In all these streams we drown
Streaming services are cropping up fervently, with many networks such as NBC and HBO releasing their own respective platforms to showcase their work. While I won’t let quarantine take full ownership of my mastery of streaming options, it certainly helped to formulate my opinion. After binging nearly every reality show on Amazon Prime, every crime documentary on Netflix, and every Marvel movie available on Disney Plus, I’ve come to the conclusion that owning multiple subscriptions to different platforms has become as unfulfilling as paying for cable.
Netflix
We start with the classic. Since its conception, Netflix has undergone repeated developments to improve its algorithm, video player, and title selection. They’ve even removed features, most noticeably their five-star rating in favour of a thumbs up or down button, and cycle through new content every month. Their original shows are surprisingly brilliant at times, when the executives aren’t cancelling anything that doesn’t feature an all-white cast. (Thinking of you, One Day At a Time and Sense 8.)
The downside of Netflix’s popularity is that it’s a struggle to find anything new to watch. Since most of their original shows release an entire season at a time, it’s easy to binge something in a matter of days (or even hours), and then you’re stuck waiting an entire year for the next season. However, their video player is the best available, and their catalogue ranging from Dear White People to Tiger King to Riverdale is certainly unrivaled.
Netflix Basic starts at $9.99 for one device that streams in SD quality, $13.99 for two devices in HD quality, and $16.99 for four devices at 4K quality.
Amazon Prime Video
Truth be told, Prime Video is a huge letdown. The selection of film and television is dismal, with only the occasional intriguing title, like Amazon Originals Good Omens and The Boys, but much of its borrowed selection is just too similar to Netflix. Many popular shows are also blocked behind the purchase of an added subscription, meaning on top of the $3.99 (student pricing) you’re paying for Prime, you’d have to spend an additional $14.99 for a channel like HBO.
Their video player is also overly simplistic compared to Netflix, lacking the feature to surf between episodes and seasons, as well as having a horrible subtitle script. Its only interesting aspect is a button that reveals random trivia throughout the show, but it’s more worthwhile to pause whatever it is you’re watching and pull up IMDB instead.
If you’re already an Amazon Prime member, it comes with your subscription, so it might be worth perusing, but Jeff Bezos really doesn’t need your money, nor has he offered a streaming service worthy of taking it.
Disney Plus
You might speculate that the largest media conglomerate in the world could afford a better video player, but apparently when you own all of the titles tied to the majority of the public’s childhood, you’re free to scrimp on the technical side of things. Neither the app nor the website impress me with their constant glitching. I constantly lose which episode I paused on because it doesn’t keep an accurate record of previous watch history, but if you want to have access to the largest library of nostalgia available for only $8.99, it’s worth enduring these frustrating mechanics.
Hulu
One of the disappointing aspects of being Canadian is being deprived of American video content because of our geography. Alas, Hulu, with wonderful titles such as America’s Next Top Model Little Fires Everywhere, and Bob’s Burgers is not available to Canadians, unless you have a VPN (a virtual private network), which allows you to reroute your online presence, including your geographical location. Under those circumstances, you can subscribe for $5.99 USD with ads or $11.99 USD without.
Funimation
While anime might not be the sort of content everyone enjoys, Funimation is a solid streaming service if you like dubbed (translated to English) shows. Though it was not initially my intention to sign up for a membership, Funimation has a clever way to lure in customers, offering a set number of episodes for free before stopping the video player midway through. I managed to binge seven and a half episodes of Fruits Basket before they forced my hand. No hard feelings were had. Brilliant trickery, 10/10 would fall for this entrapment again.
For $5.99 per month, you can too.
