# Download Free Movie! Amazon Unbox on TiVo is Live!



## mtchamp

Go to Amazon Unbox and sign up for TiVo video downloads and get a $15.00 credit. I just did it. Easy as pie! Now downloading "The Departed" to my Series3 for free! Registration quickly links to your TiVo Online account and then Amazon Unbox has a list of all your TiVos and you just pick one to download the movie to. That's it! Downloads begin in just 15 minuets. This is very cool! I called my wife at home to see what she wanted and I just did it from the office!

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=gw_br_unbox/002-0073131-5370408?_encoding=UTF8&node=16261631


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## bradbissell

When did your $15.00 credit show up? I signed up and I have no credit. When I tried to rent a movie it wanted my credit card info, and didn't appear to have the credit listed.

Also, the movies are listed as 1.33 aspect ratio. Are the movies actually Pan&Scan? If so, looks like I won't have a need for unbox.


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## mtchamp

$15.00 of credit is issued immediately for Amazon Unbox on TiVo download purchases. The movie I downloaded was $14.99 and a credit of <-$14.99> was listed on the invoice. I did not pay for this download.


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## dswallow

bradbissell said:


> When did your $15.00 credit show up? I signed up and I have no credit. When I tried to rent a movie it wanted my credit card info, and didn't appear to have the credit listed.
> 
> Also, the movies are listed as 1.33 aspect ratio. Are the movies actually Pan&Scan? If so, looks like I won't have a need for unbox.


You have to provide your credit card information no matter what, even if a credit on your account would pay for the purchase/rental in full. You'll see the credit applied when you actually complete the purchase.


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## cwoody222

New title rental choices seem a bit limited but for free, I'll pick one and give it a try!

Departed wasn't available for rental 

So "Thank you for Smoking" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" are on their way to me!


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## jlb

Ooooh, I should have used some of the credit for rental, rather than purchase....thenI could have done a few titles....oh well. Free is free. I just kicked off a download to my TiVo for Stranger than Fiction. My wife have wanted to see it. 

I like that your downloaded media stays in your Amazon Unbox Library so you can remove it for space considerations, but then redownload.

The download "rules" are any combo of 2 TiVos and PCs, right? So I could have it on my TiVo and my PC at home, or my work laptop?


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## danieljanderson

jlb said:


> Ooooh, I should have used some of the credit for rental, rather than purchase....thenI could have done a few titles....oh well. Free is free. I just kicked off a download to my TiVo for Stranger than Fiction. My wife have wanted to see it.
> 
> I like that your downloaded media stays in your Amazon Unbox Library so you can remove it for space considerations, but then redownload.
> 
> The download "rules" are any combo of 2 TiVos and PCs, right? So I could have it on my TiVo and my PC at home, or my work laptop?


I think this only applies to purchases, not rentals. The re-download that is.


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## dswallow

jlb said:


> The download "rules" are any combo of 2 TiVos and PCs, right? So I could have it on my TiVo and my PC at home, or my work laptop?


Any 2 at a time, though I believe in addition to those 2 you can download it to any two supported portable devices... PDA's, etc.


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## peteypete

Gonna try it now. 

Signup is super easy. Tivos show up in your "Buy it with 1 click"

I'm going to "waste" my $15 bucks NOW. 

Hmm. this might be addicting!

I did a double post... someone kill the other post please!


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## Gunnyman

*sigh* there's NO reason DTV couldn't have offered this too


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## dswallow

Gunnyman said:


> *sigh* there's NO reason DTV couldn't have offered this too


Sure there is; DirecTV would have to share the proceeds with Amazon and maybe even TiVo.


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## aringhof

i read the fine print where it lets you burn your copy to DVD as a "back up", but the format is the same file format as the original, so it wont work in a DVD player. its some weird UnBox-Tivo format.... does anyone know of a work around , as we want to buy a kid movie and be abl eto burn it to portable DVD for the car. We have a Series 3 an a Series 2... so Im curious which to download it to.... 

I have the Series 2 connected to our Cable Companies receiver, so I can order a video on demand movie, and record it to the Series 2, and then burn that to a DVD.


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## wickerbill

Looks like they don't offer them in widescreen for tivo. What a joke. I buy an HDTV and a series 3 and Amazon expects me to pay $4 to "rent" a downloaded movie that will barely take up half the screen. I guess I'll stick with netflix and HBOHD.


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## dig_duggler

sweet! Thanks OP!


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## dig_duggler

wickerbill said:


> Looks like they don't offer them in widescreen for tivo. What a joke. I buy an HDTV and a series 3 and Amazon expects me to pay $4 to "rent" a downloaded movie that will barely take up half the screen. I guess I'll stick with netflix and HBOHD.


Wow. That's a major oversight.


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## MikeMar

I'll keep my $15 credit for an easy download of a random show I may miss for whatever glitch


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## Enrique

I just picked the videos i want but when the downloads start my tivo keeps rebooting. :down:


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## peteypete

dswallow said:


> Sure there is; DirecTV would have to share the proceeds with Amazon and maybe even TiVo.


Dump the DirecTivo and get a standalone. Or Just get a standalone in addition. DTV kinda sucks.


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## peteypete

Bought a movie and download initiated within 10 minutes. 

The one-click purchasing is really easy. (uh. .. read . . . dangerous)

We'll see how long it takes to download a whole movie.


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## mikebridge

veronica mars shows up under the unbox/tivo listing, but doesn't let me choose one of my tivos as the download destination.


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## W Auggie H

mikebridge said:


> veronica mars shows up under the unbox/tivo listing, but doesn't let me choose one of my tivos as the download destination.


I am having the same problem. I linked my TiVo account to Amazon. All 3 TiVo boxes showed up. I went to *buy* an ep of Firefly and it did not give me an option to download to my TiVo. I see the video in My Media Library but I don't see a way to download to my TiVo or anything for that matter. It indicates that I am using 0 of 2 licenses. {scratching head}.


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## atmuscarella

So does anyone know why some titles are available for TiVo download and some are not? 

Thanks,


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## pkscout

dswallow said:


> Sure there is; DirecTV would have to share the proceeds with Amazon and maybe even TiVo.


And DirecTV would have to upgrade everyone to 7.x and enable broadband networking. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but given DirecTV's decisions in the last year or so, I'd say it was only really likely to happen on Bizzaro World.


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## David Platt

atmuscarella said:


> So does anyone know why some titles are available for TiVo download and some are not?
> 
> Thanks,


The files have to be encoded to a TiVo-compatible format. Not all Unbox downloads are available in that format yet.


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## JuryDuty

Thanks op! A few things I'm curious about.

I read in another thread that when you download a rental, it'll stay on your TiVo for up to 30 days, but once you start watching it, it only stays around for 24 hours.

I also see that you can move movies to your second TiVo. So could you theoretically download a rental to both your TiVos and have the opportunity to watch that rental twice, on two different days?


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## dswallow

mikebridge said:


> veronica mars shows up under the unbox/tivo listing, but doesn't let me choose one of my tivos as the download destination.


Unfortunately, not all episodes of all series have been encoded for TiVo yet. If a particular episode isn't encoded for TiVo, no TiVo units will be shown as download destinations in the drop-down box.


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## dswallow

JuryDuty said:


> Thanks op! A few things I'm curious about.
> 
> I read in another thread that when you download a rental, it'll stay on your TiVo for up to 30 days, but once you start watching it, it only stays around for 24 hours.
> 
> I also see that you can move movies to your second TiVo. So could you theoretically download a rental to both your TiVos and have the opportunity to watch that rental twice, on two different days?


Rentals can only be downloaded to one device, and can only be downloaded once.


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## ScaryMike

It seems that the aspect ratio depends on the title. Babel seems to be wide screen, while Little Miss Sunshine seems to be pan+scan.

Thats pretty disappointing. Hopefully they will have a wide screen option for all titles (that are done is wide screen).

Also, its really disappointing that there is no rental option for some titles (The Departed for example). I'm hoping that its just because we are still on day one, and that will change.

-Mike


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## JuryDuty

ScaryMike said:


> Also, its really disappointing that there is no rental option for some titles (The Departed for example). I'm hoping that its just because we are still on day one, and that will change.
> 
> -Mike


I'm sure that will change one it gets moving. Meanwhile, there are some good downloads like Little Miss Sunshine, XMen 3, The Illusionist, Scoop, The Devil Wears Prada and Thank You For Smoking.

Personally, I can't ever imagine a need to download a $14.99 title--I'd rather just buy the DVD. But for renting, I'll use this all the time instead of Blockbuster, since I only rent a few times a month, if that.


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## MikeMar

haha, WOOPS, bought borat by mistake, i emailed them to see if i can "return it" as I literally just ordered it

but if not, oh well it was free


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## ScaryMike

JuryDuty said:


> I'm sure that will change one it gets moving.
> 
> Personally, I can't ever imagine a need to download a $14.99 title--I'd rather just buy the DVD. But for renting, I'll use this all the time instead of Blockbuster, since I only rent a few times a month, if that.


Agreed, I would only ever use this as a rental service (assuming they get the wide screen versions), never for purchase.

I'd much rather have the dvd if I was going to purchase. Do you get all the "dvd extras" via unbox? It doesn't seem so.

-Mike


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## cooper243

I think $1.99 for a tv show is reasonable, but isn't that why we have tivo? Also, I refuse to go to Blockbuster as I used to work for a small store and people do not realize how difficult it is to go head-to-head with them. An example, we would pay $70-$80 per movie and they would pay $5. How does the $3.99 compare to their fees? I would never pay $15 to purchase the movie, but renting a movie for $4 does not seem bad, except you don't get the extras.


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## mikebridge

cooper243 said:


> I think $1.99 for a tv show is reasonable, but isn't that why we have tivo? Also, I refuse to go to Blockbuster as I used to work for a small store and people do not realize how difficult it is to go head-to-head with them. An example, we would pay $70-$80 per movie and they would pay $5. How does the $3.99 compare to their fees? I would never pay $15 to purchase the movie, but renting a movie for $4 does not seem bad, except you don't get the extras.


ever miss an episode? friend tell you to check out a series, and you come into the middle of it? i can justify the rentals and tv show purchases. the full movie purchases tho, i think i'd rather have the disc for the better audio and extra features.


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## W Auggie H

dswallow said:


> Unfortunately, not all episodes of all series have been encoded for TiVo yet. If a particular episode isn't encoded for TiVo, no TiVo units will be shown as download destinations in the drop-down box.


I think I figured my problem out. Be careful... even though I was searching for TiVo compatible titles, not all titles in that search are actually TiVo compatible. For instance, I searched for Firefly using the TiVo compatible search option but it is not compatible. I searched for Arrested Development and that is compatible. I can see the option to download to one of my TiVo boxes.


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## dcahoe

MikeMar said:


> haha, WOOPS, bought borat by mistake, i emailed them to see if i can "return it" as I literally just ordered it
> 
> but if not, oh well it was free


So much for you saving your $15 credit to download a future show that you miss. ROFL


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## MikeMar

dcahoe said:


> So much for you saving your $15 credit to download a future show that you miss. ROFL


exactly, oh well, just have to stick w/ bittorrent


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## [NG]Owner

This is actually pretty cool.

I was hoping that Friday Night Lights and HIMYM would have been available. The last FNL episode was pre-empted by weather related coverage where I live, so we missed a good chunk of what happened in that episode. And I've been trying to find a copy of the finale to season 1 for HIMYM. Sadly neither were available. But I did snag Part II of Shockwave from Enterprise just to try out the service.

So I have about $13 left to spend ....

[NG]Owner


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## yunlin12

ScaryMike said:


> It seems that the aspect ratio depends on the title. Babel seems to be wide screen, while Little Miss Sunshine seems to be pan+scan.
> 
> Thats pretty disappointing. Hopefully they will have a wide screen option for all titles (that are done is wide screen).
> 
> Also, its really disappointing that there is no rental option for some titles (The Departed for example). I'm hoping that its just because we are still on day one, and that will change.
> 
> -Mike


Babel look to be PC download only from your link. I haven't found any downloadable material to Tivo that's in 16:9 yet.


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## Wegg

peteypete said:


> We'll see how long it takes to download a whole movie.


Thats the first thing I noticed. No progress bar!?! How do I know when I'll be able to watch it!?! At least when I run down to the corner to pick up a video from Blockbuster I know it will take about 10-15 minutes. With this. . . who knows. . . :down:


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## bradbissell

None of the content for Tivo is 16:9. It is either Letterboxed or Pan&Scanned. This is what the Tech Support person told me. Also, audio is 2.0 (stereo) only.

So far I am not impressed at all. 

Don't get me started on the credit that doesn't show until after you purchase the video. You have to keep a mental tally of your credit. 

Looks like AppleTV might be an option for me afterall. (If Apple rents movies)


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## dig_duggler

bradbissell said:


> None of the content for Tivo is 16:9. It is either Letterboxed or Pan&Scanned. This is what the Tech Support person told me. Also, audio is 2.0 (stereo) only.
> 
> So far I am not impressed at all.
> 
> Don't get me started on the credit that doesn't show until after you purchase the video. You have to keep a mental tally of your credit.
> 
> Looks like AppleTV might be an option for me afterall. (If Apple rents movies)


That kind of kills it for me. If you have a home theatre system this is not nearly as appealing as a physical rental.


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## nyy7

Purchased Borat and downloaded fine to my laptop. Also downloaded to my Tivo Series 2 and do not see anything showing up in Now Playing. Tivo is connected to my network. . ( tested to make sure!) What do i do now to troubleshoot?

I did enroll correctly and did see my Tivo box on the Amazon site.

Thanks for help.

Bruce


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## aringhof

I rented a video from Unbox and on the computer, the picture quality was horrendous.. i downloaded the Discovery Channel's italy documentary, which they filmed in high def .... the file I downloaded was NO BETTER than my cell phone, as far as quality. ill test a direct download to a tivo, and see if that works better


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## W Auggie H

***Update***

Firefly episodes are now compatible with TiVo! The episode I already ordered is now showing that I can download to my TiVo. Cool.


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## MikeMar

nyy7 said:


> Purchased Borat and downloaded fine to my laptop. Also downloaded to my Tivo Series 2 and do not see anything showing up in Now Playing. Tivo is connected to my network. . ( tested to make sure!) What do i do now to troubleshoot?
> 
> I did enroll correctly and did see my Tivo box on the Amazon site.
> 
> Thanks for help.
> 
> Bruce


I ordered Borat a few hours ago, and was home about 30 min ago and only 11 min were downloaded.

this on a semi slow dsl connection and a tivo g adapter for the tivo

so it will take a while


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## puka_pai

They have Kenneth Branagh's version of "Hamlet", which is still not available on DVD. So I'm a happy camper.


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## bilbo

purchased dirt pilot. i could download it to any of my tivos (2 s2's and 1 s3). so i am downloading it to my old s3 that i transfer the lifetime off of.

csi:miami death pool 100 (which i got for free with an unbox free credit from october 2006) will only download to my s3. so now i am downloading to the s3, which i really didn't want to do right away.

went back to dirt pilot. it would download to my other s2 or my s3 or my dell pc (which must have the power turned on since amazon sees it).

a laguna beach episode (black and white affair) won't download to any of my tivo's or pc's. this was the other tv episode i got for free -- it must have been a $4 promotion or two tv episodes for free to try out unbox.

i've got about $13 of credit left to tool around with.


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## miller890

bradbissell said:


> None of the content for Tivo is 16:9. It is either Letterboxed or Pan&Scanned. This is what the Tech Support person told me. Also, audio is 2.0 (stereo) only.
> 
> So far I am not impressed at all.


It sounds like there is no advantage to with a Series-3 over the Series-2 at this point with Amazon Unbox on TiVo.


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## jtlytle

Humm, after download it, will the closed captions works too?


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## Unix_Beard

atmuscarella said:


> So does anyone know why some titles are available for TiVo download and some are not?
> 
> Thanks,


Of course the only movie I wanted right now didn't have the Tivo option.

Great concept except prices are too high - and I'm not one to complain about pricing often.


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## Unix_Beard

yunlin12 said:


> Babel look to be PC download only from your link. I haven't found any downloadable material to Tivo that's in 16:9 yet.


Wow. I was going to "rent" Little Miss Sunshine because I saw the table that said it was 1.76:1 aspect ratio. Looking at it now, that was the column for the PC version.

Lame. I definitely won't download a pan and scan film. Add in the loss of DD5.1. I expected a letterboxed version which I could at least zoom. I might have used that for movies like LMS. :down:


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## jon01

jtlytle said:


> Humm, after download it, will the closed captions works too?


awesome question! we keep our tv low so we (my wife and i) turn on closed captioning. anyone know the answer?

- Jon


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## CrispyCritter

jon01 said:


> awesome question! we keep our tv low so we (my wife and i) turn on closed captioning. anyone know the answer?


The one movie I downloaded explicitly had an option for CC on the show description when playing (when you right arrow). However, it was unavailable for this movie ("Total Recall"). So sounds like it's in the interface, but who knows what movies it applies to.


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## TAsunder

Looks like there are some known issues, such as widescreen movies not showing on S2s properly. And apparently there is work underway to deliver higher quality content to S3 owners.


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## rainwater

"The Departed" looked just fine on my S2 DT in widescreen format. It definitely wasn't full screen as other suggest.


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## Havana Brown

Can someone hold my hand through this please. I picked Little Miss Susnshine for $3.99, but then when I was looking at some other titles I saw that it was $14.99 Is that one for purchase?


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## MikeMar

Havana Brown said:


> Can someone hold my hand through this please. I picked Little Miss Susnshine for $3.99, but then when I was looking at some other titles I saw that it was $14.99 Is that one for purchase?


3.99 is a rental (30 days to watch, but once you start playing it's 24 hours)
14.99 to buy, and you can delete it from your tivo if you need room and REdownload for free anytime.


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## pkscout

Unix_Beard said:


> Lame. I definitely won't download a pan and scan film. Add in the loss of DD5.1. I expected a letterboxed version which I could at least zoom. I might have used that for movies like LMS. :down:


Yew. I was willing to put up with 2 channel audio, but 4:3 format is icky. I suppose since I have a fifteen dollar credit I'll rent something just to try it, but I won't even pay for downloads that aren't at least OAR, and I probably won't pay for anything that doesn't have 5.1 audio as well.


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## pkscout

TAsunder said:


> Looks like there are some known issues, such as widescreen movies not showing on S2s properly. And apparently there is work underway to deliver higher quality content to S3 owners.


Source? I'd love to have more info on that, since both those things are important to me. If it's coming soon maybe I'll hold my $15 credit and wait.


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## Havana Brown

Unix_Beard said:


> Wow. I was going to "rent" Little Miss Sunshine because I saw the table that said it was 1.76:1 aspect ratio. Looking at it now, that was the column for the PC version.
> 
> Lame. I definitely won't download a pan and scan film. Add in the loss of DD5.1. I expected a letterboxed version which I could at least zoom. I might have used that for movies like LMS. :down:


ahaha, some of y'all are some techie divas.  Free is free to me.

Sanx Mike, I get it now.


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## puckettcg

Is anyone else noting that a significant number of the shows (including everyone I've actually wanted to download) are not available for TIVO? I've found other shows and movies that will, so I know its not an issue with my account or setup. 

I don't get Dirt or Veronica Mars in my area, and it actually looks like nothing on the CW is available for download. Someone else posted that they were able to download Dirt though.


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## Havana Brown

Ooooh, the L Word at 2 bux a pop. I cancelled Showtime cause they raised the price and have missed the past 3-4 episodes. I may have to go with that.


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## Sirius Black

The lack of HD and DD5.1 is the only deal killer worth talking about. The Live Marketplace (Xbox360) offers both of those and while I don't have any interest in filling up the limited HDD of the 360 with HD content, at least that offer is avaiable to those who do.

Good try Amazon. You have the right idea. You just need to take it to the next level.


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## peteypete

This rocks!!

Download initiated within 10 minutes of purchase. 

Download completed (1:30 hour movie) in under 2 hours. (Not certain of exact time but I'm pretty happy!) 

Haven't watched it yet though.


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## MikeMar

Sirius Black said:


> The lack of HD and DD5.1 is the only deal killer worth talking about. The Live Marketplace (Xbox360) offers both of those and while I don't have any interest in filling up the limited HDD of the 360 with HD content, at least that offer is avaiable to those who do.
> 
> Good try Amazon. You have the right idea. You just need to take it to the next level.


exactly, the only way i would pay to own something or even rent it actually would be to get the best quality I can.

Hmm you can either rent a dvd for $4 on amazon, or probably less per disc on netflix

on and on

they missed the mark here w/ quality by a long SHOT!


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## rainwater

MikeMar said:


> exactly, the only way i would pay to own something or even rent it actually would be to get the best quality I can.
> 
> Hmm you can either rent a dvd for $4 on amazon, or probably less per disc on netflix
> 
> on and on
> 
> they missed the mark here w/ quality by a long SHOT!


I think you missed the mark on who this service is for. Obviously a Netflix user who is getting 10 or more movies a month doesn't care to rent movies from Amazon. However, the user who doesn't have digital cable (no access to VOD) can use this to make the occasional rental of a new movie, or the user who wants to get an episode of a missed TV show can download it for only $2. Obviously, they will be adding HD content on Unbox before too long. And I don't think it will be that hard for them to provide HD content to S3 users.


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## Stu_Bee

puckettcg said:


> Is anyone else noting that a significant number of the shows (including everyone I've actually wanted to download) are not available for TIVO? I've found other shows and movies that will, so I know its not an issue with my account or setup.
> I don't get Dirt or Veronica Mars in my area, and it actually looks like nothing on the CW is available for download. Someone else posted that they were able to download Dirt though.


Looks like Amazon has some fixing to do.
The only way, it seems, to find shows that are Tivo supported is when you click on the "See all Tivo Videos"..which shows an uncategorized list.

This list shows Veronica Mars listed as #9....but it ISN'T really available for download to Tivo. doh !

Edit: It appears that Amazon is just doing a full text index for the word "tivo". Thus it's finding this on the Veronica Mars page "Amazon Unbox on TiVo Bonus Offer". But this isn't really a Tivo available show.
Surprised Amazon doesn't have an attribute for 'TIVO' they could put in the correct records, rather than using their silly string search method.


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## Havana Brown

So what other movies do y'all recommend?


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## MikeMar

Havana Brown said:


> So what other movies do y'all recommend?


I enjoyed little miss sunshine. Good movie if you like those black comedies about dysfunctional families


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## Stu_Bee

Havana Brown said:


> So what other movies do y'all recommend?


Well..I would tell you to just use amazon.com's sort order field in the top right corner to display them by Rating. But it isn't available. You can only sort by Release, Best Selling, Price, Newest.


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## Havana Brown

MikeMar said:


> I enjoyed little miss sunshine. Good movie if you like those black comedies about dysfunctional families


See post #56 



Stu_Bee said:


> Well..I would tell you to just use amazon.com's sort order field in the top right corner to display them by Rating. But it isn't available. You can only sort by Release, Best Selling, Price, Newest.


Too bad. But what do YOU ALL like?


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## ZikZak

Well, I'll download anything for free... so I got Marie Antoinette since I missed it in the theaters.

But in the future, if I actually have to pay for the service, it would be nice to get the entire movie for my money, not just the middle 2/3 of it.


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## Bierboy

yunlin12 said:


> ...I haven't found any downloadable material to Tivo that's in 16:9 yet.


This and the fact that there is no DD5.1 sound and no closed captions on these downloads makes it a dealbreaker. Won't be downloading ANYTHING from this until they correct this shortsightedness.


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## Stu_Bee

Havana Brown said:


> See post #56
> Too bad. But what do YOU ALL like?


Sorry..didn't mean to insult. I was trying to point out the lacking of a good feature they could put on Amazon.


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## Bierboy

Won't be downloading anything from Amazon's Unbox until they correct this plus the fact there are no closed captions on any of the movies.


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## Havana Brown

No, you didn't insult at all.


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## ScaryMike

rainwater said:


> "The Departed" looked just fine on my S2 DT in widescreen format. It definitely wasn't full screen as other suggest.


Well, thats good to know. Anyone else confirm this?

-Mike


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## Stu_Bee

Argh. I missed Yulin's prior post about there being no 16:9 content. Well if it isn't at least letterboxed 4:3, then no point in me playing with this anymore.
Is there a field in the Amazon TV show listings that has aspect listed?


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## Havana Brown

So is the download tying up my phone line or is that my teenager on the phone?


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## MikeMar

Havana Brown said:


> So is the download tying up my phone line or is that my teenager on the phone?


can you even get these downloaded w/o a broadband connection? I'd imagine you couldn't get it over the phone


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## Doh

I actually called Amazon because I had some questions (they have this odd thing where you enter your phone number, and it calls you, and then puts you through to a person). She said this is the first day for tivo functionality, so they are working on adding new shows and possibly adding a tivo search capacity.

I realized that 24 hours may seem like enough time for a rental, but really if you don't finish watching a show immediately, you probably need another full night to watch it (i.e., 36 or 48 hours).


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## Bierboy

jtlytle said:


> Humm, after download it, will the closed captions works too?


Nope....no CC....no DD5.1....no 16X9 aspect ratio.....the whole deal for TiVo is bad...particularly if you have a nice HT system.


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## knightl

Doh said:


> I actually called Amazon because I had some questions (they have this odd thing where you enter your phone number, and it calls you, and then puts you through to a person). She said this is the first day for tivo functionality, so they are working on adding new shows and possibly adding a tivo search capacity.
> 
> I realized that 24 hours may seem like enough time for a rental, but really if you don't finish watching a show immediately, you probably need another full night to watch it (i.e., 36 or 48 hours).


given the comments you received from amazon support, they must not have
had very good feedback from their beta testers.

i should have super-ex girlfriend at home tonight. with the postings
so far, i'm not expecting much...


----------



## Bierboy

From Amazon's Unbox listing for "The Departed" --

Type -- TiVo "Best Quality" File 
File Size -- 3.15 GB 
Bitrate -- 2800 kbps 
Aspect Ratio -- *1.33:1* 
Channels -- *2*


----------



## BlackBetty

Bierboy said:


> Nope....no CC....no DD5.1....no 16X9 aspect ratio.....the whole deal for TiVo is bad...particularly if you have a nice HT system.


The whole deal for TiVo is bad? damn you're bitter.


----------



## Bierboy

BlackBetty said:


> The whole deal for TiVo is bad? damn you're bitter.


Not bitter....just disappointed....especially given all the hype about this.


----------



## BlackBetty

Bierboy said:


> Not bitter....just disappointed....especially given all the hype about this.


give it a little time. Hopefully they will add the things you want in the near future.


----------



## ScaryMike

Bierboy said:


> From Amazon's Unbox listing for "The Departed" --
> 
> Type -- TiVo "Best Quality" File
> File Size -- 3.15 GB
> Bitrate -- 2800 kbps
> Aspect Ratio -- *1.33:1*
> Channels -- *2*


Yeah, I saw that. But at least one person claimed it was widescreen when he/she downloaded it. Maybe the file is 1.33:1, but its letterboxed?

I'd DL it myself, but I'd much prefer to "rent' it, and the Departed seems purchase only for some reason.


----------



## MikeMar

If there is a redbox near any of you, they have the departed (if you can get it) - oh and free rental for one night too - codes (breakroom, chill07, dvdonme)


----------



## Stu_Bee

I've just ordered a random TV episode to see how it works (Prison Break).
The preview video on the Amazon page displays as 16:9, so I'm expecting it to be delivered as such.
I had to enter a credit card number to order, but it didn't charge it (ie listed as credit). I'm not sure where it shows remaining credit on their site.


----------



## pdhenry

Looks like Amazon shows letterboxed movies as 1.33:1 Just started watching The Illusionist - Amazon says it's 1.33 but it's (mildly) letterboxed.

It shows the PC file to be 1.80:1


----------



## rainwater

Have you actually downloaded any content? They have plenty of content in widescreen format.


----------



## gwsat

Yeah, Unbox is a non-starter for me, too. The price is too high and the A/V quality too low, and as if thats not bad enough, they dont even have closed captions. When they provide HD we can talk, in the meantime, dont call us, well call you (or not).


----------



## goman

rainwater said:


> Have you actually downloaded any content? They have plenty of content in widescreen format.


Name one. For Tivo that is.

All the PC files are widescreen if available. Yet none of the Tivo ones are.


----------



## Bierboy

rainwater said:


> Have you actually downloaded any content? They have plenty of content in widescreen format.


Yes I have....NONE of it widescreen, closed captioned or DD5.1. And look closely at the specs on EVERY title that you can download to your TiVo....can't find any. It lists widescreen only for PC files, NOT TiVo.


----------



## rainwater

goman said:


> Name one.


"The Departed". It is widescreen on my SD TV. I even cropped it to 4:3 using the zoom on my remote.


----------



## jon01

in another thread someone said he hit a button and the closed captioning was there? is this not true? http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4939532&&#post4939532

- Jon


----------



## Bierboy

Every title I downloaded did not have CC.


----------



## Kyle-K

Anyone have any ideas why Amazon is not seeing my TiVo?

It's a Series 2 / Monthly Service / Transfers Allowed / Video Downloads Enabled 

It is connected to my home network...

Amazon says:
No active Series2 or Series3 TiVo DVRs were associated with your TiVo account. As a result you will not be able to download Unbox vidoes to your TiVo.

I've got a support email in to Amazon... but if anyone has any ideas...

thanks,
--kyle


----------



## Bierboy

rainwater said:


> "The Departed". It is widescreen on my SD TV. I even cropped it to 4:3 using the zoom on my remote.


 How can it be widescreen on a 4:3 TV? Impossible....I'm talking about TRUE widescreen on a 16X9 HDTV.


----------



## rainwater

Bierboy said:


> How can it be widescreen on a 4:3 TV? Impossible....I'm talking about TRUE widescreen on a 16X9 HDTV.


You can view widescreen content on a 4:3 SD TV. And the zoom on my TV doesn't work if the content is just letterboxed. Thats how I know it is widescreen.


----------



## yunlin12

rainwater said:


> "The Departed". It is widescreen on my SD TV. I even cropped it to 4:3 using the zoom on my remote.


The Tivo version is 16:9 content letterboxed to a 4:3 aspect ratio, there is wasted space on top and bottom of the screen. This is not the same as the DVD quality download available for PC, which are 16:9 aspect ratio, without the letterbox on top and bottom.

This makes a big difference for people who want to download to the S3.



> You can view widescreen content on a 4:3 SD TV. And the zoom on my TV doesn't work if the content is just letterboxed. Thats how I know it is widescreen.


Why does it say aspect ratio for Tivo best quality download is 1.33:1 then on Amazon Unbox:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Departed/dp/B000NHPCS0/


----------



## Bierboy

yunlin12 said:


> The Tivo version is 16:9 content letterboxed to a 4:3 aspect ratio, there is wasted space on top and bottom of the screen. This is not the same as the DVD quality download available for PC, which are 16:9 aspect ratio, without the letterbox on top and bottom.
> 
> This makes a big difference for people who want to download to the S3.


EXACTLY...as I said, not TRUE widescreen.


----------



## goman

rainwater said:


> "The Departed". It is widescreen on my SD TV. I even cropped it to 4:3 using the zoom on my remote.


http://www.amazon.com/The-Departed/...ie=UTF8&s=digital-video&qid=1173304468&sr=1-1

Departed says 1:33 aspect ratio.

If I wanted this I would buy PPV movies from my cable box.

Xbox gives us OAR why not Tivo?


----------



## javabird

Anyone know how to make a backup of a purchased movie? (I have a Mac)


----------



## ScaryMike

Bierboy said:


> EXACTLY...as I said, not TRUE widescreen.


Well, at least its letter boxed and not pan and scan. Thats SOME comfort.


----------



## goman

So they are wasting bandwith by sending black bars with the file. 

The series 2 tivo knows my TV is widescreen. Why not anamorphic files?


----------



## llcooll

Check out this comment on the Engadget site:

Link



> Sam Gigliotti @ Mar 7th 2007 2:04PM
> 
> I am the lead engineer on the Unbox team. It's great to see all this interest in the TiVo launch.
> 
> We're working on getting HD content for the Series 3, as well as cleaning up the 4:3 vs 16:9 issue. It just takes time to re-encode thousands of video files and get them uploaded to our CDN. You will see this situation improve in the near future.


I hope it's legit. I wonder how soon the near future is. Guess I'll save the rest of my $15 credit.


----------



## Jeeters

http://www.digg.com/movies/Amazon_s_Unbox_video_download_service_now_available_on_TiVo#c5588255


----------



## dig_duggler

Jeeters said:


> http://www.digg.com/movies/Amazon_s_Unbox_video_download_service_now_available_on_TiVo#c5588255


Interesting choice of forum to declare that. Buried in the comments of a digg thread. Only comment by that user as well. Not saying it's not true, just odd.

Edit: seems that the same comment is posted on a variety of tech sites (now that I read the post above  )

Also of interest

double edit: goman beat me to it.


----------



## goman

dig_duggler said:


> Interesting choice of forum to declare that. Buried in the comments of a digg thread. Only comment by that user as well. Not saying it's not true, just odd.
> 
> Edit: seems that the same comment is posted on a variety of tech sites (now that I read the post above  )


http://unbox.wordpress.com/



> Tivo!
> March 7th, 2007 by unbox
> 
> We flipped the switch at 9pm last night and took Tivo live. So far, no major issues.
> 
> Even the blog coverage has been mostly good, although they cant resist including ancient history in there.
> ars
> engadget
> cnet
> 
> Yes, everything is SD for now. Well get there with HD once the price of the Series 3 Tivo comes down.


----------



## dmk1974

I just singed up, but haven't bought one yet. Where does it download to? Does it download to your Now Playing folder? If so, or not, can you also dump it externally to a DVD? One of my TiVo's is a Human DVD-R/TiVo. Any chance I can then burn it right to DVD? Thanks!


----------



## dswallow

dmk1974 said:


> If so, or not, can you also dump it externally to a DVD? One of my TiVo's is a Human DVD-R/TiVo. Any chance I can then burn it right to DVD? Thanks!


No you cannot.


----------



## javabird

dswallow said:


> No you cannot.


The fine print says you are allowed to burn a backup copy to DVD (but not a playable DVD).. 
However, if the file downloads directly to your Tivo, and you can't burn to a DVD-recorder, how does one go about making a backup copy?


----------



## ScottUrman

javabird said:


> The fine print says you are allowed to burn a backup copy to DVD (but not a playable DVD)..
> However, if the file downloads directly to your Tivo, and you can't burn to a DVD-recorder, how does one go about making a backup copy?


It would be interesting to see if a DVD recorder hooked up to the analog outputs could record a downloaded movie. I just started a download of "Man of the Year", have to try it and see.


----------



## hornblowercat

I tried to download 2 CSI's and I noticed it only downloaded one. I spent a great deal of time with the TiVo guys at Amazon, but no success. I told them I couldn't spend anymore time on it and they refunded my purchase.

Now I'm trying to download Superman Returns and I think I'm having a problem there.

Any suggestions? Reboot?


----------



## pdhenry

javabird said:


> Anyone know how to make a backup of a purchased movie? (I have a Mac)


You can burn the FILE to a DVD disk and reload it back to the Mac later. Not the same as burning a DVD-video.

You can also re-download any purchased content.


----------



## pdhenry

javabird said:


> The fine print says you are allowed to burn a backup copy to DVD (but not a playable DVD)..
> However, if the file downloads directly to your Tivo, and you can't burn to a DVD-recorder, how does one go about making a backup copy?


You can only burn a backup copy to a DVD if you download the movie to a PC.

Amazon allows you to download to multiple machines, multiple times. So there really isn't much reason to back up purchased (as opposed to rented) content (you can always go back and get it back on the TiVo again).


----------



## Stu_Bee

So far my test download from Amazon appears to be a bit flakey:
From the Tivo History (under To Do)
- 3:27 Not Downloaded
- 3:29 Not Downloaded
- 3:30 Not Downloaded
Details for each:
- This program was not downloaded onto this DVR because it was not found.
=============
that was 30 minutes ago...so I guess I can't tell if it is currently downloading? (ie does it appear as a blue dot in Now Playing...or does it only show when completed transferring)


----------



## Brentc11

Kyle,

I have the same problem and haven't found a solution yet.

-Brent



Kyle-K said:


> Anyone have any ideas why Amazon is not seeing my TiVo?
> 
> It's a Series 2 / Monthly Service / Transfers Allowed / Video Downloads Enabled
> 
> It is connected to my home network...
> 
> Amazon says:
> No active Series2 or Series3 TiVo DVRs were associated with your TiVo account. As a result you will not be able to download Unbox vidoes to your TiVo.
> 
> I've got a support email in to Amazon... but if anyone has any ideas...
> 
> thanks,
> --kyle


----------



## cluemeister

Amazon doesn't see my S3, (sees my two S2's) and tivocast sees my S3 but says it isn't connected to the internet. It is connected via broadband, dvr preferences show enabled video downloads, I forced a connection, still no dice. Anyone else?


----------



## cwoody222

Both my movies which I started to download around 10am this morning were done and waiting for me when I got home tonight!

Cool!

If this was Netflix I would order a monthly plan (and probably pay a few bucks more) immediately!


----------



## CrispyCritter

cluemeister said:


> Amazon doesn't see my S3, (sees my two S2's) and tivocast sees my S3 but says it isn't connected to the internet. It is connected via broadband, dvr preferences show enabled video downloads, I forced a connection, still no dice. Anyone else?


Possibly you have a firewall someplace blocking DNS to the S3? The S3, for normal connections, goes to a known hardcoded IP address. For things like tivocast and probably Amazon, it has to translate a web site name into an IP address using DNS.

(Note I'm stretching for this; I don't see how tivocast can see your S3 but know it isn't connected. What precisely is it saying there?)


----------



## SystemJinx

Thanks for this thread. I just signed up!


----------



## Arcady

Without widescreen content, it is worthless. (Letterboxed video packed in a 4:3 container is not real widescreen.)

:down:


----------



## Mike Farrington

Looks like they are adding titles at decent clip. At midday it was at about 1368 titles, now they are up to 1428 titles. I was really hoping Heroes would be there. I've been wanting to watch that from the beginning.


----------



## Turtleboy

People love to kvetch, don't they.

This is the first day it's been publicly available. I'm sure they will fix the glitches and improve it with time.


----------



## Stu_Bee

Turtleboy said:


> People love to kvetch, don't they.
> This is the first day it's been publicly available. I'm sure they will fix the glitches and improve it with time.


No doubt. 'course the glitches need to be reported somewhere. I think this is a good place to post as they can be validated by others first (ie unique setup problem versus global issue)
I'm kinda guessing that there are a few eyeballs on this thread either from Tivo or Amazon to gage initial issues as well.


----------



## bilbo

looks like csi - miami: death pool 100 was in widescreen -- that must've been why i could only download it to my s3. video was not too bad (i thought it looked better than itunes hooked to my receiver via s-video).

selection at amazon for tv shows is kind of weak, though. has itunes hammered out some sort of exclusive deals with some of these networks. i mean i downloaded the csi: miami episode to my dell pc in october, and the selection is still about the same.

amazon, if you can hear me -- do some hi-def widescreen movie downloads for $4.99 or $5.99. i would try it out (especially if some of that money was going to tivo). i am waiting out the format wars (i heard blu-ray may have won the war by year's end, and we may see a $299 BR player by the end of 2007?).


----------



## bilbo

i meant $4.99 or $5.99 hi-def movies -- rentals, okay. i honestly don't see what the point of buying a digital video download (other than buying one or two episodes of a television show). i would have bought six episodes of battlestar galactica season three if they were available about a week ago.


----------



## bilbo

bilbo said:


> i meant $4.99 or $5.99 hi-def movies -- rentals, okay. i honestly don't see what the point of buying a digital video download (other than buying one or two episodes of a television show). i would have bought six episodes of battlestar galactica season three if they were available about a week ago.


from amazon.com unbox.


----------



## tazzftw

I don't think it's an exclusive deal with iTunes. Remove the Tivo tag, and you'll see there are nearly 700 TV episodes available, many of which are the exact same thing as on iTunes.

I'll just wait a bit for all the bugs to come out. Let's give it time folks. For goodness sake, some of you are writing it off forever after a frickin day!

My mom will love this service for the rentals. She doesn't have any movie channels.


----------



## MikeMar

sweet, i emailed amazon and said i got borat by mistake. They deleted it from my media library and refunded me the money 

So i still have $15 to play around with


----------



## pdhenry

Mike Farrington said:


> I was really hoping Heroes would be there. I've been wanting to watch that from the beginning.


It's starting again on SciFi in a week or so.


----------



## rainwater

It is odd to see the way the major networks sprinkle their shows across these different services. I think they are just waiting to see what works before throwing their eggs in a single basket. You would think it would be better if they spread all of their content over the major services. But what do I know.


----------



## Stu_Bee

Stu_Bee said:


> So far my test download from Amazon appears to be a bit flakey:
> From the Tivo History (under To Do)
> - 3:27 Not Downloaded
> - 3:29 Not Downloaded
> - 3:30 Not Downloaded
> Details for each:
> - This program was not downloaded onto this DVR because it was not found.
> =============
> that was 30 minutes ago...so I guess I can't tell if it is currently downloading? (ie does it appear as a blue dot in Now Playing...or does it only show when completed transferring)


After failing (per history) it reappeared back in Amazon "you media library" to try again. I tried again...it tries 5 times to transfer (per the ToDo history) then gives up.

Am I the only one with no joy?

My setup is:
At&tivo <--wired--> WifiBridge <---wifi--> LinksysRouter <-wired-->ComcastModem


----------



## rainwater

Stu_Bee said:


> After failing (per history) it reappeared back in Amazon "you media library" to try again. I tried again...it tries 5 times to transfer (per the ToDo history) then gives up.
> 
> Am I the only one with no joy?
> 
> My setup is:
> At&tivo <--wired--> WifiBridge <---wifi--> LinksysRouter <-wired-->ComcastModem


Do any TivoCasts work for you? TivoCasts require working dns on the TiVo unlike guide updates, etc.


----------



## pops_porter

Do we no why some movies are only available for purchase for $14.99 instead of renting them? Borat is one example


----------



## rainwater

pops_porter said:


> Do we no why some movies are only available for purchase for $14.99 instead of renting them? Borat is one example


I think its a part of the deal Amazon has with some studios. They only allow you to purchase it when its first available but let you rent it later on. Some studios don't allow rentals at all, but I don't think any of the major studios they have deals with do that.


----------



## rambler

Can I transfer a rental from TIVO to my PC (via tivo desktop)? My monitor is nicer than the TV I have the tivo hooked up to.


----------



## Sam Lowry

Doh said:


> I realized that 24 hours may seem like enough time for a rental, but really if you don't finish watching a show immediately, you probably need another full night to watch it (i.e., 36 or 48 hours).


Just downloaded a rental to see how it works. I have to agree that as a parent of a 3-year-old, I never have time to watch a move all in one day. I can't see any reason to limit the watching time to 24 hours, it's gotta be 48 hours minimum for me to ever spend my $ on it.


----------



## pkscout

rambler said:


> Can I transfer a rental from TIVO to my PC (via tivo desktop)? My monitor is nicer than the TV I have the tivo hooked up to.


I don't think so. I think if you buy it rather than rent it there is some way to delete it from your TiVo and then download it to your PC, but even that I might be misremembering.


----------



## sixseven

Congratulations to Tivo and Amazon!

This is a great product. I am definitely looking forward to HD and DD5.1.

The timing of this could not have been more perfect. My wife was sick today, so I downloaded The Devil Wears Prada for her to watch while she was home. The PQ was as good as any SD broadcast. Here are some details on the movie:

From Amazon.com:

Video File Type: TiVo "Best Quality" File 
File Size: 2.30 GB 
Bitrate: 2800 kbps 
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 
Channels: 2 

Despite the information on amazon.com, the movie was in widescreen format. Our S3 is set to 1080i hybrid mode, so the video was upscaled to 480p by the S3. We watched the movie in "zoom" mode, so there was some overscanning. I am happy with how the movie looked on my 1080p display. 

Keep up the good work Tivo and Amazon! Give us HD and 5.1 sound, and you've got a very happy customer!!!


----------



## rainwater

pkscout said:


> I don't think so. I think if you buy it rather than rent it there is some way to delete it from your TiVo and then download it to your PC, but even that I might be misremembering.


You can have it on 2 devices at once for a purchase. So you can download it to your PC and to your TiVo.


----------



## TiVoStephen

cluemeister said:


> Amazon doesn't see my S3, (sees my two S2's) and tivocast sees my S3 but says it isn't connected to the internet. It is connected via broadband, dvr preferences show enabled video downloads, I forced a connection, still no dice. Anyone else?


Are you able to download TiVoCast content to the Series3? How's it connected, wired (built-in?) or wireless? Force a couple of connections and try TiVoCast and let me know what you see. Sorry you're having trouble.

Best regards,
Stephen


----------



## TiVoStephen

rainwater said:


> Do any TivoCasts work for you? TivoCasts require working dns on the TiVo unlike guide updates, etc.


I just wanted to reinforce this point. Working DNS is a requirement with TiVoCast and Amazon Unbox.

If you're having trouble, check your DHCP settings on your DVR and your router.

(Thanks, rainwater.)


----------



## dswallow

TiVoStephen said:


> I just wanted to reinforce this point. Working DNS is a requirement with TiVoCast and Amazon Unbox.
> 
> If you're having trouble, check your DHCP settings on your DVR and your router.
> 
> (Thanks, rainwater.)


Some suggestions...

That VCM Connection info in the status screens never seems to show a successful connection for me... but the last attempt/next attempt always get updated and I've not had troubles receiving Unbox videos. So obviously that part's working. Is there a problem with that display?

Maybe it'd be good to add one or two DNS lookup tests to the system info display as a confirmation that DNS lookups work.


----------



## TiVoStephen

DNS test? Good suggestion, Doug, and one that we're working on. 

You lost me with the VCM Connection info point -- can you walk me through what doesn't work?


----------



## dswallow

TiVoStephen said:


> DNS test? Good suggestion, Doug, and one that we're working on.
> 
> You lost me with the VCM Connection info point -- can you walk me through what doesn't work?












Everything works, it's just that the "Last Successful" line under "VCM Connection" never seems to show anything other than December 31 for me.


----------



## gthassell

TiVoStephen -

Any possibility of getting the Rewards team to offer Unbox download credits?  Just a thought as a way to build usage and word of mouth...

Thanks,

-Todd


----------



## Stu_Bee

rainwater said:


> Do any TivoCasts work for you? TivoCasts require working dns on the TiVo unlike guide updates, etc.


Yeah..your onto something. My Tivocasts fail to download too (never really tried them before...because the gui takes about a minute to load). Since my tivo is plugged into a Wifi bridge, I'll try plugging a laptop into it to see if the DNS works that way.
Thanks for the suggestions.


----------



## steve614

dswallow said:


> Everything works, it's just that the "Last Successful" line under "VCM Connection" never seems to show anything other than December 31 for me.


Just to add info to this thread, my Tivo _used_ to show that December date for VCM connection.
Now seems to keep up to date.


----------



## smak

Stephen, any thoughts you guys had about some kind of Netflix type monthly price for x amount of downloads.

I'm pretty sure if the movies had the correct aspect ratio, good sound, and you could get a monthly price, pretty much most people here would dump their Netflix/Blockbuster in a heartbeat.

-smak-


----------



## TiVoStephen

smak, good question; I'm sure it's been considered, although I'm not really part of any pricing discussions (since that's all handled on Amazon's side). I'll talk to my Amazon contacts about this and see what they have as a comment.

Best,
Stephen


----------



## hornblowercat

I posted earlier in this thread about a problem I had with downloading an episode of CSI:NY. I guess no one else has had a problem so I want to detail my experience on how Amazon handled this.

First they removed the purchase like I never bought it and "credited" my free download account. I actually then made a stupid mistake and downloaded the other episode I already had successfully loaded to my TiVo. They removed that and "credited" my account again.

I then downloaded the correct CSI and hung up. It still failed to download. I called Amazon again (it takes two transfers to get to their "TiVo" department." And while being extremely friendly they basically moved the video back to the download que. At that point I told them this was a bit redundant but you know how that goes.

I actually had them on speaker while on hold, sat down, ate dinner while we waited to see what was going to happen. Close to the end of dinner he came back and asked if anything got moved. I said no. Then he said he was going to try something else and I should call them in "a few hours" and I said no thanks, I got other things to do (like watching my S3). He said fine, said they would work with it on the TiVo they have there and again "credited" my purchase.

I decided to download Superman Returns and pay a bit out of pocket. When I got the receipt I saw they had charged me 7.95 for a 14.95 video. So I called again and wen though the two transfers. I was put on hold again while they "researched" this.

They then said they couldn't change the purchase price but they had set me up with a brand new "trial offer" of 15.00 (or 14.95, whatever). Anyway I got one CSI for free, Superman returns for 7.95 and according to them I have my introductory credit fully restored.

All and all I think they tried to be helpful, I love the click here and Amazon calls you feature, and pretty decent work out of the problem. The moral here however is don't expect all downloads (even TiVo ones) to always go smoothly, but they will work with you.

One other thing. The last rep I talked to said he had never heard of TiVo before last Friday when they told him he was part of the TiVo team. :EEK!:


----------



## Arcady

dswallow said:


> Everything works, it's just that the "Last Successful" line under "VCM Connection" never seems to show anything other than December 31 for me.


I see the same thing here.


----------



## hyachts

Just a random observation - I "bought" a full length movie yesterday remotely and kicked off the download to my S2DT at home. I then monitored it via the web interface. The file size showed up, in full, immediately, but the video length changed as the download progressed. So I guess Amazon reports file size up front so the Tivo can "prepare" the space for it. I haven't noticed if that's the way MRV happens...

Anyways, haven't watched the movie yet, so no comment about quality.


----------



## bradbissell

Anyone else have jitter on the video they downloaded? I watched Napoleon Dynamite last night and the jittering video was distracting. 

Overall, I wasn't impressed. I had to zoom the movie for my plasma, and the sound while okay, was also lacking. I guess I am a video snob. 

The video quality was lower than the iTunes videos I have watched via FrontRow. Must be the H.264 vs mpeg2 compression.

Amazon also needs to work on their user interface.


----------



## pdhenry

bradbissell said:


> Anyone else have jitter on the video they downloaded? I watched Napoleon Dynamite last night and the jittering video was distracting.


I have a 31 inch SD tube and while watching The Illusionist yesterday I saw the same jitter during picture pans. Not as bad as when I used to watch Rocketboom - the announcer's headswoops would really jitter. Only mildly distracting but definitely not DVD quality, and not something I ever see when watching TiVo-recorded broadcast material at any quality.


----------



## hvelez

Yesterday I tried getting a rental for my kids and it stopped at 407 mb on my Tivo. I went to my "Amazon Media Library" and it said "This video rental has already been downloaded". I contacted email support and was given another try, but my "Amazon Media Library" still show "This video rental has already been downloaded". I think because it is a rental. Who knows. 




I am ok with the service. Sound is a little iffy, I had to crank up my TV speakers just to hear a little better. 

So far I have not been able to watch my rental.

Hopefully it will be fixed.


----------



## Stu_Bee

pdhenry said:


> I have a 31 inch SD tube and while watching The Illusionist yesterday I saw the same jitter during picture pans. Not as bad as when I used to watch Rocketboom - the announcer's headswoops would really jitter. Only mildly distracting but definitely not DVD quality, and not something I ever see when watching TiVo-recorded broadcast material at any quality.


Sounds like Amazon is transcoding to mpeg2 from another source.

Those of us that do a lot of Divx -> Mpeg2 conversions know what you are talking about regarding the panning"jitters".
I haven't found any type of conversion setting to overcome it, other than encoding the mpeg2 at 24fps. But from what I understand that isn't supported on all Tivo models.
If all downloaded shows jitter when panning that would be a big blunder on amazons conversion process.


----------



## HDTiVo

I made a few comments on my blog  about licenses that I don't see here.


----------



## hvelez

So far no luck watching my rental. I wonder how situations like mine are going to be fixed in the future. No more downloads, connectivity problems, etc..

I bought one TV episode and no problems. Is the rental.

I will continue checking my emails.


----------



## javabird

smak said:


> Stephen, any thoughts you guys had about some kind of Netflix type monthly price for x amount of downloads.
> 
> I'm pretty sure if the movies had the correct aspect ratio, good sound, and you could get a monthly price, pretty much most people here would dump their Netflix/Blockbuster in a heartbeat.
> 
> -smak-


I'm one of those who would be interested in switching


----------



## javabird

bradbissell said:


> Amazon also needs to work on their user interface.


Agreed! I found it confusing-- there should be a RENT & BUY buttons right next to each other on the main movie so it's easy to choose, instead of having to search around the website for a different link ...(for an example, look at Blockbuster's web page-there's a big red "Buy new" button right on the movie's detail page)


----------



## BlackBetty

I Rented a movie last night and told amazon to send it to the livingroom TiVo. When I got home I realized that I had that TiVo unpluged from my network because I had my xbox plugged in.

Amazon instead sent it to my bedroom TiVo as a workaround. 

Is it possible to send a rental to multiple locations? or is it a one and done type setup?


----------



## Corran Horn

Purchased an episode of "Prison Break" and it downloaded and showed up just fine, in a new folder. No complaints here.


----------



## hvelez

When I started my "failed" rental yesterday, I noticed my Digital Library said there is no more PC's "or Tivo's" to use. 

So I am guessing it is only one location for rentals.

I wonder if the people from Amazon Unbox can verify how may kb were downloaded. In that way there's proof I was never able to complete my Rental download.


----------



## Havana Brown

pdhenry said:


> You can burn the FILE to a DVD disk and reload it back to the Mac later. Not the same as burning a DVD-video.
> 
> You can also re-download any purchased content.


I'm still ooooh so confused, but what's new? I downloaded two movies yesterday, it took forever, but that's fine. So once I start watching I only have them for 24 hours. If I don't start watching I can have them up to 30 days. I downloaded to my main tivo, not my computer. I have the DVD burner hooked up to the tivo. So I CAN'T burn the movie on dvd?


----------



## pdhenry

No. You can't burn ANY downloaded TiVo content to DVD, not even American Suck Countdown (not that anyone would want to do that).

At least I think. I know you can't TTG anything that's downloaded.


----------



## hornblowercat

Havana Brown said:


> I'm still ooooh so confused, but what's new? I downloaded two movies yesterday, it took forever, but that's fine. So once I start watching I only have them for 24 hours. If I don't start watching I can have them up to 30 days. I downloaded to my main tivo, not my computer. I have the DVD burner hooked up to the tivo. So I CAN'T burn the movie on dvd?


Did you rent or buy?


----------



## Havana Brown

Rent.


----------



## satman52

See you have a Vizio. How do you like it? Been thinking of buying one at Costco. Any suggestions?

Thanks


----------



## Unix_Beard

rainwater said:


> Have you actually downloaded any content? They have plenty of content in widescreen format.


1.33 is 1.33. If it says 1.33, it is NOT widescreen. It could be letterboxed but nothing is indicated as such.


----------



## Enrique

Well i added the Videos 5 Times to my Download Queue on Amazon (purchased the videos around 7am yesterday) and it still has not came up on my Tivo).


what is up?


----------



## Havana Brown

pdhenry said:


> No. You can't burn ANY downloaded TiVo content to DVD, not even American Suck Countdown (not that anyone would want to do that).
> 
> At least I think. I know you can't TTG anything that's downloaded.


Sanx. I get it now.

Also, I THINK I was able to burn Stick It this weekend from Starz, but it won't allow me to transfer it to another Tivo.


----------



## Mike Farrington

BlackBetty said:


> I Rented a movie last night and told amazon to send it to the livingroom TiVo. When I got home I realized that I had that TiVo unpluged from my network because I had my xbox plugged in.
> 
> Amazon instead sent it to my bedroom TiVo as a workaround.
> 
> Is it possible to send a rental to multiple locations? or is it a one and done type setup?


That's odd. I don't think it should "fail over" to another device. It should keep trying it to the device you specified until it is delivered (or until they give up and issue a credit -- or tell you to pick another DVR).


----------



## Mike Farrington

javabird said:


> I'm one of those who would be interested in switching


If Amazon can get their library up to snuff, I too would switch from mailed DVDs to online delivery.

I also agree with others that Amazon needs to clean their UI. There should be one-entry per title, with links to different download options (buy, rent).


----------



## [NG]Owner

Turtleboy said:


> People love to kvetch, don't they.
> 
> This is the first day it's been publicly available. I'm sure they will fix the glitches and improve it with time.


That they do. Squawking on and on about DD, and HD, and CC. Six pages of it. It doesn't work for you. We get it. Thanks.



gthassell said:


> Any possibility of getting the Rewards team to offer Unbox download credits?  Just a thought as a way to build usage and word of mouth...


That is a GREAT idea.



[NG]Owner said:


> This is actually pretty cool. But I did snag Part II of Shockwave from Enterprise just to try out the service.
> 
> [NG]Owner


This Unbox thing works like a charm. Episode was waiting for me in the Now Playing list. I originally looked for it in my Star Trek: Enterprise folder, but ultimately found it in the Amazon Unbox folder. That's a bit annoying as I don't care what the source was, I care that the show is grouped with the other shows of the same name.

Bottom line: I can really see using Unbox to snag TV show episodes, but not movies.

For all Series 2 TiVo players in a household with a HT setup, Unbox is probably a non-starter. Even if Unbox were to add 5.1 to their TiVo capable movies, Series 2 units wouldn't know what to do with it (I think. Series 2 doesn't do DD, does it?). I understand that it would help out the Series 3 guys, but let's deal with the masses first.

As for this twin Series 2 user, I'll stick to Blockbuster Total Access and my HT setup for movies, and use Unbox to snag TV episodes I've missed.

[NG]Owner


----------



## Havana Brown

Has anyone seen The Closer You Get?


----------



## Mike Farrington

pdhenry said:


> It's starting again on SciFi in a week or so.


Really, when? I just checked the SciFi schedule, and it only shows two episodes. One tomorrow, and one a week from tomorrow. The one next week looks to have a generic description. Is that the pilot?


----------



## sixseven

satman52 said:


> See you have a Vizio. How do you like it? Been thinking of buying one at Costco. Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks


I am very happy my Visio, and I have not had any problems. Is it as good as the Sony XBR? Probably not. But it's a great set, especially considering the price tag. (I paid $1,650 plus tax) You can find a lot more info on this set here.


----------



## Stu_Bee

TiVoStephen said:


> I just wanted to reinforce this point. Working DNS is a requirement with TiVoCast and Amazon Unbox.
> If you're having trouble, check your DHCP settings on your DVR and your router.
> (Thanks, rainwater.)


Any other suggestions/Troubleshooting steps?

- I've verified DNS is correct on Router (my dhcp clients work)
- I've changed the DNS on Tivo from pointing to the router (which should work) to pointing to Comcasts DNS servers directly. It's always been using static addressing rather than DHCP.
- TivoPodcasts work, as do the HME apps I've tried
- TivoCast Downloads and Unbox Amazon downloads fail.

If Amazon is pushing this out (rather than being initiated from my Tivo), is there any port forwarding I need to do?


----------



## cherry ghost

dswallow said:


> Everything works, it's just that the "Last Successful" line under "VCM Connection" never seems to show anything other than December 31 for me.


Was this answered somewhere and I missed it?


----------



## Havana Brown

I was trying to dowload the closer you get, but it doesn't show my tv tivos, it only shows PC. Are some of them not downloadable yet?


----------



## Stu_Bee

Havana Brown said:


> I was trying to dowload the closer you get, but it doesn't show my tv tivos, it only shows PC. Are some of them not downloadable yet?


Only ones with the Tivo symbol on the page are downloadable to Tivo.
When I looked yesterday Amazon didn't have a good way to just display the Tivo downloadable content. They used a text search method for "Tivo" which matched many non-tivoable shows.


----------



## Havana Brown

Sanx. So I'm not crazy.


----------



## dswallow

Havana Brown said:


> Sanx. So I'm not crazy.


Those are two completely unrelated things, I believe.


----------



## jlb

Downloaded Stranger than Fiction while I was at work. Got home. The "widescreen" looked just fine on my 27 inch analog Sony.

That being said, I won't purchase movies in the future....I will consider rentals.......


----------



## Mike Farrington

Stu_Bee said:


> Any other suggestions/Troubleshooting steps?
> 
> - I've verified DNS is correct on Router (my dhcp clients work)
> - I've changed the DNS on Tivo from pointing to the router (which should work) to pointing to Comcasts DNS servers directly. It's always been using static addressing rather than DHCP.
> - TivoPodcasts work, as do the HME apps I've tried
> - TivoCast Downloads and Unbox Amazon downloads fail.
> 
> If Amazon is pushing this out (rather than being initiated from my Tivo), is there any port forwarding I need to do?


Do you have any kind of DMZ mode turned on? Are you using any kind of port forward for any other applications and/or servers you might be running? If you are, I'd experiment with temporarily disabling some of those.


----------



## sixseven

sixseven said:


> Here are some details on the movie:
> 
> From Amazon.com:
> 
> Video File Type: TiVo "Best Quality" File
> File Size: 2.30 GB
> Bitrate: 2800 kbps
> Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
> Channels: 2
> 
> Despite the information on amazon.com, the movie was in widescreen format.


I must correct myself. The source video is truely 1.33.1. It's just letterboxed to look widescreen. I change my letterbox color from black to grey to notice this. For S3 owners with widescreen TVs, the zoom aspect setting makes watching the video acceptable, but you will have overscan. I'm wonding if this is done for S2 compatibility? I would think adding the letterboxing would only increase the file size...

The service is not perfect, but for the occasional video renter (like me) this is great. Once amazon delivers true widescreen, HD, and 5.1 sound, this will be an awesome service! Given that there is very little else that will deliver video directly to my TV, I am happy. (I do not have a HTPC, PS3 or XBOX360.)


----------



## Stu_Bee

Mike Farrington said:


> Do you have any kind of DMZ mode turned on? Are you using any kind of port forward for any other applications and/or servers you might be running? If you are, I'd experiment with temporarily disabling some of those.


Very good suggestions. I just tried them, but still no joy.
I'm looking at the real time log of my linksys and wondering what IP address/port is the one that delivers the content.


----------



## jlb

So if we download a movie that is sourced in 1.33:1 and letterboxed to look widescreen and they then put up a true WS edition, do you think they will let us redownload for free?


----------



## ah30k

BTW, why do they have to use ratios based on 1 (x:1) rather than the ratios we all know and love (4:3, 16:9 etc). I hate having to do math


----------



## Arcady

2.35:1, 1.85:1, and 1.33:1 are film ratios.

BTW, 16x9 TV is 1.78:1.


----------



## dswallow

Arcady said:


> 2.35:1, 1.85:1, and 1.33:1 are film ratios.
> 
> BTW, 16x9 TV is 1.78:1.


You mean 47:20, 37:20 and 27:20. Funny how those follow a pattern, huh?


----------



## ThreeSoFar'sBro

Havana Brown said:


> Sanx. So I'm not crazy.


Not to be rude, Havana, but your signature is very distracting to read in threads. It appears to part of a post, and not a signature...

As far as your being crazy...who isn't!?


----------



## plmills

sixseven said:


> I must correct myself. The source video is truely 1.33.1. It's just letterboxed to look widescreen. I change my letterbox color from black to grey to notice this. For S3 owners with widescreen TVs, the zoom aspect setting makes watching the video acceptable, but you will have overscan. I'm wonding if this is done for S2 compatibility? I would think adding the letterboxing would only increase the file size...
> 
> The service is not perfect, but for the occasional video renter (like me) this is great. Once amazon delivers true widescreen, HD, and 5.1 sound, this will be an awesome service! Given that there is very little else that will deliver video directly to my TV, I am happy. (I do not have a HTPC, PS3 or XBOX360.)


The lack of OAR (original aspect ratio) scans is extremely regrettable, and, given the current availability of some content as letterboxed format, I doubt very much we'll be seeing any other solutions from Amazon regarding true widescreen OAR programming. I suspect the powers-that-be at Amazon have decided it will be too complicated for the masses if they offer more than one choice of aspect ratio per title, since it would create tech support issues for them when people ordered the wrong one. Ask anyone who works at the Wal-Mart video counter how many returns they have when people without a WS television buy a WS DVD and don't like it when it doesn't "fill up" their screen.

Regarding HD material - look at the file size in the captured information below:



> Video File Type: TiVo "Best Quality" File
> File Size: 2.30 GB
> Bitrate: 2800 kbps
> Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
> Channels: 2


As a general rule of thumb, the lowest available HD format (720p, for example) would take roughly six times (I didn't bother to do the math - someone check me, but that's got to be close) the space listed above for the video track in the file. DD5.1 would also add a sizeable chunk versus the 2 channel PCM listed above.

Since folks with broadband are saying a 1.5 hour program, encoded as listed in the above quote, takes just less than 2 hours to download from Unbox, we are talking about twelve hour downloads for HD movies, assuming linear extrapolation of download times is a realistic way of estimation.

I am skeptical that Amazon wants to sell six times the bandwidth for the same price, and also doesn't want to deal with the tech support issues when people are angry that the titles take so long to download.

I'm amused by all the posts speculating that Amazon will "get around" to OAR and HD and DD5.1 sound eventually. I doubt they have any intention of doing so in their current plans.

I most urgently hope I'm wrong about this, but Unbox is dead to me until they offer choices that would appeal to home theater enthusiasts. How about a special section of the store where high-quality material (well, *encoded* at higher quality anyway <g>) is offered separately at a higher price?


----------



## dswallow

plmills said:


> Since folks with broadband are saying a 1.5 hour program, encoded as listed in the above quote, takes just less than 2 hours to download from Unbox, we are talking about twelve hour downloads for HD movies, assuming linear extrapolation of download times is a realistic way of estimation.


Encoded for MPEG-4/AVC they'd be much smaller than HD encoded as MPEG-2 would require.


----------



## plmills

dswallow said:


> Encoded for MPEG-4/AVC they'd be much smaller than HD encoded as MPEG-2 would require.


True - I wasn't accounting for Amazon using a better encoding for the HD stuff.

I've seen HD stuff on my series 3 take anywhere from 4.5 to 6.8 gigabytes per hour for programs with DD surround tracks. If that's any guide at all, HD stuff on Amazon, efficiently encoded, would be a minimum of 6.75 gigabytes for a 1:30 movie (a quick check shows that my recent HD recording of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", at 1:45 from HBO-HD, takes 7.76 gb of space, so we're in the ball park here).

That's still a sizeable increase over the 2.3 gigabytes for the 1:30 hour program in the quoted material in my post above.

I still contend that Amazon will not want to sell several times the bandwidth for the same price as SD stuff.


----------



## dswallow

plmills said:


> True - I wasn't accounting for Amazon using a better encoding for the HD stuff.
> 
> I've seen HD stuff on my series 3 take anywhere from 4.5 to 6.8 gigabytes per hour for programs with DD surround tracks. If that's any guide at all, HD stuff on Amazon, efficiently encoded, would be a minimum of 6.75 gigabytes for a 1:30 movie (a quick check shows that my recent HD recording of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", at 1:45 from HBO-HD, takes 7.76 gb of space, so we're in the ball park here).
> 
> That's still a sizeable increase over the 2.3 gigabytes for the 1:30 hour program in the quoted material in my post above.
> 
> I still contend that Amazon will not want to sell several times the bandwidth for the same price as SD stuff.


But the numbers you're looking at on the Series 3 are still MPEG-2 sizes. The Series 3 can play back MPEG-4/AVC encoded material, which is certainly what a service like Unbox would use for exactly the bandwidth reasons you mention.


----------



## plmills

dswallow said:


> But the numbers you're looking at on the Series 3 are still MPEG-2 sizes. The Series 3 can play back MPEG-4/AVC encoded material, which is certainly what a service like Unbox would use for exactly the bandwidth reasons you mention.


My apologies - I wasn't thinking clearly about encodings currently in use for HD broadcasts. I assumed ATSC and cable HD channels used some variant of H.264 or MPEG-4, but, in fact, it is MPEG-2 (at least in the U.S.). I knew that at one point, but somehow didn't keep it in mind.

Be that as it may, I am still unconvinced that Amazon has any current plans to expand their Unbox service to include any real HD content or offer a choice in aspect ratios. I think they're aiming the service at the largest market, and, unfortunately for HT folks, that is still largely an SD 4:3 audience. I just don't think they'll offer more than one choice of format for any given title, and that format will be what they think will generate the most profit.

Here's hoping I'm wrong about that as well. 

BTW, I have spent most of the day helping my nephew configure a new Vista laptop computer, including getting it working with his very nice home theater system, which includes an XBox 360. We viewed HD content from the XBox Live Media Store on his HT setup, and it was glorious. I sure wish there *was* a choice like that for TiVo users.


----------



## cluemeister

Unable to download Tivo Unbox - Resolved - Related to Lifetime Transfer

Quick summary - Although tivocast could see all my tivos, Amazon couldn't see my S3 tivo, so I couldn't use Unbox. 

Turns out the problem was the lifetime transfer. Although tivocast downloads to my tivos using the names I gave my tivos on their website, when I transferred my old unit's lifetime warranty to the S3, tivo's computers gave my old lifetime unit's name to my S3. 

So I thought Amazon could only see my old S2 (because that name was on the unbox list), but it turns out it was really seeing the S3. Found it in system settings.

So Tivocast uses the names I gave my tivos on their website, but Amazon goes by the name on the internal system settings of your tivo.

Didn't know if anyone else has this problem, but if you do I would suggest you check your system settings to find the name of your tivo and compare it to the ones listed on Amazon.


----------



## julie4evert

I cant figure out how to get the movie uploaded to my TiVo Box, please help. Found it myself.


----------



## pdhenry

julie4evert said:


> I cant figure out how to get the movie uploaded to my TiVo Box, please help. Found it myself.


Not all movies are availabel for loading to the TiVo. Those that are will say so near the page top below the product description. For the ones that are available for sending to the TiVo, your registered TiVo will appear in the list of devices to which you can send the movie.

We need more information about where your experience differs from the above.


----------



## puckettcg

The list of what can be loaded to Tivo is growing. I tried last week to download Veronica Mars to one my TIVO's, and couldn't - but today I was able to. I'm optimistic that eventually everything that is available to download to the PC will be available to download to TIVO. I buy lots of DVD's of shows - and I view this as an acceptable alternative. 

On another note - someone on this thread or one of the multiple other related threads, I saw a response that TIVO would be able to handle anamorphic widescreen. Does anyone know if that is only true of the S3? I actually wouldn't think it would matter because regardless of the player, isn't the TV rather than the player that stretches the image which if displayed on a regular TV would just look like everyone was skinny? The inverse of everyone looking fat on a stretched standard DVD image. 

I only have a Series 2DT, and if they start offering anamorphic widescreen that is compatible with the S2, I would likely download rental movies - but the rental I watched for Miami Vice was awful on my widescreen because half the screen is black bars with a stretched center image. The image quality though was fine - better than analog TV, not that much worse than DVD. If they start offering HD downloads, then I would forgo buying a HD player (or sony PS3 which I was seriously considering not for games but for Blu-Ray movie watching) and buy the S3.


----------



## RandyDtg

What quality level are the downloads ?


----------



## pdhenry

RandyDtg said:


> What quality level are the downloads ?


IIRC, the claim is that they're at or better than S2 "BEST" quality. The one I watched was very good (~ BEST) quality except that the transcoding made pans/zooms jittery.


----------



## dylanemcgregor

I downloaded Jet Li's Fearless over the weekend and watched it last night. Overall I thought the picture quality was excellent, we have a 27 inch CRT and the picture was correctly letter boxed as far as I could tell.

My gripe though is that the movie was dubbed instead of subtitled. Something that doesn't seem to be displayed anywhere on the download page. For a movie like Fearless this was only mildly annoying, but for most foreign films it would be really distracting. I understand that some people prefer to not watch subtitled movies, but for a foreign film it should be pretty prominently displayed on the download page if the movie is dubbed or subtitled.

Dylan


----------



## Gospel

I like the idea of using my TiVo to watch downloaded movies. However, it will not have any 5.1 surround sound. I will probably use it for mostly rentals. And, if I really like the movie, I'll get the DVD.

I did buy a movie with my $15 credit. Now, I wish I had done 3 rentals instead. Oh will, live and learn.

Enjoy life!
Steven


----------



## Sarnie24

To the people who have downloaded to their pc : Where does the download go? Is it in the TiVo Desktop? If so, why wouldn't we be able to back it up on a watchable dvd?


----------



## cynthia

We registered for this today, and downloaded a movie (rented). Sometime at the end or just after the download, the TIVO froze and we had to unplug/replug. I was excited about this service, but don't want it to freeze my TIVO every time!


----------



## dswallow

Sarnie24 said:


> To the people who have downloaded to their pc : Where does the download go? Is it in the TiVo Desktop? If so, why wouldn't we be able to back it up on a watchable dvd?


Downloads to your PC are playable in the Amazon Unbox applet only; you can back them up to DVD but only by recording the file that only Unbox can play. It won't be playable on any DVD player including those that can play various other standard file formats.


----------



## knightl

puckettcg said:


> The list of what can be loaded to Tivo is growing. I tried last week to download Veronica Mars to one my TIVO's, and couldn't - but today I was able to. I'm optimistic that eventually everything that is available to download to the PC will be available to download to TIVO. I buy lots of DVD's of shows - and I view this as an acceptable alternative.
> 
> On another note - someone on this thread or one of the multiple other related threads, I saw a response that TIVO would be able to handle anamorphic widescreen. Does anyone know if that is only true of the S3? I actually wouldn't think it would matter because regardless of the player, isn't the TV rather than the player that stretches the image which if displayed on a regular TV would just look like everyone was skinny? The inverse of everyone looking fat on a stretched standard DVD image.
> 
> I only have a Series 2DT, and if they start offering anamorphic widescreen that is compatible with the S2, I would likely download rental movies - but the rental I watched for Miami Vice was awful on my widescreen because half the screen is black bars with a stretched center image. The image quality though was fine - better than analog TV, not that much worse than DVD. If they start offering HD downloads, then I would forgo buying a HD player (or sony PS3 which I was seriously considering not for games but for Blu-Ray movie watching) and buy the S3.


i have not noticed any increase in the content available.
has anyone heard anything from amazon about increased content?
(aside from the initial posting on engadget)
without 16:9/dd5.1 and eventually hd, this service is next to worthless.


----------



## dswallow

knightl said:


> i have not noticed any increase in the content available.
> has anyone heard anything from amazon about increased content?


I've heard nothing from Amazon about more content.

But when I search for TiVo-compatible content in Unbox, it's been a steadily growing number of items found.


----------



## rainwater

dswallow said:


> I've heard nothing from Amazon about more content.


Yesterday, TiVo announced they were adding Sony Pictures and MGM to the list of available TiVo content from Amazon. Hopefully, Amazon will be able to encode this content soon. That would seem to give TiVo users access to most of Amazon's movies.


----------



## HDTiVo

rainwater said:


> Yesterday, TiVo announced they were adding Sony Pictures and MGM to the list of available TiVo content from Amazon. Hopefully, Amazon will be able to encode this content soon. That would seem to give TiVo users access to most of Amazon's movies.


In his 3/12 presentation, Rogers mentioned that Disney was the only studio not on board (not sure if 'on board' refers to Unbox or TiVo available Unbox.)


----------



## rainwater

HDTiVo said:


> In his 3/12 presentation, Rogers mentioned that Disney was the only studio not on board (not sure if 'on board' refers to Unbox or TiVo available Unbox.)


Disney isn't on board with Unbox. Apparently, it has been easy for TiVo to get rights from studios already with Amazon. But Disney hasn't been added to Unbox mainly because they are so in bed with Apple/iTunes atm. At some point they can't be the only major studio not on Unbox and think that is a good solution, so I think its a matter of time.


----------



## HDTiVo

dswallow said:


> Downloads to your PC are playable in the Amazon Unbox applet only


Actually they are protected WMVs and can be played in other compatible players. So are the Vongo downloads these days.


----------



## HDTiVo

rainwater said:


> Disney isn't on board with Unbox. Apparently, it has been easy for TiVo to get rights from studios already with Amazon. But Disney hasn't been added to Unbox mainly because they are so in bed with Apple/iTunes atm. At some point they can't be the only major studio not on Unbox and think that is a good solution, so I think its a matter of time.


Right, that's what I meant, and I agree they'll eventually cave.

But it wasn't clear that all other studios are on board with the TiVo part yet. Rogers is frequently not clear.


----------



## rainwater

HDTiVo said:


> But it wasn't clear that all other studios are on board with the TiVo part yet. Rogers is frequently not clear.


Before the launch TiVo stated in a press release that Sony and MGM were the only majors studio on Unbox that they haven't reached an agreement with but they expected too soon. So it seems the only major movie studio missing now for TiVo users is Disney. Whether all of these agreements includes all of the TV shows too I don't know. It seems Amazon has lots of encoding to get going on!


----------



## kupe

MikeMar said:


> I ordered Borat a few hours ago, and was home about 30 min ago and only 11 min were downloaded.


I'm downloading Babel as we speak over my 3 MB/s DSL with Tivo Wireless G adapter. It appears to be taking about 1 hour to download each 30 minute's worth. Babel is a long movie at 144 minutes, so the download could approach 5 hours. Ouch. Oh well- it should be ready for viewing this evening.

Kupe


----------



## HDTiVo

From the Terms of Use page on Amazon:


> b. Purchased Digital Content. Upon your payment of the license fee, Amazon grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right and license to retain a permanent copy of Purchased Digital Content and to view, use, and privately display the Purchased Digital Content for Non-Commercial, Private Use as specified on the detail pages of the Purchased Digital Content or other help or informational pages of the Service at the time of your payment. *You may exercise these rights on up to 2* (two) non-portable Authorized Devices (e.g. laptop or desktop computers, *TiVo® DVRs*) and two (2) portable Authorized Devices as specifically designated by Amazon from time to time. There can only be 1 (one) account for the Service on an Authorized Device. *You may make a back-up copy * of Purchased Digital Content on removable media (e.g. recordable DVD) or on an external hard drive in the same format as the original downloaded file, *or in the case of TiVo® DVRs, in MPEG2 format*, to play on your permitted Authorized Devices. Any back-up copy of the Purchased Digital Content on a DVD will not be playable on a traditional DVD player, but only on a permitted Authorized Device.


What is meant in this context by making a backup copy in mpeg2 format in the case of TiVo?


----------



## jfh3

HDTiVo said:


> Actually they are protected WMVs and can be played in other compatible players.


For example?


----------



## TiVoStephen

dswallow said:


> I've heard nothing from Amazon about more content.
> 
> But when I search for TiVo-compatible content in Unbox, it's been a steadily growing number of items found.


Thanks for noticing. 

In addition, since TV shows are only listed in the search result once, you don't necessarily see right away when an entire new season is added by the Unbox team, but literally hundreds of new shows and movies are being added most weekdays.


----------



## TiVoStephen

cynthia said:


> We registered for this today, and downloaded a movie (rented). Sometime at the end or just after the download, the TIVO froze and we had to unplug/replug. I was excited about this service, but don't want it to freeze my TIVO every time!


Cynthia, sorry this happened. Can you please try again? We had an extensive beta program, and I can tell you with a great deal of confidence that 
what you experienced is not normal. If you need to get credit for the rental (that is, if it's not still available to download from the "Your Media Library" section), please contact Amazon for a credit.

Best regards,
Stephen


----------



## TiVoStephen

Sarnie24 said:


> To the people who have downloaded to their pc : Where does the download go? Is it in the TiVo Desktop? If so, why wouldn't we be able to back it up on a watchable dvd?


PC downloads will NOT end up visible in the TiVo Desktop, but will only be available using the Amazon Unbox for PC application that you can download from Amazon's site.


----------



## hornblowercat

TiVoStephen said:


> Cynthia, sorry this happened. Can you please try again? We had an extensive beta program, and I can tell you with a great deal of confidence that
> what you experienced is not normal. If you need to get credit for the rental (that is, if it's not still available to download from the "Your Media Library" section), please contact Amazon for a credit.
> 
> Best regards,
> Stephen


I had a problem downloading a CSI NY, and they kept having me redownload it. They promised me credit each time but it didn't occurre. When I made a movie purchase I was surprised to see I was charged 7.50. I called and complained to them about this and they totally refunded my sign up account. I was still charged the 7.50 for the movie but that's ok, I came way out ahead.


----------



## jon01

i was dealing with a guy over at amazon unbox before the tivo thing went live (i was trying to get the standalone app to work right). so i figured i'd email him and tell him that i am using unbox now with tivo and also asked, "I was wondering if you could 
give me any timeframe of when 5.1, true widescreen, hd movies, and/or 
closed captioning will be available?." 

here is the response i got: 

"
Hi Jon - 

All I can tell you right now is that we are working on those features. 
The timing depends on a lot of things - signing studio agreements, 
getting new source materials, re-encoding, etc. I'd love to get there as 
soon as possible.

Feel free to email with more questions. Glad you are using the new TiVo 
stuff."

At least its another confirmation that they're in fact working on it and it will be done eventually 

- Jon


----------



## ZeoTiVo

jon01 said:


> At least its another confirmation that they're in fact working on it and it will be done eventually
> 
> - Jon


this really is the birth pains of a new way to get Video. Music went down this road first and they have a lot of lessons learned, chief among those lessons that preserving lossless quality vs ease of use of the delivery pipeline is a constant struggle.


----------



## HDTiVo

jfh3 said:


> For example?


The Windows Media Player that comes with everyone's PC.


----------



## andwhatsnext

I've talked twice to amazon tech support and to two different people at tivo, and I still can't download anything to my tivo. I bought one movie, put it in my queue... and nothing happens, and about 15 minutes later, it disappears from my queue and acts like I never requested it. (This has happened about 20 times so far.) 

My tivo is showing absolutely *nothing* to suggest it knows about amazon (no folder, no download, no attempted/failed/in progress download listed, etc.) but both of my tivos show up fine on amazon. 

I even bought a second download (this time, a cheaper TV show) because the tivo peeps thought the first one might be corrupted so my tivo wasn't recognizing/starting the download. The same thing happened: nothing. (Unboxed stuff seems to download just fine to my PC, FWIW...)

 Anyone else have any other suggestions/ideas? This has been very annoying -- I would so love this to work!


----------



## pdhenry

andwhatsnext said:


> Anyone else have any other suggestions/ideas?


Obvious question - have you verified any broadband connectivity to the TiVo?

- TiVoCast downloads
- Streaming audio (Live 365 or podcasts)
- TiVoToGo transfers out/in

Of the three, I'd guess that TiVoCast would be the most important to demonstrate to yourself. If that doesn't work I'd conclude it's not an Amazon issue.

I think you can request TiVoCast downloads via the Find Programs menu now.


----------



## rainwater

andwhatsnext said:


> Anyone else have any other suggestions/ideas? This has been very annoying -- I would so love this to work!


Do any TivoCasts work? Are you using a static ip address on the TiVo and thus may have incorrectly configured DNS?


----------



## Havana Brown

ThreeSoFar'sBro said:


> Not to be rude, Havana, but your signature is very distracting to read in threads. It appears to part of a post, and not a signature...
> 
> As far as your being crazy...who isn't!?


I was hoping you'd say my avatar was distracting. 

I finally watched The Devil Wears Prada last night and it looked fine. No problems with it.


----------



## knightl

TiVoStephen said:


> Thanks for noticing.
> 
> In addition, since TV shows are only listed in the search result once, you don't necessarily see right away when an entire new season is added by the Unbox team, but literally hundreds of new shows and movies are being added most weekdays.


how many of those hundreds added daily are tivo _rentals_?
i'm not seeing that kind of increase when i check.
e.g. why can't casino royale be rented if it is available for purchase?
and again, where's 16:9 dd5.1?

impatient? yes.
but this thing has such a huge upside, the lack of good content is frustrating....


----------



## rainwater

knightl said:


> how many of those hundreds added daily are tivo _rentals_?
> i'm not seeing that kind of increase when i check.


Searching by the tivo keyword isn't helpful at all. I think all that tells you is that the content may or may not be encoded but eventually it will be. I wish Amazon wouldn't show content as available for TiVo until it actually is.


----------



## andwhatsnext

rainwater said:


> Do any TivoCasts work? Are you using a static ip address on the TiVo and thus may have incorrectly configured DNS?


Good questions! But, yes - I have been downloading a tivocast those for a few months now (and have had the broadband set up for a year). Yesterday on the phone, the tivo tech dude had me redo the IP address procedure... and there was no change. 

Thanks for the ideas = please keep 'em coming!


----------



## HDTiVo

TiVoStephen said:


> but literally hundreds of new shows and movies are being added most weekdays.


Yeah, but what about weekends????????? 

Its very neat that completely deleting a show from your TiVo frees the license, unlike the difficulty releasing it from a PC. How did you manage that?


----------



## TiVoStephen

How was it managed? Hard-workin' Amazon and TiVo engineers did a good job on the license management system.


----------



## TiVoStephen

andwhatsnext said:


> Good questions! But, yes - I have been downloading a tivocast those for a few months now (and have had the broadband set up for a year). Yesterday on the phone, the tivo tech dude had me redo the IP address procedure... and there was no change.
> 
> Thanks for the ideas = please keep 'em coming!


andwhatsnext, I'd like to take a look myself. Can you please e-mail me ([email protected]) with your 15-digit TiVo Service Number and also forward me the e-mail receipt for your download from Amazon?


----------



## TiVoStephen

rainwater said:


> Searching by the tivo keyword isn't helpful at all. I think all that tells you is that the content may or may not be encoded but eventually it will be. I wish Amazon wouldn't show content as available for TiVo until it actually is.


Hey rainwater, something doesn't sound right. When you use the tivo keyword search, everything in the results should be available for use with Amazon Unbox on TiVo. The only limitation I'm aware of is that sometimes for a TV series, not all episodes are available yet (e.g., one season is, one season isn't).

Can you give me an example of something that's not working as I described?


----------



## TiVoStephen

knightl said:


> how many of those hundreds added daily are tivo _rentals_?
> i'm not seeing that kind of increase when i check.
> e.g. why can't casino royale be rented if it is available for purchase?
> and again, where's 16:9 dd5.1?
> 
> impatient? yes.
> but this thing has such a huge upside, the lack of good content is frustrating....


I'll pass on your feedback. Studios make the decision about whether or not their content is available for rent or purchase or both.

Best regards,
Stephen


----------



## HDTiVo

TiVoStephen said:


> Can you give me an example of something that's not working as I described?


Big one... 24... comes at top of list after "TiVo" search and narrow to TV category.

Veronica Mars
CSI NY
Star Trek: TOS
The West Wing
Numbers
The O.C.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dick Van **** Show
Hill Street Blues


----------



## Globular

I know this is for Amazon, and I will send them this feedback, but I'd love to see HBO's shows available!

-Matt


----------



## cherry ghost

HDTiVo said:


> Big one... 24... comes at top of list after "TiVo" search and narrow to TV category.
> 
> Veronica Mars
> CSI NY
> Star Trek: TOS
> The West Wing
> Numbers
> The O.C.
> Buffy the Vampire Slayer
> Dick Van **** Show
> Hill Street Blues


At least one episode of these is available and that fits what Stephen said.


----------



## JustAllie

cherry ghost said:


> At least one episode of these is available and that fits what Stephen said.


The problem is that it doesn't take you to the compatible episodes.

For MacGyver, for example, it shows me a list of every single episode (and that show was on for a long time!!). Only a few are compatible. So the search feature needs to eliminate episodes that can't be downloaded to a TiVo when a person searches only for compatible episodes.

That said, I finally found a compatible episode and downloaded it yesterday -- it works great! Thanks for the cool feature and the free credit to try it out, TiVo & Amazon.com! :up:


----------



## ZeoTiVo

JustAllie said:


> The problem is that it doesn't take you to the compatible episodes.


I think Amazon and TiVo see the problem instead as one of there being incompatible episodes at all. I would speculate they are working on that vs a refined search feature down to the episode level.


----------



## subat0mic

i noticed the movies are in 4:3 letterbox....
not good for the S3 and an HDTV...



Arcady said:


> Without widescreen content, it is worthless. (Letterboxed video packed in a 4:3 container is not real widescreen.)
> 
> :down:


agreed



> amazon, if you can hear me -- do some hi-def widescreen movie downloads for $4.99 or $5.99. i would try it out (especially if some of that money was going to tivo). i am waiting out the format wars (i heard blu-ray may have won the war by year's end, and we may see a $299 BR player by the end of 2007?).


unbox got me excited, but it doesn't appear to be suited for the S3 (unless you use the zoom feature, and then ick, the quality isn't great)....
hopefully they'll add at least 480p widescreen content... 720 or 1080 content would rock my world...


----------



## rainwater

subat0mic said:


> agreed


It's not worthless to the majority of Tivo users who are using the S2 platform. It's only been out a week and people are acting like the service will never improve their content.


----------



## cherry ghost

rainwater said:


> It's not worthless to the majority of Tivo users who are using the S2 platform. It's only been out a week and people are acting like the service will never improve their content.


agreed


----------



## JustAllie

ZeoTiVo said:


> I think Amazon and TiVo see the problem instead as one of there being incompatible episodes at all. I would speculate they are working on that vs a refined search feature down to the episode level.


Well, that's obviously a better option then. More episodes I can download to my TiVo!


----------



## acbrown

ScaryMike said:


> It seems that the aspect ratio depends on the title. Babel seems to be wide screen, while Little Miss Sunshine seems to be pan+scan.
> 
> Thats pretty disappointing. Hopefully they will have a wide screen option for all titles (that are done is wide screen).


I tried it out with Litte Miss Sunshine on my Series 2 (Toshiba SD-H400) and was pleasantly surprised by the quality on my 32" widescreen LCD. It was letterboxed and looked pretty good when zoomed to fit the screen. It's probably not as good as DVD, but unless I was comparing side by side, I don't know if I would notice. It is far superior than anything I record in best quality. By the way, it took nearly 20hrs to download using my slow 256K connection! This might tempt me to upgrade my internet.

-Aaron


----------



## shelbel

Count me amongst the folks who haven't been able to make this work.

I ordered a rental movie from Unbox yesterday, and shortly thereafter experienced the dreaded "Error 126" crash (when your Guide data disappears and your TiVo tells you to activate your service like it's never been used before), so went through the Guided Setup to, well, set it up again. Don't know if that's related--second or third time this year we've had to cope with that bug in the system. But maybe this is related to the file's loss.

Anyway, checked the box today and no sign of an Amazon product. E-mailed Amazon to find out what's what, and got the most amazing response: it _had_ downloaded (and maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough?). But--maybe my TiVo had refused the download and I should free up space by deleting other Unbox products! Wondering how I would have accumulated those, since I was complaining of being unable to download anything? And if I can make space, how do I re-attempt the download, since I have 30 days? I remember reading another post saying I could do so, but can't find that post or figure out how to do so from their site. And, finally, if my TiVo had refused the download, shouldn't there be an allowance in the setup that gives you a message on the Amazon end that the download was unsuccessful and why? Amazon's system thinks it sent this ginormous file to me, and my machine has no recollection of that happening?

In the end, I'm only out $3.99 of their credit, so no great loss. But I will be in no hurry to spend real money til I can be confident it will actually work.

And my network? Perfectly fine. I can view my TiVo from my computer and have moved files from one to the other, and I have enabled downloads on my account.


----------



## JustAllie

shelbel said:


> Count me amongst the folks who haven't been able to make this work.
> 
> I ordered a rental movie from Unbox yesterday, and shortly thereafter experienced the dreaded "Error 126" crash (when your Guide data disappears and your TiVo tells you to activate your service like it's never been used before), so went through the Guided Setup to, well, set it up again. Don't know if that's related--second or third time this year we've had to cope with that bug in the system. But maybe this is related to the file's loss.
> 
> Anyway, checked the box today and no sign of an Amazon product. E-mailed Amazon to find out what's what, and got the most amazing response: it _had_ downloaded (and maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough?). But--maybe my TiVo had refused the download and I should free up space by deleting other Unbox products! Wondering how I would have accumulated those, since I was complaining of being unable to download anything? And if I can make space, how do I re-attempt the download, since I have 30 days? I remember reading another post saying I could do so, but can't find that post or figure out how to do so from their site. And, finally, if my TiVo had refused the download, shouldn't there be an allowance in the setup that gives you a message on the Amazon end that the download was unsuccessful and why? Amazon's system thinks it sent this ginormous file to me, and my machine has no recollection of that happening?
> 
> In the end, I'm only out $3.99 of their credit, so no great loss. But I will be in no hurry to spend real money til I can be confident it will actually work.
> 
> And my network? Perfectly fine. I can view my TiVo from my computer and have moved files from one to the other, and I have enabled downloads on my account.


Try going to http://www.amazon.com/unbox and then clicking on the link that says "Your Media Library" -- maybe it gives you a chance to re-download the movie there.


----------



## TiVoStephen

HDTiVo said:


> Big one... 24... comes at top of list after "TiVo" search and narrow to TV category.
> 
> Veronica Mars
> CSI NY
> Star Trek: TOS
> The West Wing
> Numbers
> The O.C.
> Buffy the Vampire Slayer
> Dick Van **** Show
> Hill Street Blues


HDTiVo, all of these have at least one episode available for TiVo. For example, "24" has Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 5 available for TiVo, but not (yet) Season 6.

There's a new feature Amazon has provided that can help here. Try it out now!

1. Head to http://www.amazon/unbox/
2. Type in "tivo" in the search box and click Go
3. Click on "TV" in the category list on the left
4. Scroll down to one of the shows you list, like Veronica Mars
5. Note the new "See all episodes that match your search" under the Veronica Mars item, and click on that link.
6. Note that (currently) 15 episodes are listed, and each of these are available for use with Amazon Unbox on TiVo right now.


----------



## TiVoStephen

shelbel said:


> Count me amongst the folks who haven't been able to make this work.
> 
> I ordered a rental movie from Unbox yesterday, and shortly thereafter experienced the dreaded "Error 126" crash (when your Guide data disappears and your TiVo tells you to activate your service like it's never been used before), so went through the Guided Setup to, well, set it up again. Don't know if that's related--second or third time this year we've had to cope with that bug in the system. But maybe this is related to the file's loss.
> 
> Anyway, checked the box today and no sign of an Amazon product. E-mailed Amazon to find out what's what, and got the most amazing response: it _had_ downloaded (and maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough?). But--maybe my TiVo had refused the download and I should free up space by deleting other Unbox products! Wondering how I would have accumulated those, since I was complaining of being unable to download anything? And if I can make space, how do I re-attempt the download, since I have 30 days? I remember reading another post saying I could do so, but can't find that post or figure out how to do so from their site. And, finally, if my TiVo had refused the download, shouldn't there be an allowance in the setup that gives you a message on the Amazon end that the download was unsuccessful and why? Amazon's system thinks it sent this ginormous file to me, and my machine has no recollection of that happening?
> 
> In the end, I'm only out $3.99 of their credit, so no great loss. But I will be in no hurry to spend real money til I can be confident it will actually work.
> 
> And my network? Perfectly fine. I can view my TiVo from my computer and have moved files from one to the other, and I have enabled downloads on my account.


shelbel, sorry you had a problem. I'm not familiar with the Error 126 issue, but sounds like that might have contributed. If you go to the To Do list and look at the View Recording History, do you see an entry for the title you rented? If so, what's the error that's listed?

Allie's suggestion is a good one; if the system sees you didn't download it, your license should be available from Your Media Library and you should be able to re-download it.

If not, please contact Amazon for a credit for your failed rental. And please give us another chance. We are in the launch week, and while the vast majority of downloads succeed, we are seeing a small number of users encountering an issue from time to time.

Best regards,
Stephen


----------



## shelbel

Thanks for the advice. I checked out my recording history and the movie does indeed appear as "not recorded because it wasn't found." Don't know what that means, but at least it tried. Since I was fixing the system about an hour after this not-recording happened, I'm guessing the TiVo was already lost (and therefore unreachable over the network) by then. Just hope Amazon's system figures out a way to notice that the download failed.

The movie does appear in my Amazon media library, but there's no download button--guess the rental is a one-time option, as opposed to outright purchase, which allows you to store the title at Amazon and re-download to save space. I'm assuming I'll get the credit back from Amazon eventually and, like I said, I can't complain too much about losing a credit they gave to me in the first place. Like y'all said--growing pains.


----------



## TiVoStephen

shelbel, thanks for the update. When you see "not found" almost 99% of the time it means that DNS (domain name service) isn't configured correctly for your DVR on your network. You can check some of the DHCP troubleshooting steps at our support site:

http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=82CF8E3B-89BD-4735-AF3D-524FD4E172C2

If Amazon detects that the download never started, it should let you re-download, but it sounds like in this case the system thought it started the download. Please contact Amazon and they'll give you back your rental credit and please do try again.

I do recommend you troubleshoot with regular TiVoCast; if regular TiVoCast recordings (from http://www.tivo.com/tivocast/ ) work, then Amazon download will work as well. But if not, you are still having DNS issues and your DVR won't be able to find Amazon.com to download the content.


----------



## rainwater

TiVoStephen said:


> When you see "not found" almost 99% of the time it means that DNS (domain name service) isn't configured correctly for your DVR on your network.


I would guess about 99% of the problems people have downloading Unbox content is because of this as well. Maybe using ip addresses instead of domain names could solve all of these issues. It seems using domain names has exposed a lot of dns configuration issues with TiVo boxes.


----------



## JustAllie

TiVoStephen said:


> HDTiVo, all of these have at least one episode available for TiVo. For example, "24" has Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 5 available for TiVo, but not (yet) Season 6.
> 
> There's a new feature Amazon has provided that can help here. Try it out now!
> 
> 1. Head to http://www.amazon/unbox/
> 2. Type in "tivo" in the search box and click Go
> 3. Click on "TV" in the category list on the left
> 4. Scroll down to one of the shows you list, like Veronica Mars
> 5. Note the new "See all episodes that match your search" under the Veronica Mars item, and click on that link.
> 6. Note that (currently) 15 episodes are listed, and each of these are available for use with Amazon Unbox on TiVo right now.


Actually when I tried this exact sequence of steps for MacGyver, it listed all the episodes, not just those that I can download to a TiVo.

That's the only glitch I've found. "See all episodes that match your search" does not in fact filter out non-TiVo-compatible episodes even if you're searching with the keyword "tivo."


----------



## shelbel

Just an update--

Everything worked out in the end---Amazon reset the movie in my Media Library and made it downloadable again. I thanked them for their troubles--I imagine this is a pain for them too. I don't anticipate any problems with the new download.

The network connections are all fine and operating the way they should. The problem was, I still believe, the Error 126 issue. I've dealt with it a couple of times since January, and read threads on this forum discussing the same problem. The TiVo suddenly develops amnesia--it loses its guide data, or is unable to process the guide data it has. Sometimes it forgets you ever activated service and reminds you to call and activate. But at least in these last two instances it has disappeared from the network. I call it Error 126 because somewhere along the line you get a message that it was unable to process or show guide data; Error 126. Anyways, my TiVo had one of these issues apparently just about when the download was attempted, so it would have been missing from my network when Amazon was looking for it. I have since gone through restart and Guided Setup, which generally resolves the issue and makes all network-y things work again.

Thanks again everyone for your advice.


----------



## HDTiVo

TiVoStephen said:


> HDTiVo, all of these have at least one episode available for TiVo.
> 
> 5. Note the new "See all episodes that match your search" under the Veronica Mars item, and click on that link.


Oh well. 

Try Epside "Open and Shut" CSI:NY 10/25/06

Using this is difficult because its less clear where the episodes fall in the series and especially that on my browser it closes when I go back, so I have to reopen and page through the episodes again.

I'd be alot more comfortable with a TiVo symbol next to each compatible episode on the series' pages. Again take CSI NY; go to the series pages (season 2&3) and none of the episodes indicate TiVo compatibility, although some are. Consider trying to buy multiple episodes or a whole season in that situation of not knowing how much is TiVo compatible.

Also a version of the TiVo compatible logo at the top of the page that indicates some episodes compatible instead of nothing.

But if all this is going to be temporary forget it.


----------



## TiVoStephen

rainwater said:


> I would guess about 99% of the problems people have downloading Unbox content is because of this as well. Maybe using ip addresses instead of domain names could solve all of these issues. It seems using domain names has exposed a lot of dns configuration issues with TiVo boxes.


Yes, we're thinking along these lines as well and are investigating some workarounds.


----------



## dswallow

TiVoStephen said:


> Yes, we're thinking along these lines as well and are investigating some workarounds.


I'd probably use the daily call to provide the receiver with a preloaded DNS cache with expiration times and TTL set appropriately. Those with working DNS would always update the cache themselves anyway, and the cache would survive long enough till the next daily call for those without working DNS. Should IP addresses change, you won't have hardcoded IP's anywhere to worry about, and since a daily call is required anyway, there'll be nothing bad happening for subscribers with no DNS ever.


----------



## Havana Brown

I dowloaded the Devil Wears Prada, and watched that already, and still waiting to see Little Miss Sunshine. Nothing else really catches my eye.


----------



## MarsLionsFan

aringhof said:


> i read the fine print where it lets you burn your copy to DVD as a "back up", but the format is the same file format as the original, so it wont work in a DVD player. its some weird UnBox-Tivo format.... does anyone know of a work around , as we want to buy a kid movie and be abl eto burn it to portable DVD for the car. We have a Series 3 an a Series 2... so Im curious which to download it to....
> 
> Video-Redo should work... there's a 30 day free trial that will convert a .tivo file to .mpg and should allow you to burn the mpeg to a DVD...


----------



## ddelora

I bought Casino Royale, transfer started immediatly, but took 7 hours. I did get a widescreen version, video aulity looks good, but I can not burn it to DVD either (DRM protected - I have a Pioneer DVR-810H, bummer). Seems strange that we can not back them up, hate to buy or rent movies that if I clear off to make room for more recordings that I would have to download the purchases again to see them (yeah I know - upgrade the HDD to a larger cap).... For $15, I'll buy the DVD. 7 hours to download, I could have gone to the rental place, watched it, gone back and rented another movie, paused it while I cooked dinner, finished watching the second movie....


----------



## dswallow

ddelora said:


> 7 hours to download, I could have gone to the rental place, watched it, gone back and rented another movie, paused it while I cooked dinner, finished watching the second movie....


Most people won't sit at the screen and stare for 7 hours until the download completes. They'll do other stuff, including other than going to the video store two or three times.


----------



## Stormspace

Unbox is a great thing! I really like it and it will only get better, I'm certain. Some things I'd like them to address in the future are:

*The ability to use the TiVo GUI to order rental content
*More rental content
*Allow transfer and burn to DVD for purchases or make the purchases more reasonably priced. 

Transfer times don't really bother me so much as long as the show/movie is on within a days time. With the TV show purchases I like:

*2 bucks a pop. Well worth getting a missed show if something happens and it doesn't record. The catalog has to be complete though.

For now I'm waiting to use my 15.00 credit towards the rental of a movie I don't want to purchase. Hope the credit doesn't expire.


----------



## phug

Make sure you have enough space on your TiVO. Try perm deleting some of the downloaded tv shows. The Unbox video will not automatically delete any movies so you have to manually make room for them.


----------



## jfh3

dswallow said:


> I'd probably use the daily call to provide the receiver with a preloaded DNS cache with expiration times and TTL set appropriately. Those with working DNS would always update the cache themselves anyway, and the cache would survive long enough till the next daily call for those without working DNS. Should IP addresses change, you won't have hardcoded IP's anywhere to worry about, and since a daily call is required anyway, there'll be nothing bad happening for subscribers with no DNS ever.


Great suggestion!


----------



## rainwater

phug said:


> Make sure you have enough space on your TiVO. Try perm deleting some of the downloaded tv shows. The Unbox video will not automatically delete any movies so you have to manually make room for them.


Are you sure? I thought Unbox used TiVocast? And afaik, TivoCast will delete programs to make room for new downloads. If it doesn't, then that would be a major bug in the system.


----------



## bud8man

I am at a loss here as well.
I can download and watch "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Harriet Dinner" on my TiVo from sun up to sundown.
I can delete it, re-download it, no problems.
I rented Barbie Swan Princess for my daughter...and my whole network froze up.
My Vonage phone worked, but I could not access my Fios Router, nor get any internet.
Fios phone also worked fine.
I then purchased Swan Princess for $9.99...and no luck to TiVo. Finally downloaded it to my laptop and let the little one watch it on the laptop.
I thought maybe it was the animation, which does not make sense, but since Studio 60 worked, so I bought Talladega Nights.
It starts to download, kills my router, and then kills the Vonage.
In the log of my Actiontec wireless Fios Router I see the following message:

daemon.warn cLink: clink0: ioctl(DRV_GET_MY_NODE_INFO) failed, res=-1: Bad address.

and another one

daemon.warn estream: Can't read from fd 125 Connection reset by peer(104)

It forces me to turn off the router and then back on, and then we are good to go again.

Wife is about to have me committed....


----------



## dswallow

bud8man said:


> I am at a loss here as well.
> I can download and watch "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Harriet Dinner" on my TiVo from sun up to sundown.
> I can delete it, re-download it, no problems.
> I rented Barbie Swan Princess for my daughter...and my whole network froze up.
> My Vonage phone worked, but I could not access my Fios Router, nor get any internet.
> Fios phone also worked fine.
> I then purchased Swan Princess for $9.99...and no luck to TiVo. Finally downloaded it to my laptop and let the little one watch it on the laptop.
> I thought maybe it was the animation, which does not make sense, but since Studio 60 worked, so I bought Talladega Nights.
> It starts to download, kills my router, and then kills the Vonage.
> In the log of my Actiontec wireless Fios Router I see the following message:
> 
> daemon.warn cLink: clink0: ioctl(DRV_GET_MY_NODE_INFO) failed, res=-1: Bad address.
> 
> and another one
> 
> daemon.warn estream: Can't read from fd 125 Connection reset by peer(104)
> 
> It forces me to turn off the router and then back on, and then we are good to go again.
> 
> Wife is about to have me committed....


Routers are cheap these days. How about trying a different brand?

While this isn't recent, I've had some serious strangeness in the past with a network switch from Intel; mostly it always seemed to work fine, but anytime there was continuously large amounts of traffic, like actually transferring a file as opposed to browsing through directories, it'd just quit. It drove me crazy trying to diagnose since the switch wasn't among the usual places I'd expect a problem. I checked software, swapped network cards, reconfigured the cards to low speed only, replaced cables, and finally just hooked them up direct, which finally worked, so then I tried a different switch and it all worked fine. Bottom line, when things get really strange, don't fear replacing hardware.


----------



## jstutman

IS it possible to buy "credits"? I dont want $1.99 charges all over my CC saying *Amazon


----------



## bud8man

dswallow said:


> Routers are cheap these days. How about trying a different brand?
> 
> The only problem is that this is the one that is not only my router, but my modem as well and it came from Verizon.


----------



## rlrose313

Was there ever a resolution for andwhatsnext's problem? I'm having the exact same problem. I was able to watch one movie after trying to download it a bunch of time but now I can't download another. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.


----------



## bud8man

OK...I went into TiVo's history...and it says the Barbie movie is not the right format...not what it says in my media library or on the Amazon site...so I will see what Amazon can do about that.
Talledega Nights....says too slow a connection, file not found, somebody stopped the download (I did when it killed my internet connection).


----------



## andwhatsnext

rlrose313 said:


> Was there ever a resolution for andwhatsnext's problem? I'm having the exact same problem. I was able to watch one movie after trying to download it a bunch of time but now I can't download another. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.


I did get a resolution at last - thanks to someone at tivo. 

The problem: I didn't have enough disk space (too many shows marked as "Keep until I delete"). So I abandoned all hope of figuring out the convoluted plotlines on _Lost_ and deleted all of those and about 5 other shows I'd been saving. Then I re-requested the downloads and it all worked perfectly!

It really would have been nice to get some sort of error message from the system in the first place, though. Hopefully that will be one of the sooner-rather-than-later upgrades.


----------



## peteypete

When will amazon sign on Disney? (har, I'm joking, I know Steve Jobs is being a baby) This is pretty cool. I've already downloaded 3 movies for rental. Sure glad i got rid of my Netflix. I was so sick of their scratched disks. 

I'd like to see more selection from Amazon, and am finally getting used to their search engine. They should do something more flashy, and "browse-like" like iTunes. 

And Tivo should get their a** cracking on the search from the tivo. 
I mean, how hard can it be? Couldn't a seasoned programmer write something in a weekend? Amazon API is there, Tivo HME is there. link between Tivo and Amazon account is there.


----------



## bud8man

I think the error message would be located in your recording history. Not the best place, but at least a place.


----------



## andwhatsnext

bud8man said:


> I think the error message would be located in your recording history. Not the best place, but at least a place.


You'd think so - but no. I checked on my own and also with the tivo tech on the phone.


----------



## bud8man

andwhatsnext said:


> You'd think so - but no. I checked on my own and also with the tivo tech on the phone.


Have you ever seen the back side of your smiley?

http://upchucky.com/flash-smiley-back.html


----------



## geekaren

andwhatsnext said:


> I did get a resolution at last - thanks to someone at tivo.
> 
> The problem: I didn't have enough disk space (too many shows marked as "Keep until I delete"). So I abandoned all hope of figuring out the convoluted plotlines on _Lost_ and deleted all of those and about 5 other shows I'd been saving. Then I re-requested the downloads and it all worked perfectly!
> 
> It really would have been nice to get some sort of error message from the system in the first place, though. Hopefully that will be one of the sooner-rather-than-later upgrades.


Funny that the resolution to the problem I'd been experiencing was also to delete all my "keep until I delete" episodes of Lost. Well, that and a restart.  I agree, it would be great to get a notification if the download fails for some reason -- could even be an email alert.

Otherwise, I'm really enjoying Amazon Unbox now that the videos are downloadable to my TiVo -- it's been a very convenient way to see some new videos. With this weekend's snowstorm and subsequent poor road conditions, I'm especially appreciating it.


----------



## andwhatsnext

geekaren said:


> Otherwise, I'm really enjoying Amazon Unbox now that the videos are downloadable to my TiVo -- it's been a very convenient way to see some new videos. With this weekend's snowstorm and subsequent poor road conditions, I'm especially appreciating it.


I guess tivo has something against Lost. No wonder the show's ratings have been going down. LOL

I'm also appreciating Unbox because of the weather... but not quite the same way as you. It was in the high 90s here in Arizona.


----------



## pl1

geekaren said:


> Otherwise, I'm really enjoying Amazon Unbox now that the videos are downloadable to my TiVo -- it's been a very convenient way to see some new videos. With this weekend's snowstorm and subsequent poor road conditions, I'm especially appreciating it.


I like it too. Now I'm afraid it's too easy to spend money on movies. Especially with the one-click. There isn't enough time to really think about it. I like that I can order a movie at work and watch it that night.


----------



## illuminations25

I had downloaded a show previously to my PC and now wanted to see it on My Tivo. When I logged into my account I was able to choose to send it to my Tivo now, which I did almost a week ago and it still hasn't shown up. Do I need to have Unbox running on my PC for it to transfer the file to the Tivo or does it come from Amazon to my Tivo?


----------



## bud8man

illuminations25 said:


> I had downloaded a show previously to my PC and now wanted to see it on My Tivo. When I logged into my account I was able to choose to send it to my Tivo now, which I did almost a week ago and it still hasn't shown up. Do I need to have Unbox running on my PC for it to transfer the file to the Tivo or does it come from Amazon to my Tivo?


You cannot transfer it from your PC to TiVo...look in your TiVo's recording history and see if their is an error.


----------



## pl1

illuminations25 said:


> I had downloaded a show previously to my PC and now wanted to see it on My Tivo. When I logged into my account I was able to choose to send it to my Tivo now, which I did almost a week ago and it still hasn't shown up. Do I need to have Unbox running on my PC for it to transfer the file to the Tivo or does it come from Amazon to my Tivo?


You don't say if it is a rental or a purchase. But, I read somewhere that if you delete it off of your PC, it will be available for another device. Although, reading the following FAQ, it appears you should be able to DL to two devices. Do you have downloads to your TiVo activated in "Manage your Account"?

If you purchase Amazon Unbox Video, your rights to view the file do not expire, except as provided in our Unbox Video: Terms of Use. Purchased Unbox videos are generally available for re-download from Your Media Library and can be downloaded on up to 2 (two) different personal computers or TiVo DVRs and can be transferred to up to 2 (two) portable devices at any one time.

Please note that due to licensing restrictions certain new release movies are unavailable for re-download for an unspecified period of time starting 90 days after their release date. While these movies can be viewed as often as you like during this window, they cannot be re-downloaded from Your Media Library.

Edit:I see that you've already tried to DL it to your TiVo. So, if you have a lifetime xfr in process, check that the names aren't swapped. in Manage Your account.


----------



## dolcevita

Downloaded MI III a week or so ago with no problems. Did not time it, but it only seemed to take around 2 hours. Watched it last night -- great picture quality and LOVE being able to use the Tivo interface and remote to fast forward, as opposed to the usual DVD remote and interface.

Looks like this may be a Netflix killer for me....


----------



## shelbel

I won't be giving up my Netflix sub any time soon, but I do like being able to download an extra movie once in a while when all of the shows I usually watch are on hiatus and Netflix doesn't cover the gap. 

But for whoever is taking suggestions: I totally agree that the time clock on the rentals should be longer than 24 hours. Even 28 hours would be okay. In my household we get my daughter to bed and manage to sit down and watch shows/movies only after 8:00. When we get interrupted by whatever--kid issues, pet issues, phone call from long-lost relative--and find we can only watch part of the movie, there's no way we can see the second half (well, without paying again) if we have to finish watching by 8:00 the next night. Now, granted, I haven't tried leaving the rental on the Now Playing list after watching to see if it disappears after exactly 24 hours. Has anyone out there kept track how long the rental does live on your TiVo after viewing?


----------



## mtchamp

OK I admit it, I'm addicted! I keep checking for new releases almost daily. Out of 1,006 movies available for purchase as of this post, I now own 9 movies since the Unbox on TiVo service started. It's a perfect service for me.

I stopped renting and buying movies when I got my first TiVo back in November 2000. Tapes and discs are a hassle to store, protect and playback. I believe that technology is dead. Privately owned digital libraries stored on the Unbox server is the way to go. Now I'm collecting my favorite movies as they become available for TiVo from Unbox.


----------



## pl1

shelbel said:


> Now, granted, I haven't tried leaving the rental on the Now Playing list after watching to see if it disappears after exactly 24 hours. Has anyone out there kept track how long the rental does live on your TiVo after viewing?


I have, It's like magic. It dissapears and it is not in the recently deleted folder.


----------



## peteypete

mtchamp said:


> OK I admit it, I'm addicted! I keep checking for new releases almost daily. Out of 1,006 movies available for purchase as of this post, I now own 9 movies since the Unbox on TiVo service started. It's a perfect service for me.
> 
> I stopped renting and buying movies when I got my first TiVo back in November 2000. Tapes and discs are a hassle to store, protect and playback. I believe that technology is dead. Privately owned digital libraries stored on the Unbox server is the way to go. Now I'm collecting my favorite movies as they become available for TiVo from Unbox.


I agree, the 1 click purchase, combined with the simple delivery to the TV is a dangerous combo!


----------



## CrispyCritter

peteypete said:


> I agree, the 1 click purchase, combined with the simple delivery to the TV is a dangerous combo!


Yes. Long-term, I hope they add a confirmation window so you can see exactly what you are about to order. Once they add wide-screen options and even HD options, it's going to be very easy to click on the wrong version of the show you want.


----------



## brett2100

aringhof said:


> i read the fine print where it lets you burn your copy to DVD as a "back up", but the format is the same file format as the original, so it wont work in a DVD player. its some weird UnBox-Tivo format.... does anyone know of a work around , as we want to buy a kid movie and be abl eto burn it to portable DVD for the car. We have a Series 3 an a Series 2... so Im curious which to download it to....
> 
> I have the Series 2 connected to our Cable Companies receiver, so I can order a video on demand movie, and record it to the Series 2, and then burn that to a DVD.


HEY - WHAT'S UP WITH THE FINE PRINT ON PORTABLE DEVICES ? -

I.E. - I read where you would be able to play a purchased movie on TIVO, your PC and/or a PSP portable device. It is not letting me burn a backup copy to DVD, nor transfer it to my PC, nor transfer it to my PSP. What's up with this!??!?! I bought it didn't I?!?!?! BTW - I purchased BORAT.


----------



## illuminations25

pl1 said:


> You don't say if it is a rental or a purchase. But, I read somewhere that if you delete it off of your PC, it will be available for another device. Although, reading the following FAQ, it appears you should be able to DL to two devices. Do you have downloads to your TiVo activated in "Manage your Account"?
> 
> If you purchase Amazon Unbox Video, your rights to view the file do not expire, except as provided in our Unbox Video: Terms of Use. Purchased Unbox videos are generally available for re-download from Your Media Library and can be downloaded on up to 2 (two) different personal computers or TiVo DVRs and can be transferred to up to 2 (two) portable devices at any one time.
> 
> Please note that due to licensing restrictions certain new release movies are unavailable for re-download for an unspecified period of time starting 90 days after their release date. While these movies can be viewed as often as you like during this window, they cannot be re-downloaded from Your Media Library.
> 
> Edit:I see that you've already tried to DL it to your TiVo. So, if you have a lifetime xfr in process, check that the names aren't swapped. in Manage Your account.


This was a purchase of an item that was done sometime ago but said I could transfer it to my Tivo. I checked my Tivo and the VCM tried to connect within the past hour and seems to have been trying to connect for the past week as usual. I don't have any lifetime transfers and I only have 1 Tivo constantly connected to broadband in my house and that's the only one showing up in my Amazon account that I registered.

Should I write to Amazon and see if I can have the license to the Tivo cleared?


----------



## pl1

illuminations25 said:


> This was a purchase of an item that was done sometime ago but said I could transfer it to my Tivo. I checked my Tivo and the VCM tried to connect within the past hour and seems to have been trying to connect for the past week as usual. I don't have any lifetime transfers and I only have 1 Tivo constantly connected to broadband in my house and that's the only one showing up in my Amazon account that I registered.
> 
> Should I write to Amazon and see if I can have the license to the Tivo cleared?


Did you check your To Do List > View recording history? Look for the failed DL. If it is there, it should give a reason. & Call them. I hear that support is good.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo.../102-3895939-0952125?ie=UTF8&nodeId=161988011


----------



## restart88

I ordered a movie and only about 15 seconds seems to have recorded. I tried to send Amazon email but it would never go through and I see no way to re-start it since it was a "rental."

Not a happy camper!


----------



## illuminations25

pl1 said:


> Did you check your To Do List > View recording history? Look for the failed DL. If it is there, it should give a reason. & Call them. I hear that support is good.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo.../102-3895939-0952125?ie=UTF8&nodeId=161988011


I don't see anything in the recorded history. I emailed them and they cleared the license so that I can give it another shot. I'm not going to do it right now because I want to be able to give the box a re-boot so it can start from a fresh re-boot before I try to re-download it.

Thanks for everyone's help.


----------



## restart88

How did you email them? I tried numerous times to zip off an email contact from their website yesterday and it never would go through claiming I had some kind of unspecified error preventing the message from being sent.


----------



## bmel

Is the video quality always this bad? I downloaded Click. Horrible motion artifact. An actor just walking became a blur. Unwatchable.

Brian


----------



## restart88

Actually when I was viewing _Serenity _ I was thinking to myself it probably didn't look this good when it aired.


----------



## mtchamp

bmel said:


> Is the video quality always this bad? I downloaded Click. Horrible motion artifact. An actor just walking became a blur. Unwatchable.
> 
> Brian


I don't recall reading many complaints about video quality. Most people say it's better than expected or the same as DVD. People do want HD versions and dolby sound. The video quality has been excellent for me with all 9 movies I've downloaded so far. I have a 35" CRT.


----------



## illuminations25

restart88 said:


> How did you email them? I tried numerous times to zip off an email contact from their website yesterday and it never would go through claiming I had some kind of unspecified error preventing the message from being sent.


Login to your account on Amazon then go to http://www.amazon.com/tivo and then click on the Unbox Videos on TV advert on the right. Scroll down to the bottom and click on the "Amazon Unbox on Tivo Customer Support" link. On the right side click "By Email" under Contact Us. I chose "Video: Licensing Issues" for the subject then filled in the order # from my account page and wrote to them that way. Got an email back within 7 minutes and they released the license from my movie for me to try and re-download.


----------



## restart88

I tried that before (and now again) and it didn't work. I keep getting an error  ***Please fix the areas indicated below.***

Problem is I'm only inputting text (it already has my email). I've tried with & without using an order number. I think the site's just broke or something.


----------



## illuminations25

restart88 said:


> I tried that before (and now again) and it didn't work. I keep getting an error  ***Please fix the areas indicated below.***
> 
> Problem is I'm only inputting text (it already has my email). I've tried with & without using an order number. I think the site's just broke or something.


That's really weird. You could also try using the "Call Me" link and have them call you directly if you want to go that route.


----------



## restart88

Had problems with that one too.

I finally got the popup for that to pop up, but then I had to leave and couldn't wait on a call.

Needless to say this is getting frustrating.


----------



## bud8man

What is your default e-mail program? maybe it is giving you a hard time.

Now my Dega Nights says that TiVo could not record off that chanel because their was no signal.

From bad...to worse...


----------



## restart88

It doesn't appear to pull up my email program (which is Word btw) because it trys to open a browser window.

I _finally_ got "a" message sent but it was the general Amazon help link and not the unBox link. Even that hadn't been working. I even tried using ForeFox 2 with the exact same results.

We will see. It said it would take upto 24 hours. If I don't hear anything by tomorrow afternoon I'll try the phone link again.


----------



## peteypete

Reception during the Tivoing of 24 was really bad, so I'm going to download the lates t from unbox?

Anybody have any idea how many days it takes for Unbox to get the most current episode up?


----------



## BlackBetty

is there a coming soon section for rentals? Would be cool to order a coming soon rental, and on the day it is available, it just downloads to your tivo automatically.


----------



## rdrrepair

peteypete said:


> Anybody have any idea how many days it takes for Unbox to get the most current episode up?


It's there NOW


----------



## danieljanderson

rdrrepair said:


> It's there NOW


Not yet ready for TiVo. Only PC download.


----------



## peteypete

Thanks, but it seems like 24 is not ready for Tivo?!!

Is this true?

TIVO PEOPLE: Please tell Amazon we want 24 on the Tivo too!!


----------



## javabird

Does anyone know if sales tax is added to the 3.99 price?


----------



## pdhenry

Not in PA, at least.


----------



## dswallow

javabird said:


> Does anyone know if sales tax is added to the 3.99 price?


I've not seen it added onto any Unbox video purchase or rental I've made.


----------



## pl1

javabird said:


> Does anyone know if sales tax is added to the 3.99 price?


Not here in Mass., YET. In Mass., the tax is on products, not services. I do wonder what they will classify a video DL as. A product or a service? They don't seem to have much problem charging tax for phone "service", or cable tv/internet "service" so, even with a DL being categorized as a service, it will probably be taxed. I think PPV and VOD is taxed here already because I believe it is a percentage of the whole cable TV charge.


----------



## kupe

mtchamp said:


> I don't recall reading many complaints about video quality. Most people say it's better than expected or the same as DVD. People do want HD versions and dolby sound. The video quality has been excellent for me with all 9 movies I've downloaded so far. I have a 35" CRT.


I've been quite happy with the video quality as well on my 32" CRT.

One thing they do need to fix though is the lack of closed captioning.

The other is the ridiculous 24-hour timer on rentals. My wife and I usually have about an hour free in the evening for a movie, and we've already had one scroll off unfinished because we could not get back to it in time the next evening. 36 hours as a minimum would help, but 2 or 3 days seems reasonable and not asking too much.

For current releases, I think I'll probably go back to Comcast On Demand for now. I can Tivo them and save them as long as I want, and they have closed captioning. And of course you can start viewing immediately.

Kupe


----------



## peteypete

I don't like stickies because they seem to kill the conversation... It's difficult to tell when there's a new comment.

Anybody use multiple Amazon accounts to link to one Tivo Box? 

I'd like to know if I can "buy" a movie for a friend's Tivo box and send it to theirs as long as I know their TSN.


----------



## restart88

It's difficult to tell when there's a new comment.

Just click the UserCP linky.


----------



## BlackBetty

will there ever be a time when unbox will match a selection like netflix. Or even be able to offer a huge amount of new/recent releases for rent.

Thats when unbox will take off, and only then.


----------



## AFP1

Being no expert here, I am not fully understanding how this new "Amazon Unbox" actually works. 
I do not have my Units hooked up to a Computer because we have no DSL here. 
Is there any way to Use this feature W/O being Networked? I read that Amazon actually "Hosts" the Movies for you, by keeping them on their Hard Drive so you don't waste space. Can't you download a Movie at Amazon, then play it somehow?? Even if it's just on your Computer?


----------



## AFP1

BlackBetty said:


> is there a coming soon section for rentals? Would be cool to order a coming soon rental, and on the day it is available, it just downloads to your tivo automatically.


 I think a new "Wishlist", or even better a New Feature could be used in other, more important ways than placing unreleased Movies on a list. They could take Years if ever to be released. Many never are released on DVD.
It just seems like a very minor Feature that most won't use, and we all will end up Paying for indirectly! I never even use my regular Wishlist. But that's just me. 
Sorry! Just a thought!


----------



## AFP1

restart88 said:


> It's difficult to tell when there's a new comment.
> 
> Just click the UserCP linky.


Where is the "UserCP linky"??


----------



## bud8man

AFP1 said:


> Being no expert here, I am not fully understanding how this new "Amazon Unbox" actually works.
> I do not have my Units hooked up to a Computer because we have no DSL here.
> Is there any way to Use this feature W/O being Networked? I read that Amazon actually "Hosts" the Movies for you, by keeping them on their Hard Drive so you don't waste space. Can't you download a Movie at Amazon, then play it somehow?? Even if it's just on your Computer?


Unbox on my TiVo keeps killing my internet connection, via Verizon Fios, but I can download via my PC.
In order to watch on my TV I use S-Video out and a headphone to RCA out jack set to listen on my surround.
Works OK...looks like crap with all the wires....


----------



## Stu_Bee

Stu_Bee said:


> So far my test download from Amazon appears to be a bit flakey:
> From the Tivo History (under To Do)
> - 3:27 Not Downloaded
> - 3:29 Not Downloaded
> - 3:30 Not Downloaded
> Details for each:
> - This program was not downloaded onto this DVR because it was not found.
> =============


Just to close the loop on my prior issue (downloads failing, and listed as such in the TODO History)......after much reconfiguring of my network, somehow getting a amazon.com show to download..then putting things back the way they were...the only thing I can think of that may have fixed it was:
- Rebooting (a) Cable Modem, (b) Linksys Router, and (c) Tivo, in that order.

FYI: TivoCasts weren't working previously either (but now are), but all other aspects of my Tivo networking were fine.

The easiest way to 'quickly' tell whether everything is working or not for downloads, was to just enter the TIVOCAST menu on my Tivo itself. When things were goofed up, it would take about 3 minutes to go into the initial menu (and a couple minutes per selection). After things were fixed, it now only takes a few seconds.


----------



## paslax

1. I order my "rental" this afternoon. I see that it starts downloading successfully. I leave. I come home. The movie is nowhere to be found - not in Now Playing, not in Recently Deleted. The ToDo list recording history says "This program was not downloaded onto this DVR because it was not found." Any ideas what happened? No indication that my internet connection went inactive during this time...

2. I call Amazon Unbox support to get credited. The CSR is only able to credit my account 2 credits of $1.99 each. Seperate credits cannot be combined to make a single purchase. The movie cost me $3.99 (in promo credit). I don't think this is particularly fair because it's unlikely that I will rent anything other than $3.99 new release rentals. (I know that I shouldn't complain about free money.....)

I love the idea of not needing to remember to return a DVD and not having to worry about DVDs all scratched up 90 minutes into a movie, but this is not a good intro to Unbox for me.


----------



## HDTiVo

While the rest of the system seems to work pretty well, the inability to properly handle billing issues is a major problem. 

I wonder how many people like me did not get their full $15 TiVo credit. Folks might want to check their bills carefully and see how prevalent this is.


----------



## rdrrepair

HDTiVo said:


> I wonder how many people like me did not get their full $15 TiVo credit. Folks might want to check their bills carefully and see how prevalent this is.


I got mine.

I will be renting more. That $15 wetted my appetite for the UnBox download service. :up:


----------



## Stu_Bee

So far I have downloaded two movies. (a) The Illusionist and (b) Xmen III

The overall video watching experience was good, but:
a) be nice if the content was transcoded for Widescreen TV's, rather than making us "zoom" to fit, thus, I think, lessening the quality.
b) The Illusionist quality seemed fine, so did the first half of Xmen. But after about the 1hr mark in Xmen III the frame rate seemed to drop and become more jerky/skippy. Not something you would notice if you just watched a 5 minute snippet...but watching the whole movie it becomes a tiny bit distracting here and there.


----------



## luvmoose

Can anyone tell me what this error message means?

"There was a problem adding the video to your queue for <my tivo>"

I just signed up today and my Tivo was previously not set up for downloads. I fixed all of that and linked my Tivo and Amazon accounts and rented a movie. But everytime I try to download, I get that error. I did a manual daily call and tested the system with a TivoCast which downloaded successfully.

I looked at my VCM Connection status and the last attempt was a few minutes ago with the last successful being that December date. Do I just need to wait a little more for all the updates? Or is this a problem I need to start tracking down more aggressively? Sounds like people here got it all working on the first try.

thanks!


----------



## pl1

luvmoose said:


> Can anyone tell me what this error message means?"There was a problem adding the video to your queue for <my tivo>"


A few things come to mind. If you recently transfered a life, the names might have changed. Also, be sure you can do a tivocast DL. Finally, if the Tivocast works, go to the Amazon Unbox site> UNBOX ON TIVO> refresh your list of registered tivos.


----------



## luvmoose

pl1 said:


> A few things come to mind. If you recently transfered a life, the names might have changed. Also, be sure you can do a tivocast DL. Finally, if the Tivocast works, go to the Amazon Unbox site> UNBOX ON TIVO> refresh your list of registered tivos.


Yeah, the TivoCast works. I said that in my last post.

I can't figure out how to Refresh my list of registered Tivos. I saw that before as something to try, but I can't find the link. The "Unbox on Tivo" page for me (logged into my Amazon account) starts with the "Register and get $15" offer. Then it offers to sell me a Tivo and it has a FAQ about Unbox on Tivo. There is no way to see any status for my account or how much credit I have or what Tivo devices are registered. I know that I set up the account because I was able to rent a movie and I wasn't charged for it. And I can see my Tivo in the list of options for download next to the title when I'm in "Your Media Library". But that mythical "Refresh" link, I just ain't seeing it.

Did something go awry when I set up the account?


----------



## dswallow

luvmoose said:


> Yeah, the TivoCast works. I said that in my last post.
> 
> I can't figure out how to Refresh my list of registered Tivos. I saw that before as something to try, but I can't find the link. The "Unbox on Tivo" page for me (logged into my Amazon account) starts with the "Register and get $15" offer. Then it offers to sell me a Tivo and it has a FAQ about Unbox on Tivo. There is no way to see any status for my account or how much credit I have or what Tivo devices are registered. I know that I set up the account because I was able to rent a movie and I wasn't charged for it. And I can see my Tivo in the list of options for download next to the title when I'm in "Your Media Library". But that mythical "Refresh" link, I just ain't seeing it.
> 
> Did something go awry when I set up the account?


Is this the page you're going to?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/tivo

At the top of the page is a section titled "Your Registered TiVo DVRs" and on the left side under that is a list of your TiVo units and on the right side are 4 lines of links to solve issues, the top one of which is to refresh your list of registered TiVo DVRs.


----------



## pl1

luvmoose said:


> But that mythical "Refresh" link, I just ain't seeing it. Did something go awry when I set up the account?


Amazon Unbox site> UNBOX ON TIVO> refresh your list of registered tivos. Up on top of the page for Amazon Unbox site

TOP DOWNLOADS|YOUR MEDIA LIBRARY|GETTING STARTED|DOWNLOAD THE UNBOX VIDEO PLAYER|UNBOX ON TIVO|UNBOX SUPPORT


----------



## luvmoose

dswallow said:


> Is this the page you're going to?
> 
> Link:amazon/gp/video/tivo
> 
> At the top of the page is a section titled "Your Registered TiVo DVRs" and on the left side under that is a list of your TiVo units and on the right side are 4 lines of links to solve issues, the top one of which is to refresh your list of registered TiVo DVRs.


Ah, yes, that link takes me back to the introductory page I described before, nothing specific about me or my account. And when I try to set it up again, it tells me that there's already an Amazon account linked to my Tivo account. Clearly something went wrong when I tried to set up the system and it's only halfway there. I guess I'll call Amazon in the morning.

thanks!


----------



## dswallow

luvmoose said:


> Ah, yes, that link takes me back to the introductory page I described before, nothing specific about me or my account. Clearly something went wrong when I tried to set up the system and it's only halfway there. I guess I'll call Amazon in the morning.


It seems like it just doesn't think you're linked to the account. Have you just tried going through the registration process again?

You can also go to this link, which will unlink/cancel and re-register you: http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/tivo/features/unlink.html


----------



## luvmoose

dswallow said:


> It seems like it just doesn't think you're linked to the account. Have you just tried going through the registration process again?
> 
> You can also go to this link, which will unlink/cancel and re-register you: (link deleted because I don't have enough posts)


Yeah, all the links you give me all go to the same "Welcome to Unbox on Tivo" page where I can't do anything but try to register. It doesn't think I'm registered. And if I try to register again, it tells me my Tivo account is already linked to an Amazon account. Seeing as I didn't get that message this morning when I first did it, I'm reasonably certain that no one stole my Tivo account. Something misfired when I set it up. I'll call them tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll watch a movie in the old-fashioned way: DVD from Netflix.

thanks again!


----------



## dswallow

luvmoose said:


> Yeah, all the links you give me all go to the same "Welcome to Unbox on Tivo" page where I can't do anything but try to register. It doesn't think I'm registered. And if I try to register again, it tells me my Tivo account is already linked to an Amazon account. Seeing as I didn't get that message this morning when I first did it, I'm reasonably certain that no one stole my Tivo account. Something misfired when I set it up. I'll call them tomorrow.
> 
> In the meantime, I'll watch a movie in the old-fashioned way: DVD from Netflix.
> 
> thanks again!


Is there someone else in your household with a different Amazon account, or someone who's used your computer and ordered from Amazon? You might've been logged into a different Amazon account than you thought you were when you registered.


----------



## luvmoose

dswallow said:


> Is there someone else in your household with a different Amazon account, or someone who's used your computer and ordered from Amazon? You might've been logged into a different Amazon account than you thought you were when you registered.


No, it's just me. And the same e-mail address for both Tivo and Amazon accounts.

Anyway, I'm on the phone with Amazon Unbox support right now. The guy says my problem is a new one, he's seeing everything I described and can't figure out how to resolve it. At least I'm not going crazy. I asked if they could just delete the registration and I could start over and he said that without actually being able to see the Tivo on my Unbox page, it's not that easy for them to do.

Here's to crossing my fingers that they can get it fixed soon.

Edited to add: Well, after consulting with the guys in the room, he came back to say that he is not able to fix it for me directly and that they have to escalate it up to another part of Amazon support and that he's not sure how long it will be before they can fix it. Man did I break it good!


----------



## dswallow

luvmoose said:


> No, it's just me. And the same e-mail address for both Tivo and Amazon accounts.
> 
> Anyway, I'm on the phone with Amazon Unbox support right now. The guy says my problem is a new one, he's seeing everything I described and can't figure out how to resolve it. At least I'm not going crazy. I asked if they could just delete the registration and I could start over and he said that without actually being able to see the Tivo on my Unbox page, it's not that easy for them to do.
> 
> Here's to crossing my fingers that they can get it fixed soon.
> 
> Edited to add: Well, after consulting with the guys in the room, he came back to say that he is not able to fix it for me directly and that they have to escalate it up to another part of Amazon support and that he's not sure how long it will be before they can fix it. Man did I break it good!


Congratulations. It's always satisfying to be the one to discover something new, isn't it? 

I'm sure they'll get it fixed quickly.


----------



## Brentc11

When I try to download a movie from amazon, it fails to download and says in the to do history that the program failed to download because it was "not found." My Tivo is connected to the internet. I can access Yahoo weather and podcasts. I can receive tivocasts initiated either from my tivo or the tivo website. My tivo shows up on the amazon website. I have freed up space on my tivo, I have restarted it, I have disconnected and reconnected the network adapter and rebooted the router and none of this solved the problem. I have also cancelled and reestablished my tivo account on amazon. Neither tivo or amazon has been able to provide me a fix to the problem. Any other ideas on how to fix this problem would be appreciated.

-Brent


----------



## bud8man

Brentc11 said:


> When I try to download a movie from amazon, it fails to download and says in the to do history that the program failed to download because it was "not found." My Tivo is connected to the internet. I can access Yahoo weather and podcasts. I can receive tivocasts initiated either from my tivo or the tivo website. My tivo shows up on the amazon website. I have freed up space on my tivo, I have restarted it, I have disconnected and reconnected the network adapter and rebooted the router and none of this solved the problem. I have also cancelled and reestablished my tivo account on amazon. Neither tivo or amazon has been able to provide me a fix to the problem. Any other ideas on how to fix this problem would be appreciated.
> 
> -Brent


Sounds like the same experience I have...do you loose your internet connection when this happens?


----------



## Brentc11

bud8man said:


> Sounds like the same experience I have...do you loose your internet connection when this happens?


No, I don't lose my entire internet connection. The download just fails.


----------



## Stu_Bee

I wonder why Amazon has movies like "Children of Men" available for download to Tivo for $15 (ie purchase), but not available for rental.


----------



## pdhenry

Stu_Bee said:


> I wonder why Amazon has movies like "Children of Men" available for download to Tivo for $15 (ie purchase), but not available for rental.


The download/purchase availability correlates with the DVD availability, and the rental availability correlates with the PPV availability. If you wait a couple of weeks you'll be able to rent Children of Men.


----------



## Stu_Bee

Ahh..I had been thinking of Amazon Unbox->Tivo as similar to a DVD rental, rather than a PPV.
Hopefully the studios will eventually change the order of release. They'll have to realize that as soon as the DVD is out.....it's also out there in the Bittorrent world. They need to compete with that, and make it easier (or at least as easy) to get the legal version.


----------



## YCantAngieRead

Question-I accidentally chose "my PC" instead of my Tivo, and didn't notice until the movie was purchased. I don't have enough disk space on my computer-any way to change where it's downloaded?


----------



## CrispyCritter

YCantAngieRead said:


> Question-I accidentally chose "my PC" instead of my Tivo, and didn't notice until the movie was purchased. I don't have enough disk space on my computer-any way to change where it's downloaded?


Not without talking to Amazon support. But note that if it was an actual "purchase" of the movie and not a rental, you should be able to download to the TiVo as well.


----------



## luvmoose

dswallow said:


> Congratulations. It's always satisfying to be the one to discover something new, isn't it?
> 
> I'm sure they'll get it fixed quickly.


Sadly, 4 days later, they still have not fixed the problem. Will call them back again today when they are open. I guess my plans for renting stuff to watch this long weekend are out. 

I no longer like breaking Amazon in a new way.


----------



## YCantAngieRead

Okay, forgive me for asking people to walk me through this-I went through about half of this thread and am now more confused than ever.

Nothing has started to download yet-I rented another movie and this time remembered to set it to my Tivo . I get TivoCasts just fine and the VCM connection is up to date with no problems.

What's going on?


----------



## JustAllie

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, forgive me for asking people to walk me through this-I went through about half of this thread and am now more confused than ever.
> 
> Nothing has started to download yet-I rented another movie and this time remembered to set it to my Tivo . I get TivoCasts just fine and the VCM connection is up to date with no problems.
> 
> What's going on?


Has your TiVo connected to the network since you rented the movie? You might want to force a connection to see if the download starts then. I don't know how often a TiVo connected via broadband will check in with the TiVo network.


----------



## CrispyCritter

JustAllie said:


> Has your TiVo connected to the network since you rented the movie? You might want to force a connection to see if the download starts then. I don't know how often a TiVo connected via broadband will check in with the TiVo network.


The TiVo checks in every 15 minutes (I've verified it by watching the network packets from the TiVo go by).


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## YCantAngieRead

Yep, everything is fine, network wise.


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## JustAllie

YCantAngieRead said:


> Yep, everything is fine, network wise.


No, I meant to actually contact the TiVo service, not just see if it's seeing your router. There's an option when you check network status to contact the TiVo service now.

It should have done it automatically by now, apparently. Mysterious....


----------



## Havana Brown

I've watched 2 movies so far since this started and I just downloaded The Marine and The Departed for this weekend. I now owe Amazon a whopping $.96


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## YCantAngieRead

JustAllie said:


> No, I meant to actually contact the TiVo service, not just see if it's seeing your router. There's an option when you check network status to contact the TiVo service now.
> 
> It should have done it automatically by now, apparently. Mysterious....


And I meant that, yes, it has connected since then.

I just didn't say it.


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## Stu_Bee

YCantAngieRead:
Try going into the Amazon UnBox -> "Your Media Library" -> Downloads 

Do you see your ordered Purchase/Rentals there?
If you hit the Download button next to one of them does it then transfer (within 15 minutes)?
----
The first time I tried, I had one stuck in the Amazon queue...it wasn't until I deleted a pending Prison Break episode that the stuff queued behind it came in.


----------



## YCantAngieRead

Stu_Bee said:


> YCantAngieRead:
> Try going into the Amazon UnBox -> "Your Media Library" -> Downloads
> 
> Do you see your ordered Purchase/Rentals there?
> If you hit the Download button next to one of them does it then transfer (within 15 minutes)?
> ----
> The first time I tried, I had one stuck in the Amazon queue...it wasn't until I deleted a pending Prison Break episode that the stuff queued behind it came in.


I think that might have been the issue. Last evening it was showing as "downloaded", then when I went back to look at it on Amazon late this afternoon, the "download" button was there.

It started shortly (perhaps an hour) thereafter.


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## YCantAngieRead

I have to say, and I know I'm late to the game, but the support for this has been excellent. Good job, Amazon!


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## kcopley

cool that's cool


----------



## therlin

I'm getting frustrated, every time I see something I want to download, Tivo is not supported. TV shows mostly, which I don't understand.


----------



## jlb

Hi all,

Ordered 2 eps of The O.C. last night. On my invoice this morning, I got one free. not sure why. I know they have a promo going where if you buy a DVD you get a free TV Unbox download. But the last DVD I bought was months ago. Maybe they have finally synched up the systems and I am getting credit for it.

Regardless....cool!


----------



## mtchamp

I have 12 movies purchased in a library hosted by Amazon for safe keeping and easy re-downloads. I'd say it has officially become a habit. I hope they sign Disney and the available movies to own becomes limitless. You never have to worry about caring for and storing DVD's. This service suits me just fine.


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## Solver

We are three for three in Unbox movie rentals. No problems. Don't like that 24 hour watch limit. Also don't like that a show is abruptly deleted while you are watching it, just past 24 hours.


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## bud8man

1 for 3...
1 show I own...and two movies...I have to watch through my PC...


----------



## ddelora

That sort of was my point.... it took so long why bother. Granted I started the download from work, it still was not done when I put the kids to bed.... again why bother....


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## pdhenry

It's a function of your broadband connection speed. I can get a movie in about 4 hours so it's not too hard to decide on a movie mid-afternoon and watch it that night.


----------



## ZeoTiVo

pdhenry said:


> The download/purchase availability correlates with the DVD availability, and the rental availability correlates with the PPV availability. If you wait a couple of weeks you'll be able to rent Children of Men.


absolutely correct and I can understand that Amazon UNBOX took whatever agreement it could get. Maybe this is why Netflix is not doing this yet. 

The content providers need to understand that people want this to work similar to a DVD rental before the large number of users will roll in. Most people who would use it have access to a PPV. Myself I do not being only on analog cable but Netflix covers me on most TV shows and I get Movies at DVD rental time. Already rented and watched "Children of Men" for instance. 
The download service that can let me download movies and TV shows on a subscription basis and then anyone in my family can easily watch them - will get my money. Amazon and TiVo are so close if they could just get the content owners to get over the PPV mentality they have for downloads right now.


----------



## Stormspace

I think ddelora has a point. I have a fast BB connection and the one movie I DLed to rent took much longer than I expected. Long enough that I did not start it the night I requested it and by the next day when I was able to start it, it had expired. Oddly I have not tried to watch it, yet it sits on the TiVo with a message saying it has expired, so I'm afraid that if I don't wait until I have the time to watch it, it will delete if I start it and stop it. 

Perhaps I should be able to block out two evenings for a dled movie, but something in the back of my mind tells me that's not acceptable.


----------



## JustAllie

Solver said:


> Don't like that 24 hour watch limit.


Me too. I'm always afraid I'll get interrupted and won't get back to the movie until 25 hours later.


----------



## javabird

JustAllie said:


> Me too. I'm always afraid I'll get interrupted and won't get back to the movie until 25 hours later.


The thing that bothers me is, what if someone in your family, like one of your teenagers, starts to watch it-- so then you don't get to watch it later because it has expired? Seems like this service is really optimum only for single adults, not families...


----------



## Brainiac 5

javabird said:


> Seems like this service is really optimum only for single adults, not families...


Or rather, it's slightly less bad for single adults, but still not good. Even on my own, I often take more than one night to watch a movie - I'll usually watch half on one night and half another night (which may not be the next night, or even very soon after that).

This is my #1 misgiving about the service - in fact it's prevented me from using it for rentals at all so far, even with my free credit! (I'd rather use the credit for purchases.)


----------



## mtchamp

I have to agree with anyone not pleased with a 24 hour limit to finish watching a movie rental. We are hardened time shifters who watch what we want when we want and start movies one day and finish them another. You can't make us pay for something less desirable in functionality than what we can do for free.

If I'm lucky, I get one hour a day to watch TV. Rental periods have to be extended to a week or more. Put together a friendly monthly rental package subscription program before anybody else does and see this service succeed like you know it will.

Let's go! Do it now! What are you waiting for? Somebody else to do it? I wish I could be in those meetings where people decide, let's put a lot of restrictions on it, we have no competition, we don't care if it fails.


----------



## Testpattern

mtchamp said:


> $15.00 of credit is issued immediately for Amazon Unbox on TiVo download purchases. The movie I downloaded was $14.99 and a credit of <-$14.99> was listed on the invoice. I did not pay for this download.


Are you telling us that movies rented from Amazon are $15 a pop? Why would anyone pay this for a rented movie?


----------



## dswallow

Testpattern said:


> Are you telling us that movies rented from Amazon are $15 a pop? Why would anyone pay this for a rented movie?


He's talking about buying a movie, not renting.


----------



## Soapm

Is the $15 part still active? I ask because thiis thread is two months old.


----------



## AFP1

Maybe it's because I am not the type that has the TV going 24/7, but something just eludes me. With all the availability and especially now with the convenience of Renting/Purchasing Movies between Netflix and now Blockbuster, (who will Win Out in the end over Netflix, only because of our ever growing need for "Instant Gratification") All I read about everywhere are all the problems Downloading and/or never receiving Rented or Purchased Movies with Amazons Unbox! Since the System was only released a few Months ago, (maybe it's a bit older than a few Months??) But I feel why not wait until they get all the "Hard/Software, plus don't forget the Initial Business Glitches" all out, before ever joining?
When VCR Rentals first came out, unless you were friendly with the now Unemployed Store Owner, you could wait Months before ever getting a "New Release". (Besides all the wasted trips back to the Store looking to see if a New Movie had come back in!) But Today, they even guarantee they have the DVD in Stock! Are we now becomming so lazy we can't even mail back a Pre-Paid Movie? 
It just seems as time goes on and everything is becomming more Advanced and Automated, everyone has to run out and purchase every new item that hits the Market, well before they even know if the Program or Company Itself will even survive their 1st Year in the Business! Are we are all just so bored with Life that we now need our TV's playing Movies 24/7? 
Most people have had the availability to receive "Pay Per View" for Years, a Proven System that if smart, will also eventually Sell Movies as well as TV Shows etc, **Unless they already do?? I only have Basic Cable and don't live for TV, so I don't know. But what was, or is wrong with PPV that the Unbox solves, except maybe for Sales of Downloaded Movies? ( *Downloading also let's them enjoy much less overhead!) I am sure you can Rent and even Record to Disc PPV Movies anyway, I do it using other Methods!
So, what is the big deal about Amazons Unbox? If it causes all these problems, why not just stay with a Proven System, at least until they solve all the problems people are now having??
Again, maybe the Unbox does things I am not aware of, being all I have read are complaints about it! I know you can Store Movies and Music I think at Amazon, keeping your available space clear, but other than that, I cannot remember seeing anyone defending or Praising the Unit. 
This is the same problem I am having now, while contemplating Purchasing a Good DVD Recorder! Which one do I Buy? A Regular DVD Recorder, an HD or Blueray, all of which are incompatible with eachother, as well as a couple other Units we may Own?? I want to know what System will be the dominant system before I Purchase it! I don't want to Buy a Blueray, and only have 1/2 the Movies available in that Format! Or maybe tomorrow the "Purpleray" will Hit the Shelves and be a bit better?? When HD came out, did you ever think Blueray would follow so soon?? I thought HD was the "New Trend in Color TV", but I was wrong! (When will 3D ever come out?) 
Plus, Everyone is now taking the basic Hard Drive/Tivo idea, and adding things that are incompatible or very hard to adapt to with other already owned Units! Hard Drives will eventually be a thing of the past. Something similar to a Memory Stick will eventually replace the H/D. They are Testing that System in Computers already!! That will be great! No moving Parts = Better Pictures and Reliability in DVR's! 
Think about it all S-3 Owners! What happens if Blueray or Whatever Ray becomes the dominant or Only method?? Then all we will Own is a Very Expensive outdated Hard Drive Tivo Unit, with an HD Recording System that is sure to be replaced!
I already made that mistake when I purchased a Projection TV! Yea, I loved it until LCD and then Plasma hit the Shelves!! It was only about a Year later! 
**Are all these "Steps" really "Progress", or simply "Pre- Planned Profits" brought on by our insatiable hunger for New Toys?? It's all getting just like Computers used to be! **It is Outdated before you get it Home!!
This is all very frustrating!!


----------



## AFP1

pdhenry said:


> It's a function of your broadband connection speed. I can get a movie in about 4 hours so it's not too hard to decide on a movie mid-afternoon and watch it that night.


 That's only because you watch TV normally. I guess many others do not??
After reading the reasons others had, I feel that many people just love to complain! Most "2 Hour" Movies are only about 90 Mins. *Max. Today! Many are less! If you cannot find 90 Mins. to watch a Movie, don't order it until you are ready. I don't buy this thing about watching 1/2 of the Movie 1 Night, and the next 1/2 the next night! Who gets up right in the middle of any half interesting Movie, and turns it off until tomorrow?? I bought a Season of "24", the TV Show in a Store. I stayed up watching for the next 18 Hours because I just could not stop right at a Major Point in the Show and wait till tomorrow to see what happens!
The only thing that bothers me, is why is it that you need to wait 4 Hours to View the Movie? Why doesn't it work like PPV or any Music Download?
*D/L right now! *Not in 4 Hours! They probably just don't have ample equipment to enable many Downloads at the same time quickly!!


----------



## AFP1

mtchamp said:


> I have to agree with anyone not pleased with a 24 hour limit to finish watching a movie rental. We are hardened time shifters who watch what we want when we want and start movies one day and finish them another. You can't make us pay for something less desirable in functionality than what we can do for free.
> 
> If I'm lucky, I get one hour a day to watch TV. Rental periods have to be extended to a week or more. Put together a friendly monthly rental package subscription program before anybody else does and see this service succeed like you know it will.
> 
> Let's go! Do it now! What are you waiting for? Somebody else to do it? I wish I could be in those meetings where people decide, let's put a lot of restrictions on it, we have no competition, we don't care if it fails.


 "We are hardened time shifters who watch what we want when we want and start movies one day and finish them another."

**Now here was a Line I Loved Reading!! A "Hardened Time Shifter" who has had the time to Post just here over 500 Times!!
Sure, let him keep Rentals for a Week or more as he stated! Better yet, why not let him write all the Rules! 
OH, I Forgot!! You have no time!! With only 1 Hour per Day to Watch TV, why the Heck do you even own a TV, no less a Tivo!!


----------



## AFP1

javabird said:


> The thing that bothers me is, what if someone in your family, like one of your teenagers, starts to watch it-- so then you don't get to watch it later because it has expired? Seems like this service is really optimum only for single adults, not families...


Why are you people Paying $$$ to Torture yourselves with this silly thing??


----------



## AFP1

javabird said:


> The thing that bothers me is, what if someone in your family, like one of your teenagers, starts to watch it-- so then you don't get to watch it later because it has expired? Seems like this service is really optimum only for single adults, not families...


*Another "Let's See, what can possibly go wrong" type!!!


----------



## danieljanderson

Somebody' s going on ignore....


----------



## AFP1

danieljanderson said:


> Somebody' s going on ignore....


But why?? I would Bet you can just picture yourself as just another one of these sniveling idiots that have nothing more in Life other than their "Toys"! 
C'Mon, you know I am right! Just admit it to yourself!
Again I see that yet another person just had to get in their Comments, but never answered any questions that I had asked about in previous Posts!
**Typical for this Forum! And let me ask, Why would you ever even think that I would care that You have placed me on "Ignore"?? Your answer was useless as it answered nothing, but only once again tried to make another look like a Fool the way most of you "Experts" try to do!!
You had no answers, but just Had to say Something, Anything!!!


----------



## AFP1

YCantAngieRead said:


> I have to say, and I know I'm late to the game, but the support for this has been excellent. Good job, Amazon!


**My God!! *Over 30,000 Posts here?? Unbelievable!!


----------



## javabird

AFP1 said:


> *Another "Let's See, what can possibly go wrong" type!!!


don't get me wrong-- I think Unbox is a great idea, and I've been trying it out. I just think there are some things that could be done better... like being able to watch a rental as many times as you want within the 24-hr period, for example, and having a slightly longer window of time to watch (like 2-3 days instead of 24 hrs).

Back in the day, for example...Blockbuster allowed rentals for 1-day only (you had to return it to the store before midnight the following night). Competition has gradually extended the return time, first to 2-day, then 1 week, now no late fees and there is Netflix. People are willing to pay for a service if they can get what they want, when they want it.


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## dswallow

javabird said:


> like being able to watch a rental as many times as you want within the 24-hr period


I'm not aware of any restrictions on watching a rental multiple times during the 24-hour period that starts once you begin watching it the first time.


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> absolutely correct and I can understand that Amazon UNBOX took whatever agreement it could get. Maybe this is why Netflix is not doing this yet.
> 
> The content providers need to understand that people want this to work similar to a DVD rental before the large number of users will roll in. Most people who would use it have access to a PPV. Myself I do not being only on analog cable but Netflix covers me on most TV shows and I get Movies at DVD rental time. Already rented and watched "Children of Men" for instance.
> The download service that can let me download movies and TV shows on a subscription basis and then anyone in my family can easily watch them - will get my money. Amazon and TiVo are so close if they could just get the content owners to get over the PPV mentality they have for downloads right now.


In a couple of Years, *IF today's Technology is still even being used, which I doubt, and maybe even if a totally different Technology is around then, there will be many more Companies Popping Up that Amazon will have to compete with. Only when there is Competition do the people ever get all they want! And when you think about it, being that Tivo is Networked to enable you to receive these Programs from Amazon, why not from other Companies as well? It would be simple to duplicate the delivery system, so I am sure Investors are just waiting to see just how the Unbox idea is accepted from a Business standpoint. 
It would work the same way Music Purchases are made, using whatever Company you wish to Download a Song. Only here, it would be a Movie or Show.
It could be Downloaded at any time using your Computer, and then simply have it Linked into the Tivo Systems "Hold Area" making copying much faster and reliable. 
But only when there are more Companies around, (which should only make things better, as well as less expensive like Netflix had to be when Blockbuster came around!!) will you ever get everything the way you want it. The current Cost is what bothers me. You can go out and purchase the same Movies and get a Shiney Round piece of Plastic and Pretty Box as well for even Less in most circumstances! I just feel if I am Paying $15.00 for a Movie, they could at least send you the DVD later on, after you have watched your Download! You could then at least add it to a current Library that people like to build to show, or play it elsewhere, like in DVD Players if your Tivo Unit is not available at that location! 
(That is IF Tivo is even still a Company??)
But in our Society, *Competition has always been the Key to Quality and Price!!
:up:


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## AFP1

javabird said:


> don't get me wrong-- I think Unbox is a great idea, and I've been trying it out. I just think there are some things that could be done better... like being able to watch a rental as many times as you want within the 24-hr period, for example, and having a slightly longer window of time to watch (like 2-3 days instead of 24 hrs).
> 
> Back in the day, for example...Blockbuster allowed rentals for 1-day only (you had to return it to the store before midnight the following night). Competition has gradually extended the return time, first to 2-day, then 1 week, now no late fees and there is Netflix. People are willing to pay for a service if they can get what they want, when they want it.


In the Post I made today, you will see we are both now thinking along the same lines! Competition is the Key! Once we have it, things will change the way they always have! Hey, I know if I owned the only Company that produced any item, I would charge as much as the Market would give! But if just 1 Competitor came along, I know that I would soon be needing to lower Prices!
It is the same with Features! If another Company offers Features Amazon does not have, Amazon will need to follow or will die!!


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> In a couple of Years, *IF today's Technology is still even being used, which I doubt, and maybe even if a totally different Technology is around then, there will be many more Companies Popping Up that Amazon will have to compete with. Only when there is Competition do the people ever get all they want! And when you think about it, being that Tivo is Networked to enable you to receive these Programs from Amazon, why not from other Companies as well?


TiVo would gladly make deals with other companies and in fact was in talks with Netflix before Amazon deal was made. The problem as I pointed out in my post is the *content providers* and not the technology or companies offering the actual service. It is the content providers who need to get over the PPV mentality and see that they need to make license deals with UNBOX as if this was a DVD rental/purchase but without the DVD itself in the mix.
The technology itself is fine for some first generation download movie system and will of course get better. TiVo will make other deals as it finds them but currently Amazon UNBOX is the only decent entrant in the download business for TiVo to partner with, again because the content owners are not making many deals yet.


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> TiVo would gladly make deals with other companies and in fact was in talks with Netflix before Amazon deal was made. The problem as I pointed out in my post is the *content providers* and not the technology or companies offering the actual service. It is the content providers who need to get over the PPV mentality and see that they need to make license deals with UNBOX as if this was a DVD rental/purchase but without the DVD itself in the mix.
> The technology itself is fine for some first generation download movie system and will of course get better. TiVo will make other deals as it finds them but currently Amazon UNBOX is the only decent entrant in the download business for TiVo to partner with, again because the content owners are not making many deals yet.


If Content Owners are not making any Deals as you state, in Today's Ecomomy there must be a damn good reason for it!! They are either Legally Bound to what they are only doing right now, make a lot more Money the way it's done now, or they feel the whole idea is just a giant risk, and will not do anything more until they feel this system will survive!
Tivo is riding high at this time as they always have been, as there is no other Competition. So, You must live with what they decide to give you. You have no other choice! But if they had Competition, then the Tables will be Turned, and all the Features you want now from "Unbox" they will have to make available, or they will go out of that Biz!
Think about it as if you were a Rich Investor. You now see this new Unbox Idea. Are you going to just run out and Open or Invest in another Company right at this moment? If so, you would be either a Foolish or Very Lucky Past Investor! So why not just wait a little while and see how things go for Amazon? They may be very Rich, but most Investors don't have the "Easilly Expendable Rescorces" that Amazon has, so Amazon was easilly Financially able to take the risk others could not. 
But, Once the others see if this is accepted widely, you can then Open a new company and with only a couple of simple Feature changes people want, you would gain many new Customers not Happy with Amazons Program so they are not members, as well as steal many of Amazons Active Customers!
*Again, Competition is the Key, for both Amazon as well as Tivo! This whole idea is really so simple to duplicate, that If these Companies are Profitable with this Service, others will flock to it very soon, and the "PPV Mentality" will become History if big Money is at risk!!


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> If Content Owners are not making any Deals as you state, in Today's Ecomomy there must be a damn good reason for it!! They are either Legally Bound to what they are only doing right now, make a lot more Money the way it's done now, or they feel the whole idea is just a giant risk, and will not do anything more until they feel this system will survive!


umm, the content owners own the content. They can make whatever deals they want to make and would only be constrained by past deals if they had something bindiong them in the past deal. there is none of that with downloading content. the content owners are restrictng downloads to a PPV model because they indeed are afraid of the risk of opening things up too fast.

there are other competitors- XBOX360 downloads, iTunes, and in similar vein -Netflix streaming, various PC download services like MovieLink and even the networks themselves making shows available after broadcast time.

Music downloads hasprogresed to the point that DRM is starting to be dropped mainly because the big players know that it will increase sales and they are tired of artificial restrictions that would limit what MP3 player can be used, etc..

TiVo is a step below those deals however and is really just providing the place in the living room to access those downloads easily on a TV. once Amazon and others feel they can stand up to the content owners and get them to lift the artifical restrictions that have surrouned PPV for so long, then you will see consumers use and love these services to make picking a movie for Friday night very easy. For now though, it is definitely thecontent owners throttling the whole system.


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## javabird

dswallow said:


> I'm not aware of any restrictions on watching a rental multiple times during the 24-hour period that starts once you begin watching it the first time.


thanks for the clarification. (I thought once you finished watching it, it would disappear, but I haven't had a chance to watch any rentals yet.)


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## Soapm

In the spirit of Netflix, I would like to see them charge say $20 a month for unlimited movies. Catch is, you can only have X at a time. You must get rid of one before you can download the next.


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## AFP1

Soapm said:


> In the spirit of Netflix, I would like to see them charge say $20 a month for unlimited movies. Catch is, you can only have X at a time. You must get rid of one before you can download the next.


 It all sounds so simple, but there are many factors as to why the Movies are limited, that make this much more complicated than your simplified "$20 per Month" Fee idea. Personally I would Love it, but it will and can never happen!
*If you were able to Receive and/or Download "Unlimited Movies", (I am assuming and Hope you are talking strictly about *Rentals here, not Purchases?) they would need to Charge a lot more than $20 a Month! And that is where the problem is! Hardly anyone would Join for Much More than $20 per Month! 
Netflix is a perfect example! They were at $20 a Month at their start, but quickly reduced their Prices and created different Plans!
You need to remember that besides their operating Costs, including 2 Way Postage, they also need to Pay a Percentage in Royalty plus other Fees for every Copy that is either Downloaded or Sent Out, watched or not using either System! 
You mentioned "In the spirit of Netflix", but Netflix is actually regulating the amount of Movies you receive, simply by the time it takes to Mail them back and forth! And they have the perfect excuse, the P.O. Works only just so fast!! Where I live it takes about 4 Days to receive and/or send Mail! *Ya Just Gotta Love Florida!
So, How many Movies can you possibly receive, watch and return over a Months period using Netflix's method? They did limit Rentals to 3 at a time the last time I looked, (*On their Best Plan!) and needed to mainly because someone like myself that is Disabled and Home almost 24/7, plus every Stay at Home Parent, Retired people, Kids etc. could technically watch approx. 10 or more Movies per Day at a 90 Minute average! But with the "Unbox", they can then quickly "Rid themselves of already watched Movies" simply by Deleting it in 2 Seconds, not needing to wait because of the Mail! That eliminates your "Catch" by "allowing only *X amount of Movies at a time" But by Netflix limiting it to 3 at a time, it takes a couple of Days to receive in the Mail, and even if you watch all 3 and send them back that same Day, it would take 2 Days each way getting new Movies back again. So for each 3 Movies, a Min. of 4 Days goes by! (And that is only if you watched and sent them back before the Daily Cut Off times at the P.O and Netflix to get that Fast of a Turn Around!) Amazon realizes this, and knows they need to control things in slightly different ways. 
**But let's even take this 1 Step further, and lets just say for simple Mathmatics sake that it Only takes *3 Days Max. to "Turn Around" the 3 Movies from Netflix! You could not possibly receive more than 30 Movies per Month! That averages out to only 1 Movie per Day, the absolute Maximum I am sure they planned for, even knowing it could not possibly be that many normally in such a short amount of time! 
But by using your way with Unbox, ("Unlimited Movies") they could possibly be sending someone like myself and all others that stay Home, using the same equation they could Technically Download 300+ Movies per Month! That scenario has just increased the Companies Operating Costs by 10 Times for just that 1 Customer! And if they own more than 1 Tivo Unit, it could be even worse!
So thinking like a Business Person and knowing what your Total Costs average per Movie, you have to Limit the Overall Program itself in One way or another, to limit the amount of Movies any 1 person can possibly receive per Month as per the Prices you are charging to Earn just a small profit on each Rental! I sincerely doubt that $20.00 per Month would even cover the Bandwidth on 300 Movies back and forth in a Month, even at their discounted Bandwidth Rates. Also, if it were not limited in some way, an Average Family of 4 would probably be Downloading Picks from all 4 people in the Home 24/7, and Amazon cannot Send Out "10 - 15" D/L's daily to 1 Customer! Many would never even be watched. It would just be like a "Free For All" type of ordering method. (Order everything you just might want to watch, and later return, (To Netflix) or delete them from Amazon if you decide not to.) **But, they still need to Pay the Royalties/Fees on each Movie they Send Out, or Send as a Download!! The Download feature gives them more Profit to play with, but it seems like they are not going to give you more than the others are if not necessary! They probably feel what they give is more already, because you don't need to wait. (Too long anyway!!)
**Everything all comes down to just How Much people are willing to Pay for any Service. Add up all you are Paying Now for just TV Monthly W/O Unbox, PPV or Netflix! You already have Cable or Dish Charges, Tivo Fees, a proportionate % of your DSL Fees, Simple Upgrades like HD and/or a DVR, and those are just the Basics on 1 TV!! It is already rediculous between Cable/Dish, But W/O Cable, I can only receive 2 Channels, and I live in Palm Beach, not in middle of the Everglades! Now add on another Fairly Large Monthly Fee for Movie Rentals?? 
Plus, many people don't Rent many Movies, so to Pay a Monthly Fee for many is Crazy! *But many will Pay for the occassional Download of a Movie or Show, just like they occassionally went out and Rented a Movie before! Now Unbox does not lose them automatically as they would using a Monthly Fee basis. There are also many other Cost Factors that need to be addressed here, as there are many other reasons why they need to do things as they do, especially Netflix and BB Now with Unbox Downloads available! 
Even Blockbuster knows with their "Exchange Program" that People in general may go there and exchange Movies at first, but it will be a very small percentage of Customers, and that "Feature" will quickly become what people hated about it all to begin with. *They don't want to go out to the Store and search for Movies! ( It's kind of like joining a Gym! You go at first, But...) That is why Netflix succeeded with the idea at first! I don't know how much Blockbuster has hurt them, but I am sure it has a lot! One thing I wonder about is why none of these Companies have figured a way to Sell their Services to people without Computers, or people that don't have DSL to Network with. 
Those people are a large Market! A simple set up offline could be created very easilly, especially by Netflix & BB. But that is a totally different subject. 
To shorten this "Book" I am Writing, I will just say that any Company would end up Out of Business very quickly with Unlimited Download Rentals!


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> umm, the content owners own the content. They can make whatever deals they want to make and would only be constrained by past deals if they had something bindiong them in the past deal. there is none of that with downloading content. the content owners are restrictng downloads to a PPV model because they indeed are afraid of the risk of opening things up too fast.
> 
> there are other competitors- XBOX360 downloads, iTunes, and in similar vein -Netflix streaming, various PC download services like MovieLink and even the networks themselves making shows available after broadcast time.
> 
> Music downloads hasprogresed to the point that DRM is starting to be dropped mainly because the big players know that it will increase sales and they are tired of artificial restrictions that would limit what MP3 player can be used, etc..
> 
> TiVo is a step below those deals however and is really just providing the place in the living room to access those downloads easily on a TV. once Amazon and others feel they can stand up to the content owners and get them to lift the artifical restrictions that have surrouned PPV for so long, then you will see consumers use and love these services to make picking a movie for Friday night very easy. For now though, it is definitely thecontent owners throttling the whole system.


Z,
You missed my entire point. 
What I was trying to say is that we need Competition in most areas to make things better in any way, with not only Unbox or it's Content, but with Tivo and the whole System itself as well! And until the Day Competition starts Popping Up, all we are doing here is wasting our time by complaining about things we cannot change here. This Forum will never change the Corporate Mind if it means they might lose a Dime. *Only lower Profits due to Competition will ever make any changes for OUR good!


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## ZeoTiVo

Soapm said:


> In the spirit of Netflix, I would like to see them charge say $20 a month for unlimited movies. Catch is, you can only have X at a time. You must get rid of one before you can download the next.


actually for somethng like UNBOIX with downloads they would need to do something a bit different like 16 hours of download for 15$ a month with the caveat of spreading those downlaods out over the month somehow - say by having only 3 at a time on the TiVo account. If I could get movies to download on the same day as DVD release I think that would be a price to interest me though of course I am not sure what price they would actually need to charge to make money. 
Currently with Netflix I probably average 2$ a DVD but I have had some slow netflix months recently. When we are really in the movie mode it is like 1.50 a DVD.


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> actually for somethng like UNBOIX with downloads they would need to do something a bit different like 16 hours of download for 15$ a month with the caveat of spreading those downlaods out over the month somehow - say by having only 3 at a time on the TiVo account. If I could get movies to download on the same day as DVD release I think that would be a price to interest me though of course I am not sure what price they would actually need to charge to make money.
> Currently with Netflix I probably average 2$ a DVD but I have had some slow netflix months recently. When we are really in the movie mode it is like 1.50 a DVD.


I agree totally. But here you presented a Workable Business Plan, or I guess I should say Program Feature. But "Unlimited Rentals" with Unbox is something that I guess some just cannot comprehend, as I have read the same "Idea" from many others in the past. 
Unlimited Rentals would be no different to Amazon than it would be to a Supermarket charging a Set Monthly Fee for Unlimited Food! I know that sounds silly to some, but in actuallity there is really no difference in any way! There are just too many variables when you give out "Unlimited Anything"! It is either Fair to some and Unfair to others, or used more by some than others. That is why I never joined Netflix or BB. I like Movies, but I personally don't care if I have to wait until it hits TV! (Except for maybe 5 Movies in my Life!) I don't need to see it the Day it comes out. You feel differently which is perfectably acceptable! But that is just 1 example why it would be unfair. We would both be Paying the same $$, yet you would probably use it a heck of a lot more than I would. 
Or, If I were Married with 5 Kids and you were Single, then a Set Fee for "Unlimited Food" would be totally unfair to you! As the saying goes, "That's why there are Apples and Oranges" Everyone likes different things. Here, we all use these things differently! I am in a situation now that is Very simular. I am Divorced, no Kids, and Pay the same Rent as others here that have 5 people living in the Apt. The Owner Pays for the Water and All Wear and Tear on the Apt. and Appliances. 
Which of us is costing him less and being Ripped Off?? But here, we have 1 Price per Apt. for "Unlimited people"! (*But just until County Zoning hears about it!!!) LOL!


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## syounger64

I'd like to use this new services when I contacted them they rudely told me that there will not be any subtitles on their downloaded videos. I depend on subtitles because I'm Deaf. 

But I also love using TIVO so I'm really disappointed!


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## Soapm

AFP1 said:


> Unlimited Rentals would be no different to Amazon than it would be to a Supermarket charging a Set Monthly Fee for Unlimited Food! I know that sounds silly to some, but in actuallity there is really no difference in any way! There are just too many variables when you give out "Unlimited Anything"!


It just means the pricing point will need to be set for the average. To a single person it may be more value to pay per item for food but the unlimited offer is still on the table. It would be a no brainer for the large family.

I do see your points but I can also say they are charging what blockbuster used to charge but with less overhead (no stores to rent/maintain, postage etc...). I suspect we'll see savings later but at this moment they are trying to get back the initial investment and lure investors at the same time.


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## AFP1

syounger64 said:


> I'd like to use this new services when I contacted them they rudely told me that there will not be any subtitles on their downloaded videos. I depend on subtitles because I'm Deaf.
> 
> But I also love using TIVO so I'm really disappointed!


 Damn, I cannot believe they provide no Subtitles!! That really sucks, and is just another example of just why Disabled people need to form some sort of a Non-Profit Organization to help other Disabled people! All the Gov't provides for the Disabled at the Maximum, is a "Below Poverty Level Monthly Allowance"! 
(*No Joke! You can't even afford to cover a Low Rent Apt. on what is actually given out, and we all Paid for that Insurance!)
But no Subtitles Here? I would think that because subtitles are embedded into the Movie itself, that they would just be included/available normally, like on any DVD or TV Show today?? *But that is crazy!
As long as your TV is able to show it, we all have Subtitles available in almost everything today! Even in most Old Movies Subtitles have been added! I guess it's Everywhere except for Unbox I suppose, but that is Totally Absurd!! 
Amazon could probably even get the Gov't to Pay for the Re-Programming and extra Bandwidth, the way they just throw around Millions in Gov't Grants every Day! And if they really answered you in that way, and if that is the Companies Stock Thinking, they should be Sued! They are discriminating plain and simple, just as if they cut ANY Other Minority out of their Program!! I Own an Internet Advertising Company, and even we who are nowhere near even 1/1000th the size of Amazon, provide Translated Ads to our Lead Members who cannot Read or Speak English *In other Countries! (*Sorry, but in the US it's English only, as everyone here should be able to read/speak English if they are living here! Believe it or not, English IS STILL this Countries National Language!) But to not supply Subtitles for the Deaf, it just seems unheard of today and should be changed ASAP!!
Again I will state what I have before, it all comes down to Competition! Once there is Competition, things will change!! Especially something like Subtitles should become available I would Hope!!


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## JustAllie

syounger64 said:


> I'd like to use this new services when I contacted them they rudely told me that there will not be any subtitles on their downloaded videos. I depend on subtitles because I'm Deaf.
> 
> But I also love using TIVO so I'm really disappointed!


I'm not even hard of hearing, and I still find the lack of closed captioning to be highly annoying.

Sometimes characters mumble or have bizarre accents -- I want the option of turning on the closed captions!


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## AFP1

Soapm said:


> It just means the pricing point will need to be set for the average. To a single person it may be more value to pay per item for food but the unlimited offer is still on the table. It would be a no brainer for the large family.
> 
> I do see your points but I can also say they are charging what blockbuster used to charge but with less overhead (no stores to rent/maintain, postage etc...). I suspect we'll see savings later but at this moment they are trying to get back the initial investment and lure investors at the same time.


It all comes down again to what I have stated here many times before. *Competition is the Key to most gripes here! Once we have it things will change, but until we do?? But I read just yesterday in another Post that Rentals averaged one person $1.50 - $2.00 per Movie. BB charged a lot more than that before. I think I was Paying about $6.00 to Rent a 1st Run Movie a couple of Years ago. But not yet being a Member of Unbox, I don't know their Pricing. 
But never fool yourself into thinking they will drop the Prices once they get their initial Investment back! If they are still the only Company out there when that does happen, the Prices might just go Up! Right now they are scrambling just to keep Investors Happy, and get them their Money back. (If they are using Investors, which is the smart way to start Any Company) But once that is done, why not try raising Prices (and Profit) if there is no Competition, and people continue to use their Services? It's hard to give up something you are used to having, and Investors don't Invest just to get their Money back. They want Profits later if Amazon has Investors, and Amazon wants Profits later in either case!! *Either way, Whoever put the Money up initially, Invested in the feeling there will be Big Profits in this mainly because of the "Lack of Overhead"! So the pressure will remain forever on Amazon, or any other Company that might offer the same Service! 
This is why Cable/Satelite Services are still around & charging more than ever! The only Competition they both have are only eachother, and it just seems funny how the **Final Price for either Service is just about the same!! After all is said and done, (After the 3 - 6 Month Trial Period maybe there is a $1 difference per Month! *Nobody can tell me "Back Room Agreements" have never been made there!!) If one or the other ever provided the Exact Same Service for only a Real $10 Bill Less, the other would end up out of business if they didn't follow!

PS- I am sorry. I just read that other Post again, but he was referring to Netflix, not Unbox.


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## AFP1

JustAllie said:


> I'm not even hard of hearing, and I still find the lack of closed captioning to be highly annoying.
> 
> Sometimes characters mumble or have bizarre accents -- I want the option of turning on the closed captions!


And you should have the option! Personally, that is the first thing I turn off when I purchase any Unit, but that's just my preferance! Also, having a Surround Sound System attached, I have noticed on some TV Shows and Many Movies that when I *Don't have it on, the Center where most Voice comes out from, is much lower to hear than other things going on. But switch on the 5.1 Surround, and then the Voices are then loud and clear! But that is only a problem with the way the Sound people are Mixing the Movie. Without SS, there is nothing you can do except turn it way up, or turn on the Subtitles!


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## KurtisFish

Awesome!


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> actually for somethng like UNBOIX with downloads they would need to do something a bit different like 16 hours of download for 15$ a month with the caveat of spreading those downlaods out over the month somehow - say by having only 3 at a time on the TiVo account. If I could get movies to download on the same day as DVD release I think that would be a price to interest me though of course I am not sure what price they would actually need to charge to make money.
> Currently with Netflix I probably average 2$ a DVD but I have had some slow netflix months recently. When we are really in the movie mode it is like 1.50 a DVD.


Z,
Not being a Member yet myself, are all Rental Prices the same for any Movie or Show? Or are they different the way DVD's were back before this new Tech or even Netflix?
That would be the only problem I might see Selling it by an "Unamount" of Hours.
But it's a good idea, and probably something that could be Programmed easily, as well as it may even make it easier on them! But now when I think further, what happens with "Extra leftover Time", because there is no set time legnth for a Movie. I guess they could just bring the left over Time Foward each Month until used, like some Cell Phone Companies do! That would also Lock In some people that are not willing in their Mind to lose even 5 Mins. of their already Paid Account!


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## AFP1

"It just means the pricing point will need to be set for the average."

Here as well there is a problem with just what is "Average"? It reminds me of the Word "Normal" , which can mean or be something totally different to every person that is involved! LOL!!


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## AFP1

KurtisFish said:


> Awesome!


Thank You for sharing all of your "Wide World of Thoughts!"


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> Z,
> Not being a Member yet myself, are all Rental Prices the same for any Movie or Show? Or are they different the way DVD's were back before this new Tech or even Netflix?
> That would be the only problem I might see Selling it by an "Unamount" of Hours.
> But it's a good idea, and probably something that could be Programmed easily, as well as it may even make it easier on them! But now when I think further, what happens with "Extra leftover Time", because there is no set time legnth for a Movie. I guess they could just bring the left over Time Foward each Month until used, like some Cell Phone Companies do! That would also Lock In some people that are not willing in their Mind to lose even 5 Mins. of their already Paid Account!


Prices vary for the movies depending on the release date and tier of movie, etc.. just like old blockbuster days. They also have fire sales right now to try and drive interest in the downloads. They just had "Departed", "children of men" , casino royale" all for 99cent rentals last weekend.

the rollover idea for hours not used is a good idea. That makes it sort of unlimited for those that vary in their watching patterns from month to month but keep the download as much as possible demons in check.

The trick is to have various pricing models I think. Keep the current pay as you go at the higher rates they are now. Some people seem to like PPV and are willing to pay more. Then also institute a 15 hours for 15$ a month plan with some roll over. They do need some more studios to sign on so they have enough content to round out such a subscription plan, though.

Edit they could then also do a higher tier for HD content, say 15 hours for 30$ a month


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## AFP1

"Currently with Netflix I probably average 2$ a DVD but I have had some slow netflix months recently."


I feel here what you are experiencing Re: a "Slow Period with Netflix" is something we all may have experienced at 1 time or another. I remember joining Blockbuster twice way back Years ago! (I Moved so had to Re-Join) But after you hit the Store a few times, (Or in this case run out of your Best Picks available at Netflix) Movies that you may be interested in tend to dry up after just a few visits!! OR, they are on TV already, and shown every Month by 1 Channel or another which I can watch live or grab using Tivo! But instead I found myself Renting, or even more stupidly Paying for Movies I really could either do without ever seeing, or easilly wait until they are on TV! But I was already in the Store, had been Searching for over an Hour, and didn't want to go Home Empty Handed dissapointing my Kid or even myself after Searching all that Time!
Especially people with younger Kids know that if they want to watch a Movie, you had better be sure to come Home with at least 1, or your Life will quickly become a Living Hell!! *Plus, a Divorced Father cannot dissapoint their Kids in the few Hours they get to be with them each Week! If you are "Unmarried with Children" you know what I mean!
That brings up another problem in the same situation regarding Downloading Time! Just try to explain to a Young Child that they will have to wait *5 Hours until it finishes Downloading before they can watch it! Plus, they can only watch it once, and most Kids I have seen are used to watching DVD's over and over before! They won't understand, and may feel you are just lieing to them!
*I can hear the screaming now!! LOL!


----------



## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> Prices vary for the movies depending on the release date and tier of movie, etc.. just like old blockbuster days. They also have fire sales right now to try and drive interest in the downloads. They just had "Departed", "children of men" , casino royale" all for 99cent rentals last weekend.
> 
> the rollover idea for hours not used is a good idea. That makes it sort of unlimited for those that vary in their watching patterns from month to month but keep the download as much as possible demons in check.
> 
> The trick is to have various pricing models I think. Keep the current pay as you go at the higher rates they are now. Some people seem to like PPV and are willing to pay more. Then also institute a 15 hours for 15$ a month plan with some roll over. They do need some more studios to sign on so they have enough content to round out such a subscription plan, though.
> 
> Edit they could then also do a higher tier for HD content, say 15 hours for 30$ a month


Again, these are all good ideas!! But they are just doing things the simplest way possible, and once again, Why change if you have No Competition?


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> Again, these are all good ideas!! But they are just doing things the simplest way possible, and once again, Why change if you have No Competition?


True, it would take considerable resources to just build out the billing and associated technology to manage all that. I certainly hope Amazon is getting started on that before the competition gets the drop on them


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> True, it would take considerable resources to just build out the billing and associated technology to manage all that. I certainly hope Amazon is getting started on that before the competition gets the drop on them


Hi Z, 
Personally, I Hope that a different Company beats Amazon to the Punch by giving the Features people want most! Reason being, Amazon knowing they are a Big Name and being they are the only Guys on the Block, is basically ripping people off if they are using the same Price Structure as NF & BB, yet they have many less Costs than the others do! (*Again, I don't know their Pricing, so this would mainly apply if they are charging a similar Price.) They probably felt at the start that nobody else would either own nor could afford the Rescorces to Compete with them, (As they already had everything needed to do the Job except for the Programing written and available Downloads!) so why not charge the same just for the convenience if nothing else?? Hey, it would be great to own the only Gas Station in Town! Same thing!
And Yes, it would be very expensive to start up a *Brand New Company starting from scratch, But in all actuality, except for knowing nothing about the Movie Rental Business Numbers Wise, ( The Average Cost they Pay per Rental or Purchase to the Distributor), my comparably Tiny Advertising Company could easilly Re-Program our Servers and duplicate their System of sending out Downloads with the Rescorces we have Owned and have kept Updating for 8+ Years! Plus it could even be totally Automated easilly! I could even run it from my Home, use Paypal to supply the Info. Paperwork for all of our Subscriptions and/or Purchase Payments, Do the Collections either Monthly or by the Rental like now, and even do all the Bookeeping for me for *Much Less than it would Cost to Hire all those people! Then all I would need to have is an Agreement with a Distributor and have our Servers Re-Programmed to Send Out the Requested Rentals or Purchases Automatically when Ordered, just as we do with the Advertising we Send Out today! And Anyone else, (and there are many) that already have their own Servers are Technically able to do the same thing! Now I am not a Programmer, but I do know in my Head exactly how it can easilly be Set-Up by a Programmer. I just don't know Computer Language, that is why we even have a Programmer! (Plus our Company also Sells Retail and Wholesale Advertising in many forms, up to and including TV.) So Technically it is really not very hard to duplicate the System if you have the Hardware! 
Just as a matter of fact, At one time we even approached Tivo as another Avenue to Get Out our Clients Ads or Messages. But they were (*Very rude & ignorantly) uninterested, as at that time they had totally no Advertising at Tivo except for themselves! Back then they never added any Commercial Advertising to the "What's Playing" list like they are doing now! But I can't blame them, it's more Profit, and you and I as their "Average Customers" really are not bothered much like with Email sneaking in Ads, because you don't "Have To" push those Buttons and view their Ads! Now if they started Advertising other Companies in their Programming, then I think things would get very messy! They can't do that only because it would mean cutting the Networks Advertising and substituting their own! I doubt the Stations would appreciate that much!
So Summing Up yet another "Book", I am just a believer that if I feel like I am being screwed, I will deal with another Company, even if it's slightly more expensive! But that is just the way I feel, having been involved in Sales Marketing for over 30 Years. Others I am sure will feel differently!!


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> Hi Z,
> Personally, I Hope that a different Company beats Amazon to the Punch by giving the Features people want most! Reason being, Amazon knowing they are a Big Name and being they are the only Guys on the Block, is basically ripping people off if they are using the same Price Structure as NF & BB,


well again it is traced back to the content providers. I doubt Amazon is being charged less than what it costs to get PPV, plus Amazon has significant ramp up costs to bring the server capability online to serve out all the download streams. The backend billing and what not systems are not doing anything new, they just need to be designed and tweaked for UNBOX soecifically. Being a System engineer I know that the 10% difference that is specific to some one company always counts for a lot of design hours to get right and thus costs some bucks to put in place.

Since UNBOX and TiVo are already working together I hope UNBOX does well and the providers see the light in capturing huge market growth by moving off the PPV model and onto a susbcription model. Then it will all be good and I not have to anything different except compare my netflix subscription and decide which to keep.


----------



## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> well again it is traced back to the content providers. I doubt Amazon is being charged less than what it costs to get PPV, plus Amazon has significant ramp up costs to bring the server capability online to serve out all the download streams. The backend billing and what not systems are not doing anything new, they just need to be designed and tweaked for UNBOX soecifically. Being a System engineer I know that the 10% difference that is specific to some one company always counts for a lot of design hours to get right and thus costs some bucks to put in place.
> 
> Since UNBOX and TiVo are already working together I hope UNBOX does well and the providers see the light in capturing huge market growth by moving off the PPV model and onto a susbcription model. Then it will all be good and I not have to anything different except compare my netflix subscription and decide which to keep.


 One thing that has never been clarified on my end, is the problem with the Providers.
What exactly is the problem with their providing Content? Also, how does it vary between Unbox and PPV? I would think it is the Studios that set the Rules Re: the Distribution of it's content simply by giving out only what they want. As a Distributor, I know if I were one of them I would want to give Unbox as much as there is available if only for the Profit Angle.
If you would, please simply explain what the problem is.


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## ZeoTiVo

AFP1 said:


> One thing that has never been clarified on my end, is the problem with the Providers.
> What exactly is the problem with their providing Content? Also, how does it vary between Unbox and PPV? I would think it is the Studios that set the Rules Re: the Distribution of it's content simply by giving out only what they want. As a Distributor, I know if I were one of them I would want to give Unbox as much as there is available if only for the Profit Angle.
> If you would, please simply explain what the problem is.


I use content providers to cover everybody. It could be studios, could be a network, could be an indie, etc..
They are trying to get their hands on the new business models while being very afraid of what happened to music for a while. Bit torrent has a lot of content UNBOx does not have for example So they go slowly. They feel they have more control over cable and sat networks and they think the PPV channel is most secure plus it does not eat into DVD rentals/sales so they have a lot of content there already. With downloads outside of the normal distribution mechanism like UNBOX they do not feel they have as much ultimate control and thus go a lot more slowly. iTunes getting to distribute DRM free music and dictate pricing just scares them to death.
now this is not as big a deal to them for Standard definition stuff as that is not so sought after by those willing to pay premium, but the digital HD stuff they really, really want to contain. part of what has allowed iTunes to get som uch video content is that it is menat for a video iPod and thus looks poorly on a large screen.
UNBOX is meant for a large screen. The content providers are worrieds they will make a misstep and loose control of premium content so they proceed catiously. I think they are worried about the wrong things though. I think they should worry about market share in this new business model as most people are more than willing to pay a fair price for ease of content delivery that can be chosen when the consumer wants it. I know I would and that is why I send money to Netfoix each month as the best option for that right now.


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## javabird

syounger64 said:


> I'd like to use this new services when I contacted them they rudely told me that there will not be any subtitles on their downloaded videos. I depend on subtitles because I'm Deaf.
> 
> But I also love using TIVO so I'm really disappointed!


Tha's awful... I can't believe they would do that. Isn't that a violation of accessibility regulations?


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## AFP1

ZeoTiVo said:


> I use content providers to cover everybody. It could be studios, could be a network, could be an indie, etc..
> They are trying to get their hands on the new business models while being very afraid of what happened to music for a while. Bit torrent has a lot of content UNBOx does not have for example So they go slowly. They feel they have more control over cable and sat networks and they think the PPV channel is most secure plus it does not eat into DVD rentals/sales so they have a lot of content there already. With downloads outside of the normal distribution mechanism like UNBOX they do not feel they have as much ultimate control and thus go a lot more slowly. iTunes getting to distribute DRM free music and dictate pricing just scares them to death.
> now this is not as big a deal to them for Standard definition stuff as that is not so sought after by those willing to pay premium, but the digital HD stuff they really, really want to contain. part of what has allowed iTunes to get som uch video content is that it is menat for a video iPod and thus looks poorly on a large screen.
> UNBOX is meant for a large screen. The content providers are worrieds they will make a misstep and loose control of premium content so they proceed catiously. I think they are worried about the wrong things though. I think they should worry about market share in this new business model as most people are more than willing to pay a fair price for ease of content delivery that can be chosen when the consumer wants it. I know I would and that is why I send money to Netfoix each month as the best option for that right now.


OK, I basically understand what you are saying. But in reality when you think about it, the Providers probably feel that they are not going to gain much more Business providing Unbox with Anything, one reason as you stated in your reply, most people already have the availability to get PPV, Netflix and BB!
But now that Unbox has come along they may feel like "What do we have to gain by complicating Our Business?? All they are really doing is now splitting the already Signed-Up Customers to any of the older 3, to now just another Company, but mainly they are the same people as before just switching! They also may feel they possibly could lose some overall Business from the people who just "Never get around to Cancelling" what they already have, (Many people are like that I have found doing Business Online with my Company! Some are even Out of Biz, but still Pay each Month!!) but now Unbox has them thinking about things closer, and they may finally just quit everything! To me, what makes the most sense as to why there is limited availability is they just really don't care much because they have little to gain! Also, many TV Stations are now Selling copies of their own Shows, which nobody owns Rights to but the Stations that made them.
I also thought about this yesterday. Think about this on a small scale. That is always easier! If you were the only Company that made Widgets, and Sold them exclusively through any Major Country Wide Chain of Stores, what do you have to gain by offerring the same thing to other Vendors, except for more Paperwork and all else included in doing Business per Store? You will not Sell many more than you already are, because they are easilly available to everyone in every Town already! So here, the PPV, NF & BB Customers that are already involved, now only have just another place they can purchase the same item!
I feel they may be more concerned over the ability to Copy Movies from Unbox being they are unfamilar with the Companies ways of doing things!! (Why they Worry I don't know, they have been Copied all along anyway!) Movies have always been able to be Copied using all 3 older ways just by using a Tivo and a Burner or a Player & seperate Recorder!! You just have to know how to do it, which I am sure if you are an Engineer you already know!! (Any H.S. Dropout can figure that out!) I Copy all the time, not to Sell, but to save my Original DVD's from scratching, rendering them useless as I collect Classic Movies!
The actual reason for their thinking we will never know! We can only find reasons why they may be thinking this way!
But I feel at least 1 of the items I just mentioned is the main reason for the limited availability at this time, probably the lack of a large gain of Customers! *PS- I once called Humax Service and was told by a Supervisor that if we knew all that their Unit could possibly do, they would be put out of Business!!
*That says a lot right there!


----------



## TiVo Troll

At least sometimes.

The procedure is ridiculously simple. But, if Unbox downloading was subject to hitches and glitches as some posters have reported, it would truly be a PITA.

If Unbox's '1-Click' ordering actually required '2-Click's, easily corrected user errors potentially would be avoided. But there'd probably be a few orders not placed and sales are the name of the game!

It took about 3 hours to download a 2 1/4 hr. movie, so it's not 'instant gratification'. Not surprisingly web access slowed during the download. Picture quality was more like TiVo's 'Best' than DVD.

My Unbox trial was free but Netflix's huge repertoire, typical one day turnaround, and flat-rate prices keep it #1. 

DVD's have advantages over downloaded files. Storage and security are less of a problem and DVD's usually include interesting printed material and video extras.

Apex's DVD player with 'Loopholes' easily enables recording a backup DVD for personal use. There's an equally easy way to do the same from Unbox files requiring no 'hacking' of any kind.


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## AFP1

TiVo Troll said:


> At least sometimes.
> 
> The procedure is ridiculously simple. But, if Unbox downloading was subject to hitches and glitches as some posters have reported, it would truly be a PITA.
> 
> If Unbox's '1-Click' ordering actually required '2-Click's, easily corrected user errors potentially would be avoided. But there'd probably be a few orders not placed and sales are the name of the game!
> 
> It took about 3 hours to download a 2 1/4 hr. movie, so it's not 'instant gratification'. Not surprisingly web access slowed during the download. Picture quality was more like TiVo's 'Best' than DVD.
> 
> My Unbox trial was free but Netflix's huge repertoire, typical one day turnaround, and flat-rate prices keep it #1.
> 
> DVD's have advantages over downloaded files. Storage and security are less of a problem and DVD's usually include interesting printed material and video extras.
> 
> Apex's DVD player with 'Loopholes' easily enables recording a backup DVD for personal use. There's an equally easy way to do the same from Unbox files requiring no 'hacking' of any kind.


TT, 
I am just wondering if what you wrote was directed towards me, because a few Quotes were exactly as I had written them, but you left out the Quotes?
Never the less, If so, I will address your comments, and if not, maybe someone may learn something! I agree that if "UB Wan Kanobe" (I have no idea how that is spelled!) was difficult in any way, it would flop in a second!! Just for example, my Father who was an Aircraft Mechanic all his Life, had to have me come over to hook up just the few Color Coded Wires, and he was used to Wireing Planes that have Hundreds of Wires and also risk Lives!! Give him a Wrench and he can fix anything, but if he does not totally understand something Electronic, (*Not Electrical, he understands that, but *Electronic, he has no clue!), it goes right over his Head and back for a Refund!!
Secondly, when you mentioned 2 Clicks vs. 1, that was originally created so everything you sent was also sent to Microsoft on Click 2 for learning purposes via that 2nd Click! (Why else have 2 Clicks?) They wanted to know what most people use Feature Wise! (They were not Spying In the way you would think at first!) But With Businesses popping up all over, the 2 Click Method became a nightmare, as everyone ended up Ordering 2 pieces instead of only 1. That is why you have the option of 1 or 2 Clicks for people who that are just so used to Clicking twice! Most Companies Today will state **Click only Once or you may get 2!
As far as "Instant Gratification" is concerned, I was not referring to D/L Time, but more like 4 Hours vs. 4 Days the other ways! (*Except for PPV)
RE: "DVD's have advantages over downloaded files. Storage and security are less of a problem and DVD's usually include interesting printed material and video extras." 
This is true, but not using the System myself I don't know if you get the Video Extras, but I know you can't get any Reading Material! (Well, you can on PDF, but never will) I am now thinking back to when other Companies offerred Space to Store your Info. on their Servers, and how many items I lost when I tried it! I haven't seen that Feature Advertised now in quite a while. By the way, do they have any way to view Deleted Scenes or Different Endings as you watch, like on some DVD's??
I don't know what you are referring to when you mentioned NF's 1 Day Turn around, as that is impossible simply due to the P.O. It must take about 4 Days Min. to receive More Movies, as you can only get 3 at a time. (They may send out a DVD the same Day as 1 is returned, but you still need to wait) And as far as the quality of Picture goes, in all methods of Duplication you always lose a little quality each time it is Duplicated! (Except when the Company Stamps Out DVD's like LP Records used to be!) A "Laser" is only used for Home Recording. Discs are read with a Magnetic Head, very similar to Audio Tape!
And By the Way, *Apex makes TV's (CRT) for many Companies, and I think they are Great!! I purchased an Over Featured for most, 20 inch for the Bedroom at the Supermarket of all places for $79.95, and a Month later saw the Exact Same TV in Circuit City under Sony's name @ $299.95!! People don't realize that Major Companies no longer make most of their Electronics, they just stick their Name Plate on a Korean or Taiwan Item! IE: Sony only makes Plasma TV Screens, and almost nothing else but Computers! All else that says Sony is made by someone else!
But most people not knowing this, will spend the extra $200+ just for that Name Plate thinking it's better made! And yes, most cheaper DVD Players will allow you to Copy a Movie, as they include no Circuitry to Block you from doing it, the way my Computer does. 
So, If anyone wants to Copy Movies, remember to purchase a cheap DVD Player!
(The picture is just as good!) I just bought a *Coby DVD Player *W/5.1 SS Ability for Only $20.00!! (*You need to supply the Amp and Speakers to get SS) But it even gives me a better Picture than my Humax/Tivo on Purchased Discs!! And no "Hacking" is needed, you only need to Record from it as you do if using a VCR! Only the Hook Up is different.


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## AFP1

I mentioned in a previous Post that I was looking for a good DVD Recorder only, as I already own 2 Tivos, 1 a Humax that no longer Works using Discs, but is fine as a single Tuner Tivo. Yesterday I saw an Ad, which didn't give much info. I will Print the Ad below, and hopefully someone can answer my questions! It's a Samsung

*AD COPY
"Experience the absolute best picture quality from any DVD plus the ultimate in recording convenience with this advanced system! Now for the price of an ordinary DVD player, you can own one that offers state-of-the-art flexibility & performance. The HDMI technology supports uncompressed digital video up to HDTV resolution so it?s the perfect match for your digital TV. Plus you can record from your TV, camcorder & other video devices in DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R & DVD-RW formats. Also features DivX 5, 4, 3 & DivX VOD video playback, front A/V inputs, remote & more. Approx. 17" x 2-1/2" x 11"."

OK, now what I am not familar with are HDMI and DivX VOD as Terms and what they can do. Now, does this mean that the Recorder includes an HD Tuner? Can I Record Shows in HD and Play Back using a 1080I Capable HD Ready TV? I know it has an "HDMI" Jack on it, but with "Div VOD" I have no idea what it even means.
I feel if I can, I can kill 2 Birds with 1 stone. Receive HDTV as well as get a Recorder. I just feel for the average user, (And I am even a little bit more knowledgeable than the "average user") they really should go into more detail about these Terms and what they actually can do! 
I was once told by someone here that you cannot Hook Up an HD Tuner using anything but the HDMI Port, but Cable once came and hooked up an HD Converter to the Composite Jacks?? I was told it could not possibly work, and maybe I agree as the picture was lousey!! Even the Tech. agreed My Analog Pic was much better, so I had them take it back. 
Can someone that really knows about this please explain it simply?? I would love to have the time to Research all available knowledge about this, but I just don't!
Thanx


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## AFP1

Another item I forgot to mention about the Coby DVD Player, is it has 2 outputs. Analog or Digital, which is Auto-Read by the unit. They give a Hell of a lot for only $20.00!!
After Buying one, I went back and got another as a spare. I felt for $20, if it lasts only 6 Months it is worth it!!


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## pdhenry

AFP1 said:


> Now, does this mean that the Recorder includes an HD Tuner?


Based on the info you provided, I conclude that it has HDMI input but no tuner.


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## TiVo Troll

AFP1 said:


> TT,
> I am just wondering if what you wrote was directed towards me, because a few Quotes were exactly as I had written them, but you left out the Quotes?


I read your post fast before writing mine and was glad to see that we basically agreed on many points. I should have insured that thoughts I expressed using identical words as yours were shown as quotes. My apologies!



> Never the less, If so, I will address your comments, and if not, maybe someone may learn something!...
> 
> ...when you mentioned 2 Clicks vs. 1, that was originally created so everything you sent was also sent to Microsoft on Click 2 for learning purposes via that 2nd Click! (Why else have 2 Clicks?) They wanted to know what most people use Feature Wise! (They were not Spying In the way you would think at first!) But With Businesses popping up all over, the 2 Click Method became a nightmare, as everyone ended up Ordering 2 pieces instead of only 1. That is why you have the option of 1 or 2 Clicks for people who that are just so used to Clicking twice! Most Companies Today will state **Click only Once or you may get 2!


I was actually hoping that a confirmation screen would appear requiring a second click. I wasn't aware that the term '2 Clicks' meant anything special.



> As far as "Instant Gratification" is concerned, I was not referring to D/L Time, but more like 4 Hours vs. 4 Days the other ways! (*Except for PPV)


We typically get two day turnarounds from Netflix. But it's true, I was referring to Unbox's download time as against MRV's almost instant accessibility (at least over some network paths).



> RE: "DVD's have advantages over downloaded files. Storage and security are less of a problem and DVD's usually include interesting printed material and video extras."
> This is true, but not using the System myself I don't know if you get the Video Extras, but I know you can't get any Reading Material! (Well, you can on PDF, but never will) I am now thinking back to when other Companies offerred Space to Store your Info. on their Servers, and how many items I lost when I tried it! I haven't seen that Feature Advertised now in quite a while. By the way, do they have any way to view Deleted Scenes or Different Endings as you watch, like on some DVD's??


I'm not sure what you're referring to; which (download?) System? Netflix's regular DVD's are often skimpy on 'extras' they offer, but usually include a few. Unbox just offered the movie on the file I downloaded. (I've still got $12.01 to spend from the $15 deal!)



> I don't know what you are referring to when you mentioned NF's 1 Day Turn around, as that is impossible simply due to the P.O. It must take about 4 Days Min. to receive More Movies, as you can only get 3 at a time. (They may send out a DVD the same Day as 1 is returned, but you still need to wait)


I meant Netflix's same day return mailings which in my area routinely result in 2 day turnarounds.



> And By the Way, *Apex makes TV's (CRT) for many Companies, and I think they are Great!!...And yes, most cheaper DVD Players will allow you to Copy a Movie, as they include no Circuitry to Block you from doing it, the way my Computer does.


W/o using Apex's old player's 'Loopholes' I generally can't copy DVD's. But my DVD recorders are HDD recorders as well and aren't low end.



> So, If anyone wants to Copy Movies, remember to purchase a cheap DVD Player!...I just bought a *Coby DVD Player *W/5.1 SS Ability for Only $20.00!!...And no "Hacking" is needed, you only need to Record from it as you do if using a VCR! Only the Hook Up is different.


Your Coby deal sounds great! I wondered if cheap DVD recorders might have advantages.

Although Unbox's *TOU* states in Sect's. *4 a* and *b* that a keeper disc can only be created from purchased downloads and will only play on PC DVD players, I easily discovered workarounds.


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## Havana Brown

Wheeee, I rented Happy Feet this weekend and bought Music and Lyrics for #3.99 each.


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## Alarmcluck

You're not supposed to be able to save Amazon Unbox movies. They automatically go away 24 hours after download and are allegedly copy protected. HOWEVER...I was easily able to record Rocky Balboa from my series 2 to my Panasonic DVR. No problems, it plays beautifully on the Panasonic.


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## moxie1617

Alarmcluck said:


> You're not supposed to be able to save Amazon Unbox movies. They automatically go away 24 hours after download and are allegedly copy protected. HOWEVER...I was easily able to record Rocky Balboa from my series 2 to my Panasonic DVR. No problems, it plays beautifully on the Panasonic.


They automatically go away 24 hrs after viewing, not downloading. 30days after download is the max. If you buy frorm unbox, not rent, they are yours forever and can even be downloaded again.


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## TiVo Troll

Which is great because after watching a purchased movie it can be deleted and not take up HD space!

But I've run across a glitch which I reported to Amazon. Amazon is currently checking on it. Maybe it's the way TiVo downloads are supposed to work.

When a purchased movie info is viewed in Amazon's _Your Media Library_ there's a dropdown menu on the righthand side showing all TiVo's eligible for downloads. Mine lists every TiVo except the one to which the movie was downloaded.

Is this the way it's supposed to work? Will Amazon's website know when a purchased movie is deleted from a TiVo and only then re-show that TiVo on the dropdown?

When looking at movies for purchase all my eligible TiVo's are shown on the dropdown. I wouldn't delete a purchased movie unless it could be re-downloaded to the same TiVo.

(BTW, Amazon's customer service instant call-back feature is just short of amazing in how well it works!)


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## msrolla

I think you also have to remove it from the recently deleted folder before the specific TiVo recorder shows back up in the Media Library.


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## TiVo Troll

Amazon's call-back service customer rep. just confirmed that what *msrolla * posted is exactly right!

After a purchased movie is deleted from a TiVo's "Recently Deleted" folder, that TiVo will be re-entered, within a few minutes to possibly more than an hour, on that movie's _Your Media Library_ dropdown menu for re-downloading.


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## pdhenry

If Amazon can see what's on my TiVo, why can't I see what's on my TiVo when I'm not home? Come, on TiVo! Throw me a bone!


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## rambler

Alarmcluck said:


> You're not supposed to be able to save Amazon Unbox movies. They automatically go away 24 hours after download and are allegedly copy protected. HOWEVER...I was easily able to record Rocky Balboa from my series 2 to my Panasonic DVR. No problems, it plays beautifully on the Panasonic.


Hmm. If I hook up one tivo to another...........think it'll work?

EDIT - oh yeah, I'm all set, no more worries about 24 hours to watch them!


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## TiVo Troll

I originally goofed when attempting to check on the purchased movie that was downloaded to _Now Playing_ and inadvertantly deleted it. That's when I discovered that it couldn't be re-downloaded to the same TiVo without deleting it from the _Recently Deleted_ folder. But I had inadvertantly selected another S2 as the download destination.

The movie hadn't begun to download because that S2 was disconnected while I was doing functionality tests on another S2.

I used Amazon's call back support and explained the error to the rep. who reported to me that she had cancelled the second TiVo's license as a destination for the download.

Today I reset the other S2, disconnected it, and re-connected the S2 to which I had erroneously ordered the download to be sent.

As soon as it was reconneted the S2 began to download for a long time. I thought it was getting a s/w update or at least all the program info but it turned out that the S2 was downloading the purchased movie. Now the movie is on two S2's although as of yet only the correct one is indicated in the _Your Media Library_ movie listing.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not Amazon's website updates with the correct info.


----------



## TiVo Troll

TiVo Troll said:


> Now the movie is on two S2's although as of yet only the correct one is indicated in the _Your Media Library_ movie listing.
> 
> It'll be interesting to see whether or not Amazon's website updates with the correct info.


The movie's _Your Media Library_ listing hasn't changed, so, although it makes little practical difference, it appears that I inadvertantly got a download freebie.

Apparently if a movie is setup to download, but can't, it remains in an Unbox queue and downloads as soon as it can.


----------



## musika

is it free.. or are there any free stuff there?


----------



## bud8man

For a while you could sign up and get a $15.00 credit...but now the best I have seen are $.99 downloads


----------



## mayank

just wondering if it would work if hubbie joined, lol!


----------



## pdhenry

The $15 credit was a limited time deal. I think it ended in April.


----------



## alexgalt

I made a site that lists the movies you can rent with Tivo through Amazon's Unbox. Sorted them by IMDB rating. I find the site very useful. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Tivo Rent


----------



## restart88

As luck would have it I ordered 1 episode of a TV series last night. Now I find I was charged for the entire 1st season and I had already purchased 8 episodes back in March. Needless to say I'm not real happy with Unbox billing and the difficulties in trying to email customer support (keeps asking for my name but that box never displayed).


----------



## bud8man

Unbox has been very disapointing for me as well...I can download the movies to my computer and watch them, but when I try to download them to my TiVo it kills my network and I get an error that the download speed was too slow.


----------



## HDTiVo

Stargate Stars Release Indie Film
http://hdtivo.wordpress.com/2007/07/04/stargate-stars-release-indi-film/


----------



## killer77

Thanks for this just signed up!!


----------



## JustAllie

HDTiVo said:


> Stargate Stars Release Indie Film
> http://hdtivo.wordpress.com/2007/07/04/stargate-stars-release-indi-film/


:shakes fist: at HDTiVo for making me spend $14.99.


----------



## HDTiVo

JustAllie said:


> :shakes fist: at HDTiVo for making me spend $14.99.


Did it suck? Did it cost $14.99?

You may have helped TiVo live another day. Not worth it?


----------



## MickeS

The movie costs $14.99 at Unbox (costs the same at iTunes Store), not available for rental.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Dogs-Breakf...ie=UTF8&s=digital-video&qid=1183661615&sr=1-1

The 15 reviews on iTunes are very positive... but they might just be McKay fans.


----------



## JustAllie

HDTiVo said:


> Did it suck? Did it cost $14.99?
> 
> You may have helped TiVo live another day. Not worth it?


It is now sitting on my TiVo at home, I will let you know how it is.

I really like David Hewlett, and it looks fun. That was mock anger I was displaying earlier, of course.


----------



## HDTiVo

JustAllie said:


> It is now sitting on my TiVo at home, I will let you know how it is.
> 
> I really like David Hewlett, and it looks fun. That was mock anger I was displaying earlier, of course.


Oh, right, so far I only made you spend your money. I haven't wasted your time yet.


----------



## justin99

Will we ever be able to download PPV events from Amazon. I live in an area where I dont have the option of digital cable so I cannot order PPV but would like too.


----------



## Mikeyis4dcats

Ok, so I downloaded a movie, and never got around to watching it. It deleted itsself. (Kind of surprised it didn't warn me a couple of days out) Now Amazon won't let me download it again. Anyone know how to reset Unbox?


----------



## pdhenry

Was it a rental or a purchase?


----------



## JustAllie

waskito said:


> Code:
> 
> 
> Thanks for this just signed up!!





Code:


Why are you typing in code?


----------



## ZeoTiVo

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> Ok, so I downloaded a movie, and never got around to watching it. It deleted itsself. (Kind of surprised it didn't warn me a couple of days out) Now Amazon won't let me download it again. Anyone know how to reset Unbox?


actually the TiVo warned you in its usual manner of placing the yellow dot icons beside it.

so two things 
1 - when you download either a purchase or rental it will have the standard keep for 2 days and will fall into the regular rotation of record and delete that TiVo does.
for a purchase you can set it at keep until I delete or you can go and download it again if it is deleted
for a rental you can only set it to keep for 30 days from the date of download *but you have to go and do this manually*

2 - Once the rental is deleted for any reason it is gone and can not be downloaded again. You might get some help from UNBOX but the policy is that once downloaded it is your responsibility to keep hold of the show


----------



## HiddenSky

HDTiVo said:


> Did it suck? Did it cost $14.99?
> 
> You may have helped TiVo live another day. Not worth it?


I downloaded it both through Unbox and iTunes (for the portability factor, and ended up watching it on the tiny iPod screen first) and really _A Dog's Breakfast_. If you like David Hewlett (I'm looking at you, JustAllie!) and dark humor, you should enjoy the film.


----------



## JustAllie

HiddenSky said:


> I downloaded it both through Unbox and iTunes (for the portability factor, and ended up watching it on the tiny iPod screen first) and really _A Dog's Breakfast_. If you like David Hewlett (I'm looking at you, JustAllie!) and dark humor, you should enjoy the film.


Yeah, it was funny -- had my Mom and me laughing out loud several times. It's goofy -- perhaps too goofy for some people. Personally, I like goofy. 

I'm sure I would not have bought the movie if not for the cast, but it was fun to watch anyway.


----------



## HDTiVo

JustAllie said:


> Yeah, it was funny -- had my Mom and me laughing out loud several times. It's goofy -- perhaps too goofy for some people. Personally, I like goofy.
> 
> I'm sure I would not have bought the movie if not for the cast, but it was fun to watch anyway.


Another satisfied customer.


----------



## CIP54

I'm back to dvd rentals. cheaper if you use blockbuster total access.

Downlaod was a joke "letterboxed" at 4;3 format, 2 channel audio.

Watched 3/4 of Blood diamond, came back to finish 25 hours later, gone! I assumed the 24 hours would at least count the time you had watched! Another case of copy protection crap making a decent idea a waste of money.

:down: :down: :down:


----------



## dswallow

I'm really surprised how many people complain about the 24 hour time limit once you start watching. I understand the concept of being interrupted, especially if there's kids involved. But even then, if you go to the theater, how often do you walk out in the middle and try/want to come back the next day and pick up where you left off? It just seems you know going into the movie what the terms are; it shouldn't be a surprise what happens 25 hours later with Unbox rentals such that you even consider pausing and waiting till the next day to finish. That's just not what their model is all about right now.


----------



## HDTiVo

dswallow said:


> I'm really surprised how many people complain about the 24 hour time limit once you start watching. I understand the concept of being interrupted, especially if there's kids involved. But even then, if you go to the theater, how often do you walk out in the middle and try/want to come back the next day and pick up where you left off? It just seems you know going into the movie what the terms are; it shouldn't be a surprise what happens 25 hours later with Unbox rentals such that you even consider pausing and waiting till the next day to finish. That's just not what their model is all about right now.


I wonder if you could spend $1.98 to download two copies of a 99 cent rental special and thereby have a second copy to finish watching sometime later.


----------



## javabird

dswallow said:


> I'm really surprised how many people complain about the 24 hour time limit once you start watching. I understand the concept of being interrupted, especially if there's kids involved. But even then, if you go to the theater, how often do you walk out in the middle and try/want to come back the next day and pick up where you left off? It just seems you know going into the movie what the terms are; it shouldn't be a surprise what happens 25 hours later with Unbox rentals such that you even consider pausing and waiting till the next day to finish. That's just not what their model is all about right now.


Good point, and I hadn't thought of it that way...

With a 99 cent special, I can rent 7 or 8 movies for what it would cost to go to the theatre once around here. And I don't have to put up with rude people who talk through the show to their kids or on their cell phones or wear nauseatingly strong perfume (all of which happened the last three times I went to a theatre...) A rented movie costs around 4 bucks, and several times I've had to return them because I didn't have time to watch.


----------



## ZeoTiVo

dswallow said:


> I'm really surprised how many people complain about the 24 hour time limit once you start watching. I understand the concept of being interrupted, especially if there's kids involved. But even then, if you go to the theater, how often do you walk out in the middle and try/want to come back the next day and pick up where you left off? It just seems you know going into the movie what the terms are; it shouldn't be a surprise what happens 25 hours later with Unbox rentals such that you even consider pausing and waiting till the next day to finish. That's just not what their model is all about right now.


well yes, I understand the 24 hour period and it is made quite clear, especially on the TiVo.

Now the movie theater is a bit of a strawman argument . I generally do not have the kids sleeping upsatairs at the theater but instead know that someone else is watching out for them. At home children are just naturally going to mess with schedules. Kids probably sell a lot of TiVos to their parents. The number of times it will be a disruption of a nature that means I will have to stop the movie and perhaps forgo finishing it will be low, I grant you that.

But 48 hours does not seem to create any hassles for the content owner vs. 24. Will pirating the movie be that much easier in the second 24 hours? Will they sell a lot less rentals becasue i get people over for a second screening on night 2?

*Really, what is the argument against 48 hours in favor of 24?*


----------



## Brainiac 5

dswallow said:


> I'm really surprised how many people complain about the 24 hour time limit once you start watching. I understand the concept of being interrupted, especially if there's kids involved.


For me, it's not so much being interrupted unexpectedly, but that I don't often have two hours of continuous free time and end up watching movies in parts over the space of days (or in extreme cases, weeks!).



> But even then, if you go to the theater, how often do you walk out in the middle and try/want to come back the next day and pick up where you left off?


I think everyone can understand why they don't let you do that - it would be difficult to make practical. (Would they stamp your hand or something like at Disneyworld?) But in the case of Unbox, they can easily make the rules anything that Amazon and the content providers can agree on.



> It just seems you know going into the movie what the terms are; it shouldn't be a surprise what happens 25 hours later with Unbox rentals such that you even consider pausing and waiting till the next day to finish. That's just not what their model is all about right now.


Well, there are two aspects to the complaints about this, and not all complaints include both. They are: not knowing the terms, and that the terms are not so good. Although I understand that people have said they misunderstood the terms, it it still true that Amazon did state them. But I do think it's valid to complain about what the terms are. Yes, letting you keep the rentals longer isn't their model - but the complaint is that we don't like their model.

They're free to offer any terms they want, but the current terms aren't good enough (for me) to get me to rent anything. I'm free to hope for a better deal that would induce me to give them my money.


----------



## dswallow

ZeoTiVo said:


> *Really, what is the argument against 48 hours in favor of 24?*


I think even something like 30 hours would work. That gives you a window beyond the time period you started watching the rental. If you start watching at 8pm because your schedule allows you some free time then, and something comes up while watching that you need to delay finishing to the next day, having it expire at 8pm the next day probably means you have no opportunity to finish.

Another answer might be to allow an "extension"; maybe $0.99 for an additional 24 hours for a rental you previously paid.

But I guess when you say 30 hours or 48 hours you still end up in the same place... it won't work for some subgroup and they'll say why not make it 96 hours or 7 days or 2 weeks, et. al.

Maybe if they'd started it as the rental period allows for up to 2 hours of delay after you start watching it, people would be wishing for/happy with 24 hours.


----------



## ZeoTiVo

dswallow said:


> I think even something like 30 hours would work. That gives you a window beyond the time period you started watching the rental. If you start watching at 8pm because your schedule allows you some free time then, and something comes up while watching that you need to delay finishing to the next day, having it expire at 8pm the next day probably means you have no opportunity to finish.)


yep, that is exactly my problem with 24 hours- it ends right at the time you probably are able to start watching the movie again if interrupted. 30 works to alleviate that problem. I would be happy with anything from 30 to 48 hours. I can agree that the line has to be drawn somewhere and I have heard of 72 hours being bandied about in some talks.


----------



## alexgalt

my site now shows the specials too.

http://tivorent.com/tivorent.fcgi?cat=16386761&price=99


----------



## CIP54

I understand the arguments and the issues and for me the 24 hour period is a show stopper. I can easily burn the show to DVD if I wanted to steal it no matter what the time period is. Putting in a short window really only penalizes honest customers. Maybe even encourages stealing because if I burn a disc I can finish it whenever I want! Besides, who would want a permanent copy of a letterboxed 4:3 format movie at marginal resolution?


----------



## danieljanderson

The only reason I can see Amazon / Industry wanting to keep the 24 hour window is that it turn watching a movie into an event rather than an afterthought. You don't keep movies around. You plan on watching your AMAZON MOVIE. That, and the fact that they may get you to re-purchase it if you miss the ending.

I don't like it either. 48-72!


----------



## Brainiac 5

danieljanderson said:


> The only reason I can see Amazon / Industry wanting to keep the 24 hour window is that it turn watching a movie into an event rather than an afterthought. You don't keep movies around. You plan on watching your AMAZON MOVIE.


I think you're right, that's at least one of the reasons. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a good fit with TiVo's "watch what you want, when you want" idea. The whole idea of TiVo for me is that I'm not a slave to the TV - I'll watch things when I get around to it; I don't have to schedule my life around television "events."

In any case, it seems like Amazon/the content providers are thinking of this as a rental from the video store (you get it one day, give it back the next), when many people would prefer a more Netflix-type model.


----------



## CharlesH

Brainiac 5 said:


> In any case, it seems like Amazon/the content providers are thinking of this as a rental from the video store (you get it one day, give it back the next), when many people would prefer a more Netflix-type model.


Particularly since TiVo is a closed system that can enforce a policy no more than N rentals on the TiVo at a time, and no copying to other systems (essentially, the NetFlix model). TiVo could even support the "download next item on your queue when you _return_ (i.e., delete) one" feature.


----------



## Brainiac 5

CharlesH said:


> Particularly since TiVo is a closed system that can enforce a policy no more than N rentals on the TiVo at a time, and no copying to other systems (essentially, the NetFlix model). TiVo could even support the "download next item on your queue when you _return_ (i.e., delete) one" feature.


Yes - I can't speak for anyone else, but if it worked like that my only concern would be that I might injure myself in a mad rush to get to a computer to sign up.


----------



## T*i*V*o

I didn't know about the $15.00 credit; I was wondering why I was not being charged. 

Downloaded Unbox the other day and had lots of problems just trying to understand where my movie was because it was not showing up. 

To make a long story, many E-mails back and forth with Amazon, more like 8-10; my problems were solved. 

Watched "Pretty Feet" it was a cute movie; watched it on my laptop. 

Oh! It took 4 1/2 hrs to download. Next movie is will be downloaded on the Tivo DVR and will probably take just as long. 

I hated keeping my laptop on for so long. 

Thanks for letting us know about the credit thing, man, I thought I was getting a credit for all the grief I had to go through to finally get some problems resolved through Amazon.


----------



## psxboy

Wow... I've never seen so much complaining and "they should do it this way"-ing before in my life! Unbox is what it is... I happen to like it and find it both useful and affordable.

I don't have Netflix because I don't watch 10 movies a week. Unbox lets me "rent" ala-carte. When I'm in the mood for a movie I can get one and be watching it within the hour if I like. And I don't have to get off the couch and drive to BB to do it either.

I've never had a problem with the downloads. My net speeds don't suffer noticeably during them. And even though it can take slightly longer than the length of the movie to download, it still beats even a 24-hour turnaround from Netflix.

I still have a standard-def TV so the "letterboxed 4:3 format" isn't an issue for me and even so, Amazon has stated that they're considering anamorphic versions in the future. And adding CC data to their encoding process is a trivial task that they might also consider if enough people request it. Personally I don't like/need/use CC to begin with so... not an issue for me!

I've never been confused by the differences between purchasing a movie and renting a movie from Unbox. Nor have I been confused by the time limits on the rentals. All of their documentation and warnings of such have been very clear to me. I've also never had an issue with completing a viewing within the prescribed time limits of a rental. And if by some chance I ever do find myself interrupted in the middle of a rental and not able to get back to it before the 24 hour time period is up, I went into the process fully aware of the limitations and the blame is on me. I'll just pony up the extra couple of bucks to re-rent it if it's that important to me.

I never, ever use my cable boxes to watch TV... I control everything through the Tivo. That means I don't use my cable company's interactive features at all, and I never order PPV through them. It's too much of a hassle to bypass the Tivo to get it to work. And if I remember right, they cost about the same as Unbox rentals anyway, so Unbox wins due to useability for me.

I've never had a problem with ordering movies from Unbox. I don't unnecessarily click on "Download this to your Tivo" buttons and when I do I'm sure I want it so I don't need 10 more "are you sure you want to do this?" warnings before it does what I asked it to. And the pricing is about the same as you'd pay to rent from BB anyway but you don't have to leave your home or wait for the mail to get it. (I still have almost $5 left on my $15 sign-up bonus and I've watched a bunch of movies over the past several weeks already.)

So anyway, if you want uber-high quality HD video with 5.1 Surround Sound and all the extras go out and buy the DVD. If you want 10 movies a day with 10 more waiting in the wings every time you finish one, get Netflix. But if you want a convenient way to watch the occasional movie for a fair price use Unbox.

Way to go Tivo & Amazon! Keep the enhancements coming!

psxboy


----------



## bud8man

When it works...what can you say it just works...for me...it works on my PC...not on my TiVo...and who wants to download movies to a laptop, hook it up to the TV and then watch it?
And is the problem with Verizon Fios? Amazon Unbox? TiVo? Nobody knows.


----------



## bud8man

When it works...what can you say it just works...for me...it works on my PC...not on my TiVo...and who wants to download movies to a laptop, hook it up to the TV and then watch it?
And is the problem with Verizon Fios? Amazon Unbox? TiVo? Nobody knows.


----------



## hardmusicfanatic

Mikeyis4dcats said:


> Ok, so I downloaded a movie, and never got around to watching it. It deleted itsself. (Kind of surprised it didn't warn me a couple of days out) Now Amazon won't let me download it again. Anyone know how to reset Unbox?


 Amazon Unbox is a rip off as far as I'm concerned. They charge you $4 a movie download that I've seen so far. I've got Blockbuster Total Access. I get 3 movies at a time, and I get to turn them in and get 3 movies from the store until my next ones come in the mail. I basically get unlimited movies for $17.99 a month. Much better deal in my opinion. I also have a xbox360 and I download movies off of Xbox Live and their the same way. You've got 14 days to watch the movie, but if you start watching the movie and stop it and come back to it, you've got 24 hours to finish it.


----------



## restart88

I saw that I had 3 credits on my account so I downloaded _Ghost Rider _ at $3.99. Checked my credit card and saw I got charged $3.98 so apparently one of those credits was for $.01 and the system chose that one instead of one of the other two which were for $1.99 each.


----------



## dswallow

restart88 said:


> I saw that I had 3 credits on my account so I downloaded _Ghost Rider _ at $3.99. Checked my credit card and saw I got charged $3.98 so apparently one of those credits was for $.01 and the system chose that one instead of one of the other two which were for $1.99 each.


The credits are used in the order they're received and they can't be combined, so this sort of thing can and does happen.


----------



## sueb61246

I just got my free movie, Babel. Disappointed that I can't transfer it to my laptop though...TiVo Desktop says it's copy protected and can't be transferred. I thought you could transfer to a portable player...??


----------



## richsadams

sueb61246 said:


> I just got my free movie, Babel. Disappointed that I can't transfer it to my laptop though...TiVo Desktop says it's copy protected and can't be transferred. I thought you could transfer to a portable player...??


Unbox videos are copyright protected by the material owners just as are DVD's, etc. Nothing to do with TiVo...or even Amazon.

You know you can download Unbox videos directly to your computer...and to a portable device right? More info here.


----------



## Jstkiddn

psxboy said:


> Wow... I've never seen so much complaining and "they should do it this way"-ing before in my life! Unbox is what it is... I happen to like it and find it both useful and affordable.
> 
> I don't have Netflix because I don't watch 10 movies a week. Unbox lets me "rent" ala-carte. When I'm in the mood for a movie I can get one and be watching it within the hour if I like. And I don't have to get off the couch and drive to BB to do it either.
> 
> I've never had a problem with the downloads. My net speeds don't suffer noticeably during them. And even though it can take slightly longer than the length of the movie to download, it still beats even a 24-hour turnaround from Netflix.
> 
> I still have a standard-def TV so the "letterboxed 4:3 format" isn't an issue for me and even so, Amazon has stated that they're considering anamorphic versions in the future. And adding CC data to their encoding process is a trivial task that they might also consider if enough people request it. Personally I don't like/need/use CC to begin with so... not an issue for me!
> 
> I've never been confused by the differences between purchasing a movie and renting a movie from Unbox. Nor have I been confused by the time limits on the rentals. All of their documentation and warnings of such have been very clear to me. I've also never had an issue with completing a viewing within the prescribed time limits of a rental. And if by some chance I ever do find myself interrupted in the middle of a rental and not able to get back to it before the 24 hour time period is up, I went into the process fully aware of the limitations and the blame is on me. I'll just pony up the extra couple of bucks to re-rent it if it's that important to me.
> 
> I never, ever use my cable boxes to watch TV... I control everything through the Tivo. That means I don't use my cable company's interactive features at all, and I never order PPV through them. It's too much of a hassle to bypass the Tivo to get it to work. And if I remember right, they cost about the same as Unbox rentals anyway, so Unbox wins due to useability for me.
> 
> I've never had a problem with ordering movies from Unbox. I don't unnecessarily click on "Download this to your Tivo" buttons and when I do I'm sure I want it so I don't need 10 more "are you sure you want to do this?" warnings before it does what I asked it to. And the pricing is about the same as you'd pay to rent from BB anyway but you don't have to leave your home or wait for the mail to get it. (I still have almost $5 left on my $15 sign-up bonus and I've watched a bunch of movies over the past several weeks already.)
> 
> So anyway, if you want uber-high quality HD video with 5.1 Surround Sound and all the extras go out and buy the DVD. If you want 10 movies a day with 10 more waiting in the wings every time you finish one, get Netflix. But if you want a convenient way to watch the occasional movie for a fair price use Unbox.
> 
> Way to go Tivo & Amazon! Keep the enhancements coming!
> 
> psxboy


What he said!


----------



## sueb61246

richsadams said:


> Unbox videos are copyright protected by the material owners just as are DVD's, etc. Nothing to do with TiVo...or even Amazon.
> 
> You know you can download Unbox videos directly to your computer...and to a portable device right? More info here.


How would I download it to my computer...I didn't see an option on that link. When I ordered it, it went straight to my dvr. Oops....I bet I could have opened that drop-down box and there would have been an option to send it to my computer, right?

I have an iPod, and that's not listed as an approved device.


----------



## richsadams

sueb61246 said:


> How would I download it to my computer...I didn't see an option on that link. When I ordered it, it went straight to my dvr. Oops....I bet I could have opened that drop-down box and there would have been an option to send it to my computer, right?
> 
> I have an iPod, and that's not listed as an approved device.


 Yes, you can add your computer(s) to the download options list.

Making it work with the iPod would make Unbox a direct competitor with Apple's own movie/tv download program. Follow the money.


----------



## restart88

sueb61246 said:


> I just got my free movie, Babel. Disappointed that I can't transfer it to my laptop though...TiVo Desktop says it's copy protected and can't be transferred. I thought you could transfer to a portable player...??


So get an older DVD burner like me. lol


----------



## restart88

sueb61246 said:


> I just got my free movie, Babel. Disappointed that I can't transfer it to my laptop though...TiVo Desktop says it's copy protected and can't be transferred. I thought you could transfer to a portable player...??


Free or free to you due to a credit?

I heard the movie was pretty bad so I don't care to see it unless it costs nothing, which I was told was more than it was worth. lol


----------



## sueb61246

restart88 said:


> Free or free to you due to a credit?
> 
> I heard the movie was pretty bad so I don't care to see it unless it costs nothing, which I was told was more than it was worth. lol


Free due to a credit, but none-the-less I didn't have to pay for it, so free is free. I figure even if it's a dog of a movie, at least I didn't pay for it...I've seen plenty of bad ones that I bought tickets for LOL!


----------



## dswallow

sueb61246 said:


> Free due to a credit, but none-the-less I didn't have to pay for it, so free is free. I figure even if it's a dog of a movie, at least I didn't pay for it...I've seen plenty of bad ones that I bought tickets for LOL!


You pay for it with your time, if not both your time and money. 

Oh, and you might kill brain cells prematurely, too.


----------



## restart88

dswallow said:


> You pay for it with your time, if not both your time and money.
> 
> Oh, and you might kill brain cells prematurely, too.


That's what they tell me about THAT movie. lol


----------



## Warren

I never got the $15. Dose it expire? Can I still get the $15?


----------



## pdhenry

IIRC you had to sign up before the end of March or April to get the $15 credit.


----------



## Bruzer

Speaking of the $15 credit, does anyone know:

1. When does any remaining credit expire?

2. Is there a way to tell how much remaining credit I have?

Thanks


----------



## dswallow

Bruzer said:


> Speaking of the $15 credit, does anyone know:
> 
> 1. When does any remaining credit expire?
> 
> 2. Is there a way to tell how much remaining credit I have?
> 
> Thanks


It doesn't expire.

You can tell the amount remaining because it's shown on every page displaying info and pricing of an Unbox video... in fine print right under the price.


----------



## Bruzer

dswallow said:


> It doesn't expire.


Has this been verified? Someone over on FatWallet pointed to the original promotion offer here which states that it must be used by 9/1/07. He also said that Amazon called him back and confirmed that date.


----------



## rambler

Elsewhere on Tivo Community Forum it says it does expire 9-1-07.


----------



## Glich

o dam i ddi't see anything after the link about a freebee so i fingered the promo was dead and o would i just try it out with a 99 cent rental... turn out i got it for free.

now below outher rentals it says 
You have 1 Unbox credit totaling $1. (Note: If you have multiple credits, only one applies per order. Total available credit amount updates periodically and may not be immediately displayed.)


ok i called amazon.. apparently that promo is over you can do register by april to get the $15 but i bought a dvd a few weeks ago when that had a free 1.99 credit offer thats what i got.


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## SFkjeld

I am considering buying one of the HD Tivos, but I cannot find out whether I need to purchase a different Tivo service to receive it. I have a lifetime service. The kid at Best Buy told me that there is a new service for HD. What is the story? Will I be able to receive HD content with the new $299 Tivo HD with my current lifetime service?
Thanks


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## nICEsHARE

How about listing the permitted devices somewhere here??!
I can't get it as well.
Thx


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## pdhenry

SFkjeld said:


> Will I be able to receive HD content with the new $299 Tivo HD with my current lifetime service?


Lifetime service is on transferable to another box under very limited circumstances. Without more info I'd guess that you won't be able to put your current service onto a new HD.


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## JustAllie

SFkjeld said:


> I am considering buying one of the HD Tivos, but I cannot find out whether I need to purchase a different Tivo service to receive it. I have a lifetime service. The kid at Best Buy told me that there is a new service for HD. What is the story? Will I be able to receive HD content with the new $299 Tivo HD with my current lifetime service?
> Thanks


It's _product_ lifetime service, and it goes with the box, not with you. A few times they have had special deals allowing transfer of lifetime service to another TiVo box, but I don't know of any such deals right now.

The positive side is that the lifetime service on your old TiVo makes its resale value substantially higher, if you're planning to get rid of it. Or it can allow you to take advantage of a multi-service discount on the new box, if you plan to keep the old TiVo.


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## CreativeCat

My Netflix membership gives me 17 hours of free rented downloads a month, so I don't expect to use Unboxed for that. I had the impression, though, that it was possible to get some things with Unboxed or SwivelSearch for free (aside from the first $15 Unboxed purchase). Is that true? If so, how do I find free programming?


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## dswallow

CreativeCat said:


> My Netflix membership gives me 17 hours of free rented downloads a month, so I don't expect to use Unboxed for that. I had the impression, though, that it was possible to get some things with Unboxed or SwivelSearch for free (aside from the first $15 Unboxed purchase). Is that true? If so, how do I find free programming?


It's rare to find free stuff on Amazon Unbox, but it is there from time to time; the simplest way is just to browse everything and change the sort order to "Price: Low to High". Though often it gets mentioned in threads around here, so paying attention can let you take advantage of freebies. For instance, there were some Mexican films that were available recently for purchase for $0.00 (even though they still were $3.99 to rent).


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## morac

There's a lot of free downloads this week:

Here's the link.


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## Havana Brown

morac said:


> There's a lot of free downloads this week:
> 
> Here's the link.


No wonder they're free. Those are some awful picks!


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## morac

Two more free programs:

Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far and SCI FI: Inside Battlestar Galactica. I think these are videos from last summer though. Still they are free.

On a somewhat related note, come 2008, NBC Universal shows like Battlestar Galatica will only be downloadable from Amazon Unbox, unless Apple and NBC make up.


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## wizzy

With the 9/1 deadline for using the $15 free credit looming, I downloaded a $.99 movie on Friday. I now show that I have 3 credits totaling $4.98. No clue how that figure came about.


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## tase2

I did not think you could sneak a spam link in until your 5th post. I guess the sig. is the loop hole. 

(He had 3 posts at the time of this post.)


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## nick1817

Anyone knwo if they plan on offering any network shows in HD? Even if they did, I assume you'd have to have the HD Tivo to get it to play?


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## richsadams

nick1817 said:


> Anyone knwo if they plan on offering any network shows in HD? Even if they did, I assume you'd have to have the HD Tivo to get it to play?


Currently Amazon Unbox does not offer HD programming of any sort.


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## morac

Out of curiosity what would happen if I purchase a free movie on one TiVo and then again on another (or even the same TiVo)? Would it buy it twice or be smart enough to just download it?


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## restart88

In case some didn't know it (I just saw it today) the new freebie is you can download the pilot of some new unaired shows right to your Tivo!

I had to laugh when it asked if I wanted to purchase for $0.00. lol

I now have "Chuck" and "Bionic Woman" downloaded and waiting for me.


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## Einselen

restart88 said:


> In case some didn't know it (I just saw it today) the new freebie is you can download the pilot of some new unaired shows right to your Tivo!
> 
> I had to laugh when it asked if I wanted to purchase for $0.00. lol
> 
> I now have "Chuck" and "Bionic Woman" downloaded and waiting for me.


I think you have to be living under a rock to not know about this. There are multiple threads and posts about this, but still I like it cause I don't read every forum or every post and could easily miss it. The internet is a big vast hole of time killing.


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## Joe3

This is were NBC should push for HD downloads. 

Learned an important lesson with a show called, Firefly. Hated it when it was on NBC, sorry Fox in SD.

Watched Firefly in HD on universal and loved it. Perhaps one on e the most stunning action/adventure shows I have ever watched.


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## dswallow

Joe3 said:


> This is were NBC should push for HD downloads.
> 
> Learned an important lesson with a show called, Firefly. Hated it when it was on NBC in SD.
> 
> Watched Firefly in HD on universal and loved it. Perhaps one on e the most stunning action/adventure shows I have ever watched.


Firefly was on FOX.


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## restart88

Einselen said:


> I think you have to be living under a rock to not know about this. There are multiple threads and posts about this, but still I like it cause I don't read every forum or every post and could easily miss it. The internet is a big vast hole of time killing.


Well I don't watch commercials much. Hello? Tivo user! lol

But that's basically it. So many web sites and so little time. I am unable to keep up with everything on every board, especially when I get behind. I've been traveling a lot this summer and having a ball. TGFT (Thank god For Tivo) for letting me watch my shows when "I" have the time instead of having to perhaps build my life around a show only to find out it got preempted, moved, or the tape broke. :up:

I loved the uninterrupted & commercial free pilots. It was so nice to not have to manually commercial skip that I think I'd actually pay Unbox for a block of segments at a time, which I suppose was part of the purpose of the freebie advanced viewing.


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## restart88

dswallow said:


> Firefly was on FOX.


Yea, but it's at my leisure now! lol

I Unboxed the series and recently picked up the movie as a buy one, get one freebie from "a well known online DVD house."

I agree it's run was too short. I'm hungry for more.


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## dswartz

Hmmm, I just rented a movie on amazon, and it hasn't shown up 2+ hours later. Other possible issues (I will post in help forum) might be related..


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## richsadams

As an FYI, *dylanemcgregor*, was having terrible network problems with Unbox, but with the help of TiVo CSR's he was able to get everything working. Hopefully this will help some folks here.

Click here to view his post and other related info.


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## zuddal002

Good Post..........


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## richsadams

zuddal002 said:


> Good Post..........


Reported as spam.


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## restart88

richsadams said:


> Reported as spam.


Is that a bad joke?


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## EVizzle

restart88 said:


> Is that a bad joke?


No, on occasion posters are created and they (it) will post a logical statement completely unrelated to the thread to get a few posts, then they spam something.

Run into this a lot lately, I reported the actual spam (which has been deleted now), so this post was residual spam or pre-spam or whatever you want to call it.


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## richsadams

EVizzle said:


> No, on occasion posters are created and they (it) will post a logical statement completely unrelated to the thread to get a few posts, then they spam something.
> 
> Run into this a lot lately, I reported the actual spam (which has been deleted now), so this post was residual spam or pre-spam or whatever you want to call it.


Yep, they usually post short text messages enough times to begin posting links (five times for this forum).

Don't you wish you could crawl through the lines and just electrocute the living daylights out of those creepy little buggers sequestered in the dimly lit little basements of their mother's houses?


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## pdhenry

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/search.php?searchid=3038609

'Nuff said...


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## BlackBetty

when are the S2 boxes going to get progressive download like the HD boxes with 9.2 software?


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## HDTiVo

BlackBetty said:


> when are the S2 boxes going to get progressive download like the HD boxes with 9.2 software?


TiVo has not been talking about that. Neither when nor if ever. TiVoStephen is the most likely person around here to 'spill the beans.' 

But surely no one is usings S2s anymore for anything but extra tuners, backup recordings and transferable analog recordings!


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## aarathi

I did not like pay rupees for downloading movies


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## richsadams

aarathi said:


> I did not like pay rupees for downloading movies


This and other posts by *aarathi * reported as spam.


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## MarkHolbrook

dswallow said:


> Rentals can only be downloaded to one device, and can only be downloaded once.


I'm about ready to buy a TiVo... The Amazon rental is confusing... when you rent it, it downloads then how long do you have to watch it? How many times?

Typically in our family we start watching, get sleeply, and continue watching another night. We might even wait a few days. How does this work with Rentals?


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## richsadams

MarkHolbrook said:


> I'm about ready to buy a TiVo... The Amazon rental is confusing... when you rent it, it downloads then how long do you have to watch it? How many times?
> 
> Typically in our family we start watching, get sleeply, and continue watching another night. We might even wait a few days. How does this work with Rentals?


If you rent a movie from Amazon Unbox it will download and stay on your TiVo for 30 days. Once you begin watching the movie you have 24 hours before it expires. Within that 24 hour period you can view it as many times as you like.

The 24 hour limit is a bone of contention for many Unbox users (including me) but it's part of the industry's requirements and not under TiVo or Amazon's control.

We enjoy renting movies from Unbox now and then, mostly the 99 cent weekend specials. They aren't in HD and they don't use DD5.1 at the moment (they are in surround sound), but for your basic movie watching they are fine. For the "big screen" effects we still rent DVD's.

More TiVo/Amazon Unbox info here at TiVo

More TiVo/Amazon Unbox infor here at Amazon


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## rambler

It has taken a long time to download for many of us - don't plan on downloading at 8 PM thinking it will be good to go at 9. No way.


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## richsadams

Others (like us) have had a better experience. It takes about 40 to 50 minutes for a full movie to download to our TiVo. YMMV.


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## MarkHolbrook

Thanks so much guys. The 24 time seems short. I understand that is not under TiVo control. When you consider that BB and Netflix let you have movies for months (actual DVDs of course) that you would think an electronic rental could be:

a) limited to this TiVo alone
b) Once played, stays alive for 7 days or something.

Perhaps it will change.


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## richsadams

Agreed. We (almost everyone on the forum) have been complaining about the 24 hour limit from day one to both TiVo and Amazon. We hope they are applying pressure to the powers that be, but who knows?

There's no doubt that Unbox is certainly not as versatile or robust as a rented DVD. But again, if you just want to download a movie or TV show from the comfort of your couch...or even schedule it from your computer at work so it's waiting for you that evening...it's a pretty slick setup. With the latest TiVo software upgrade you can begin watching an Unbox download very shortly after it starts downloading, no waiting.

When you first get your TiVo it will have an older software version on it. In a day or two it will automatically download and install the latest software. If you don't want to wait, you can force a connection and it should show up sooner:

Connecting to TiVo Service

Overall you should really enjoy your new TiVo! :up:


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## morac

I'll mention that if you have a S3/HD and a fast download pipe, you can start watching a movie while it's downloading. For me, with my 6 mbps download speed, I can start watching within a minute or two and never have to wait for the movie to buffer.

If you have an S2, the only choice is to wait for it to download and then watch it.


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## richsadams

morac said:


> I'll mention that if you have a S3/HD and a fast download pipe, you can start watching a movie while it's downloading. For me, with my 6 mbps download speed, I can start watching within a minute or two and never have to wait for the movie to buffer.
> 
> If you have an S2, the only choice is to wait for it to download and then watch it.


Good point...I always forget people might still be buying S2's..._and _that they still haven't updated them to v9.2x.


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## MarkHolbrook

Rich,

Your reply makes me think the S2 is not long for this world. TiVo is still selling them on the main web page. Are they "old technology"?

The price jump to get into the series 3 is impressive. $599... What things does the S3 give you that the S2 does not?


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## dswallow

MarkHolbrook said:


> Rich,
> 
> Your reply makes me think the S2 is not long for this world. TiVo is still selling them on the main web page. Are they "old technology"?
> 
> The price jump to get into the series 3 is impressive. $599... What things does the S3 give you that the S2 does not?


Ignore tivo.com if you want a Series3. They're $599 street price from a number of vendors and there's a $200 rebate available from TiVo on them... that makes them no more than $399. They differ from the TiVo HD which you can get for $250 by the front panel OLED display, a 50% larger hard drive, and the Glo programmable remote. Both the TiVoHD and Series3 are dual tuner HD DVR's, support CableCARD's and OTA ATSC and NTSC recording.


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## richsadams

MarkHolbrook said:


> Rich,
> 
> Your reply makes me think the S2 is not long for this world. TiVo is still selling them on the main web page. Are they "old technology"?
> 
> The price jump to get into the series 3 is impressive. $599... What things does the S3 give you that the S2 does not?


Sorry, no I didn't mean to imply that Series2's were yesterday's news. There's just so much talk about the newer TiVo HD's now and such.

Series2's are still very good units...we have a couple as well as an S3. So it really depends on your needs..."normal" broadcasting Vs HD, etc. All of the models have some pretty good deals right now. Match up what you're looking for with a budget and you should be fine.


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## cr33p

Is the billing for unbox global for a tivo acct on all boxes? Or can a seperate credit card be set up for each unit?


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## morac

cr33p said:


> Is the billing for unbox global for a tivo acct on all boxes? Or can a seperate credit card be set up for each unit?


Charges are made through whatever card is associated with your Amazon account and as far as I can tell you can only link a single TiVo account to a single Amazon account. So the answer is that the billing is global.

If the 2 TiVos are on separate accounts then you could link them to 2 different Amazon accounts, each with it's own credit card.


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## Havana Brown

Are there no more weekend $.99 specials anymore?


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## pdhenry

I'm getting free Redbox rentals from time to time so I don't miss the 99 cent unbox deals - yet.

But there aren't any 99 cent unbox rentals today, anyway.


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## Havana Brown

Are the Redbox rentals the ones you can get at the grocery, or is it something from Netflix or such?


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## pdhenry

Redbox kiosks are at grocery stores around here. Apparently they're also at a lot of McDonalds but not in this area. The selection is sort of limited but they have about 5 or so new titles every week.

Search page for Redbox locations.

Redbox locations in DC.


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## Kilarney

Just my luck. I buy a TIVO and there are no more 99 cent specials!

I'm hoping that we will see the return of the 99 cent special after the holidays. After all, a lot of people will be unwrapping TIVOs this Christmas, and Amazon might want to get them hooked on Unbox.


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## javabird

There are some right now. Look for the MGM 99-cent sale.


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## Kilarney

Thanks for the tip! I think I'll rent _The Man in the Iron Mask._

I just don't get Unbox searching. I clicked on TIVO movies to rent, and then narrowed it to MGM movies. I chose to sort by price - low to high. None of the 99 cent rentals came up! You can only access them from the special link on the front page.

I see that Stardust has just come out, but is only available to purchase. Does anyone know how many of these movies eventually become available to rent - or is this a really bad sign?


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## pdhenry

*Lots* of free TV shows there right now...


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## Kilarney

Some good 99 cent movies right now. Hairspray, Transformers, Oceans 13, Live Free or Die Hard.


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## sglynn

Does anyone know how (or whether it is possible) to delete the ad for the Amazon Unbox service from the S3 main directory? Is anyone else offended by TiVo's running this ad on its directory, or is helpful to people to see the ad every time they go to the main directory?


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## richsadams

sglynn said:


> Does anyone know how (or whether it is possible) to delete the ad for the Amazon Unbox service from the S3 main directory? Is anyone else offended by TiVo's running this ad on its directory, or is helpful to people to see the ad every time they go to the main directory?


AFAIK there is no way to delete the ads.

I'm sure the ads are helpful to some that have never used the Unbox service and annoying to others that have nothing more to do than complain about those sorts of things. There are plenty of threads on the forum where the second group find comfort.

Me? I just ignore them because I'm usually watching a recorded show...not my menus.


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## pdhenry

If it helps you feel better it will be replaced by another ad eventually...


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## hybucket

Where do I go to find the free download-stuff? Everything I see costs $, including EACH episode of DEXTER, where you can get several at a time from Netflix. Just asking...


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## javabird

Go to the Amazon Unbox menu on your Tivo and scroll down to Free Extras & Bonus Content.


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## restart88

You can also put yourself on their email list and about every week they will send you specials like freebies.

I must say that they've persuaded me to part with some cash on the $.99 - $2.99 specials, but they also tell you about the freebies too.


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## richsadams

I've been an advocate of Unbox since the start. However I've noticed that the 99 cent specials are almost non-existent now and that the major movie releases are up to $3.99. Although it's convenient and we were willing to pay up to $2.99, the $3.99 price point is a deal breaker for us. No HD, no DD 5.1 sound, no special features, etc., etc., That's as much as or more than Blockbuster or Netflix charges to send the DVD's to my house! It's not _that _convenient.


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## dom89

I could not find this anywhere. Is the $15 credit still going?


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## rambler

Long gone.


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## moxie1617

A challenge to those who say ther will never download from Amazon Unbox.

The 2008 Sports Illustrated Swinsuit edition is free.  See it here.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013UF95M/ref=yml_dp


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## dswallow

moxie1617 said:


> A challenge to those who say ther will never download from Amazon Unbox.
> 
> The 2008 Sports Illustrated Swinsuit edition is free.  See it here.
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013UF95M/ref=yml_dp


What's the prize for meeting the challenge and never downloading it?


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## tootal2

are movies and tv shows widescreen on a tivo hd? 

thanks


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## Saturn_V

No, they're presented in 4:3 Letterbox, (black bars top and bottom) not true 16:9 widescreen. So you have to "Zoom" on a TivoHD. Most of the movies and TV shows I've gotten from Unbox are presented this way. 

However, the SI Swimsuit freebie video was 4:3 Compressed- a squashed 16:9 video fit to 4:3. On a THD, you'd have to select "Full" to view it properly. Hopefully, they'll do more of these for the Series3/THD owners- but I doubt it. 

The worst Widescreen Unbox interpolation I saw was Blade Runner (original cut)- framed for 16:9 letterbox instead of its orignal aspect ratio (2.35:1) Big thumbs down in my book.


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## Phantom Gremlin

From what I read, the quality of Apple TV is now very good. And in my mind the quality of Amazon Unbox is bad. E.g. not HD, not widescreen, etc.

These memes are now both circulating. So even if Unbox improves, it will have to fight these existing preconceptions. That's not a good thing for its long term success.


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## meglet

For those of you interested in HBO's new series "In Treatement" with Gabriel Byrne, the first 15 episodes are currently free on Unbox. I'm not sure if all 15 are supposed to be free, or just the first one (which is the normal occurrence for new series they want to promote) so grab them if you want them.


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## justicejayant x

It means that after 15 episodes we will be addicted to it, then we have to buy the subscription?


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## h00ligan

HOLY HELL this service is slow.. REALLY slow.

Rented a movie and i am at 31 mins downloaded in 1 hr 20

back to the appletv.

on a side note, the in therapy looked very good, not sure what everyone is complaining.. if my movie rental is 4:3 and low bitrate, i'll be petitioning for a refund... but yah, the appletv rental service is off to a much better start from my experience (with both).

Oh and I would also like to add - trying to sell a business model of $2 for a 23 min show to people who paid extra to get the 'better dvr solution' is probably not a business strategy that will win. 

I couldn't FATHOM buying an actual show from them at $2. The only reason I ever (rarely) bought from iTunes was the ipod factor - can these be transferred to an iPod?


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## richsadams

h00ligan said:


> HOLY HELL this service is slow.. REALLY slow.
> 
> Rented a movie and i am at 31 mins downloaded in 1 hr 20
> 
> back to the appletv.


Looks like there's something up with your network/connection. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to download a full-length movie from Unbox for us. IIRC, there's a thread here (maybe this one?) where people were comparing download times a while back and that was about normal.

Agreed that the lack of 16:9 and HD are usually deal killers for us too.


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## rambler

I would not agree that it's necessarily his network. I get about that same download speed for Unbox, yet I can download similar file sizes from other sources in half that time.


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## richsadams

rambler said:


> I would not agree that it's necessarily his network. I get about that same download speed for Unbox, yet I can download similar file sizes from other sources in half that time.


Hmmm. Odd that. Wonder why that is? Are you using a wireless adapter? (TiVo's?) If so, do you still have 802.11b? That would certainly slow things down.


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## BlackBetty

BlackBetty said:


> when are the S2 boxes going to get progressive download like the HD boxes with 9.2 software?


I asked, and I shall recieve! :up::up: 

Looks like S2's are getting an update to 9.3 which has progresseive downloads. Yipeeee.


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## acvthree

Are there any new rumors on HD for Unbox?

Is that pretty much a dead issue?

Al


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## husky55

acvthree said:


> Are there any new rumors on HD for Unbox?
> 
> Is that pretty much a dead issue?
> 
> Al


Amazon is going to VOD. There is another thread about it. I guess this new streaming technology will be available to Tivo in the near future. May be Unbox will be reborn: same name, different technology. The present Unbox is too slow, cumbersome, wrong format for video and audio.


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## richsadams

husky55 said:


> The present Unbox is too slow, cumbersome, wrong format for video and audio.


 +1 :up:

C'mon HD!!


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