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Netflix vs HBO NOW vs Amazon Prime Video

Which streaming service is right for you?

These days, getting your streaming fix is easy. There are lots of providers to choose from, and we’re going to look at three of the best. But while they all stream video, they certainly aren’t equal.

If you’ve got deep pockets, then joining them all will ensure you don’t miss out. For the rest of us, it’s worth exploring exactly what each has to offer.

We’ve put together a brief comparison below to help you choose.

Netflix

Netflix began as an online DVD rental service. Since streaming its first video in 2007, it’s grown to be the most popular streaming service on this list. But does that make it the best? That depends.

Expensive licensing means it offers a relatively limited selection of blockbusters, but it does feature great original content, such as “House of Cards,” “Stranger Things,” and “The Crown.” As competition grows, Netflix is investing more on developing its own movies and TV shows, hoping to stave off its rivals.

Netflix’s content matching algorithm is also pretty accurate, making it easy to discover new entertainment you’ll love.

Free trial: Yes

Contract: No

Monthly price: $8.99 (standard) – $16.99 (premium)

Subscribers: 154 million

Titles: 5,304

App: Yes

Multi-users: Up to 4 (depending on membership)

Quality: Up to 4K (depending on membership)

Offline viewing: Yes, support for downloadable content

Best for: People who travel / those looking for fresh original content

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HBO NOW

You could argue that HBO birthed the binge-worthy TV series. Since “Oz” came to the cable channel in 1997, and then “The Sopranos” in 1999, HBO has continued to produce the most critically-acclaimed TV shows in history.

Three of the top 10 TV shows on IMDB are produced by HBO – “Band of Brothers,” “The Wire,” and “Game of Thrones.” So if you’re after shows that win big at The Emmys and Golden Globes, HBO NOW is the service for you. (Note: HBO GO is the exact same thing. The app you get depends on some other circumstances, like whether you’re going standalone or as part of a streaming TV package.)

Free trial: Yes

Contract: No

Monthly price: $14.99

Subscribers: 5 million

Titles: 986

App: Yes

Multi-users: Yes, though HBO doesn’t state exact limits

Quality: Most shows are in HD, no support for 4K yet

Offline viewing: No

Best for: Those looking for award-winning TV shows / existing HBO cable subscribers (who can get the app HBO GO and enjoy their content on-the-move)

HBO NOW

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Amazon Prime Video

Amazon began as an online bookseller, connecting suppliers with customers through an easy-to-use virtual shop-front. It started streaming video in 2006, called Amazon Unbox, and since then has produced original shows like “Transparent” and “Sneaky Pete,” as well as hosting classics like “Seinfeld” and “The Sopranos” (look out, HBO!). It also has the largest title selection of any service on this list.

If you pay the $12.99/month for full Prime membership, you’ll get fast shipping and unlimited access to Amazon Music, too.

Free trial: Yes

Contract: No

Monthly price: Free for Prime members, $8.99 video only, $12.99 full Prime membership

Subscribers: 100 million (Prime subscribers)

Titles: 34,485

App: Yes

Multi-users: Up to two under Amazon Household

Quality: Up to 4K

Offline viewing: Yes

Best for: Prime members / regular Amazon customers / those wanting best value

As a single source for entertainment, Amazon Prime is hard to beat. Unfortunately, their navigation is horrendous. Sorting through more than 34,000 titles to find a winner can be tough (and hard on your remote-clicking thumb). Prime is also home to some hardcore religious and conspiracy theory films, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on your temperament. Like Netflix, many titles will come and go at random.

Amazon Prime Video

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The streaming landscape is about to get even more convoluted. Existing services like CBS All Access and Hulu are still in the mix. NBC is weighing its own streaming service. Disney+ is coming later this year to muddy the waters even further.

If you’re looking to save money, your best approach is to service-hop. Spend this month ripping through Netflix, binge HBO stuff next month, hit up Prime for a summer viewing spree. Also, remember there are lots of ways to see free movies online!

HBO releases Watchmen teaser

A new trailer for “Watchmen” is here with many new masked faces.

Looking for something to keep you busy after “Game of Thrones” is over? HBO just dropped their new trailer for their upcoming “Watchmen” series. Take a look.

So basically… huh?

Perhaps you’ve read the classic graphic novel series or seen the 2009 Zack Snyder film, but we’re looking at something entirely different here. We can see many familiar sights, but the images are twisted from the source material.

In the biggest change, instead of one Rorschach, there are dozens of fans or followers in his mask. Perhaps these guys are fans of the original hellraiser? Showrunner Damon Lindelof posted on Instagram that this is not a sequel, nor is it a direct adaptation of the beloved graphic novels. Instead, this series is set in the “Watchmen” world. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess what we’ll see.

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A post shared by Damon (@damonlindelof) on May 22, 2018 at 11:00am PDT

The cast includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith, and Adelynn Spoon.

“Watchmen” will debut on HBO this fall.

Want to get into comics? Here’s where to start

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Twitter reveals the most popular Game of Thrones character in your state

This map is based on geo-tagged Twitter data and shows the most popular Game of Thrones character in every state.

Excitement is reaching fever pitch as we are mere days away from the final season of HBO’s acclaimed “Game of Thrones” hitting our screens. Never before has the world been so excited about winter’s arrival, but here we are. Does it get any better than this?

One of the main reasons for the show’s unrivaled popularity is its expansive world and the rich list of well-developed characters. The scale of the show ensures everybody has somebody to love and somebody to hate. It also ensures that when it comes to favorite characters, everybody has one, and you won’t have to talk to many people before you find somebody who disagrees with your choice. This is why this map from the guys at Daring Planet is so interesting.

Which Game of Thrones house are you?

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This map shows the most popular Game of Thrones character in every state

The map takes data from geo-tagged tweets that are publicly available on Twitter. The result, after processing over 200,000 tweets, is a photo map highlighting which citizen of Westeros garners the most attention in all 50 states. The results are a little surprising.

The map uses the first-past-the-post voting system, which means it only shows the big players. First-past-the-post gives the whole state to whoever gets the most mentions. This means that even if somebody like The Hound or Davos Seaworth scores thousands of mentions across the country, their faces won’t appear on the map unless they score the most mentions in a single state. Theoretically, The Hound could have more mentions overall than Tyrion or Cersei, but it wouldn’t matter. As long as The Hound doesn’t have the most mentions in a single state his face will be nowhere to be seen on this map. Basically, it’s like the electoral college, but less depressing.

A map of GOT season 8 most talked about characters on Twitter — Image via: Daring Planet

The overall winner is somebody that you might not expect it to be. Yes, the map is dominated by Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, but the character with the most states baring her face is, ironically, the now faceless Arya Stark.

According to Twitter, Arya is the most talked-about “Game of Thrones” character in a whopping 19 States across the U.S. Now whether this is because of the shocking way she ended Season 7 or because people aren’t happy with how the TV writers are treating a treasured book character remains to be seen. With the final season bearing down like a White Walker army, it will be interesting to see if this remains true once the credits roll.

Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming (official browser game)

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We broke down the new Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer, frame by frame

We enhanced the new “Game of Thrones” trailer frame-by-frame for clues to the final season.

The countdown is on to the final season of “Game of Thrones,” and today, HBO just dropped a new trailer. This thing looks hotter than Blackwater Bay filled with wildfire. Feast your eyes:

Because so much of the trailer is so bloody dark, we enhanced the images to get some clues about what we can expect.

The trailer begins with Arya running scared. It looks like she sustained a head wound. (It could also be someone else’s blood.) She’s running with a dragonglass dagger. This looks to be the tunnels within Winterfell.

Though very dark in the trailer, this enhanced frame shows Varys hiding with the women and children, presumably during the final battle. The statue shows us they’re inside Winterfell’s crypt.

Davos appears to be scouting the battlefield from Winterfell’s walls.

The Greyjoy fleet has set sail, but who’s that in the foreground? It doesn’t look like Euron. That armor also doesn’t look like typical Greyjoy attire.

Beric Dondarrion, Dolorous Edd, and Tormund Giantsbane are walking through a dark passageway with Beric’s sword on fire.

Cersei is hanging out with Qyburn and the Zombie Mountain, who now looks like full-on Darth Vader.

Daenerys rides with Jon and the Unsullied army.

Sansa appears spooked and awed by the dragons flying over Winterfell.

Dany approaches Jon in the crypt of Winterfell. We’re betting he’s paying his respects to his mother, Lyanna Stark. You saw her statue in the first episode of the show when Robert Baratheon came to Winterfell. Maybe Jon is also wrestling with the fact that Daenerys is his aunt.

Gendry appears to be blacksmithing the hell out of some weaponry to take out the White Walkers.

Jaime looks to be in a bit of trouble in the final battle. We hear him say, “I promised to fight for the living. I intend to keep that promise.” He’s clearly at odds with his sister. Speaking of which…

What’s a Lannister to do when the world is about to end? She drinks, of course.

The Hound is probably super-thrilled to be part of a battle that involves so much fire.

Jon and Dany check in on Drogon and Rhaegal, who appear to have just finished a large meal, judging by all those bones. (Remember, Viserion was killed and resurrected by the Night King. Don’t worry, we can’t keep the dragon names straight, either.)

Though difficult to see in the trailer, our enhancement shows Arya looking ferocious with a spear. On the right side of the frame, you see blood spraying upward.

Podrick and Brienne, reporting for battle. Let’s hope Podrick is as successful in battle as he was at Littlefinger’s brothel.

An undead horse, presumably carrying the Night King, steps within view of Winterfell.

While many of our heroes seem to be engaged in a ferocious final battle (all the orange-tinted scenes with fire), there are some notable absences in that scenario. The trailer shows only one shot of Tyrion, so it’s unclear if he plays a role in the final confrontation. Bran and Sam have reunited, but there’s no sign of them in the war, either.

We’re also a bit confused about Cersei and the Kings Landing gang. Are they just going to sit out the final battle? Do they fight and lose to Dany’s army before that? Or are they just biding their time until the White Walkers are dispatched before trying to clean up the survivors at Winterfell?

All our questions will be answered in the final season. The first episode arrives April 14.

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