Streaming Video Service: Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Instant Video?
Which video streaming service is right for you? Tech Talker compares the top contenders: Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video.
Eric Escobar
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Streaming Video Service: Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Instant Video?
This week on the Tech Talker show, I’ll be reviewing streaming video services to help you find the best one to fit your needs. We’ll take a look at the big three: Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video.
Netflix
First up is Netflix. Netflix is perfect for a big family, or maybe a bunch of roommates that want to go in on an account. You can create up to 5 different sub-accounts within each billed account, which keeps your shows and viewing habits separated from one another.
Just a quick note about these separate accounts: They aren’t restricted between members on the same account. They are only meant to separate viewing suggestions and queues. So one member of the household can easily go into another’s queue. In reality, it’s one account one password.
That said, if you have kids, Netflix is awesome. It has a huge assortment of childrens’ programming. No more dealing with scratched DVDs and broken DVD players. Better yet, you can watch it on almost any device with a screen. That was one of Netflix’s greatest achievements early on in their business – they got on as many platforms as possible very quickly, allowing for massive audience potential. For parents, Netflix comes with some notable parental controls that let you tighten down the content that’s available to your children.
But Netflix isn’t just great for kids. The service has a wide assortment of TV shows and movies for grown-ups. They seldom have new movies streaming right away, but for that they have their mail-in DVD service which you can manage from the same account. And that’s pretty convenient. (My wife asked me to let everyone know that the popular show Friends is coming to Netflix in 2015)!
One of the best (and worst) things about Netflix is its predictive learning behavior about the shows you watch. Once you start watching programming on Netflix, it will start making suggestions about other things you might Amalike. This is great because it means a great new show or film is right around the corner, but it’s awful if you’re trying to be productive!
Netflix Cost: $8 per month (or $96 per year)
Hulu Plus
Hulu Plus always comes up as the main competitor to Netflix. The main benefit of Hulu Plus is that you get new TV shows without having to wait for the end of an entire season like you do with Netflix. Hulu Plus lags only a couple of days from the initial air date of a television release, which is pretty remarkable.
Now Hulu Plus is $8 per month (the same as Netflix and a few dollars under Amazon), however it comes with one major, glaring drawback: commercials!
Normally with a paid subscription to a streaming service, commercials are a thing of the past (in fact, that’s usually one of the major pluses of using a paid service). But with Hulu Plus, paying the monthly subscription means you only have access to the content, commercials and all!
Personally, I don’t think this is so bad. I mean, when you pay for cable TV, you still get ads right? I think the absolute worst thing about Hulu Plus is that it is the same ad every single time – even when I watch multiple episodes from the same series. It’s exasperating. At one point I turned off my computer because I was sick of seeing the same ad over and over and over.
Hulu Plus is really only an option if you want to stay current on TV shows. Even then, if you’re really set on watching a specific show, oftentimes networks will offer their most popular shows streaming for free and with much better (or rather, more tolerable) ads.
Hulu Plus Cost: $8 per month (or $96 per year)
Amazon Prime Instant Video
Up until recently, I hadn’t really heard anything good or bad about Amazon Prime Instant Video
. Somehow, it wasn’t on my radar.
However, after checking out their selection, I will say it’s pretty impressive. Yes, the cost of $99 per year is higher than Netflix’s (but only by $3 when you multiply $8 per month by 12 months). However, that $99 is the full price of your Amazon Prime account, which comes with free two-day shipping on thousands of items, access to ad-free Amazon Music, tons of movies and TV shows, and 1 free Kindle book loan per month! The video selection isn’t as good as on Hulu and Netflix, but it comes with the whole ecosystem of Amazon devices, such as the Amazon Fire Phone and the Kindle Fire.
With Amazon Prime, you’re not paying for a standalone streaming video service, such as Hulu Plus or Netflix. You’re actually getting a full package of services. So I don’t feel like it’s actually a fair comparison (especially when membership includes free two-day shipping on almost anything you could want)!
Amazon Prime Instant Video Cost: $99 per year
Here are your 3 quick and dirty tips for picking the perfect streaming video service:
- Netflix is the main player in the streaming video market, with a huge selection of older movies and TV shows.
- Amazon Instant Video is a great option if you order a lot of merchandise online because it comes with a full Amazon Prime membership.
- Hulu Plus is great if your goal is to keep up to date with TV shows without waiting for a full season to air. (Be warned: A paid subscription still comes with a lot of ads!)
So which of these services do you use? Do you use more than one? Do you have a favorite? If so I’d love to hear about it. Email me at techtalker@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email or post a comment on my Facebook page Facebook QDTtechtalker
Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at quickanddirtytips tech-talker. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, send them my way.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
Netflix and Hulu logos courtesy of Shutterstock.
