If you’re keen to binge-watch so many box sets your eyes will turn 16:9, check out these tips from Stuff and get even more from Amazon’s on-demand streaming TV service, Prime Video. As one of South Africa’s more affordable streamers at R80/m, Amazon’s Prime Video is stacked with thousands of movies and series – featuring original content like The Boys and Invincible we can promise you won’t want to put down…
THE BASICS
Nuke the ads
The big new Prime Video feature for 2024 was ads. ‘Yay.’ In terms of the annoyance factor, they’re about halfway between YouTube and ITV. They’re not a thing in South Africa just yet but that doesn’t mean that won’t change. If ads do turn up, Amazon will likely launch a pricier plan that does away with them.
Stash your shows
Assuming you’re happy to pay up (or put up with ads), use the Home tab to explore what’s on offer. If you find something you like, add it to your watchlist from the button on the show/movie’s page. Your watchlist is later found under My Stuff on platforms that have that tab, or under your profile.
Check the quality
If you’re on your phone, or just somewhere with limited internet bandwidth, head into the settings and lower the streaming quality (you can choose to revert this to maximum when you’re back on Wi-Fi). To save on bandwidth – and storage space – also check download quality options for shows and movies you store offline.
Share the love
Prime is designed to be shared among a household. In a browser, view the Prime section in Your Account; under Membership, select ‘Manage your household’. You can invite one other adult and up to four children… then remove them if they don’t do the dishes. Kids will need a birthdate added, so they don’t see any nasty content.
Lock it down
You probably don’t want your own watch history polluted by Peppa Pig any more than you want your kiddoes gorging on John Wick. So set up profiles for each member of the household – and a separate combined ‘adults’ one for parents who want to watch things together. Each can have a PIN assigned in the parental control settings, or you can use Face ID unlocking.
FINE-TUNE LISTS
Say what you like
Amazon is all about the algorithm – which isn’t amazing. Nudge it towards what you actually like, rather than what you watch, by tapping/clicking the Like (and ‘Not for me’) buttons on shows’ and films’ pages.
Delete badness
Ten minutes into the worst show ever and don’t want it stinking up your Home tab? Tap-hold it (or hover over ⋮ in a browser) in the Home feed and select ‘Hide this video’. You can later unhide items on a per-profile basis with Prime’s settings in a web browser.
TWEAK PLAYBACK
Use the subtitles
Because a lot of TV shows love bombast more than clarity and loud music more than words, it can be hard to hear what people are saying. So turn on Prime’s subtitles, via the button on the playback screen. On some platforms, you can customise them.
Try PiP
On mobile, swipe out of the app during playback and what you’re watching should carry on in picture-in-picture mode. Ideal when you sort of want to continue watching, but not to the degree that you’re willing to give it your full attention.
NOW DIG DEEPER…
Take an X-Ray
Wondering who that actor is? Tap the screen on mobile, or pause elsewhere, and X-Ray will list who’s in the current scene. An excellent argument killer – until you start wondering what else they were in…
View more info
Fortunately, you can select any individual from X-Ray and delve into their other roles, along with photos and trivia – anything to avoid the actual thing you’d decided to watch. Some shows and films add soundtrack info too.
Use your phone
You could bin the TV and watch everything on your phone, in portrait, whereupon the movie/show sits above permanently visible X-Ray tabs. At this point, start questioning your life choices.
OR TRY THESE…
Apple TV+ | R125/m
Apple TV+ serves up plenty of quality but not a huge amount of choice. At least pay for one month and binge Severance, Ted Lasso, Loot and loads more. Bought a new LG TV recently? You might already have three months free.
Disney+ | R160/m
Soon, all entertainment will be Marvel and Star Wars on an endless loop. Get a glimpse of that terrifying future with Disney+, which also lobs in a load of Pixar movies, quite a lot of Muppets and National Geographic plus Star – a dumping ground for ‘everything else’.
Showmax | starting from R45/m
South Africa’s home-grown streaming service Showmax is on the up, as long as Multichoice can hold things together. A new app, new content, and new partnerships, with enhanced local content and most of Paramount’s stable, are available for now.
