CinemaNow started in 1999 but was purchased by Sonic Solutions in 2008. In 2014, Best Buy formed an alliance with Sonic signing over the CinemaNow trademark to Best Buy.
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The Good
- Read reviews about movies
- UltraViolet compliant
- Theater releases available to rent
Free Sign Up Process
Before using CinemaNow, users are required to become a member of the service and download the CinemaNow app. It is free to sign-up and does not come with a monthly price.
Users Support Tab
The customer support tab provides users with all of the information they should need if they encounter difficulties in playing their rented or purchased movies.
Customer and Expert Reviews
CinemaNow has incorporated customer reviews, allowing users to read what others thought about the movie. In addition, users can see ratings from rottentomatoes.com and normal critics.
Compliant with UltraViolet
CinemaNow is UltraViolet-compliant, meaning that any movies users buy that have an UltraViolet logo can be redeemed and converted into a digital copy on CinemaNow.
New Releases Available to Rent
CinemaNow also has a section of movies that are still in theaters, creating the fastest release of movies to a streaming TV service ever.
Ad-Free Viewing
Movies and TV episodes are available for viewing ad-free on CinemaNow.
CinemaNow has many great benefits to their streaming TV services. CinemaNow is a free streaming TV platform, where users sign up and create an account but don't have to pay a monthly fee. Users simply pay for what they watch. Also, users are provided a great experience with CinemaNow. Users can read other consumer reviews and expert reviews about movies and have support available should they have any questions.
In addition, CinemaNow has a very fast release date for movies. Their library contains movies available to rent that are still in theaters, which is unheard of for this industry.
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The Bad
- Expensive rental prices
- No parental controls
- Limited selection
Expensive Rental Prices
CinemaNow rental prices range from $2.99 to $3.99 per movie rental. This can get expensive quickly, and can easily cost more than a monthly subscription to get unlimited streaming content.
Limited Movie and TV Selection
CinemaNow's selection seems to be somewhat limited by comparison to other streaming TV companies in the industry.
No Parental Controls
CinemaNow does not have parental controls as an option for users to filter their movies. Although CinemaNow has many great features to their services, their main drawback is their pricing. Their rental fees are quite high per rental, since you don't have an unlimited library to watch on demand for free. Once you have rented two to three movies you have spent more than the Netflix monthly cost of $9.99 which offers unlimited viewing access. View Top Rated Companies
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The Bottom Line
CinemaNow provides exclusive access to a variety of new releases, but the overall library is a little bit smaller than the typical streaming service. CinemaNow does not offer a pay-per-month subscription, so users will have to pay for each movie or episode they download.
This is not the service for those who wish to indulge in movie marathons, but if you wish to only rent a few movies per year, this may be a good option.