2012 CES CoverageComparison of Video Streaming Services for 2012 Q1
Analysis and highlights of video streaming matrix
Updated April 1st, 2012
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Amazon Instant
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Hulu Plus
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iTunes
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Netflix
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VUDU
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Model
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All you can watch for select catalog with Prime Membership; rental or purchase for larger catalog
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All you can watch for monthly fee
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Rental / Purchase Movies on Apple TV. Purchase available on computer with iTunes. No TV Show rentals
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All you can watch for monthly fee. Now separate plan for DVD by mail
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Rental or purchase per title in a variety
of qualities: SD, HD and HDX |
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Commercials
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No
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Yes
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No
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No
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No
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Best Video Quality
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720P for streaming. 1080P for downloads of some titles to the TiVo Premiere.
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720P
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1080P for 3rd gen Apple TV / 720P for earlier gens
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1080P on several devices / 720P on others
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1080P / 24 fps
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Best Audio Available
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Dolby Digital 5.1
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Stereo only
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Dolby Digital 5.1
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Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital Plus on select devices.
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Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 or 7.1
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Number of Titles
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49,400+ movies and 7,100+ TV Seasons for purchase and/or rental. 1,500+ Movies and 931 TV Seasons ( 12,100+ episodes) on Prime Streaming.
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2,100+ Movies and 1,900+ TV seasons (32,800+ episodes) Some seasons are incomplete. Some “TV” is Internet-only like Gary V’s Wine TV
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13,400+ movies and ??? TV seasons.
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9,500+ movies and 4,100+ TV seasons (41,000+ episodes)
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13,500+ movies and 1,400+ TV Seasons
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Number of HD Titles
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727 movies / 1,599 TV seasons for purchase/rental; additional 335 movies and 222 television seasons on Prime streaming
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828 movies and 743 TV Seasons (some not fully in HD 12,267 episodes)
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5,423 movies and 1,238 TV seasons
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3,225 movies and 1,697 TV seasons (15,652 episodes)
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6,419 titles in HD (720p) and HDX (1080p/) quality. 774 TV Seasons (most in HDX)
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Surround Sound Titles
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277 Prime movies and 126 TV seasons in Dolby Digital. Some purchase/rental titles are available in Dolby Digital
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None
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Most movies are in Dolby Digital 5.1 but not most TV shows
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603 movies and 524 TV seasons available in Dolby Digital Plus.
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Most are in Dolby Digital Plus
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Subtitles
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338 movies and TV shows with English subtitles
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563 movies and 869 TV seasons (some not fully subtitled, 17,165 episodes). Supported on Roku, Samsung, Sony PS3, VIZIO, Panasonic, WD TV and TiVo Premiere
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3,070 movies / 212 TV seasons
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2,848 movies and 2,291 TV seasons, 23,400+ episodes on select devices
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Only on non-
English movies |
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Rental Window
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2 days after rental is purchased
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N/A
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30 days to start / 24 hours once watching begins
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N/A
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30 days to start / 24 hours once
watching begins |
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Cost
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Streaming Library included with Amazon Prime $79/yr; $3.99 to rent new movies; $2.99 to buy TV episodes in HD. $1 less in SD. Amazon also runs specials on select films
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$7.99 per month for unlimited viewing
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$2.99 buy HD TV episodes, $4.99 to rent new HD movies. $1less in SD. Special offers available
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$7.99 per month unlimited viewing. $7.99 per month for DVDs mailed to home; Another $2 for Blu-ray
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New movies $5.99 to rent in HDX, $4.99 in HD, $3.99 in SD. Specials run on daily basis (99 cent rentals)
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Devices
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Over 200: Select Blu-ray, streaming boxes and TVs from Roku, Google TV, Vizio, LG, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and TiVo (no Prime streaming)
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Roku, WD TV, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Sharp, Sony and Vizio, Haier, Blu-ray and TVs. PC/Mac, PS3, Wii, TiVo Premiere, Xbox
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Apple TV, PC, Mac
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Over 700! Examples include Wii, PS3, Xbox, Roku, Apple, TiVo, Boxee, LG, Samsung, Vizio, Insignia, Philips, Panasonic, Sony and Phillips devices
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Over 300 devices including PS3, Xbox, Boxee, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Sony, Sharp, Sylvania, Vizio, PC, Mac and the VUDU box. Can download to PC and select devices. Disc to Digital to upload Blu-rays or DVDs.
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Mobile Devices
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Sony Walkman Video, Amazon Kindle Fire
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iPhone, iPad, Nook, Nintendo 3DS and selected Android
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iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
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iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone, Android, Nook, Nintendo 3DS, Sony Vita
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iPad for watching SD content, purchase and browse.
iPhone for browsing catalog and purchase only
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Parental Controls
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Passcode entered on purchase. None with Amazon Prime
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None
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Can set appropriate level for movies and TV. Override with passcode
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Can set appropriate level on website. May take hours to take effect; cannot override for particular program. New kids interface rolling out
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Can set passcodes for purchase and viewing. Override with passcode
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Wow, nice comparison chart. I didn’t realize Amazon had that many movies avaible.
Thank you very much! I have been looking for a chart like this. It would be great if you could email me any of the sources you had for this, I would very much appreciate it. I will forward this to my friends!
-TJ
Why not compare the technical aspects… I notice the apple files are about 2 gigs smaller than some competitors, what’s the trade off ?
You should also check-out http://piratealts.com
It compares prices and check availability on Amazon Instant Video, Netflix & iTunes
This is incredible! You probably spent hours doing this. Thank you!
Thanks for this very helpful chart.