Reviews By Russell Holly Sep. 11, 2014 10:20 am
The natural evolution of the video rental store was the ability to watch content digitally for a set number of days. Amazon Instant Video started out as exactly this kind of service, but had grown into a much larger video distribution system, one that seeks to compete with the 800-pound gorilla of the streaming video world: Netflix.
[h=3]Pricing and content[/h] The two services also offer fairly different content. Amazon focuses heavily on movies that have already been released to DVD for a while. Netflix offers a lot of older television shows as well, and has recently started offering some television shows the day after they air on broadcast TV. Amazon doesn’t have nearly as wide a selection when it comes to movies, and the television shows that they offer with the account can’t really compete with Netflix. There are some exclusives that each provider offers over the other. Current shows, like Fringe for example, are only available on DVD with Netflix. The only way to get television shows that aired the previous day on Amazon would be to rent or buy them through the Amazon Video service, which integrates into your Amazon account.
With child specific content, Netflix easily comes out on top. The service provides access to more kid-friendly programming than Amazon by a landslide. Amazon offers access to the same kind of content, but mainly through their digital rental and purchase service (as opposed to Prime Instant Video). Amazon offers the flexibility of being able to bolt on additional content to the service at these additional rates, which is something that can’t be done on Netflix.
Prime Instant Video offers a massive digital library that can be streamed from a browser or app, just like Netflix. Both services offer unfettered access to their content for a flat rate, though only Netflix allows users to pay month-to-month.
Amazon’s service is $79 per year, and while that is $1.41 cheaper per month than Netflix, you are stuck paying for the whole year up front. Of course, you get a lot more than just streaming video with Amazon Prime, including significant discount on shipping when you shop on Amazon. So, while you can stop the service anytime you want with Netflix, Amazon is the better deal as long as you don’t need to buy a lot of extra content.
[h=3]Using the websites[/h] With both Amazon and Netflix, the primary way to access your account features and watch content is through the respective sites. Because Netflix only offers a video streaming service, and Amazon has bolted their service on to their shopping website, the websites are very different. Netflix offers a simple website with one clear goal in mind, while Amazon’s Instant video service spends just as much time offering you free content as it does trying to sell you other content. The biggest reason for this is Amazon isn’t only there to offer a streaming video service at a flat rate.
While more complicated, Amazon’s service does a great job giving the user options. You can choose to watch an episode of a show in SD or HD, and you are provided with a full description of the episode with a recommendation for other content. The simplistic nature of Netflix’s service is designed to automatically format the video for the bandwidth available, with basic descriptions available when you hover over a selection. Amazon is much more mechanical in nature, while Netflix offers an incredibly simple user interface, complete with play buttons that hover over artwork.
When streaming content on the two websites, both Amazon and Netflix offer a full screen and embedded view of the content. Amazon’s embedded view only takes up a third of the screen with large black bars on either side of the video and white above and below. Netflix, on the other hand, takes up most of the browser and shows nothing else. Visually, Netflix offers a much better viewing experience when the video is embedded. When in full screen, Netflix and Amazon place their video controls on the bottom of the screen. These two experiences are nearly identical in full screen, though the controls in Netflix look nicer and feature smoother animations.
[h=3]Streaming apps[/h] Whether it is a box connected to the television or a mobile device, the apps for Amazon and Netflix are a big part of the services they offer. Netflix has worked very hard to make sure their app is available on everything with an Internet connection. Game consoles, smartphones, tablets, even televisions are coming with Netflix pre-installed now. Amazon, on the other hand, has been slower to make it onto every device. While it is available on most of the popular gadgets out there, Amazon’s Instant Video apps aren’t quite everywhere Netflix is.
The biggest difference between the Amazon and Netflix apps right now is Kid Mode. Netflix has created an entirely different user interface so kids can safely use the service. Children can search for shows by their favorite character, and don’t have access to any account tools of any kind. Amazon’s service is open, and has plenty of kid-friendly content, so if you have the username and password you can watch whatever you like and even make purchases from the app.
When streaming from Amazon and Netflix, the apps will stream the highest quality based on available bandwidth. When comparing the two services across a variety of devices, Amazon did a much better job in the beginning of a session. Netflix starts low quality and increases until the image is the best it can be, while Amazon determines the best image in the beginning. As a video plays, if the network connection changes for any reason, Netflix will gracefully scale back. Amazon is noticeably less graceful when it comes to determining video quality, but still delivers a great experience most of the time.
Netflix has also made some tremendous strides in remote streaming hardware, like Google’s Chromecast. This isn’t surprising, since Netflix and Google worked together on the protocol being used by the Chromecast, but Amazon currently has no competing service and does not support remote streaming at all. If you have a Chromecast, Netflix is just that much more convenient than Amazon.
[h=3]Final thoughts[/h] If you have to choose between the two, Netflix is the better one overall. Even so, a constant critique of Netflix is that new movies aren’t available fast enough, which is something Amazon offers as something you can purchase as a part of the Instant Video service. These two aren’t exactly the same thing, though they offer enough of the same features to be similar.
In the end, if your goal is to have access to the widest possible all inclusive content database with the best user interface, Netflix is your best bet.
Now read:* Netflix vs. Hulu Plus
More...
[h=3]Pricing and content[/h] The two services also offer fairly different content. Amazon focuses heavily on movies that have already been released to DVD for a while. Netflix offers a lot of older television shows as well, and has recently started offering some television shows the day after they air on broadcast TV. Amazon doesn’t have nearly as wide a selection when it comes to movies, and the television shows that they offer with the account can’t really compete with Netflix. There are some exclusives that each provider offers over the other. Current shows, like Fringe for example, are only available on DVD with Netflix. The only way to get television shows that aired the previous day on Amazon would be to rent or buy them through the Amazon Video service, which integrates into your Amazon account.
With child specific content, Netflix easily comes out on top. The service provides access to more kid-friendly programming than Amazon by a landslide. Amazon offers access to the same kind of content, but mainly through their digital rental and purchase service (as opposed to Prime Instant Video). Amazon offers the flexibility of being able to bolt on additional content to the service at these additional rates, which is something that can’t be done on Netflix.
Prime Instant Video offers a massive digital library that can be streamed from a browser or app, just like Netflix. Both services offer unfettered access to their content for a flat rate, though only Netflix allows users to pay month-to-month.
Amazon’s service is $79 per year, and while that is $1.41 cheaper per month than Netflix, you are stuck paying for the whole year up front. Of course, you get a lot more than just streaming video with Amazon Prime, including significant discount on shipping when you shop on Amazon. So, while you can stop the service anytime you want with Netflix, Amazon is the better deal as long as you don’t need to buy a lot of extra content.
[h=3]Using the websites[/h] With both Amazon and Netflix, the primary way to access your account features and watch content is through the respective sites. Because Netflix only offers a video streaming service, and Amazon has bolted their service on to their shopping website, the websites are very different. Netflix offers a simple website with one clear goal in mind, while Amazon’s Instant video service spends just as much time offering you free content as it does trying to sell you other content. The biggest reason for this is Amazon isn’t only there to offer a streaming video service at a flat rate.
While more complicated, Amazon’s service does a great job giving the user options. You can choose to watch an episode of a show in SD or HD, and you are provided with a full description of the episode with a recommendation for other content. The simplistic nature of Netflix’s service is designed to automatically format the video for the bandwidth available, with basic descriptions available when you hover over a selection. Amazon is much more mechanical in nature, while Netflix offers an incredibly simple user interface, complete with play buttons that hover over artwork.
When streaming content on the two websites, both Amazon and Netflix offer a full screen and embedded view of the content. Amazon’s embedded view only takes up a third of the screen with large black bars on either side of the video and white above and below. Netflix, on the other hand, takes up most of the browser and shows nothing else. Visually, Netflix offers a much better viewing experience when the video is embedded. When in full screen, Netflix and Amazon place their video controls on the bottom of the screen. These two experiences are nearly identical in full screen, though the controls in Netflix look nicer and feature smoother animations.
[h=3]Streaming apps[/h] Whether it is a box connected to the television or a mobile device, the apps for Amazon and Netflix are a big part of the services they offer. Netflix has worked very hard to make sure their app is available on everything with an Internet connection. Game consoles, smartphones, tablets, even televisions are coming with Netflix pre-installed now. Amazon, on the other hand, has been slower to make it onto every device. While it is available on most of the popular gadgets out there, Amazon’s Instant Video apps aren’t quite everywhere Netflix is.
The biggest difference between the Amazon and Netflix apps right now is Kid Mode. Netflix has created an entirely different user interface so kids can safely use the service. Children can search for shows by their favorite character, and don’t have access to any account tools of any kind. Amazon’s service is open, and has plenty of kid-friendly content, so if you have the username and password you can watch whatever you like and even make purchases from the app.
When streaming from Amazon and Netflix, the apps will stream the highest quality based on available bandwidth. When comparing the two services across a variety of devices, Amazon did a much better job in the beginning of a session. Netflix starts low quality and increases until the image is the best it can be, while Amazon determines the best image in the beginning. As a video plays, if the network connection changes for any reason, Netflix will gracefully scale back. Amazon is noticeably less graceful when it comes to determining video quality, but still delivers a great experience most of the time.
Netflix has also made some tremendous strides in remote streaming hardware, like Google’s Chromecast. This isn’t surprising, since Netflix and Google worked together on the protocol being used by the Chromecast, but Amazon currently has no competing service and does not support remote streaming at all. If you have a Chromecast, Netflix is just that much more convenient than Amazon.
[h=3]Final thoughts[/h] If you have to choose between the two, Netflix is the better one overall. Even so, a constant critique of Netflix is that new movies aren’t available fast enough, which is something Amazon offers as something you can purchase as a part of the Instant Video service. These two aren’t exactly the same thing, though they offer enough of the same features to be similar.
In the end, if your goal is to have access to the widest possible all inclusive content database with the best user interface, Netflix is your best bet.
Now read:* Netflix vs. Hulu Plus
More...
