Viewing films and TV series on dvd at home is something many of us do, and before you start the ‘I’m not really a couch potato, addicted to the screen’ shtick you might like to know that a very large piece of research into the things that keep couples together and content is watching a dvd together.

Renting is  more popular than buying these days and as I do not want to subscribe to Amazon’s Lovefilm or Prime . While Netflix along with its cloud service provider, Amazon Web Services, has been taken to task by Greenpeace for its lack of commitment to environmentally friendly policies .

So I was glad to find CinemaParadiso (www.CinemaParadiso.co.uk) an independent online DVD and Blu-ray rental service established in early 2003 . They claim to top Amazon in several ways. By offering new releases much sooner. By having a much larger catalogue – over 90,000. We think the UK’s largest catalogue of films and TV Series. Managing director Zoran Dugandzic adds:’ We also have the largest catalogue of WorldCinema/Arthouse films. We are offering 4K Blu-rays. We are a cheaper service.’

Then there is MUBI which costs £5.99 a month and streams you a film a day 365 days of the year and each is available for a month.. They specialise  in cult,  classic, independent, and award-winning movies.

The majority of cinemas are now run as part of chain groups with profits at the heart of their dealing. So it is cheering to know that a few alternatives have been set up and there are signs it may be a growing movement. It may not be practical to get to  The Electric Picture House in Wotton in Northamptonshire, for many of us, but it is a model worth knowing about as Dave Boyle felt when he wrote about it for The Guardian.

‘What makes Wotton pretty special is that it’s one of a handful of co-operative cinemas in the country, owned not by a charitable trust or private company but by its audience, its volunteers and its original investors. Its profits are donated back to the community via the Wotton Recreation Trust….The Electric Picture House is a part of the independent cinema scene, now numbering more than 1,500, according to Simon Ward at the Independent Cinema Office, which advises and supports them. They’re formed either to bring a cinema to remote communities, or to bring less mainstream films to a wider audience.’