{Photo courtesy of Variety}
By Caren Chelangat
Netflix was a breakthrough app in online streaming when it was launched. It is an American media service provider that caused many households to cut cords with their cable connection. With a wide array of television shows, documentaries and movies available, this streaming giant now operates in over more than 190 countries. With an established name in video streaming, Netflix usually comes preloaded in smart TVs as an app. Moreover, you can download its app in mobile phones as well and all you need is a subscription to get started.
Considering Netflix is ad free, subscriptions are the primary way it earns its big bucks. Netflix offers three different subscriptions plans to the audience who then pay monthly membership fees to continue enjoying the service. Viewers can avail a 30-day free trial on Netflix before they confirm their subscription. If you like what you see, they have three plans to choose from. With Netflix, you can enjoy an uninterrupted flow of streaming, as it is free of ads even in the lowest priced basic plan.
This lends Netflix a significant edge over competitors like Hulu that require an extra $4 per month in order to avoid commercials. Netflix allows simultaneous viewership in its most popular standard plan as well as the premium plan. This allows family members and friends to avail the same subscription and go up to 4 people viewing different screens at one time. Hence, Netflix is flexible in its service.
There are many people who buy just one subscription ,a premium plan, and share the account with other friends or family members. Netflix allows users to cache content in standard and high quality. While there are limitations to the content you can download, Netflix is working to better that as well.
With this feature, viewers can store videos and watch them later even without an internet connection. This works best for plane rides and localities with weak internet connections. It is one of the most user friendly streaming compatible with just about any device. Your device just needs to have Internet services out there. You need to login to the service just once and after that whenever you start the app ; on your smart TV or smartphone, you get access to the graphical environment of the service.
The first menu you will find is the “User Profiles” menu whereby you select which user of the family will be watching, therefore giving you the full movie history of the specific user, personalized recommendations After selecting the user profile, you get access to categories of movies, series, documentaries etc. You can also find easily which series you have started watching etc. Netflix is touted as the most versatile streaming option as it is connection and the Netflix app installed.
Most smartphones, smart TVs, Android TV boxes e already have the Netflix app installed. If not, you can just download the app from the various app marketplaces which is free.. Netflix tends to remove shows that were previously available. This can be quite testing especially when you want to do a re-run of your favorite show. Popular ones like Family Guy and Friends are off Netflix with no hope of coming back anytime soon. if you are someone that likes watching live sports events, then you are out of luck with Netflix. Although there are several sports documentaries and shows, Netflix has traditionally steered away from live sports events.