What better way to relax on a day off than watching a great movie or two? Streaming services have made it simple for just about anyone to watch some of their favorite movies and TV shows with little effort. You can often skip the commercials and watch in HD inexpensively, making it a great alternative to cable and a good choice for those too busy to watch TV on a regular basis (sometimes the cost of cable isn’t worthwhile).
With a streaming service, you can watch during your own availability so you needn’t rush to the TV at any specific time, and finding what you’re looking for can take less than a minute. Sometimes you can even find new episodes of TV shows only one day after they’ve premiered on cable, allowing you to keep up with some of the most popular series without altering your schedule or paying a lot for a service you wouldn’t use otherwise.
Not so fast though; if you’re ready to subscribe to a streaming service or simply check one out, you may first want a better understanding of what each service has to offer. You’ve probably heard of Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video before, but what’s the hype really about and which one takes the cake for the best streaming service? Let’s take a look.
Netflix
As an entertainment blogger, I’ve written about Netflix quite a few times. In my opinion, it’s one of the best streaming services available because of what's offered for the price. Plans cost between $8 and $12 per month, depending on whether you want standard definition, HD or Ultra HD streaming. How many people can use Netflix at the same time also varies with each plan (with the limit being four screens being viewed at once).
Netflix is especially great for families since it allows you to enable parental controls if you prefer, and they also have a great selection of kid-friendly movies and TV series available. They categorize everything by genre and subgenres, making it easy for you to find titles you might be interested in, and you can also use their search feature if you already have something in mind. For kid-friendly videos, you can even filter the results by character.
Closed captions in English are available for every video you stream on Netflix and subtitles in a variety of different languages are offered as well (though not every movie or series will be available with subtitles in certain languages). Perhaps one of the most beneficial features of Netflix though is the ability to watch everything commercial free and from a variety of different devices.
Netflix is compatible with game consoles (such as the PlayStation4, Wii U, and more), smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, Blu-ray players and streaming media players (such as Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Nexus Player and NVIDIA Shield) so you don’t have to have a PC to enjoy it. Another great thing about Netflix is that you’re now able to create user profiles on your account so your friends and family can watch without messing with your browsing history.
Hulu
If you’ve decided to avoid subscribing to cable TV, Hulu might be the best option for you. Certain TV shows are available on Hulu the day after they premiere on cable, so depending on whether or not Hulu has current episodes of the shows you’re interested in, it may or may not be a better deal than cable.
Hulu has also expanded its library of movies available, offering a good selection for just about anyone. Like Netflix, movies are categorized by genre and subgenre and a search bar is available so you can quickly find whatever you’re looking for. The downside is that not every movie or TV show is available with your subscription plan without an add-on subscription, and commercials are included on the lowest priced plan.
At the moment, ShowTime is the only add-on available, and it costs an additional $8.99 per month on top of the usual subscription fee of either $7.99 or $11.99 per month. The add-on could be worthwhile if there are some shows you'd like to keep track of, but be sure to take a look at the selection first during a free trial.
Speaking of free trials, Hulu only offers a week for free before you have to pay up or cancel your account, whereas Netflix gives you a whole month. In my opinion, Hulu falls a little short compared to Netflix (unless you’re more interested in current TV shows) since not only are they stingy on the free trial, but they also don’t guarantee that every video will be in HD.
However, Hulu is compatible with a few devices that Netflix is not, and that alone might make it a bit more worthwhile for you. If you’re looking for a streaming service that offers parental controls though, you might want to look elsewhere (though they do have a good selection of kid-friendly titles).
Amazon Video
Here’s where streaming services get a little different; if you already have Amazon Prime, you have Amazon Video. If you shop on Amazon’s site frequently, Amazon Prime is an excellent service that will allow you to access exclusive sales, receive unlimited 2-day shipping on most purchases, stream music, receive free e-books, watch videos (of course!) and more.
Amazon Prime is definitely worth the cost ($10.99 per month or $99 per year), but you can subscribe to Amazon Video alone for $8.99 per month if you prefer. Similar to Hulu, Amazon Video allows you to subscribe to add-ons for an additional fee, though it offers more add-on options than Hulu does, such as Starz, Acorn TV, Comic-Con HQ and more. Amazon Video also allows you to try a 7-day free trial of add-on subscriptions, so you don't have to commit to the price before trying them out.
As far as streaming services compare, at least in my opinion, Amazon Video is somewhere in the middle between Hulu and Netflix. It has increasingly become a better service over the years, adding more videos to appeal to a variety of users. Though I believe Netflix is easier to use, I would say Amazon Video may be the second best streaming services out of the three!
If you'd like to check it out for yourself, Amazon Video does offer a month-long free trial. As far as kid-friendliness goes, it appears you can set up some parental controls (though the process doesn't seem as simple as on Netflix), and Amazon Video does have a nice selection of titles available.
Consider Your Location Though.
Unfortunately, these streaming services aren't available globally, so you might want to take your location into consideration or install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) before you subscribe. Not only will a VPN keep your device protected while you stream, but it’ll also unblock geo-restricted content, so you’ll be able to access these streaming services from anywhere.
Even when the service is available in your country, you may want to use a VPN to view the video selections available to other countries (certain movies are not available in certain countries). To learn more about this, check out Secure Thoughts’ article on Netflix.
Out of these three streaming services, do you have a favorite? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
About the Author: Cassie is an entertainment and internet security blogger. When she’s not busy blogging, she’s catching up on some of the latest TV shows on Hulu or relaxing to a great movie on Netflix or Amazon Video.
securethoughts.com.
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