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Fayve for iPad review: Find your Fayve movies from online services

If you want a great way to see what's playing on all the major online movie services, Fayve lets you browse movies and shows using an elegant interface.

Jason Parker Senior Editor / Reviews - Software
Jason Parker has been at CNET for nearly 15 years. He is the senior editor in charge of iOS software and has become an expert reviewer of the software that runs on each new Apple device. He now spends most of his time covering Apple iOS releases and third-party apps.
Jason Parker
2 min read

Fayve for iPad lets you browse movie, TV, and video libraries of several popular services so you can see everything that's available to watch from one intuitive interface.

8.5

Fayve for iPad

The Good

<b>Fayve</b> gives you an excellent graphical interface for browsing movies from several different online movie services.

The Bad

You can view by popularity or by movie service, but there is no way to view every movie or show available by genre.

The Bottom Line

If you want to see what's playing on all the major online services, Fayve offers an excellent way to browse movies and TV shows with an intuitive interface.

Using a multiple-tiered, rotating carousel-like 3D interface, you browse the app by rotating tiers to the selections you want, then drilling down from there. You can either browse through What's Hot, New Arrivals, Fayves (shows you've already added to favorites), or even look at info about what's in theaters now.

When you choose, New Arrivals, for example, you can select All (services) or which service you want to see using the second tier of the carousel. Fayve pulls info from Amazon, Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Redbox, YouTube, and Crackle. With a service selected, you can browse through available movies and shows by swiping each carousel tier below to the left or right. At the bottom of the interface, a filters section lets you designate which services you want to use -- an important designation because you can turn off services that only rent or sell the show, giving you only results you can watch right now. Though it's hard to explain, the second you start playing with the interface, you'll immediately know what to do.

Movie browsing in style (pictures)

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When you select a movie or show, you go to its info page where you can find a synopsis, rating, show length, and find out which services currently have it either to watch now, rent, or purchase. You can look at the cast and crew of the movie or TV show and get info about each person. The info page also has a recommendations section that gives you similar movies from the same genre.

Once you've found what you want to watch, just touch the service you want to use. If it's available on Netflix, you'll either be able to add it to your queue or watch it instantly. On iTunes, you'll be able to either rent or purchase the movie. In other words, your choices will depend on how the movie or show is available currently at the specific service. If the show is instantly available, Fayve will open the corresponding app on your iPad and you can start watching immediately.

My only problem with the app is that there is no way to view all the movies from all the services by genre. You do get collections like "Spellbinders" or "Just for Fun," but there's no way to start at, say, Comedy and look at all the comedy movies available. Perhaps there are too many to list, but it would be a great way to browse.

Fayve for iPad is possibly the best movie browsing tool available whether you're going to watch now or are setting up a viewing time for later. The interface is a joy to use, making finding what you want to watch a snap. If you like watching movies and want all the listings in one app, this is the iPad app to get.

8.5

Fayve for iPad

Score Breakdown

Setup 8Features 8Interface 10Performance 8