still offers a mix of Dutch and Englishwords and menus, which looks messy. Major changes to the mobile app have notbeen made, so everything still works as we wrote in the initial review.
Viaplay: Film, TV & Live Sports
via play
Navigation works through the hamburger menu on the left or, of course, throughthe search function. Everything can be cast directly to a Chromecast andtherefore a larger screen. It is still striking that certain content quicklydisappears from the offer. Watching back a certain F1 race is not an option,something that is possible with F1 TV Pro, the best-known alternative.
We do see major improvements in the web version of Viaplay. If you streamsomething via the website, you can now easily operate it. Earlier the buttonsfell away and that was a lot of fiddling, but a lot of work has been done onthat. Unfortunately, a picture-in-picture mode is still missing.
Conclusion Viaplay review update
The subscription of 99 euros for the first year was a great price, but has> now been cancelled. I would have to pay 13.99 euros per month for a service> that almost exclusively watches Formula 1. For the rest, Viaplay simply> offers too little. Of course it may be different for you.>> The app still does not work well and is illogical. Certain content is only> available for a short time and sharing of the account is too limited.>> Time will tell whether a subscription will be taken out again in the future.> That depends on a possible good offer or a turnaround in live sports – and> of course the resolution and stability of the associated streams.
Take out a Viaplay subscription
Viaplay costs 13.99 euros per month. If you take out an annualsubscription now, you will receive a discount. For example, you pay 10.49euros per month throughout the year, after that you have lost the full blow.You can pay via iDeal or your credit card (Visa and Mastercard). This offer isvalid until the end of February 2023.
If you already have internet or television from a provider, there is a goodchance that you can also go there for a Viaplay subscription. There are alsovarious offers, so you can temporarily watch for free or with a discount. Socheck for yourself what offers apply to KPN or VodafoneZiggo. You can alsocontact T-Mobile and YouFone, among others.