Hadlee Simons
I’m not the movie and TV show enthusiast in my household. I usually prefer to play video games on the PC or console. Even so, there are times when I just want to lounge on the couch and watch something instead of playing a game.
I have a Netflix account and an account or two for niche streaming services, but recently I was looking for additional options. So I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for Amazon Prime Video a few months ago. After all, Prime Video costs just $ 6 a month here in South Africa, compared to $ 9 a month for the basic Netflix plan. But after a while, it becomes clear why Netflix is still largely considered the gold standard – and it’s not just the variety of things to watch.
No, the biggest problem with Prime Video isn’t the content, it’s everything else related to the service.
Content discovery is terrible
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Why not just put several seasons together in a list?
Probably the main problem with Prime Video is how awful the content discovery is. One of the annoyances in my book is the fact that Amazon lists seasons of shows separately instead of listing the show just once with a seasons submenu. It seems like a particularly transparent way to populate the homepage and search index, creating the illusion that there is more content than there is.
Speaking of padding, it also has a habit of recommending content in a language or locale that I’ve never shown interest in. Whatever the content suggestion algorithm works is not up to date. I’m not alone in that either. I asked a few Android AuthorityEmployees about their experiences as subscribers.
“The Fire Stick also keeps showing me banners for content in languages I never see, and the indexing really doesn’t seem to work all the time,” says our own Palash Volvoikar. “I think it has good content, but it’s almost unusable at times.”
Related reporting: What’s new on Amazon Prime Video?
Our own Adamya Sharma also complained about Prime Video’s poor search functionality due to her experience with the service.
“If you keep typing the exact movie name so many times, the title won’t appear. I sometimes had to access content using Google Search, but Amazon refuses to post results on its own website or app, ”she explains.
I haven’t used Prime Video’s search option enough, but I’ve found that Netflix tends to have better recommendations when looking for content that isn’t available in their portfolio. For example, none of the services have Face / Off in their catalogs, but Netflix at least recommends films starring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta in addition to suitable films from that period. Meanwhile, Prime Video is showing a random collection of content, including Hell Boy 2, Yu-Gi-Oh, and kids’ cartoons.
Neither service offers Canadian comedy series Letterkenny, but only Netflix tries to make recommendations (e.g. Derry Girls, Trailer Park Boys, etc.). Meanwhile, Prime Video can’t take care of it and just shows the most popular content in general. That’s not to say that Netflix occasionally doesn’t provide anything for a search or irrelevant results, but it does seem to happen more often with the Amazon service.
Other important areas for improvement
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Even something as simple as table of contents isn’t handled properly in the Prime Video Android TV app. Of course, you can tap the ellipses on your phone to expand the overview, but you can’t do that on Android TV. Instead, you are left with half a description when you decide to look at something.
Did you find the show or movie you want to see? If you hit play you will get another stupid decision. Amazon offers pre-roll ads for its own content. They already have my money on the service but they think I should know about the latest Grand Tour special. That wouldn’t be so annoying if they highlighted far less prominent content, but it’s annoying nonetheless.
That’s not to say that Prime Video doesn’t have any positive qualities. My colleague Mitja has already described some of the service’s best features, including its surprisingly wide content library and cheaper price point. It also helps that the service is included “free” with Amazon Prime, when available.
Additionally, the subtitles are generally of a lower quality than the competing streaming services, but the degree of customization for them is admirable. Prime Video’s X-ray feature is another handy feature that highlights actors in a particular scene. The IMDB integration for reviews is a nice touch too.
Still, it’s high time for Amazon to focus on making Prime Video less messy. Sure, the deal to acquire MGM for nearly $ 9 billion will add a huge boost to the content library. But what’s the point of having a ton of content when finding what you actually want to see is a chore?
What do you think of the Amazon Prime Video experience? Let us know by voting or leaving a comment in the poll above.
