News By Will Shanklin Aug. 21, 2014 3:47 pm
There’s a reasonable chance that almost everyone you know has a Netflix account. There’s a good reason for this, the company has worked hard to make sure everyone knows who they are. What makes Netflix so worth using is the massive back catalog of Movies and TV Shows that are offered up in an all-you-can-watch format through just about everything with a screen and an Internet connection. Almost everything has a Netflix app, and those apps are capable of doing some technically impressive things when it comes to making sure you are getting the best possible video on your device. Netflix is not the be-all-end-all in streaming video though, so if you’re looking for an alternative you should be aware of just how many other choices you have out there.
[h=3]Hulu Plus[/h] The most obvious Netflix “rival” is Hulu Plus, but it’s really more of a complementary service than a true rival. Netflix offers a mixture of movies and older seasons of TV shows, while Hulu Plus focuses more on current-run and older TV. Recently both services have worked hard to produce original content, though Hulu’s offerings have been clearly targeting a young adult audience. Hulu Plus barely has any movies when compared to Netflix, but the service includes things like The Criterion Collection in their film arsenal.
Hulu Plus is priced similarly to Netflix, at $7.99 per month. Hulu does have an entirely free service, but many of Hulu’s apps require a Plus subscription. Unlike Netflix, though, Hulu still forces you to watch ads.
[h=3]Amazon Prime Instant Video[/h] Amazon’s streaming video solution is a serious competitor to Netflix when it comes to content, but you can only get it by paying for a year of Amazon Prime. Once you do, there’s a huge library of Movies and TV Shows open to you. Amazon offers a lot of content that Netflix currently doesn’t, but the reverse is true as well. What makes Amazon great over Netflix is the ability to augment your video collection with new released and TV Shows that are currently airing. You can buy entire seasons or movies the day they come out, and those files sit alongside the Prime Instant Videos and play through the same apps with no problems.
Unfortunately, if you’re and Android user, Amazon’s video streaming app isn’t available to you. So far Amazon has yet to offer a good reason for this, outside of a desire to sell their own hardware, but if you aren’t an Android user Amazon Prime Instant Video is a fantastic Netflix alternative.
[h=3]Vudu[/h] I wouldn’t say Vudu is a Netflix alternative so much as an augmentation to get some of the other kinds of streaming content you may want. Vudu is one of several services that plays nice with a platform called Ultraviolet. There are a lot of movies sold in DVD or Blu-Ray formats that include a code to download a digital version of the video, and Ultraviolet is almost the service used to deliver that experience. Vudu acts as a sort of rental service for new movies, with Ultraviolet content like new movies as the target.
If all you care about is new movies, and you want them to stream in an inexpensive format, Vudu is well worth checking out.
[h=3]iTunes[/h] Apple’s digital content service is built from the ground up to work well on Apple hardware, and outside of that ecosystem you’re not going to find much use for the platform. If you use an iPad, Apple TV, or MacBook, there’s a good chance you have used iTunes for something. The video management system in iTunes is particularly good at allowing you to quickly grab movies and TV shows that you have purchased for offline use, as well as stream across a WiFi network with AirPlay, but you’re not going to find an all-you-can-watch system here.
[h=3]Google Play[/h] Google’s own video streaming service has grown considerably over the last year, and works well with YouTube to offer content on a subscription basis. For the most part, this works as though you are choosing to purchase an individual TV channel instead of the massive libraries of Netflix, but you also have access to Day 1 rentals and purchases for new movies and TV shows.
It’s also worth pointing out that Google Play and YouTube video services support the same wireless streaming and remote control services that Netflix offers, thanks to their joint efforts in developing what we now know as the protocols that drive the Google Chromecast and Android TV platforms.
[h=3]Redbox Instant[/h] If you’re still a fan of physical disks, but would like to occasionally stream video, RedBox Instant is well worth a look. This is the only service that offers a physical location for you to go to and rent discs as well as a streaming video service. You can find RedBox canisters all over the place for those cheap $3 rentals, and can even use the service like and on-demand video streaming service for movies that are just coming out.
Granted this is only really useful if you are near a RedBox, and the streaming catalog RedBox offers isn’t quite as impressive as some of the others, but it’s well worth using their free month offer and trying it out for yourself.
[h=3]Xbox Video[/h] In the same way that iTunes is really only out there for Apple products, Xbox Video was made for Microsoft products. If you have an Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows Phone, or Windows 8.1-based computer, and you enjoy watching videos on these devices, Xbox Video is a fairly new service that is slowly filling with content. There’s a handful of movies and TV shows that are available as part of an Xbox Live subscription, but the service is primarily a rental/purchase service.
If your Xbox is the primary box connected to your TV, this is something worth keeping an eye on. Even if you don’t even up using Xbox Video to replace Netflix, there’s still plenty of content there to take advantage of. Additionally, Microsoft’s original content like the Halo TV series will be made available through this service.
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[h=3]Hulu Plus[/h] The most obvious Netflix “rival” is Hulu Plus, but it’s really more of a complementary service than a true rival. Netflix offers a mixture of movies and older seasons of TV shows, while Hulu Plus focuses more on current-run and older TV. Recently both services have worked hard to produce original content, though Hulu’s offerings have been clearly targeting a young adult audience. Hulu Plus barely has any movies when compared to Netflix, but the service includes things like The Criterion Collection in their film arsenal.
Hulu Plus is priced similarly to Netflix, at $7.99 per month. Hulu does have an entirely free service, but many of Hulu’s apps require a Plus subscription. Unlike Netflix, though, Hulu still forces you to watch ads.
[h=3]Amazon Prime Instant Video[/h] Amazon’s streaming video solution is a serious competitor to Netflix when it comes to content, but you can only get it by paying for a year of Amazon Prime. Once you do, there’s a huge library of Movies and TV Shows open to you. Amazon offers a lot of content that Netflix currently doesn’t, but the reverse is true as well. What makes Amazon great over Netflix is the ability to augment your video collection with new released and TV Shows that are currently airing. You can buy entire seasons or movies the day they come out, and those files sit alongside the Prime Instant Videos and play through the same apps with no problems.
Unfortunately, if you’re and Android user, Amazon’s video streaming app isn’t available to you. So far Amazon has yet to offer a good reason for this, outside of a desire to sell their own hardware, but if you aren’t an Android user Amazon Prime Instant Video is a fantastic Netflix alternative.
[h=3]Vudu[/h] I wouldn’t say Vudu is a Netflix alternative so much as an augmentation to get some of the other kinds of streaming content you may want. Vudu is one of several services that plays nice with a platform called Ultraviolet. There are a lot of movies sold in DVD or Blu-Ray formats that include a code to download a digital version of the video, and Ultraviolet is almost the service used to deliver that experience. Vudu acts as a sort of rental service for new movies, with Ultraviolet content like new movies as the target.
If all you care about is new movies, and you want them to stream in an inexpensive format, Vudu is well worth checking out.
[h=3]iTunes[/h] Apple’s digital content service is built from the ground up to work well on Apple hardware, and outside of that ecosystem you’re not going to find much use for the platform. If you use an iPad, Apple TV, or MacBook, there’s a good chance you have used iTunes for something. The video management system in iTunes is particularly good at allowing you to quickly grab movies and TV shows that you have purchased for offline use, as well as stream across a WiFi network with AirPlay, but you’re not going to find an all-you-can-watch system here.
[h=3]Google Play[/h] Google’s own video streaming service has grown considerably over the last year, and works well with YouTube to offer content on a subscription basis. For the most part, this works as though you are choosing to purchase an individual TV channel instead of the massive libraries of Netflix, but you also have access to Day 1 rentals and purchases for new movies and TV shows.
It’s also worth pointing out that Google Play and YouTube video services support the same wireless streaming and remote control services that Netflix offers, thanks to their joint efforts in developing what we now know as the protocols that drive the Google Chromecast and Android TV platforms.
[h=3]Redbox Instant[/h] If you’re still a fan of physical disks, but would like to occasionally stream video, RedBox Instant is well worth a look. This is the only service that offers a physical location for you to go to and rent discs as well as a streaming video service. You can find RedBox canisters all over the place for those cheap $3 rentals, and can even use the service like and on-demand video streaming service for movies that are just coming out.
Granted this is only really useful if you are near a RedBox, and the streaming catalog RedBox offers isn’t quite as impressive as some of the others, but it’s well worth using their free month offer and trying it out for yourself.
[h=3]Xbox Video[/h] In the same way that iTunes is really only out there for Apple products, Xbox Video was made for Microsoft products. If you have an Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows Phone, or Windows 8.1-based computer, and you enjoy watching videos on these devices, Xbox Video is a fairly new service that is slowly filling with content. There’s a handful of movies and TV shows that are available as part of an Xbox Live subscription, but the service is primarily a rental/purchase service.
If your Xbox is the primary box connected to your TV, this is something worth keeping an eye on. Even if you don’t even up using Xbox Video to replace Netflix, there’s still plenty of content there to take advantage of. Additionally, Microsoft’s original content like the Halo TV series will be made available through this service.
More...
