What’s best? Netflix, Foxtel Presto or Stan?

NETFLIX has officially launched in Australia. But how does it compare to Presto and Stan? Should you sign up?

IT’S the day binge-watchers everywhere have been waiting for. Netflix has officially launched in Australia.

If you’ve ever used the US version of the service, you will notice that the Australian service has some 7000 fewer titles than it does in the States. It’s missing key titles like Friends, Scrubs,Parks and Recreation and Breaking Bad. It also won’t have the latest season of Orange is the New Black until June.

However, that wasn’t unexpected. Netflix told news.com.au earlier in the year that the library would get bigger and better every month.

Netflix will be the third movie and TV streaming service to launch in Australia this year, following Foxtel’s Presto and Fairfax/Nine Network’s Stan.

So how do the three services compare?

Pricing

Pricing will be a key factor for users, with most people expecting to sign up for two services to get a wider library of content. Value will be key.

• Netflix — $8.99 for Standard Definition (SD) and single stream, $11.99 for HD two stream, $14.99 for 4K (Ultra-high Definition) four stream

• Stan — $10 a month for High Definition (HD) and up to three streams at once.

• Presto — $9.99 for two streams of SD and either just movies or just TV shows, $14.99 for both movies and TV shows

What suits your needs?

Content

This ultimately will decide which service you will spend your money with. All three have there strengths in different areas, which can be extremely frustrating if it forces you to sign up to multiple services to get the best content.

As mentioned above, Netflix is lacking a wide range of content at launch.

At this stage, Netflix only really has its original titles to offer over Presto and Stan. So if you love House of Cards, Marco Polo and want to check out Bloodline but don’t really care about movies or other non-Netflix commissioned shows, you’ll be extremely happy.

At this stage, Stan arguably has the best TV content. It offers both Better Call Saul, and Breaking Bad plus the latest season of Community the same day the shows air in the USA. Critically acclaimed shows like Transparent and Sherlock are also there.

Here’s some of Netflix’s TV offering.

Presto has some great premium shows from its Showtime library including Entourage,The Newsroom and Californication, plus local shows from ABC and Channel 7. The movie library is where the service shines though. Its library essentially features all the movies from Foxtel’s movie channels and has a lot more quality titles to choose from than Stan and Netflix.

Device, interface and quality

Without a doubt, Netflix destroys the competition here. It has 4K streaming and works on just about any device you can think of, including phones, tablets, TVs and video game consoles. It even has an app on Fetch.

You can watch Better Call Saul on Stan in full-HD.

Stan and Presto both work on popular smartphones, tablets and can stream to your TV via Chromecast, but lack video game console support. While Stan supports Apple TV and Presto does not.

The web interface of both Presto and Stan also is considerably less intuitive and slower to operate than Netflix’s, while Presto doesn’t stream in high-definition and Stan goes up to 1080p.

But what about Foxtel and Fetch?

Ahh, the old guard. In terms of content, and technology, Foxtel and its IQ3 still offers the best service. A much wider library than all of the streaming services, with much of it available to stream on top of watching live. Plus just about every sport you can imagine. Of course, to get the best, you have to pay the best and that could push Foxtel out of reach for most people when compared to the streaming services.

Foxtel’s IQ3 blends streaming video on demand with live channels.

Fetch on the other hand, while not having close to the amount of content as Foxtel still offers a great box with channels like TV Hits, Disney and ESPN. Best of all, it could be included free with your internet package if you’ve signed up to Optus or iiNet. If all you wanted is a few extra channels to compliment free-to-air TV, including some extra sport, Fetch could be all you need.

What should you sign up to?

At this very early stage, for me, I would grab Fetch for some extra TV shows like Seinfeld, Pawn Stars and the NBA, but also sign up to Presto for my movies and premium drama. However, a colleague just told me how she has already signed up for Netflix simply for House of Cards, so it’s a completely personal decision.

Foxtel is part-owned by News Corp, publisher of news.com.au.