WhereToWatch, along with a number of alternatives like CanIStreamIt, provides an easy way to find out if the movie or TV show you want to view is available to stream or purchase (download) online. Using it is easy, you can just search for a specific title or peruse by show/movie by categories including ‘Most Popular’, ‘Coming Soon’ and ‘Now Playing’.
[the other popular one is yidio.com]
*** [9/2/15]
A couple more are Justwatch.com and Findable.TV (from the wikipedia entry streaming aggregaters, which oddly doesn't mention WhereToWatch).
*** [12/2/15]
Let me make my own chart, since I've been having a little problem finding what's where and how accurate each engine is. The engine that I started with was canistream.it, followed by yidio. Lately I've been using justwatch and findable. And I guess I'll throw in wheretowatch.
My first test is Netflix, which everybody should be able to find. The test is Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes which has been carried by Netflix for a long time but they recently dropped season 1. Let's see if anybody noticed.
Canistream.it: doesn't show it as available on Netflix. Fail.
yidio: still shows season 1 available on Netflix.
justwatch: shows season 1 available on Netflix
findable.tv: correctly shows season 2 available and season 1 non available. Plus they show all the episodes availability without having to click on each individual episode.
wheretowatch doesn't even show Netflix, which eliminates it from being a serious candidate. I guess it's telling you where you can buy the show.
So the winner here is findable.tv with 2 points. yidio and justwatch get 1 point. canistream.it gets zero. And wheretowatch is not even worth mentioning now.
Let's go to Hulu. How about The Goldberg's which now has all the seasons available. Canistream.it doesn't show any season available. Fail again. Apparently the site is no longer being updated. I wonder if it even knows about Goldfinger which was added a month or two ago? Not available for streaming. That eliminates canistream.it as a candidate even worth looking at.
Yidio correctly identifies The Goldbergs as well as Goldfinger.
Justwatch says 3 seasons available on hulu+ and 2 seasons on hulu. But doesn't break down the individual episodes. (Well if you click on the title, you get to the individual episodes.) It finds Goldfinger on Hulu+ and Epix. findable.tv is correct again and lists each individual episode's availability for the season without having to click further. It finds Goldfinger as available on Hulu+ and available for rental/purchase on Amazon, Vudu, iTunes.
I'll give findable.tv a 2 and the others a 1.
Next is Crackle. Let's see. Beverly Hills Ninja is on. Yidio found it. Justwatch found it. Findable disappointingly doesn't cover it. How about the Crackle original: The Art of More? Yidio finds it, but justwatch doesn't. Apparently JustWatch doesn't find TV shows on Crackle very well. I'll give Yidio a 2, Justwatch a 1, and Findable a 0.
Next test is HBO. Game of Thrones is the obvious show. On yidio, I notice the search brings up the series and the individual episodes. Too bad I don't see any obvious order in which the episodes are listed. Anyway it finds it. How about a movie? How about The Theory of Everything? Yidio finds it on HBO Go and HBO Now. Justwatch finds Game of Thrones on HBO Now with a link to it and a link to the episodes if you click on the series title. They don't cover HBO Go. It also finds Theory of Everything on HBO Now. Findable.tv nicely lists the Game of Thrones episodes individually and find The Theory of Everything on HBO Go. I'll give everybody 1 point here.
Next is Showtime. Homeland is the show here. Yidio shows it available on both Showtime and Hulu, but you need a subscription to Showtime on Hulu to watch it on Hulu. Justwatch shows it available on showtime with a link to Showtime.com (which is different from Showtime Anytime which is offered "free" to cable subscribers). Findable doesn't cover Showtime. How about a movie? Let's see. Dragonheart. Yidio doesn't find it. JustWatch finds it. So I'll give Yidio a 1, Justwatch a 2 and Findable a 0.
How about FX Now? Fargo? Yidio finds it on FX (for cable subscribers), but doesn't find it on Hulu. Justwatch oddly says there's 2 season on Hulu and 1 season on Hulu+. Findable.tv finds it on Hulu. How about a movie? White House Down. Yidio sees it on Xfinity. JustWatch shows it only available for rent or buy. Findable also. I kind of want to give everybody a zero here, since none of them explicitly cover the FX Now app, but I'll give everybody a 1.
Finally CBS All Access. Supergirl. Yidio shows it available for free on CBS, but not the episodes available on CBS All Access. JustWatch shows it available only on Amazon. Findable.tv shows it available for free with ads and for subs (i.e. All Access). So I'll give yidio a 1, justwatch a 0, findable.tv a 2 here.
I forgot Amazon Prime, since it's not explicitly on my Apple TV. iCarly. Yidio shows the first three seasons available on Amazon Prime, but you have to scroll down and click on the episode to see if it's available. JustWatch doesn't show it available on Amazon, let alone Amazon Prime. Findable shows the first three seasons as availabe for Amazon Prime. And the later seasons available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes. Man in the High Castle? Yidio finds it. JustWatch finds it. Findable.tv oddly only lists the pilot episode without showing availability. I'll chalk that down as an anomaly. How about a movie? Ex Machina. Yidio finds it. Justwatch finds it. Findable finds it. I'll give everybody a 1.
To sum up, I like Findable.tv the best, especially the way it displays the TV series episodes, but it doesn't cover Crackle or Showtime. If I want to check Crackle, I should check yidio. And if I want to check Showtime, I should check JustWatch. Disappointingly none of them cover everything. And none of them really cover FX Now. Yidio comes closest to covering everything, but is not always accurate.
Next, maybe I'll check some of the services mentioned in this article. Hmm. And now canistream.it seems to be working better.
Gowatchit found Dragonheart on Showtime. But it's apparently only for movies.
[12/3/15] Set up the Roku. It finds shows on Crackle and HBO and CBS All Access, but not Showtime.
[12/4/15] Another plus for yidio and findable, they find shows on The History Channel, but not justwatch.
yidio justwatch findable
Netflix 1 1 2
Hulu 1 1 2
Crackle 2 1 0
HBO 1 1 1
Showtime 1 2 0
FX Now 1 1 1
CBS All Access 1 0 2
Amazon Prime 1 1 1
History Channel 1 0 1
Next, maybe I'll check some of the services mentioned in this article. Hmm. And now canistream.it seems to be working better.
Gowatchit found Dragonheart on Showtime. But it's apparently only for movies.
[12/3/15] Set up the Roku. It finds shows on Crackle and HBO and CBS All Access, but not Showtime.
[12/4/15] Another plus for yidio and findable, they find shows on The History Channel, but not justwatch.
yidio justwatch findable
Netflix 1 1 2
Hulu 1 1 2
Crackle 2 1 0
HBO 1 1 1
Showtime 1 2 0
FX Now 1 1 1
CBS All Access 1 0 2
Amazon Prime 1 1 1
History Channel 1 0 1
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