Can someone recommend me a streaming service?

[Jeivar]

I know absolutely nothing about streaming services or digital downloads (although I've used Steam for video games). I've always just bought DVD's, but now I guess I have to move with the times.

I live in Iceland. Which services can I use here? And is a subscription thing, or can I just buy and download individual movies?

[Rynjin]

I don't know about Iceland particularly in regards to availability, but in general about streaming services:

-They are a subscription thing, yes. There are a few services that act as kind of "digital video stores" (like Vudu) that you can individually rent or buy movies on but those aren't technically streaming services.

-The three biggest streaming services out there are Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, at least by my estimation. Amazon Prime is good value in that it is absolutely free provided you already have an Amazon Prime account, which a lot of people do. SO in terms of not paying for anything you aren't already, Prime Video is solid if you already have Prime.

Netflix is probably the best single value service, even after some of its selection has been chipped away at by company specific services over the years.

Hulu has a few solid exclusives, but there's nothing to recommend it beyond those. If you like the sound of those particular shows, get Hulu. If not, don't. Otherwise its shares most but not all of its library with Netflix but has a worse interface.

I have all three of the above because I share accounts with my mom where I pay for Netflix and she does Hulu to keep both our costs down. I used to use Hulu more but the exclusives I liked either ended or ended up on Netflix anyway, so on the rare occasions I actually sue either, it's Netflix. Prime Video only gets a glance if I can't find something I specifically want to watch on the other 2.

I would stay far away from company specific streaming services, like HBO's three(!) separate digital services, Disney's new thing, DC's thing, ABC's, etc., etc. You get poor value for the money and just encourage them to kill all the advantage that streaming services used to bring to the table over cable (one cheap package for a broad selection of on demand TV). If everybody ignores them hopefully they'll go away.

There are also non-US based streaming services I know less about, like Sky TV (UK based), so there may be one that services Iceland exclusively I don't know anything about.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I would make sure to try browsing catalogs to see if they carry the shows and movies you want; you can check Amazon Prime and Hulu without signing in.

Some sites probably discuss what Netflix currently carries. However, there's a strong chance selections will differ in Iceland, so read those sites carefully.

Out of the rest, the Disney service is worth looking into just because it's going to have the best catalog of all the alternatives, and because it's backed by Disney, it's the least likely to suddenly shutter up and disappear.

[Fable Wright]

The streaming service I mostly use these days is VRV, since it bundles Crunchyroll with CuriosityStream and a handful of smaller services. Netflix has some good stuff, but its archives are increasingly dated, and its new content is hit and miss.

Nothing sucks more than enjoying the first 60 episodes of a series, then discovering that Netflix won't stream the other 88.

EDIT: Did not catch the implication that you primarily wanted movies. In which case, Netflix, definitely.

[Algeh]

This will vary a lot by country, because streaming rights to shows are sold by region (just like how DVDs have region-encoding). You would probably be able to get better advice by asking in an Iceland-specific forum for that reason.

There are sites where you can buy or rent episodes of shows or movies as "digital downloads" and/or stream them, and then there are sites where you pay a subscription price for access to whatever they have available to stream at that time on an all-you-can-watch basis. Some sites will have some of each (such as Amazon, at least in the USA) and some will focus on one model over the other. Which is "better" probably depends on how picky you are about what you watch specifically and how many things you plan to watch in a month. I'm hesitant to try and give specific recommendations because I'm not in Iceland so I have no idea which services work well there.

[Jeivar]

EDIT: Did not catch the implication that you primarily wanted movies. In which case, Netflix, definitely.

I do have Netflix, but the Icelandic selection is quite limited. Currently I really want to rewatch Captain Marvel, but Netflix doesn't have any of the Marvel movies.

[Rodin]

I don't know about Iceland particularly in regards to availability, but in general about streaming services:

-They are a subscription thing, yes. There are a few services that act as kind of "digital video stores" (like Vudu) that you can individually rent or buy movies on but those aren't technically streaming services.

-The three biggest streaming services out there are Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, at least by my estimation. Amazon Prime is good value in that it is absolutely free provided you already have an Amazon Prime account, which a lot of people do. SO in terms of not paying for anything you aren't already, Prime Video is solid if you already have Prime.

Netflix is probably the best single value service, even after some of its selection has been chipped away at by company specific services over the years.

Hulu has a few solid exclusives, but there's nothing to recommend it beyond those. If you like the sound of those particular shows, get Hulu. If not, don't. Otherwise its shares most but not all of its library with Netflix but has a worse interface.

I have all three of the above because I share accounts with my mom where I pay for Netflix and she does Hulu to keep both our costs down. I used to use Hulu more but the exclusives I liked either ended or ended up on Netflix anyway, so on the rare occasions I actually sue either, it's Netflix. Prime Video only gets a glance if I can't find something I specifically want to watch on the other 2.

I would stay far away from company specific streaming services, like HBO's three(!) separate digital services, Disney's new thing, DC's thing, ABC's, etc., etc. You get poor value for the money and just encourage them to kill all the advantage that streaming services used to bring to the table over cable (one cheap package for a broad selection of on demand TV). If everybody ignores them hopefully they'll go away.

There are also non-US based streaming services I know less about, like Sky TV (UK based), so there may be one that services Iceland exclusively I don't know anything about.

Hulu and HBO are both US-only, and at least some of the company specific ones are as well (CBS All-Access is USA only, for example). If you're willing to fake your location you can still use them, but apart from HBO I've always had limited success with that and prefer to get my shows via local equivalents wherever possible. Hulu in particular is supposed to be really difficult to fool, and I wouldn't even bother trying unless you're desperate.

I mostly get the stuff that I used to watch in the U.S. by going to their official Youtube channel - Colbert, Trevor Noah, and John Oliver all have extensive clips from their respective shows put up for legal viewing on Youtube, although there are sometimes restrictions (like Jon Oliver's stuff you can only get the previous season and older while Americans can get more recent episodes) and there are usually bits missing. When it comes to less topical fare you're probably just stuck with Netflix and Amazon Prime if Iceland has that available.

[McNum]

Netflix has a free trial month, so the fastest way to find out if that's something you want is probably to just try it and search for whatever movies you're interested in.

[factotum]

Netflix has a free trial month, so the fastest way to find out if that's something you want is probably to just try it and search for whatever movies you're interested in.

He says he already has Netflix two posts above this one.