n00b to digital streaming... Vudu vs Amazon Prime vs iTunes PQ for purchasedTV series

[mjjckc]

Long story short I'm finally plunging into streaming. Maybe I should know better than to spend money on shows I don't really "own", but there's a lot out there at really good prices this week.

I'm looking into buying a few TV series that aren't (and highly likely will never be) on BD. In the past I've purchased a few from Amazon Prime and Vudu when they were on sale, but only viewed them on my laptop while traveling. Is there a clear leader in PQ for the three aforementioned providers, or is it all on a case by case basis?

When The Orville was really really on sale, I purchased it from both Vudu and Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime seems to have an edge, but I don't want to back the wrong horse... If it matters I have a new Sony with android tv coming next week, which will also support Apple TV. In the past Amazon sources seemed to blow away iTunes sources, but maybe their PQ has upgraded from the 1.5 gb episode days?

Thanks

[Greyman]

Originally Posted by mjjckc

Long story short I'm finally plunging into streaming. Maybe I should know better than to spend money on shows I don't really "own", but there's a lot out there at really good prices this week.

I'm looking into buying a few TV series that aren't (and highly likely will never be) on BD. In the past I've purchased a few from Amazon Prime and Vudu when they were on sale, but only viewed them on my laptop while traveling. Is there a clear leader in PQ for the three aforementioned providers, or is it all on a case by case basis?

When The Orville was really really on sale, I purchased it from both Vudu and Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime seems to have an edge, but I don't want to back the wrong horse... If it matters I have a new Sony with android tv coming next week, which will also support Apple TV. In the past Amazon sources seemed to blow away iTunes sources, but maybe their PQ has upgraded from the 1.5 gb episode days?

Thanks

In general for movies iTunes beats Amazon and Vudu for bitrate. I am not sure if it carries over to TV shows, but iTunes has improved from a few years ago.

Here is a thread with comparisons for movies. There are some other threads on here as well.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=323204

Also be aware that FandangoNow has purchased Vudu from Walmart, but as of now they have made no substantial changes to the Vudu platform.

[Fiffy]

Personally I would decide only between Amazon and Apple, since they are likely to be around for the long term (I'm less sure about Vudu/Fandango). Unfortunately there is no TV equivalent to Movies Anywhere and you can't transfer TV content between different providers, so choose carefully.

Both of them have upgraded their streaming quality in the last few years and look pretty good. iTunes has the advantage that you can download video files that you can freely backup, copy around between computers, and stream over your local network (but they still have DRM), while Amazon downloads are always tied to a single device through DRM. Amazon has a limited selection of TV shows in 4K, while purchased iTunes TV shows are so far HD only (although they have started streaming some of their Apple TV+ shows in 4K).

[mjjckc]

Thanks for the tips... didn't realize there was a downloaded vs streaming divide with iTunes.

I guess my strategy going forward will be to hold off on any further Vudu purchases until I can have a 3 way bake off between Amazon / iTunes / Vudu. I'm also pulling some of the digital codes from my disc purchases over the last few years to provide some free demo iTunes content.

Unfortunately it looks like everything I redeemed through UltraViolet and Flixster up till 2016 is gone for good, and those codes can't be re-used.

[qwe159]

I have already plumping into streaming, I have subscribed to Spotify and Amazon Music. But as you said, even if we pay, we don’t really "own" these songs. We have to renew all the time to listen to them. But there are many third-party converters on the market that can help us download songs or videos from streaming media. I used Tunelf Amatune Audio Converter to successfully download Amazon songs to my computer, which means I can save these music files forever.

[LLL666]

I listen to Spotify music, but I don't subscribe the premium version. Because I found that when i stopped subscribe the premium version, songs I downloaded in Spotify would not listen unless I continued to subscribe the premium version. So I used ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, it can download and convert all Spotify music songs, playlists and more to MP3, AAC or other formats, let me enjoy Spotify music offline on any player and device.

[Streetlight]

Between Vudu/Fandango and Prime, which one has better image quality on average?

[kannibaliztik]

Originally Posted by Streetlight

Between Vudu/Fandango and Prime, which one has better image quality on average?

vudu