Comparing Streaming Services

These days

It seems that everyone is supporting some kind of movie streaming technology. All of the systems in this generation come with several options just themselves. I subscribed myself to all of the ones that they offered on my 360 just in case I can't find a certain movie I want to watch on one of them (I did try it on my Wii and it was a fucking disaster, I don't recommend it). While the main function of these subscriptions is the same, they all differ slightly, so I had an idea that I'd compare a few of them back to back and help my non-existant viewers decide on which one they should give their hard-earned money to.

inb4 "hurr durr. buying movies legally. what a square."

I know how to stream and torrent from the internet, I just much prefer this way and besides, this is information that could be used by any person who doesn't want to get in to any of that. So without further delay...

Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime is the one I got most recently and is still pretty new. It boasts a striking resemblance to the Netflix menu, right down to the sounds effects of flicking through the choices. I have no idea why that is the case, but it seems strange to me, however irrelevant. As far as the selection goes, the free movies seem pretty limited. Way too often, I'll exit the search screen disappointed. There are plenty of movies to purchase, but that's a real bitch, who wants to do that? It seems like a load of bullshit to withhold certain movies if I'm already paying a monthly fee. When you think about it that way, all your paying for is the ability to view the list of movies you can buy. On the other hand, if you like American television, Amazon Prime is for you, because there's a plethora of variety there. Unfortunately, TV is shit, so I have no interest in it. I think the worst thing about Prime is that there's no anime to speak of which is somewhat mystifying to me considering the other entries on this list have plenty. I think Amazon Prime is meh. It's really new and all, so I hope that it'll be improved on because as it stands, it's my least favorite of all of the services I'll mention.

Netflix

I may venture to say that this is currently the most popular of this sort of service. I really have no idea if that's true, and I'm too lazy to find out, but that's what seems to be evident. As far as the options, they have quite a bit of movies and shows on here although, unfortunately, they have a bad reputation for having poor quality in that selection.

Image is from The Oatmeal

They have good movies on Netflix, but searching for one is a lot like rummaging through countless threads on forums until you find a decent one. Also, Netflix does this obnoxious shit where it adjusts the bandwidth or something like that. It's really annoying, it'll stop your movie, or whatever the hell you're watching, give you a loading screen and then you'll come back and it'll continue with a new quality (usually worse). I still think it's better than Amazon because it has more movies and it has a decent anime selection (which is just that, decent but anything is an improvement over Amazon Prime's).

Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus would have to be my personal favorite out of all of the services I've used. It boasts a wide collection of films from many multiple genres and actually has an extensive anime selection. The only unfortunate thing about that, is that it's all subbed, which is fine in most cases, but I just wish there were an option to change it or something. The other complaints I could voice would be that the interface could be improved, as it's kind of confusing to navigate and it's much slower than the other two on this list, even with just scrolling and selecting. The worst thing about it by far is the fact that it has commercials popping up every so often. Again, I don't know why it's not enough that I'm paying for it with money, but they still feel the need to do that shit. But what it all comes down to is the movie selection itself which, in this case, is much better than the other two. There are more movies and many of them are good movies that people have actually heard of.

So, weigh the pros and cons for yourself, Hulu is my personal favorite but you may think differently. It's your choice.