Which company is the cheapest? With retail prices set by the studios, they are all about the same in terms of price. However, you can still find some movies on sale, so it’s possible to shop the deals. Unfortunately, this splits your library, which means you’ll need to use multiple apps and even multiple devices to view your collection. So which provider should you choose for your digital movie library? The answer to that question may be decided by what devices you use as much as which company you like the most, so we’ll go over the pros and cons of each provider. You also don’t have those worries with Vudu. In 2010, they were acquired by Wal-Mart. And while Vudu isn’t a household brand, Wal-Mart certainly is. Vudu offers movies in SD, HD and their own HDX format, which is a slightly superior rendition of HD. Some movies are also available in Ultra HD (UHD). One nice benefit of Vudu is the ability to download the movie to your PC. Most video providers are now offering offline downloads for mobile, but Vudu and Apple offer the same service for desktop and laptop PCs. You still must use their respective apps, but it’s a nice benefit. Vudu supports UltraViolet, which was a digital locker that gives you access to digital copies of DVD and Blu-ray titles. This was a great way to build your online collection while still buying DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Vudu also offers some movies for free with advertisements. Compatibility? Vudu has perhaps the widest range of support for devices. You can get it on your Roku, iPhone, iPad, Android smartphone or tablet, Chromecast, Xbox, PlayStation, and a number of smart TVs. It’s easy to trust Vudu’s neutrality in the war over our digital video lockbox because they don’t have a device they are trying to push. Google’s Android, Chrome and Chromecast platforms don’t exactly make them Switzerland, but they’ve played nice in the war for our living rooms. Google’s philosophy is more about providing the opportunity to watch on the largest range of devices rather than battling it out for platform dominance. Google Play offers some titles in UHD, but these titles aren’t marked in the store, so it can be difficult to know if any particular movie is available in UHD until you go to buy it. Google Play does offer a $0.99 rental to new customers, so it is worth checking out if just to save a couple of bucks on a movie night. You can stream Google Play on your iPhone, iPad, Android, PC, Roku, many smart televisions or through Chromecast. While there’s not an app for game consoles, as long as your Xbox or PlayStation can open YouTube, you can get to your rentals and purchases in the YouTube app. Google Play isn’t available for Apple TV (yet?), but if you have an Apple TV, you can use YouTube or AirPlay to stream your Google Play collection. What you can’t do is watch anything on Android. Or your Smart TV. Or that Blu-ray player with all the streaming apps. Or basically anywhere besides a PC or an Apple device. That’s enough to give even Apple Watch owners some doubts on whether or not to put all those eggs in Apple’s basket. There is a Roku channel for iTunes purchases, called, appropriately enough, Apple TV. Apple also offers 4K streaming. While digital 4K movies are expensive compared to HD and the titles are limited, if you want to build a top-quality movie collection, having the option is a definite must. Apple isn’t a bad choice for those who love their products. But in a decade, we could all be using smart devices from a company that doesn’t even exist yet. And will we be able to take our movie collection with us? Despite its limitations, Apple is top-notch in just about every other category. They offer a great streaming service, you can download your movies to any device that can actually play them, they always have some type of deal going on, and what’s better, those deals are easy to find thanks to a pretty decent interface. But what about your cable company? It might seem easy to purchase movies directly from your cable provider, but it really becomes just one more thing that locks you into the service. While some companies offer ways to view your purchases after you end the service, it’s much better to go with a company that offers more permanence.
Movies Anywhere
Don’t like your digital library tied to one single company? Neither does Movies Anywhere. The big difference is that Movies Anywhere can actually do something about it. And the big surprise is that they actually did. Movies Anywhere allows you to buy movies from iTunes, Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, Microsoft, XFINITY, and Verizon FIOS.
