Amazon Prime Video is a rival to Netflix, and like Netflix you can download box sets and movies. If you're on the search for videos to watch on your commute or on a long flight, here's how to do it.

The ability to download stuff makes an Amazon Prime subscription all the more tempting. Unlike Netflix, with Amazon Prime you also get music streaming and - in the UK at least - one-day delivery when you order physical products from Amazon.

You can choose between a subscription to Prime for £79/$119 per year or £7.99/$12.99 per month for the full roster of perks described above, or a subscription to Prime Video by itself for £5.99/$8.99 per month. You can explore those plans, their benefits and their free trials on Amazon's website here (or here if you're in the US).

How to download films and series from Amazon Prime

Once you're signed up, you can get started with downloading videos from Amazon. To do so, you'll need to get the Amazon Prime Video app. It's free, and is available for Android, iOS and now Windows 10. As you might expect, the app is already installed on Amazon's Fire tablets.

Once downloaded, you'll need to launch the app and log in with your Amazon details. Make sure you keep an eye out for the Prime banner across the top-left corner of to ensure you won't be charged extra for watching, as there are lots of movies and TV shows available to rent in Amazon's library and not all of them are included with a Prime membership.

Also, not every video labeled with Prime is available to download, but it's easy to find out which are. Tap on a show or movie you'd like to watch and look for the download button.

If the episode, series or movie is available to download, you'll find the download button just below the blue 'Watch Now' button. For TV shows you'll be asked whether you'd like to download the whole series or just one episode. It's also clever enough to offer the option to download only the episodes you've yet to watch.

If you have a compatible TV or streamer, you can cast the videos to a big screen.

When you first tap the button to start the download you'll be asked what quality to use, and if that should be the default setting from now on. You'll want to be connected to Wi-Fi as this will use a fair bit of data. Downloading an episode or movie can take quite a while too, depending upon the speed of your internet connection, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time and don't try it at the airport.

Once downloaded, you'll be able to find your movies and TV shows in the My Stuff section - tap Downloads at the top. Simply tap on a video to start watching, even if you're not connected to the internet. You can still access all the interesting X-Ray information for each video, where available, even offline.

Its worth noting however that the desktop app on Windows 10 only allows you to download content that has a max resolution of 1080p (AKA Full HD). This means that you won't be able to get the most out of shows and films in 4K through the Windows desktop app.

In addition, writers at The Verge tested out the Windows Amazon app and could access anything higher than 720p. This indicates that the app is still in need of some tweaks.