Amazon and Sony have launched Amazon Instant Video for PlayStation 3. The service allows PS3 owners to buy and rent video content that’s streamed to their consoles. Amazon Prime subscribers also enjoy a “free” library of streaming movies and television shows. Amazon Instant Video has been available on numerous Blu-ray players, smart televisions, and streaming-video boxes. The PlayStation 3 is the first console the service has been available on.
I played around with Amazon Instant Video on my PS3 and was most impressed by this first effort. The navigation was smooth and content was easy to find. Playback wasn’t as good; the interface felt a bit clunky compared to Netflix. Perhaps I’ll get used to it over time, but right now I prefer the way Netflix handles playback.
Looking at the bigger picture, this is just another sign of what consoles have become. It’s no longer enough for consoles to play great games. They have to offer video, music, and social services too. While Netflix is available on all three major consoles, Amazon Instant Video is only available on the PlayStation 3 (for now). The console companies will be competing fiercely to differentiate their services as well as a native software. While Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are fighting it out, gamers will get to enjoy the most powerful and diverse consoles ever. Cool.
Any of you excited to use Amazon Instant Video on your PS3?
I'm seriously thinking about taking the plunge into streaming services, but I want to just limit myself to one. The problem is that I don't know if I should go with Netflix (streaming only), Amazon Prime, or Hulu+.
Any recommendations?
(Relevant information: I have a 360 w/gold subscription and a Tivo. My wife and I like movies and TV shows, but don't get much time to watch a lot. Our tastes in what we like to watch varies too much to list).
-M
HBO Go is actually the one I use the most — great movies, awesome original shows, and boxing. For the standalone services, I like Netflix.
I've not seen enough of a difference in selection between Netflix and Amazon Prime to really say one over the other (but the benefits of free two day shipping might help sway you). I would recommend one of those as well as Hulu+ if you really want to replace a tv service. Also, another bonus with Amazon prime is that if you are able to stream that to your tv's already and you want something that isn't available for free yet then you can always rent it pretty easily.
I would have gone this route already, but my wife's taste in tv varies too much from what she could get through Hulu+.
For your particular tastes, I would recommend Netflix. If you have HBO already in your cable package, then there's a good chance you can have that already (depending on your provider).
Prime is the only one I don't know about. Netflix's movie options are vast, but the they tend to be old or B-movies for the majority. Hulu+ didn't really impress me. A few of the shows I wanted to catch up on were "PC only" because they didn't have the rights to stream it to my Xbox (which made no sense to me). HBO GO is awesome though. It just doesn't have as many options as Netflix.
All in all, I use Netflix, HBO GO, and plain old free Hulu to get by. Everything else I care about I either DVR, or pilfer from the digital seven seas.
Go get a $100 AppleTV and a Netflix account. If you don't like what's streaming, then rent an iTunes movie. You can also do NBA and MLB league pass on it.
If you can somehow either get Redzone or Sunday ticket on it in the future it would be far and away the best option on the market. For my tastes anyway :P
That's my set up.