Whether you subscribe to Prime Video as a standalone service or get it as part of your other Amazon benefits, it’s a streaming platform with plenty of great shows and movies.
It also has many handy features to improve your steaming experience, some of which you may not know about, like the ability to make dialogue clearer and share your subscription.
8
Find Out More About What You’re Watching
Prime Video has a feature called X-Ray that, when you pause something you’re watching, shows contextual information like the actors in the scene, the music playing, and sometimes fun facts.
It’s especially handy for when you can’t place where you recognize someone from—no need to pull up your phone and search IMDb, since that’s where X-Ray gets its information.
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See the name of that actor on-screen in seconds.
7
Share Your Subscription With Other People
An excellent way to get your money’s worth out of Prime Video is to share your subscription with someone else. You can do this through Amazon Family, which lets you share your Amazon benefits—not just Prime Video—with another adult and up to four children (six people total, including you). However, it’s only available if you pay for all of Amazon Prime, not the standalone Video subscription.
This means you could split the subscription cost with someone, or be generous and let them stream for free. Everyone in the family has to be in the same region, and you should only invite people you trust because the separate adult Amazon accounts must agree to share payment methods.
6
Watch Other Streaming Services Through Amazon
Prime Video has plenty of hidden gem shows and movies to keep you occupied, but other streaming services like Apple TV+ and Paramount+ have their own exclusives that are worth viewing too. Juggling multiple streaming apps can be a pain though, which is why it’s nice that Prime Video lets you subscribe to some other services through it.
The likes of Crunchyroll, Shudder, and MGM+ are all available. You pay for these monthly on top of your Prime Video charge, but it’s perfect because you can do all your viewing and bill management in one place.
To get started, head to the “Subscriptions” tab in Prime Video.
5
Remove Shows and Movies From Continue Watching
The Continue Watching row is useful for picking up where you left off, but if you’ve abandoned a show or movie and have no intention of carrying on, you don’t want it sticking around and cluttering the interface.
Thankfully, you can remove things from Continue Watching. One method is to go to the Prime Video website, hover what you want to remove, and click the “X” button.
On other devices the instructions vary. For example, on your smart TV, highlight the show or movie on the row, hold down your remote’s select button, then select “Remove From Continue Watching”.
4
Change the Appearance of Subtitles
Subtitles are great for accessibility. Did you know that you can customize their appearance? To do this, open Prime Video on the web and go to “Account & Settings” and then “Subtitles”. Any changes you make here will reflect across all your devices.
There are three presets, which means you can customize them all and then pick a style that suits what you’re watching. In editing them, you can change the text (including color, size, and font), background, and window.
3
Create Profiles for Personalized Recommendations
You can have up to six user profiles on your Prime Video account. If there are multiple people in your household who stream, this is ideal to keep everything separate—everyone can have their own recommendations, watch progress, and watchlist.
If you have children, you can make a kid’s profile that only has access to shows and movies appropriate for ages 12 and under.
To add a new profile, go to your profile, select “Add new”, and follow the process. Don’t forget to select a fun profile picture!
2
Download Movies and Shows for Offline Viewing
If you’re traveling or have unreliable internet, watching Prime Video doesn’t have to be an impossibility. Instead, download the shows and movies you want to watch ahead of time and you can enjoy them offline.
This is available for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Fire tablets. You can download movies, and for shows you can download individual episodes or the entire season; just look for the “Download” button or icon.
1
Enable Dialogue Boost for Clearer Audio
TVs sound worse than ever, which sometimes makes it difficult to pick up dialogue in movies and shows—a problem compounded by the fact that some of them are just poorly mixed. Rather than rewinding to catch what you missed, enable Prime Video’s “dialogue boost” option from the Audio menu.
There are two choices, “medium” and “high”. Once enabled, it enhances the dialogue and increases its volume relative to other sound like background music and effects.
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Even though I’m frustrated by the number of adverts on Prime Video (and I refuse to pay more to remove them), I can’t deny it provides great features to support its expansive library. I also happily enjoy the full range of Amazon Prime benefits, so the service works out as good value.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video has a wealth of great exclusive content like Fallout and The Wheel of Time, along with plenty from other studios.
