TV Series have never been more popular
TV series are as popular as never and have come to dominate cultural conversation, and for good reasons. Series from the past 10 years like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones or Stranger Things offer rich, immersive and detail-oriented stories. The characters are often colorful, carefully developed, and change in surprising but natural ways. Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, HBO, and Disney have invested an eye-watering $24 billion just in 2018 for creating new series and will continue doing so. The result of it is a wide selection of creative and distinct shows that cater to many different tastes.
Furthermore, the rise of streaming services is another driver. With the ability to always start a show from the beginning, time-shift and unlimited viewing people can dedicate themselves to more shows than ever before. It is also a comparably inexpensive form of entertainment and binge-watching has actually become a thing for some people. Other facilitating factors are the choice of devices to watch and the average lengths of an episode between 20 and 50 minutes. They can be enjoyed just as well from the stunning 65-inch OLED TV on the living room couch as on the 6.5-inch screen of the iPhone XS Max in a cramped bus ride to school. But not every device is best suited for every situation…
Watch in Bed, Bus, Living Room – The best device to enjoy in every situation
TV
The big screens in the living room have come a long way in the past years. With up to 80 inches in size, they are huge, and their slim and edge-to-edge designs allow for easy mounting on a wall. Increased resolution to 4K combined with a solid surround sound system allows for a rich cinematic experience in the living room – just imagine watching the epic ending of Game of Thrones in this setting. Today’s TVs are also connected and come with built-in apps like Netflix or Hulu. The newest models even support Apple’s AirPlay, but if you have an older model, you can quickly hook it up to an Apple TV or Chromecast for native streaming. This traditional way of consuming TV alone or with you friends is better than ever but obviously tied to the one location the device is set up.
Laptop & PC
Laptops have become popular for watching series, especially for younger people, and if it’s the only device around, it can be a practical option. After all, the retina takes up about the same real-estate from the laptop directly in front as from the big LED TV a few feet across the couch. But be aware of the huge difference in the overall psychological experience. Objects further away appear bigger, and perhaps this is related to the same kind of mental processing that makes the moon seem bigger on the horizon than high in the sky.
Another thing to consider is the viewing angle. When watching on a laptop, people are often looking down towards it in their lap, or “up” when watching in bed. The placement of a TV is usually optimized for easy viewing without neck strain and minimal stray reflections on the screen. However, an eye-level monitor with a reasonable size (for instance 27 inches) can also be optimized in placement and the close-screen experience nearly as good as on a larger, more distant display. Hence, when watching on a laptop, make sure to choose the right angle, and use an external monitor if possible.
Smartphone
Have you ever heard the saying, “The best camera is the one you have with you”? Well, that is equally true for screens. And they have increased in size, resolution, and contrast quite a bit. Back in 2010 an iPhone 4 had a 3.5-inch display, now the iPhone XS Max is sporting a whopping 6.5-inch screen with stunning colors and brightness. This means watching series on the bus while commuting, in the gym while exercising or at night alone snuggled under the covers in bed is now better than ever. Sure, phones might not be the best option for watching “The Lord of the Rings” for 3.5 hours, but two 20min episodes of “Friends” is absolutely enjoyable. But keep in mind that you always have to hold the phone in your hand for a comfortable viewing angle. Especially holding it at eye-level for a longer time is tiring. However, a kickstand case or a tripod for your phone can be an excellent addition and worth the investment. Especially when watching in bed. The Kenu Stance, for example, is very pocketable too and even comes with a built-in bottle opener.
Tablet
Watching series on tablets is a similar experience to a smartphone. Obviously, there is more screen real-estate on an iPad, but due to its 4:3 aspect ratio, it doesn’t make as big of a difference to smaller tablets with 16:9 ratio. Just like with any other device viewing angle is crucial. Because holding tablets at eye-level can be tiring, it’s best to use a cover that allows stand positions. Apple’s iPads are the gold standard, but there is also a wide selection of Android tablets. And honestly, if all you do is watching Netflix, you won’t miss much with Android. The high-end ones from Samsung are most suited because of their OLED screens with high contrast and crisp colors. The Amazon Fire Tablets, on the other hand, offer excellent value for low prices. Personally, I’m watching tons of series in bed sideways on my 11-inch iPad Pro with the Slim Folio (or an inexpensive <$20 alternative like this) in standup position.
VR Glasses
This might surprise, but VR has become an excellent option to watch TV series too. Sure, early-stage VR headsets that needed to be connected to a computer or were simply an accessory to wrap the phone around the head didn’t offer a pleasing experience. But stand-alone VR headsets like the Oculus Go offer an exciting package at a low price of $199. It’s comfortable to carry, has a battery life of 2.5 hours, and comes with distinct software features like the ability to simultaneously watch Netflix in a virtual room with friends all over the world. Of course, it’s still far from being mainstream, but we’re getting there. We’ll dive more in-depth into this topic in a future article.
Pirates of the Internet – watch for free and surprisingly convenient
Most people either watch their TV series on their paid streaming service of choice like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime or traditionally on linear TV. But subscription fees are becoming more expensive, and companies increasingly produce their own exclusive content. In other words: if you want access to all the TV series, you’d need to have multiple subscriptions. There is another way though, and it is called “Piracy”. Yes, it’s not a legal way to access content, and this article is by no means supposed to be a pro-piracy piece. But the option is out there, and despite increasing retraining efforts of authorities and companies it is still widely used. And it’s convenient too; all you need is to download and install a free torrent client like uTorrent, search google for “best torrent site” and start downloading your series of choice. You can find pretty much any TV show you could think of in high quality. Watching it is also possible on any device we have previously mentioned using an open-source application called “VLC Media Player“. We’ll dive more in-depth into this topic in a future article as well. Make sure to subscribe here never to miss any new article.
Let me know how you like to enjoy your TV series in the comments down below. Cheers!
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