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Roku streaming stick 4k vs roku express 4k plus review roku streaming stick 4k vs roku express 4k roku streaming stick 4k vs express 4k roku streaming stick 4k vs fire stick roku streaming stick 4k with voice remote roku streaming stick 4k 2021 streaming device roku streaming stick 4k plus roku streaming stick troubleshooting roku streaming player
Roku Streaming Stick 4K vs. Roku Express 4K Plus: Is One Better Than the Other?
Roku Streaming Stick 4K vs. Roku Express 4K Plus: Is One Better Than the Other?
The Express 4K Plus supports 4K HDR streaming media and, thanks to the AirPlay update, can connect your iPhone or other Apple device to your TV. Traditionally, it has been the cheapest Roku to offer 4K HDR, which is the main reason we picked it as the best streaming device overall.
No, it doesn't support Dolby Vision, but that feature is only useful for people who own TVs that also support Dolby Vision. If you own a Samsung TV, for example, don't bother -- your TV doesn't support it. And even on TVs that do support Dolby Vision, its improvement over standard HDR is usually minimal.
Instead of a stick, the 4K Plus is a small box that can be affixed to any spot near your TV, such as the wall behind it. Unlike the Streaming Stick 4K, you can hardwire the box to the internet through a secondary dongle to provide Ethernet support.
Lately, we've seen aggressive pricing on streaming devices. Depending on when you read this, the Express 4K Plus might be the same price or even more expensive than the Stream Stick 4K. We're all about saving money here at CNET, so our best advice is to pick whichever one is currently cheaper. If that's the Express 4K Plus, know that you're only missing out on Dolby Vision, which probably won't affect you anyway.
Samsung QN90B Review: This QLED TV From the Future's So Bright
Samsung QN90B Review: This QLED TV From the Future's So Bright
The best TVs I've reviewed use OLED screens, but OLED isn't the be-all, end-all in picture quality. High-end TVs with LCD-based screens can get brighter than any OLED television and come pretty close in other important areas like contrast. Samsung's QN90B is a great example, delivering searing brightness with few other compromises thanks to QLED, mini-LED and local dimming technology. It's a futuristic-sounding mouthful, but it works.
I compared the Samsung side-by-side with an LG OLED TV and while the LG won, the Samsung came as close as any non-OLED TV I've tested. The QN90B's ability to focus that light output with very little blooming or stray illumination produces excellent punch, contrast and overall fidelity, surpassing the performance of last year's excellent QN90A.
And as usual Samsung's design and features are top-notch. From the slick stand to the tricked-out remote to a raft of gaming extras, including a new cloud gaming hub with Xbox Game Pass compatibility, the QN90B is simply stacked. If you're in the high-end TV market and looking for an alternative to OLED, or you just have a bright room, the QN90B deserves a look.
Samsung QN90B sizes
I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 65-inch QN90Bbut this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have similar specs and should provide similar picture quality.
The QN90B sits at the high-end of Samsung's 4K Neo QLED TV line for 2022. Its main improvement over the less expensive QN85B is better local dimming, according to the spec sheet. Samsung does offer a more expensive 4K model, the QN95B, but its main perk over the QN90B is a separate OneConnect box for the inputs that allows you to run a single cable to the TV. Samsung also charges more for its 8K series, but we don't think it's worth paying extra for that higher resolution. The flagship 8K QN900B has better local dimming than the QN90B and should deliver a superior picture, but it's more than twice as expensive.
Unlike many TVs that use legs spread out to either side, the QN90B has a central pedestal stand.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Distinctive touches, excellent remote
On the outside the QN90B looks basically the same as last year's QN90A, and that's a good thing. Minimalist and nearly all-picture, its most distinctive feature is the stand, which Samsung's website calls a "bending plate." I'm here for that. Centered, with a small footprint, it looks cleaner and sleeker than the dual legs found on most TVs. My favorite aspect is how it suspends the big panel above my credenza, seeming to float.
The clicker includes voice access via the mic button as well as streaming shortcuts keys.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Samsung's sleek, rounded remote is my favorite TV clicker overall thanks to superior form and function. The keys are well-placed, pleasantly sparse and lack garish colors, the raised volume and channel bars are a nice change from standard buttons and the metallic, wraparound finish feels high-end. I love that it's rechargeable rather than reliant on batteries, and you can top it off via USB-C, the solar cell on the back or RF harvesting. I didn't test the latter two methods.
Cluttered menu, cool cloud gaming
I went through my complaints with Samsung's new 2022 TV menu design in my Q60B review so I'll mention them only briefly here. Too much screen real estate is wasted with ads, clutter and items I don't care about, while many useful functions are buried deep in sub-menus. All the options can be fun to explore, but overall the menu looks dated and feels less personal than Google TV on Sony, for example. I'm still partial to Roku TV for its simplicity, and this iteration of Samsung's TV menus is the opposite. Unlike the Q60B, however, I didn't encounter any lag with the QN90B -- responses were plenty quick.
A new feature for 2022 is Samsung's game hub, which features cloud gaming from services like Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadia, as well as quick access to connected video game consoles.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Like all Samsung TVs the QN90B has Samsung's new gaming hub, which connects to cloud gaming services including Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now and Amazon Luna. I tried it out with a fast wired Ethernet connection, as Samsung recommends, and the experience playing Halo: Infinite was pretty good. My Xbox controller paired easily to the TV and responses were quick as I fought grunts and rode the Mongoose across the map. Graphics were quite a bit softer than the game on an Xbox Series X, as expected, but gameplay was similar.
As with all cloud services your mileage may vary. I tried out a much slower Wi-Fi connection, for example, and the game was unplayable. But assuming you have a good connection (Samsung recommends 50Mbps or more), the ability to play games using just the TV, without needing a console at all, is really cool.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Samsung TVs lets you play games directly on the TV using cloud streaming, no console required.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
As with last year you can choose between Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung's own Bixby for your voice assistant, accessible by speaking into the remote or via speaking the wake word ("Alexa," for example) into thin air. (The always-listening mic can be disabled if you want.) The TV also works with Apple AirPlay.
Cutting-edge LCD TV tech
The most important image quality feature on the QN90B is that Neo QLED, mini-LED powered backlight with full-array local dimming. Local dimming improves LCD image quality by making certain areas of the picture dimmer or brighter in reaction to what's on the screen, which significantly boosts contrast, while CNET's testing has found mini-LEDs are brighter than larger ones. Judging from Samsung's obscure "quantum HDR 32X" spec the QN90B has more dimming zones and brighter images than the step-down Q85B, and fewer zones than the 8K models, but Samsung doesn't say exactly how many zones (or how bright). It does tout new-for-2022 "shape adaptive light control" processing, said to reduce blooming and stray illumination, and it seems to work well.
Key features
Display technology
LED LCD
LED backlight
Full array with local dimming
Resolution
4K
HDR compatible
HDR10, HDR10 Plus
Smart TV
Samsung Smart Hub
Remote
Voice with USB, solar recharging
Like all of Samsung QLED TVs, as well as most higher-end TVs from Vizio, Hisense and TCL, the QN90B's LCD panel is augmented by a layer of quantum dots -- microscopic nanocrystals that glow a specific wavelength (that is, color) when given energy. The effect is better brightness and color compared to non-QD-equipped TVs. The QN90B uses a true 120Hz panel, which improves the TVs' motion performance.
The set supports high dynamic range content in the HDR10 and HDR10 Plus formats. Samsung TVs lack the Dolby Vision HDR support found on most competitors' HDR TVs. I've seen no evidence that one HDR format is inherently "better" than the other, so I definitely don't consider the lack of Dolby Vision a deal-breaker on this TV.
Connectivity is ample on the Samsung QN90B TV, with 4 HDMI that can all handle 4K/120Hz signals, 2 USB ports, an Ethernet connection and more.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Connectivity is excellent. All four of its HDMI inputs are compatible with 4K/120Hz signals, so if you have multiple devices that output it -- like a PlayStation 5 and an Xbox Series X and a high-end PC card (you know who you are...), you're all set. The QN90B also handles variable refresh rate, including AMD's FreeSync Premium Pro and standard VRR formats, ALLM (also known as Auto Game Mode) which lets it automatically switch to game mode to reduce input lag when it detects you're playing a game, and eARC.
Four HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2
Two USB 2.0 ports
Optical digital audio output
RF (antenna) input
RS-232 port (minijack, for service only)
Ethernet (LAN) port
The list is mostly solid, unless you happen to own a legacy device that requires analog video (component or composite) or audio. Like many new high-end TVs the QN90B lacks analog inputs entirely, audio or video. On the flipside, it is one of the few TVs with a built-in ATSC 3.0 tuner for Next-Gen TV signals.
The channels also run the length of the TV from the power cable to the input section.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Picture quality comparisons
For my comparisons I set up the Samsung QN90B next to two other high-end TVs, the Sony KD-65X95K, another mini-LED-equipped model, and the LG OLED65C1P, an OLED-based TV and my current Editors' Choice. I would have liked to use the newer C2 in my comparison but it wasn't available, and the C1 is a good substitute since the two have similar picture quality.
TV and movies: As usual I started my comparison with the montage from the Spears and Munsil HDR benchmark, and the Samsung's brightness advantage over the other two was immediately apparent. The snowcapped mountains, desert sand, clouds and other well-illuminated areas had more impact next to the Sony and LG. Meanwhile in dark scenes with mixed content, like a nighttime cityscape, the LG looked more natural with truer shadows, while the Samsung and Sony appeared slightly more washed-out. The color of the white snow and other areas on the Samsung also looked a bit bluer and less-accurate than the others, but it's nothing that would be noticeable outside of a side-by-side comparison.
The Samsung did a superb job of controlling blooming, or stray illumination that can leak into dark areas from adjacent bright ones. In the montage's difficult black-background scenes, for example the pen tip and the honey dripper, I saw only very faint brightness near the edge of the brightest objects on the Samsung while the Sony was worse. Especially considering its brightness the QN90B's lack of blooming is remarkable, although of course the OLED didn't show any blooming whatsoever.
Switching to an actual movie, The Gray Man on Netflix, the LG pulled ahead a bit. In the dramatic dark scenes like the initial interrogation or the Bangkok nightclub, the OLED TV's ability to preserve darkness in shadows game it a more theatrical look. The Samsung was still excellent, however, and the brightness advantage in the fireworks over the city, for example, was clear over the dimmer OLED. Again the Sony trailed the other two slightly, with dimmer highlights than the Samsung and more obvious blooming, particularly in the letterbox bars.
Game Mode on Samsung TVs includes numerous settings for various types of games, as well as status displays for advanced features like variable refresh rate and frames per second.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Gaming: The QN90B is a very good gaming TV but I liked image quality in game mode on the other two better. Playing Stray on the PS5, colors looked over-saturated and inaccurate in most of the Samsung's modes, making the leaves of the foliage appear lime-colored, for example. The exception was Sports mode, which tamed colors (especially green) somewhat and brought them somewhat closer to the more-accurate LG and Sony. Of the other picture modes – Standard, RGP, RTS, FPS and Custom – I found it difficult to see any difference between the first four.
I also noticed occasional banding in bright-to-dark areas of Stray, for example around the lights when the kitty fell down the sewer and the picture faded to black and then back up. The LG and Sony looked smooth by comparison. In certain mixed scenes the Samsung's brightness was too much in a dark room, and I ended up using Custom picture mode and reducing brightness from the default 50 to around 10, but that's mainly a matter of personal preference and room lighting.
I did appreciate that the TV automatically detected my Xbox and switched to game mode, and that the game bar displayed status icons for various settings, confirming when I was using VRR or 120 frames per second, for example. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, for example, looked buttery smooth in those settings. There are three choices to reduce input lag and I kept it on "Fastest," which measured a respectable 10 milliseconds, compared with 14ms and 23ms for "Faster" and "Fast," respectively.
Bright lighting: The QN90B is technically the brightest TV I've ever tested, beating out the Hisense U8G in its brightest settings. I say "technically" because its Dynamic numbers, listed below, are badly inflated. Even so it's exceedingly bright in its accurate modes too, especially compared to competing OLED models.
Light output in nits
TV
Brightest mode (SDR)
Accurate mode (SDR)
Brightest mode (HDR)
Accurate mode (HDR)
Samsung QN65Q90B
2,625
974
3,316
1,981
Hisense 65U8G
1,619
1,612
2,288
2,288
Sony KD-65X95K
1,268
421
1,400
1,305
TCL 65R635
1,114
792
1,292
1,102
Vizio P65Q9-J01
1,099
463
1,130
762
LG OLED65C2
413
389
812
759
LG OLED65C1
409
333
790
719
As usual the Samsung's brightest setting, Dynamic, has woefully inaccurate color. For the accurate measurements I used Movie mode with both HDR and SDR, although for SDR the Movie number was achieved by setting the local dimming to High (go to Home > Menu > Settings > All Settings > Picture > Expert Settings > Local Dimming).
The QN90B maintained steady HDR light output over time in Movie and Filmmaker modes, but in Dynamic mode with both HDR and SDR it fluctuated significantly, starting out at 3,300 and 2,600 nits respectively but falling almost immediately to around 500 -- almost a sevenfold decrease, which is massive. I've seen that behavior on past Samsung TVs as well and it seems designed to achieve prominence in charts like the one you see above. No other TV brand I've tested shows anywhere near that level of brightness change. This issue in Dynamic mode isn't a huge deal for me, however, because I don't recommend using that mode anyway.
Samsung's light-rejecting screen remains the best in the business, maintaining contrast and punch in bright lighting, and reducing reflections, better than the Sony and the LG. The screen, combined with the QN90B's prodigious light output, make it the best TV I've ever tested for bright rooms.
Uniformity and viewing angle: With test patterns I saw minor variations in brightness across the Samsung's screen, more so than the Sony and LG, but I didn't notice them during regular video. From off-angle seats to either side of the sweet spot directly in front of the TV, the two LCDs lost color and black level fidelity at about the same rate, while the LG was essentially perfect. The Sony's blooming was more noticeable from off-angle, however.
In-depth picture settings on the Samsung QN90B include adjustments for its full-array local dimming feature, among many others.
Bobby Oliver/CNET
Picture setting and measurement notes
The default Movie and Filmmaker modes were the most accurate, and pretty much equally so. For HDR, grayscale in bright areas was less-accurate (skewed too much toward green) than I expected in the default Warm 2 setting – switching to Warm 1 helped a bit (it was still too blue, but better) so that's what I'd recommend using. For the Geek Box measurements below I went with Filmmaker/Warm 1. In its favor the Samsung's EOTF for HDR was excellent.
Some other reviewers have reported that 2022 Samsung TVs, namely the S95B QD-OLED TV and the QN95B QLED TV, "cheated" measurements by improving brightness and accuracy with standard 10% window patterns. When using non-standard-sized windows, they reported significantly less-accurate color as well as lower brightness.
I did not see evidence of cheating on my Samsung-supplied QN90B review sample. I took measurements with various non-standard grayscale window sizes (7%, 9%, 11% and 13%) in HDR (Filmmaker mode) and they were quite consistent in terms of peak brightness, color accuracy and EOTF compared to the standard 10% window. The same goes for 9% and 10% windows with color patterns (ColorMatch HDR). I also measured peak brightness over time and for a two-minute period the image maintained a healthy 1900-ish nits in Filmmaker mode (although as mentioned above, it fluctuated wildly in Dynamic). I don't doubt the reports of other reviewers, but for whatever reason I didn't experience this issue.
Smoothing, also known as the soap opera effect, is completely disabled in Filmmaker Mode, which I prefer for TV shows and movies. In Movie mode there's more-noticeable smoothing turned on by default (Judder Reduction = 3), but you can adjust it to your heart's content by choosing a preset or tweaking the Custom sliders (Menu > All Settings > Picture > Expert Settings > Picture Clarity Settings > Custom).
Geek Box
Test
Result
Score
Black luminance (0%)
0.003
Good
Peak white luminance (SDR)
2625
Good
Avg. gamma (10-100%)
2.14
Good
Avg. grayscale error (10-100%)
3.85
Average
Dark gray error (30%)
3.31
Average
Bright gray error (80%)
5.21
Poor
Avg. color checker error
3.27
Average
Avg. saturation sweeps error
3.51
Average
Avg. color error
2.97
Good
1080p/24 Cadence (IAL)
Pass
Good
Input lag (Game mode)
10.73
Good
HDR10
Black luminance (0%)
0.003
Good
Peak white luminance (10% win)
3315
Good
Gamut % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976)
94.71
Average
ColorMatch HDR error
2.50
Good
Avg. color checker error
2.10
Good
Input lag (Game mode, 4K HDR)
10.50
Good
See How We Test TVs for more details and explanations of the Geek Box results.
Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review.
Hisense amazon fire tv hisense tv brand review hisense amazon fire tv is the hisense tv a good brand who is hisense owned by is hisense worth buying are hisense products any good hisense owned by
Hisense Now Offers Its Own Fire TV Starting at $530
Hisense Now Offers Its Own Fire TV Starting at $530
Hisense now makes a Fire TV. Today the manufacturer announced a partnership with Amazon to produce Hisense's first television featuring the Fire TV platform.
The 50-inch, 4K LED TV has better picture quality specifications than many current Fire TVs made by Toshiba, Insignia and Amazon itself. It will include quantum dot technology and, according to the company, reach up to 600 nits of brightness. It also features Dolby Vision HDR, full-array local dimming, a 60Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 connectivity. The TV costs $530 and will be available starting today exclusively on Amazon. A 58-inch model will be released sometime this fall for $600.
Fire TVs offer deep integration with the Amazon ecosystem, including Alexa, Amazon's smart assistant. The new Hisense TVs come with an Alexa Voice Remote, which can be used to search for content while controlling the TV, as well as for other compatible smart home devices.
The Fire TV platform allows users to download apps from Prime Video and other popular streaming services, but in CNET's reviews we prefer the Roku and Google TV systems. One reason is that Fire TV prominently displays too many ads and promotions for Amazon content throughout the OS -- for example, its screensaver mode can seem like the TV turns into a giant rotating billboard. Fire TV's search results are also less accurate in our experience than the other two.
Hisense joins a growing list of TV manufacturers that have partnered with Amazon to produce Fire TVs, most of which are less-expensive and come without many extras. Toshiba's M-Series of Fire TVs is a recent exception, however. It also comes with full-array local dimming but sports a 120Hz refresh rate, which can reduce blurring in fast motion -- a feature that the Hisense lacks.
Meanwhile, Amazon's Fire TV Omni offers its own distinctive feature: It doesn't require a remote at all, though one is included. The Omni comes with its own built-in, far-field mic, meaning that it works like an Echo speaker and can be completely controlled through voice commands alone.
Of course, you can always add an Amazon Fire Stick to any TV. For example, you could buy a similarly priced non-Fire TV and add a Fire stick to get the same experience.
Correction, May 18: This story initially misstated that a feature was missing from the Hisense Fire TV. The TV includes full-array local dimming.
When you think of streaming TV shows and movies, there's a good chance that Netflix is comes to mind first. Though competition from rivals like HBO Max and Disney Plus is fierce, it's still the best choice for streaming entertainment, period.
Netflix includes a wide variety of familiar network shows and more original series, films, documentaries and specials than any of its myriad competitors. Despite challenges with retaining subscribers and a price bump, the world's first major streaming service remains our favorite choice thanks to its huge library of constantly refreshed content and its easy accessibility across different devices. In 2021, Netflix won 44 Emmys, making history and racking up more than the next two media companies combined. If you're looking for something new to watch, Netflix should be your top choice.
Like
Strong recommendation engine
Easy to use across different devices
Offline downloads available
Extensive list of movies and shows
Massive selection of original programs
No commercials
Don't Like
Cost for premium plans is on the higher end
Can't watch shows as they air on other networks
Depending on the plan you choose, Netflix costs between $10 and $20 per month, which is at the higher end for a streaming service, as you can see in the chart below. Its recent price increase shook up the streaming world and moved Netflix closer to HBO Max in terms of cost. However, the pricier package lets you watch up to four screens at once, and create different user profiles, so in theory, you could split it among friends to lower the price. Thanks to its sheer variety and number of new things to watch, Netflix also gives you the most bang for your buck.
Streaming Services Compared
Netflix
Peacock
HBO Max
Disney Plus
Apple TV Plus
Amazon Prime Video
Hulu
Monthly price
Starts at $9.99
Basic free with ads, ad-free for $5
$9.99 for basic with ads, $14.99 for ad-free
$7.99
$4.99
$8.99 (or included with $140/year Prime membership)
Basic $6.99 with ads, ad-free Premium for $12.99, Live TV for $70
The Office, 30 Rock, Bel-Air, early access to Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Game of Thrones, Dune, Euphoria, DC titles
The Mandalorian, Loki, Encanto, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, CODA, Severance
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Reacher, The Wheel of Time
Handmaid's Tale, Pen15, The Great, Bob's Burgers
Mobile downloads
Yes
Yes (Premium Plus plan)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
4K HDR available
Yes (on Premium plan)
No
Yes (limited titles)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Number of streams:
1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium)
3
3
4
6
2
2 (Unlimited with Live TV $9.99 add-on)
How Netflix started vs. how it's going
Between 2012-2013, Netflix premiered its first original TV shows, including Lilyhammer, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Today, it has a catalog of more than 1,500 original TV shows and movies, including global hits like Stranger Things, Emmy winners such as Bridgerton, The Queen's Gambit and The Crown, as well as Oscar-nominated movies such as The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick… Boom! and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Though the company's been known for its commercial-free streaming experience since its inception, there are plans to introduce an ad-supported tier before 2022 ends. Additionally, Netflix aims to crackdown on password sharing by charging a fee for extra users on an account. The program is still in the pilot phase, but the days of crowdfunding your Netflix subscription may soon be over.
As of 2022, Netflix has more than 220 million paid subscribers across 190 countries, after seeing a major spike in users during the pandemic. A dent in its subscriber base caused numbers to drop by 200,000, but there are still reasons to keep the service, with the main draw being its content.
What shows and movies does Netflix have?
Netflix may have had the first-to-market advantage in the world of streaming services, but it's kept its momentum with its increasing number of original shows and movies -- many of which have won critical acclaim and major awards and nominations.
Compared to other streaming platforms, you can't beat Netflix's slate of original TV shows that are now considered among the best of the modern era of television, including those mentioned above plus many more, such as Squid Game, Ozark, Never Have I Ever, Money Heist and Cobra Kai.
Read more: Netflix: The 49 Absolute Best TV Shows to Watch
Outside of TV shows, Netflix's original programs include a wide range of comedies, dramas, foreign films and shows, documentary series, anime, stand-up comedy specials and reality dating and competition shows. Not all of them are runaway hits, but many of them are, and there's enough to explore interesting shows that may not have found a home on traditional network TV. And at a time when going to the movies is more fraught than it once was, Netflix offers a place to find new films: In 2022 alone, Netflix is set to release over 100 new movies, at least one per week. The selection spans across genres and geography, and includes K-dramas, animated features, and fantasy book adaptations.
Stranger Things is one of Netflix's powerhouse originals.
Netflix
Netflix typically adds shows a full season at a time, though not while a show is airing on network TV -- so if you don't have cable or another platform like Hulu, you'll have to wait to watch for a few months to watch seasons in full.
One complaint: Netflix content sometimes can come and go without warning. The only way to tell if something is leaving the service in the next 30 days is if you happen to tap on the details page for the given show or movie -- or search online for everything coming and going in a given month.
Another potential content issue to flag: In recent years Netflix has lost some of its most popular content (such as The Office, which moved to NBC's Peacock, Daredevil, which moved to Disney Plus and Friends, which moved to HBO Max) as other networks created their own streaming services. While it started as an online video store that was trying to offer every movie and TV series online, it may be slowly becoming more akin to the old HBO -- mostly featuring its own original programming, complemented with some things it licenses from other companies.
What's it like to use Netflix?
I first subscribed to Netflix back in the first streaming days of 2007, so using the platform feels like second nature at this point. Even if you're new to it, it's pretty user-friendly: Open the app and tap on your profile (if you have one set up), and you'll see a homepage. You'll see Popular on Netflix, Continue Watching, Trending Now, Top Picks for you and a number of (sometimes oddly specific) other categories based on shows you've watched before. Mine include Critically-acclaimed Witty TV Comedies and Suburban-dysfunction TV Comedies, for example.
Netflix's design encourages scrolling -- there are so many different categories to look through, and then shows and movies within those categories to continue scrolling into. You can create a watch list to help you cut down on this, but the vast, colorful library makes it easy to spend more time looking through options than actually watching a show, so be careful.
The Netflix app operates similarly across various devices. My home page on the web browser is nearly identical to that on my Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick, both in content and layout. It's more condensed on the smaller iPhone and Android phone screens, but still follows the same format, and has a clear "Downloads" tab to find content to save to watch offline on your device.
Rows and rows of content on Netflix can keep you busy.
James Martin/CNET
One difference between devices is voice commands: You might find it more or less difficult to fire up a Netflix show from your device's home screen depending on which voice-capable device you're using.
For example, when you say, "Watch Stranger Things" on the Apple TV and the iOS app on iPhone, it will first have you click which specific show (Stranger Things or Beyond Stranger Things), and then will take you to an Apple TV page for the show, and there it will give you the option to open Netflix and start episode 1. On Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can say, "Watch Stranger Things," and it will open Netflix automatically if you're logged into the app. On the Roku 4K stick, if you say, "Watch Stranger Things," it will take you right to the first episode in the app. Those are more hardware-side concerns, but interesting to note.
Once you're in the Netflix app, though, voice commands work the same across devices: Go to the Search tab, hold the microphone button to dictate, and say the name of the show you're looking for.
When you select a show or movie to watch, you have the option to fast-forward, rewind, add subtitles and change your audio settings. If you have a Premium account and a big enough 4K TV, watching in Ultra HD makes for a very cinematic experience. The show or movie you choose will also show up in your "Continue watching" section at the top of your homepage for easier access.
How much does Netflix cost?
Netflix offers three pricing plans: Basic, Standard and Premium. Here is how the costs and features break down:
Netflix plans
Basic
Standard
Premium
Monthly price
$10
$15.50
$20
Number of screens you can watch on at the same time
1
2
4
Number of phones or tablets you can have downloads on
1
2
4
HD available
No
Yes
Yes
Ultra HD available
No
No
Yes
All plans include the ability to watch on any device, and the full, unlimited collection of movies and TV shows. All allow cancellation at any time. Netflix also offers a one-month free trial.
Netflix's Basic plan costs more than Prime Video ($9 per month), more than Hulu's ad-based plan ($7 per month) but less than its more comparable no-ads plan ($13 per month). If you're on a shared Netflix account with family, chances are it's a Premium one ($20 per month) -- if you're actually splitting it between four people, that's only $5 per month each, and a strong value for all of the original content available, including some in 4K Ultra HD. Plus: No commercials on any plan.
What features do you get on Netflix?
Outside of general streaming, if you have the Standard or Premium plan, you can create different profiles for different users, and find your own list of personalized recommendations.
Netflix's recommendation game is strong, from "Because you watched" carousels that have been improved by the new "two thumbs up" feature, to the option to remove content from your home page, to its "Play Something" shuffle feature for when you're unsure what to stream.
The platform also has a particularly appealing kid's section, with a solid catalog of content including CoComelon, Pokemon: Master Journeys and Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and a much more kid-friendly user interface – including the mystery box feature added earlier this year.
If you subscribe to the Premium plan, you can watch certain shows and movies in 4K Ultra HD on 4K TVs. You'll need a steady internet connection speed of at least 25 megabits per second, and streaming quality set to Auto or High.
Netflix has more 4K content than just about any other streaming service, and a lot of its 4K shows and movies are also available in HDR. High dynamic range provides an even bigger improvement in image quality than 4K according to CNET's tests, with better contrast and color, and the difference is especially apparent on large, higher-end televisions. Netflix supports the two major HDR formats, generic HDR (aka HDR-10) as well as Dolby Vision. If you have a device that handles Dolby Vision, Netflix will play content (if available) in that format by default.
You can search for a selection of 4K TV shows and movies on the service with the Premium plan.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Data usage varies by format, ranging from about 1GB per hour for the standard-definition video to up to 7GB per hour for the highest-quality 4K streams. Downloading and streaming take up a similar amount of data, according to Netflix. If you want to avoid having Netflix eat up all of your data, you can take certain steps laid out on Netflix's website to adjust your data usage settings.
All subscribers can download TV shows and movies on the Netflix app on mobile devices for offline viewing, though certain titles aren't available to download.
Read more: 9 Handy Netflix Tricks That Can Help Make Streaming Better
Should you get it?
Netflix remains my favorite streaming platform of the increasingly large bunch. It has a huge selection of movies and TV shows old and new, tons of high-quality original programs, and an easy-to-navigate interface.
Even though it no longer offers a free trial, it's worth trying Netflix for a month if you want something new to watch.
