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Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant
Tired of replacing your media collection every four years? Owning stuff is so 20th Century: these days, the smart money gets spent on streaming.
Why pay for shiny and expensive discs when you can stream almost everything ever made to every device you and your family own for a small monthly fee?
That’s what Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video offer, but there are big differences in the way they do things and in the stuff you can see.
While you could easily pick a service simply based on the exclusive TV shows you want to watch – House of Cards is only available on Netflix, for example, but Amazon has Emmy-award winning Transparent – there are a few other categories that are worth taking into account.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: price
The standard Netflix service costs £7.49/$9.99 per month for two screens in HD or £8.99/$11.99 if you want up to four screens in Ultra-HD (where available); there’s a third option for £5.99/$7.99, but it only gets you one screen at standard resolution.
If you’re a member of Amazon’s Prime free-delivery club, the Instant Video service is free – although the annual price of Prime has been hiked from £39 to £79 ($99 in the US) and gives you video whether you want it or not.
If you want Amazon Prime Instant Video but don’t want the other benefits of a Prime membership, the price is a flat £5.99 per month.
So who’s the winner? The cost comes out roughly to the same thing if you’re only using an HD TV or monitor. If you have a 4K screen, Amazon Prime Instant Video is slightly more cost-effective, as it doesn’t upcharge you for accessing higher-resolution content, and free two-day shipping isn’t a bad perk either.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: devices
Both services are available for PC and Mac, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, PS3 and PS4, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii U, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and the Kindle Fire family.
In addition, Amazon Prime Instant Video is available on LG, Sony and Samsung Smart TVs, Sony’s Network Media Player and Home Cinema System, and Blu-Ray players from LG, Samsung and Sony.
The previous lack of an Android phone app has been addressed, however there’s still no Windows Phone app. As you’d expect, it works with Amazon’s own Fire TV.
Netflix is available on Android (including Chromecast) and Windows Phone, compatible LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Sony Blu-Ray players and Smart TVs, Apple TV and set-top boxes from Philips, Roku, WD and Virgin Media, as well as LG home theatre equipment. It’s also coming to YouView boxes.
You’ll find a full list of Netflix-capable devices here, and the list for Amazon Instant Video is here.
Both services are offered on most devices, meaning you shouldn’t have a problem binge-watching wherever you go. Netflix is usually a bit faster coming to new devices, however, and because it doesn’t have a media streaming device of its own, it’s available on both the Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV platforms.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: kids
Both services have extensive libraries of kids’ TV shows and movies including Disney and Pixar hits. Amazon also has an impressive collection of cartoons, including both the award-winning Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra.
Both services have parental controls that can prevent the little ‘uns from streaming horror movies, and Netflix also enables you to create separate profiles for each user and make the kids’ ones child-friendly. Amazon recently rolled out its version of child protection called Free Time that allows you to set stringent time restrictions that can either limit your kids to so many hours of streaming per day or only allow them to watch content during specific time periods like, say, 6pm to 8pm.
Personally, the kids area of the Netflix store feels slightly livelier than Amazon’s kids section, but both are frequently updated with shows from Nickelodeon and Disney, as well as new, original content like the Kung Fu Panda spin-off or How To Train Your Dragon TV show.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: TV
Netflix has long had the edge over Amazon when it comes to TV: it snapped up the rights to stream Breaking Bad and it’s commissioned critically acclaimed shows such as Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards.
Amazon is getting into the commissioning game too – its drama Transparent has attracted rave reviews, Bosch is pretty good and Mad Dogs, a recasting of the 2011 UK TV show, really adds depth to the selection – but its TV catalog isn’t quite as impressive as Netflix’s.
Netflix is a little faster on the draw when picking up new series than Amazon is. So, for example, Netflix has 8 seasons of the US Office while Amazon’s streaming ends with season 5.
That brings us to one of the things we really hate about Amazon’s offering: Prime Instant Video sits alongside the non-Prime Instant Video service, which is video on demand and isn’t included in your membership. It’s very frustrating to see programs in the listings without the blue Prime logo.
It’s pretty easy to confuse the two and most times you’ll only recognize the difference when you confusingly see a screen asking for money. On Netflix everything is available at any point – there’s no premium section or hidden fees tucked into it.
On balance, we think Netflix has the better selection of TV programs – but that might be because we’re more Breaking Bad than Vikings. We’d recommend searching both services for your favorites.
It’s important to know that both services regularly prune their catalogs, usually because the deals with the content owners have expired. Don’t assume that a title that’s there today will still be there in a few months’ time.
Movies, video quality and verdict
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: movies
If you want the very latest blockbusters, neither service is for you: both Netflix and Amazon operate in the post-DVD window, which means they don’t get the big movies until they’ve been sold in every possible market from in-flight movies to DVDs.
While things are improving in that respect you’ll usually have to wait much longer for movies to appear on streaming services than on video on demand, and Amazon demonstrates that perfectly: many of the films we’d like to see are available on Amazon’s pay-per-download Instant Video for around £4.49 ($6.99) for an HD rental, but they aren’t available on Prime Instant Video. If you’d like to make sense of what’s available where, Findable.TV is a big help.
Kids’ movies aside (where Netflix and Amazon are largely neck and neck) Amazon is generally better for mainstream movies than its rival. Netflix is very good for stand-up comedy, indie movies and documentaries.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: quality
Both services promise up to 1080p HD streaming in their standard services, and they use adaptive streaming to adjust the bitrate according to network conditions and congestion.
However, the quality you get depends on what particular device you’re using. We mentioned the list of supported Netflix devices earlier, and it details the quality of the streaming – so for example Xbox 360 owners get 720p HD while Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 users get 1080p.
Amazon’s streaming has improved considerably, probably due to the launch of the Fire TV: its service offers up to 1080p unless your device isn’t HD compatible. However, there’s a big difference between devices being capable of full HD and devices actually getting it.
We’ve previously found streaming on iOS to be seriously sub-par and that’s still the case, with some content almost unwatchable, and if Amazon was really streaming episodes of Luther to our PS4 at 1080p it was doing a bloody awful job of it.
We’d definitely recommend taking advantage of the free trial to see if Amazon’s up to snuff on your device before signing up to Prime.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: verdict
As a streaming service, Netflix is the clear winner here. The interface is great, device support is exceptional, streaming is good quality and rock-solid and it’s a joy to use whether you’re on a computer, a set-top box, an iPad or a games console. If it were a shop, it’d be John Lewis.
Amazon is… Amazon. It isn’t as desirable as its rival, it doesn’t do things as elegantly and while there’s plenty of good stuff you have to go looking for it. The lack of clear differentiation between Prime and non-Prime content is infuriating, and the automatic bundling of the video service into every Prime membership alongside a 60% price hike was hardly customer-friendly. If you already subscribe to Netflix but you’re a member of Amazon Prime, you’re paying for Amazon Prime Instant Video whether you want it or not.
Ultimately, though, it comes down to whether the service has the things you want to watch on the devices you want to use. We’re still not sold on Amazon on the iPad, but on other devices Amazon Prime Instant Video generally works well enough and it’s generally better at getting (relatively) recent movies than Netflix is.
Netflix is much better for TV, though, and we think it also has the edge when it comes to documentaries and stand-up comedy. That’s where our tastes lie, so for us the Netflix catalog is the stronger one. That, combined with the better service, means Netflix remains the streaming service to beat.
Winner: Netflix
Source: techradar.com
which offers full screen films on our tellys and equipment like smart tv or smart blue ray players . the difference with films is far and wide . sometimes a full screen then you get a half of screen . in my opinion not good . why should we the paying public get half mesures , when we have full sized tellys
I prefer Netflix as they have a better selection of Films and TV Series to choose than LoveFilm. One more thing it is easier to navigate round it.
no mention of smart TVs then.
how about 4K streaming v blu ray. my money is blu ray.
I really want to say Netflix, but after using it and it constantly crashing, it's a tough choice. hopefully they will both develop over time. For now I am really enjoying series on Blip.tv and Youtube.
Gary, This is a great selection of movies for this month. I look forward to watch Serenity. For those who live outside USA like me, you can use UnoTelly or other similar tools to access Netflix overseas.
It's easy to find which of these sites has a movie or TV programme you're looking for using this search engine: http://www.findable.tv
I like Netflix had it for 2 years now but I can see me running out of things to watch in the next year. The relatively small catalogue compared to the U.S version is an issue but its good value for £5.99. I've also tried Love film instant..and tried again when it changed to Amazon prime. Its not bad and seems to have a larger catalogue of films but the interface was never the best and now they mix prime titles in with the Pay Per view?…well what genius thought of that one. I think amazon really need to have a long hard look at the streaming side of there business because they seam to have messed this up since the switch over from love film. PS Love film by post is still an excellent service in my opinion.
For the record, you do not need a VPN to use the Netflix US content using a UK account. You just need a DNS spoofing service like unotelly.com.
I will never say you're wrong, as i don't have your device or your experience. But of all 5 of my years with netflix I think I have had it crash once or twice. I would speculate your device is the issue. If your device happens to be a computer, well then maybe it's your web browser. I wouldn't know as I rarely rarely ever used it on PC. FireTV, PS3, Xbox 360, Vizio TV, android tablet, and PC chrome and Firefox… I have never had crashing issues. ever.
And if you say, I am computer savvy, my wife is the opposite, and just uses whatever devices we purchase, and she has no issues either.
You just the chrome extension hola lol
If you have Virgin TiVO you can access Netflix on channel 204… saves having to go throught the xbox/ having a Xbox live account!
My only criticism of the article is around movies. There is often repeated this idea that Netflix is poor for movies and most are old, but contains both hobbit and hunger games movies (never been on sky) which were basically the biggest movies last year and skyfall and avengers from the year before, not sure what else they could do.
It's just one of those accepted truisms that kinda gets on my wick.
Excellent article!
I have both Netflix and Amazon. The forementioned is my first pick, while Amazon is used for those older movies and TV series which are unavailable on NF.
As a resident on the Northern American side of the pond, I do believe we have a greater menu of programming availability to choose from. However, while my Comcast service can DL 50 mbps, I have found NF to be oversubscribed and oversaturated, giving greater loss of signal and slowdowns than Amazon.
Lastly, even though an Amazon Prime member, their free included programs are limited and the rest are rediculously priced.
Just my opinion however.
The thing with Amazon instant is that not all the content is available under the Prime subscription. Some of it requires you to pay extra to rent.
Great article and supports why I started DigiRAW. Get your discs on your PC and stream them throughout your home, even simultaneously, standard and HD. Transfer them to your smart devices for travel and the kids, safe in the knowledge your valuable collection is future proofed for decades. Thing we love the most though is how our service supports DVD and blu-ray sales. Our customers have started buying discs again preferring us to digitise them. We've sold loads of Apple TVs, been responsible for new laptop purchases which otherwise would never have been purchased, and we've lost count of the millions of gigabytes again would never have been purchases! Anything from USB sticks, WD and other HDDs right up to Qnap servers costing thousands. Not a plug, just a love for all things digital without losing control or letting buyers remorse set in. Why pay more to download and with constraints! Why endure all those considerations when you can create your own library, keep it more up-to-date than these providers and help the industry maintain needy DVDs sales for future programme and movie making too
Let's face it, there is plenty of chit chat on the net about the studios not really being big fans of on demand providers! Interesting times but when we review our customer base, boy is it a mix bag of affluence and super rich!
Well I have had both before but I with Lovefilm I used to rent Blu Rays and they did not have this unlimited streaming service back then. The one thing about renting such discs that really annoyed me, was the fact that I very rarely got to see the whole of a film without the disc stalling or jumping, some discs would not even work at all.
This is really down to the fact that it's such a huge rental service in relation to the local video shop you used to have by you back in those days, that are no longer here. So for me Lovefilms rental service was nothing but a pain in the but, and even the discs I sent back to replace, to which they was on the ball with getting it to you, did not work half the time either.
The other thing about Lovefilm was trying to cancel your subscription. They would not take no for an answer and insisted they would improve their service to you and offer you a better deal for free foe a few months. Well all sounds great but as the discs never worked it was a complete utter waste of time, and eventually I got away from them.
I then tried out Netflix for 30 days and at first thought it was ok and decided to subscribe to them. I must admit there streaming service was fine and I got to see a film without any interruptions, unlike Lovefilms so called rent a disc service.
The thing though with me is that I am not really a movie buff, and I only ever watched a couple of films on the weekend whilst I had Netflix, and after 3 months I never watched anything simply because I got fed up of spending about an hour trying to find something I had not seen already.
For the following 3 months after I was not even watching anything at all on it and got fed up with it to be honest, and even though I paid them 3 months money for nothing, as I had not cancelled my subscription, when I finally did cancel it from them, they gave me no problem at all, unlike the palaver I went through with Lovefilm.
Now I see Lovefilm are doing an unlimited streaming service for £5.99 per month it's perhaps enticing me to give it a free trial, because for one thing I do know is that Lovefilm certainly have a wider selection to offer you and their movies will be more up to date unlike Netflix had. For me the streaming service should work a damn site better than their rental service and I will be able to see all of the film at last. I just hope at the end of the 30 day trial if I do not want it they are not gonna be as stubborn as they was with their rental service and not take No as an answer.
This may be outdated, but i am willing to say that 90% of devices that handle netflix handle amazon, you must own some pretty "lame" devices.
Thats an unfair comparison. Bluray is capable of way more bandwidth than 15Mb a second. But also bluray is only 1080p not 4K. and i haven't compared the two, why don't you take some screenshots of both on a 4k screen and let us know?
Lovefilm has the added benefit of supplying DVDs for home use whereas Netflix does not in the UK.
I have a Virgin TiVO as well, and it's good that you can search in the Virgin TV guide and find something on Netfilx. However you have to know what you're looking for, it's not integrated into browsing. I also have an Amazon Prime membership and I have to use an iPad or Wii-U to browse and watch that. The net effect is I hardly ever bother looking at, let alone watching, what's on either service. I've cancelled Netflix because of this, and I'll think about cancelling the inflated Amazon Prime cost when it comes up for renewal. Whoever comes up with a single point of access to browse and watch all subscriptions will make a fortune.
Lovefilm much bigger movie and series selection. Use the search function to find more than that which is listed in browsing.
Much cheaper to use Lovefilm if you want streaming and the latest DVDs (via post).
Amazon prime loses instantly due to the tiny amount of devices it can be used on. If it wants to win it needs to change this and fast until then it will never be more than a 2nd string service.
I have been with Love Film for a few years and never had a disc fail, but the colour and contrast seem washed out and dull on the blu ray films, which I find irritating.
"If it were a shop, it'd be John Lewis."
Yeah,,,with a shop full of stock from 2010.
They're both rubbish.