For movie and television fans, the coronavirus pandemic has meant mostly staying at home and streaming, streaming, streaming. These strange and uncertain times also have many of us reassessing our finances. Which brings us to this highly subjective guide to streamlining your streaming experience, which has become its own ever-growing beast. Just in the past few months, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, HBO Max, Peacock and Quibi have launched, adding to the cacophony of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other major streaming services available to everyone from the pro binge-watcher to the average movie and TV fan. Then there are all those specialty streaming services catering to needs of those who love anime, British TV, horror, art house, international classics and many other genres. And, if you don't have cable or you want to cut the cord, there is live TV streaming — Sling TV, Hulu Live, ATT Now and YouTube TV, to name a few. Here's The Chronicle's guide to help you sift through it all. Based on your own tastes, you can mix and match to come up with a package that's right for you. (For simplicity's sake, I'm rounding off the monthly subscription fees — so Hulu here is $6 a month, not $5.99).

Live TV

NRecommended: Hulu + Live TV ($55 per month—$6 for Hulu, $49 for Live TV) Hulu is the best budget movie and TV streaming service out there (more on that below). In 2017, it began streaming live television offerings to compete with industry leader Sling TV. Well, last year it surpassed Sling as the most popular live TV service — and for good reason. Boasting of some 70 channels — from local networks, ESPN, TBS/TNT, the Food Network, etc. — it's not only way more affordable than cable, but it's also cheaper than other streaming live-television services such as YouTube TV ($65), ATT TV ($60-$95, depending on the package) and fubo TV ($65-$85). MBudget recommendation: Sling Blue ($30) Sling has that weird choice between the Blue package (45 channels, most of the basic cable channels you need) and Orange package (also $30, but only 31 channels, most of which are on Sling Blue — its main drawing card is ESPN, which is not on Sling Blue). You can combine Sling Blue and Orange, which is essentially Sling Blue plus ESPN, for $45, but at that point you're better off going with Hulu + Live TV. Still, Sling Blue is a great value for $30 if you can live without ESPN. The only live TV package lower than that is Philo ($20, 61 channels), which has no local TV or sports options, and even the entertainment options are limited (no TNT/TBS).

The Majors

In a recent disinterestedness.com poll asking respondents to pick their preferred streaming service, Netflix was the runaway champ at 47%, with Amazon Prime (14%), Hulu (13.6%) and Disney Plus (13%) roughly tied for second. Bidding to be a fifth major service is HBO Max ($15), which launched in May. But, ahem, it's not available on Roku or Amazon Fire devices — and that's a problem since roughly 70% of streamers use these devices. Then there are standard movie streaming channels such as Showtime ($11) and Epix ($6), among others. All have great original content as well as big movies and TV shows. NRecommended: Amazon Prime ($13 per month, $120 per year) Netflix is the standard-bearer, and it does have an impressive array of content, but essentially, most of its content was made within the past 10 to 15 years and it's too expensive ($9 for non-HD, $13 for HD, $16 for 4K). That's why Amazon Prime wins out. It not only has great original content and new hit movies, many in 4K, but also an extensive library of classics. Plus, unlike Netflix, you can also rent movies and, if you pay the yearly fee — which lowers your monthly average to $10 — you get free shipping. MBudget recommendation: Hulu ($6, $10 ad-free) I've had Hulu since 2012, and I remain amazed at the consistent quality of the service for a mere six bucks. No, it doesn't have the vast libraries of Netflix or Amazon, but it has an excellent variety of new and classic movies (best picture winner "Parasite" and "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" are available to stream through Hulu now), a new partnership with FX ("What We Do in the Shadows," "Devs") and quality original content ("Little Fires Everywhere," "The Handmaid's Tale").

The Newbies

CBS All-Access and two new services, NBC-Universal's Peacock and Apple TV Plus, are trying to make inroads into the majors' dominance. All have big pluses and big minuses, and each is a work in progress. The good news is all are affordable. NRecommendation: CBS All Access ($6, $10 ad-free) This was a tough choice, but CBS gets the nod because of its original "Star Trek" content ("Picard," "Lower Decks," Discovery") and because it is available on pretty much any platform. Peacock (free limited content, $5 with ads, $10 ad-free) might have been the choice here because the movie selection is way better, and it has original content, too. But it is not available on Roku or Amazon Fire. However, if you are an Xfinity customer, you can get Premium (normally $5 monthly) for free if you allow them to send you a Flex box (also free). Do it. The promising Apple TV Plus is only $5, but just doesn't have enough content yet.

Specialty

Everybody has a special interest that the big, broad services can't fully serve. Even budget packages should allow space for a service that speaks to your heart. There are too many to mention, but here are a few: the Criterion Channel (classics, art house and international; $10); Fandor (classics, arthouse and international; $6); Shudder (horror, $4.75); Acorn (British TV, $6), Britbox (British TV, $7); Asian Crush (Asian films and TV, free or $5 premium); Crunchyroll (anime, $8); BET Plus (Black Culture, $10), Brown Sugar (Blaxploitation, $4), Flix Latino (Spanish language; $3) and many more.

Free

Yes! You can still watch tons of television and movies without spending a penny, starting, of course, with pulling signals from the air for your local channels. NRecommended: Kanopy is free with a library card. Kanopy has a wide variety of free movies and documentaries that rotate in and out, and you can stream up to 15 per month. There's something for everyone: new movies, such as last year's horror film "Midsommar"; select classics from the Criterion Collection; modern classics such as "The Virgin Suicides" and "Memento"; and Black Lives Matter documentaries. Another essential: PBS, free courtesy of your local PBS station. Not only can you stream great PBS shows — British television, documentaries, news programs — but there are also short films, a few movies, the Ken Burns collection, live theater and children's programming. Other worthy free apps: Crackle, IMDbTV, Tubi, Pluto TV and Xumo, all with a decent mix of movies, TV shows and documentaries; and Vudu for ad-supported movies.

Bundles

Recommended package: Hulu + Live TV ($55), Amazon Prime ($13), CBS All Access ($6), Specialty ($6) for a total of $80 — or $31 without live TV. Budget package: Sling Blue ($30), Hulu ($6), CBS All Access ($6), specialty app ($6) for a total of $48 — or $18 without live TV. Free package: Over-the-air TV, Kanopy, PBS, Crackle, IMDB.tv and Vudu.

Life Hacks

There are two obvious work-arounds to getting even more for your buck: sharing passwords, which most everyone does, and sampling. If there are four of you, and you each subscribe to a different service and share those passwords, then all of you might enjoy, say, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and HBO Max, all for about $15 a month or less, each. If you're on your own, the great news about any of these streaming services is that there is no contract. You could subscribe to one service at a time and cancel, meaning you binge Netflix in September, Amazon Prime in October and Disney Plus in November. Whatever works for you. It seems as if we'll be more or less stuck at home for the next several months, so happy streaming and be safe. G. Allen Johnson

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