Since I no longer have a magical content providing server in France I’ve been trying out a few different streaming services. Apparently this is a lot harder than it seems!

Pre Requisites

  • HD - must be HD where available
  • Large library
  • Available on multiple libraries
  • Linux compatible

Google Play

I’m not sure about this service. It’s ok I got a Transformers movie free when I got my Nexus 7 tablet but I’m not 100% sold on it. The HD film worked well on my tablet but I never got around to seeing if it was available on a desktop.

Amazon Instant

This looks so promising but fell short massively when it came to HD streaming. Apparently I won’t stream HD content properly on Linux because of HCDP DRM. So this is out for now.

The one thing I do like about this is it seems to have a relatively up to date collection and you can always purchase things that aren’t available to stream. You also get free one day shipping on Amazon which is always nice.

I’m not sure if you can stream on a mobile device or not.

Netflix

Netflix has a weird library it’s geo-locked to US and UK with the former having an arguably better library. It’s mobile apps are brilliant and the profile support is also great.

Currently I’m using all my profiles, one for Hannah and her dad, the other for my brother and the last one for my parents. My parents use it on their PS3 and Nexus 7, my brother uses it on his computer and Hannah uses it on her TV and laptop. So overall it supports a huge amount of devices which is quite impressive. And all this for such a low price.

I’ve setup a VPN in the US so I can access the US version of Netflix which is pretty cool.

Conclusion

While not a hugely scientific comparison of the services I feel that Netflix is by far the clear winner here for me and my family. I’m hoping that the competition can catch up soon.