# Amazon Prime now on the PS3. When will my 'one box' support it?



## engineerboy (Dec 19, 2006)

Amazon Prime now available on PS3 game boxes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362532662_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000778121&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08KWSQPY5TJ71F13XY8B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1359243182&pf_rd_i=2676882011

Meanwhile, I have three Premiers (and a Wii), but still can't stream Amazon Prime videos. Will TiVo and Amazon ever get Prime streaming going? Should I stop waiting?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Not to bash, but do we need another thread on this?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

engineerboy said:


> Amazon Prime now available on PS3 game boxes:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362532662_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000778121&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08KWSQPY5TJ71F13XY8B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1359243182&pf_rd_i=2676882011
> 
> Meanwhile, I have three Premiers (and a Wii), but still can't stream Amazon Prime videos. Will TiVo and Amazon ever get Prime streaming going? Should I stop waiting?


Yes you should stop waiting. There are plenty of devices that offer Amazon streaming. While it would be nice to have it on the TiVo. I would not wait around for it to specifically be available on the Premiere.

Who knows? It could show up this month, next month, next year or never.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

The search feature is your friend.


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## LisaJaco (Jan 31, 2012)

Engineer boy, thank you for posting this. I had no clue prime was now available through ps3 until I saw your post. I'm new here too and wasn't aware it was previously posted. Sometimes the search button is my enemy with words like "prime" or "ps3" on a board full of nerds and techies. No offence. I love nerds and geeks.

It would be like searching for "heels" on a forum dedicated to shoes.


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

engineerboy said:


> Amazon Prime now available on PS3 game boxes:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362532662_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000778121&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08KWSQPY5TJ71F13XY8B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1359243182&pf_rd_i=2676882011
> 
> Meanwhile, I have three Premiers (and a Wii), but still can't stream Amazon Prime videos. Will TiVo and Amazon ever get Prime streaming going? Should I stop waiting?


If you are running playon on your computer, you would be able to access amazon prime instant streaming on the wii and also on tivo (if you install the right version of pytivo -- see the other thread for links).


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

LisaJaco said:


> Engineer boy, thank you for posting this. I had no clue prime was now available through ps3 until I saw your post. I'm new here too and wasn't aware it was previously posted. Sometimes the search button is my enemy with words like "prime" or "ps3" on a board full of nerds and techies. No offence. I love nerds and geeks.
> 
> It would be like searching for "heels" on a forum dedicated to shoes.


In this case he was too lazy to look at the first page of the forum, which has the Amazon complaint thread clearly listed. It's been at the top of the forum for a while now because quite a few folks are peeved at Tivo/Amazon for dropping the ball on this.

There was no need to start another thread with the exact same question.


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## chrispitude (Apr 23, 2005)

I have a PS3 and wasn't aware of this either. Thanks for posting!


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## ctcraig (Mar 16, 2002)

engineerboy said:


> Amazon Prime now available on PS3 game boxes:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_362532662_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000778121&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08KWSQPY5TJ71F13XY8B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1359243182&pf_rd_i=2676882011
> 
> Meanwhile, I have three Premiers (and a Wii), but still can't stream Amazon Prime videos. Will TiVo and Amazon ever get Prime streaming going? Should I stop waiting?


Believe me I want prime streaming as well, and I don't have a PS3, but the PS3 was launched 11/11/2006 and I don't hear folks talking about the time it took to arrive on that platform


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## pcw132 (Apr 14, 2012)

Thats asuming you run windows.. I don't think you can get playon for linux



poppagene said:


> If you are running playon on your computer, you would be able to access amazon prime instant streaming on the wii and also on tivo (if you install the right version of pytivo -- see the other thread for links).


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

jrtroo said:


> Not to bash, but do we need another thread on this?


Someone should make it a forum-wide sticky with an obvious title ("Tivo does not support Amazon Prime") and be done with it.

I can see how people are easily confused, since they did buy 'the one box', and it does have Amazon capability, but not Prime, and neither Amazon nor Tivo go out of their way to make this known to potential buyers.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

I have never seen any misleading ads that would make me believe TiVo handles Amazon Prime Instant Video and when I first heard about Amazon Prime Instant Video I immediately went to the Amazon site and quickly determined my TiVo won't handle it. I did send an email to Amazon inquiring if it would be added at that time and got a quick response that indicated there were no plans at that time to add it. 

I have also never seen any ad or information from TiVo that would make me believe TiVo is a one box solution for everything everybody would want. My interpretation was that it can be a one box solution if all you want are the things it does, which is a lot, but far from everything I want. I have the Logitech Revue and now PS3, both handle Amazon Prime Instant Video well enough for me. For whatever reason, people find reason to complain about the fact TiVo doesn't do something they want, I buy products that do enough to make the product a good value and I never expect more than what is promised. TiVo has never promised Amazon Prime Instant Video will be added and has never claimed it is the one box solution for everybody and I don't think we need another thread asking about Amazon Prime Instant Video, we have dozens already.

I do think Sony has done a terrific job continually updating and improving the PS3, I have loved mine for many years now and it keeps getting better.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Um, if you go to www.tivo.com right now you'll see it proclaimed *again* as the 'one box that does it all', when it clearly does not.

And it's not like Amazon Prime streaming is some low-rent, lesser known service. Everyone knows about it because it competes directly with Netflix, and it's Amazon. Once again Tivo's marketing dept. exceeds its tech, which is not surprising.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> Um, if you go to www.tivo.com right now you'll see it proclaimed *again* as the 'one box that does it all', when it clearly does not.
> 
> And it's not like Amazon Prime streaming is some low-rent, lesser known service. Everyone knows about it because it competes directly with Netflix, and it's Amazon. Once again Tivo's marketing dept. exceeds its tech, which is not surprising.


Above that statement are all of the things it does, referring to those items. If someone believes the statement "does it all" means does everything any current consumer video product of any type does, regardless, I would say that is rather naive. If you actually look at the entire ad, I can't see how anybody can come to the conclusion you suggest. But if you want something to whine about, no reason to let common sense get in the way.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Pretty silly to think Amazon Prime streaming is something that doesn't need to be supported by 'one box that does it all'. If I didn't know better, I'd think the Amazon logo on that page implied it anyway and would be disappointed to buy a Premiere and find that it didn't.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> Pretty silly to think Amazon Prime streaming is something that doesn't need to be supported by 'one box that does it all'. If I didn't know better, I'd think the Amazon logo on that page implied it anyway and would be disappointed to buy a Premiere and find that it didn't.


Do you see the things above the ad where it is stated one box does it all? Don't you think that is what comprises all this one box does and this one box does not do everything possible in every world in every universe in all of infinity?


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

I should have added, Amazon Prime Instant Video is not one of the things listed that the TiVo Premiere does and if anybody understood the "one box does it all" to include Amazon Prime and purchase the box because of that understanding, I would say they have nobody to blame other than themselves. I do think if it is possible, Amazon and TiVo will figure out how to get the box to handle Amazon Prime but I don't know if it is possible.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

Chris Gerhard said:


> I should have added, Amazon Prime Instant Video is not one of the things listed that the TiVo Premiere does and if anybody understood the "one box does it all" to include Amazon Prime and purchase the box because of that understanding, I would say they have nobody to blame other than themselves. I do think if it is possible, Amazon and TiVo will figure out how to get the box to handle Amazon Prime but I don't know if it is possible.


There's no reason why it shouldn't be possible. It's just not a priority.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Chris Gerhard said:


> I should have added, Amazon Prime Instant Video is not one of the things listed that the TiVo Premiere does and if anybody understood the "one box does it all" to include Amazon Prime and purchase the box because of that understanding, I would say they have nobody to blame other than themselves.


Dude, it clearly says 'Amazon Instant Video' on the logo at tivo.com. There's no asterisk that says that Prime streaming is not supported, so how would any prospective buyer know that it isn't? All they know is that it can handle Amazon's stuff. It's kinda deceptive advertising IMO.

Whatever, this is stupid - the box should support it and it doesn't, and we have no idea if/when it ever will.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

The issue I have is that if the Premiere does eventually support Amazon Prime streaming, will we lose the download option? And 1080P24 video? Right now, the boxes that stream, only stream the HD content in 720P. While with the TiVo, most of the content I watch from Amazon is in 1080P24 and it is downloaded. But also most of the content I watch from Amazon I purchase, which can also be watched using streaming on the other devices, but is limited to 720P on those devices. So in my use with Amazon content, the TiVo currently provides the best quality for Amazon content since I'm able to watch it in a higher resolution.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> Dude, it clearly says 'Amazon Instant Video' on the logo at tivo.com. There's no asterisk that says that Prime streaming is not supported, so how would any prospective buyer know that it isn't? All they know is that it can handle Amazon's stuff. It's kinda deceptive advertising IMO.
> 
> Whatever, this is stupid - the box should support it and it doesn't, and we have no idea if/when it ever will.


Understanding sometimes requires reading and by reading, it was easy for me to know within a few seconds, my TiVo won't handle Amazon Prime Instant Video. If you know the TiVo Premiere can handle Amazon Prime Instant Video and how to get it done, please inform TiVo and Amazon of how it can be done immediately, the sooner the better. I don't know if it is possible or how to do it if it was possible and can't help and won't criticize either company because it isn't available. I suspect you actually know nothing more than I do about the technical challenges to implement the service but if I am wrong and you can handle it and it is no big deal as you seem to believe, I would appreciate it if you would help us out here.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Well, if Amazon simply added 'Free Prime Rentals' to the download service that allowed say 48hrs expiration date the effect would be the same and get Tivo users the same set of programs with no net increase in cost or bandwidth to Amazon. And it could use the same client already on the Tivo.

If Amazon really wanted tivo users to have access to Prime content.


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## seattlewendell (Jan 11, 2006)

smbaker said:


> Someone should make it a forum-wide sticky with an obvious title ("Tivo does not support Amazon Prime") and be done with it.
> 
> I can see how people are easily confused, since they did buy 'the one box', and it does have Amazon capability, but not Prime, and neither Amazon nor Tivo go out of their way to make this known to potential buyers.


I disagree. Amazon makes it very clear. They have several section of the "Help" and "FAQ" dedicated to this. TiVo on the other hand ehhhh.....you're right about them. They can be a little squirrely in their advertising.


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## seattlewendell (Jan 11, 2006)

Chris Gerhard said:


> Understanding sometimes requires reading and by reading, it was easy for me to know within a few seconds, my TiVo won't handle Amazon Prime Instant Video. If you know the TiVo Premiere can handle Amazon Prime Instant Video and how to get it done, please inform TiVo and Amazon of how it can be done immediately, the sooner the better. I don't know if it is possible or how to do it if it was possible and can't help and won't criticize either company because it isn't available. I suspect you actually know nothing more than I do about the technical challenges to implement the service but if I am wrong and you can handle it and it is no big deal as you seem to believe, I would appreciate it if you would help us out here.


It's steaming video. The TiVo already handles streaming video: Netflix and YouTube.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

First let me state I believe TiVo & Amazon need to get Prime Streaming on TiVo, without it both are just causing themselves to piss off customers. 

However I really do not believe anyone is going to buy or not buy a TiVo because it has or does not have Amazon Prime Streaming and I also do not believe it will cause any increased or lost sales for Amazon either so I am not sure how motivated either company will be to get Prime Streaming onto TiVo. 

I already have 3 other devices connected to my home theater setup that can stream Amazon Prime, a Logitech Revue, a Roku, & a HTPC and I haven't even bothered to sign up for the free month that Amazon is now offering.


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## fortunz (Nov 15, 2011)

Chris Gerhard said:


> My interpretation was that it can be a one box solution if all you want are the things it does


So TiVo is one box that does it all in the exact same way your toaster oven is? 

I wonder sometimes about folks who defend products rabidly. Do they think the best way to get new features is to keep quiet about which ones you desire?


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## Test (Dec 8, 2004)

Has anyone asked amazon about this?

Sent them an email asking if prime instant videos are coming to tivo and if so...WHEN?



amazon said:


> Hello,
> 
> Currently, as of now we're not sure when the Prime Instant Videos will available for streaming on the Tivo device and I'm sorry about that.
> 
> ...


I would also like HBOGO on the "one box"


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

seattlewendell said:


> I disagree. Amazon makes it very clear. They have several section of the "Help" and "FAQ" dedicated to this. TiVo on the other hand ehhhh.....you're right about them. They can be a little squirrely in their advertising.


Okay, I agree, it does seem clearer now, especially on this page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&ref_=piv_HP_3pack_EdsPicks_PIVTV&docId=1000663511

They put "Prime eligible instant videos are not available on Tivo devices" right under the Tivo icon. I'm pretty sure this page was the one that I used to take issue with and the disclaimer wasn't there, but used to be further away. It's been a while, so I'm not certain.

I'm reasonably pleased that Amazon has adequately disclosed the limitation.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> While with the TiVo, most of the content I watch from Amazon is in 1080P24 and it is downloaded.


Really? Must be something they added since the advent of the Premiere. Used to be 1080i30 and they must still offer that as well, since it's the best that TiVo Series3 can handle.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

atmuscarella said:


> ...
> 
> However I really do not believe anyone is going to buy or not buy a TiVo because it has or does not have Amazon Prime Streaming....


i dont think it's a huge number but i think there is a certain amount that is lost. Today i was in the walmart for some other reason and stumbled through the electornics department. there was a tiny samsung blueray player- about the size of a wii- that had a display saying something like it was an internet streaming box . I almost made an impulse buy right there- my basement tv needs a blueray player. But i looked at the advertising display and saw netflix, pandora, and some other stuff but no amazon so i knew no prime. If might have just been they didn't happen to list it, but being an impulse buy i was too lazy to use my smart phone to bother and look it up on the net.

So people do at times balk at buying consumer electronics for lack of amazon prime streaming. Honestly i surprised myself.

So some amount of potentical TiVo buyers is not going to pull the trigger since there's no amazon streaming. I suspect it's closer to 5 then 500 or 5,000 but i dont know if we really know for sure.

I think the bigger issue is that from recent tweets from margaret it seems more amd more clear that amazon has to be the one to take the time and effort and you nailed that one for sure with:



atmuscarella said:


> ...I also do not believe it will cause any increased or lost sales for Amazon ...


 Even if it's 5,000 for amazon that is so tiny they could care less.

I hope Tivo can convince them- but I'm not holding my breath anymore.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mikeyts said:


> Really? Must be something they added since the advent of the Premiere. Used to be 1080i30 and they must still offer that as well, since it's the best that TiVo Series3 can handle.


I don't know what the native resolution was with the S3 since it has a max resolution output of 1080i. But when I received my launch Premieres two years ago was when I tested out the 1080P24 encodes since the Premiere is the only TiVo that allows pass through of 1080P24.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

seattlewendell said:


> It's steaming video. The TiVo already handles streaming video: Netflix and YouTube.


Yes, it does handle some streaming video but does not handle but a tiny percentage of the streaming video I use from the internet. TiVo doesn't handle Vudu and I don't think it ever will, I don't believe it is possible and TiVo also doesn't stream Amazon Instant Video, only download and playback later. There may be a technical reason why no Amazon video streaming is supported by TiVo but again, I don't know the reasons TiVo supports a tiny percentage of internet video streaming available, either it isn't possible or isn't feasible with a huge majority of streaming services for some reason.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

fortunz said:


> So TiVo is one box that does it all in the exact same way your toaster oven is?
> 
> I wonder sometimes about folks who defend products rabidly. Do they think the best way to get new features is to keep quiet about which ones you desire?


The TiVo ad lists about a dozen things and indicates it handles them all, not all things that somebody might want handled.

If you think whining, pretending you can't read or can't understand simple ads is the way to get new features, great, I disagree. I do recall about twelve years ago that people were whining about lifetime service not being lifetime of the purchaser but instead was lifetime of the TiVo. I don't know how anybody could have come to that idiotic conclusion but whining about it got all of us with a pre-whining TiVo with lifetime a one time transfer and I took advantage of that even though I never believed I could purchase one lifetime service agreement and it would last for my lifetime and dozens of TiVos.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

LOL, seriously? Amazon calls the feature 'Instant Video'. Tivo says it supports 'Amazon Instant Video'. Nowhere on the Tivo homepage is there an asterisk saying that it doesn't support Prime streaming vids within Instant Video, you have to go to Amazon and do a little digging to find that out. Reasonable people would assume that Tivo supports all of Amazon Instant Video if they only went to tivo.com.

It's not a reading comprehension problem, it's misleading advertising by Tivo. Don't accuse people of not being able to read when the full story is not being told. You don't buy a device that says it supports Netflix and then find out it only handles *some* videos and not others, for example. This is no different.


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## MC Hammer (Jul 29, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> LOL, seriously? Amazon calls the feature 'Instant Video'. Tivo says it supports 'Amazon Instant Video'. Nowhere on the Tivo homepage is there an asterisk saying that it doesn't support Prime streaming vids within Instant Video, you have to go to Amazon and do a little digging to find that out. Reasonable people would assume that Tivo supports all of Amazon Instant Video if they only went to tivo.com.
> 
> It's not a reading comprehension problem, it's misleading advertising by Tivo. Don't accuse people of not being able to read when the full story is not being told. You don't buy a device that says it supports Netflix and then find out it only handles *some* videos and not others, for example. This is no different.


I think you need to do a little more research before you post...










Notice how "Prime Instant Videos" and "Amazon Instant Video" are clearly separated. They even differentiate between _streaming_ (Prime) and _rent/buy_ (Amazon Instant). There is nothing misleading about this. You are simply attempting to twist an ad that is perfectly clear as to which Amazon feature is provided to support your inane argument. Quit whining.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Frankly Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, & Netflix all provide differing services depending on the device you are using. Which is not very consumer friendly and I am sure pissed more than a few people off. 

I look at Prime Instant Videos versus Amazon Instant Video about the same way I look at Hulu versus Hulu Plus. 

Should TiVo be telling people that Amazon and Hulu both have what amounts too 2 different services and that you don't get access too both with TiVo? 

I bet near 100% of people who know nothing about either would assume that Hulu Plus includes all of Hulu - Plus something more and that Amazon Instant Video includes Prime Instant Videos.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

I do agree.... Prime Instant Videos and Amazon Instant Video are two different services. People are treating it as one service but you can use Instant Video on a multitude of devices without ever signing up for Prime. Amazon needs to get there act together with that.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

MC Hammer said:


> Notice how "Prime Instant Videos" and "Amazon Instant Video" are clearly separated. They even differentiate between _streaming_ (Prime) and _rent/buy_ (Amazon Instant). There is nothing misleading about this. You are simply attempting to twist an ad that is perfectly clear as to which Amazon feature is provided to support your inane argument. Quit whining.


It's all Amazon Instant Video to the average consumer, man. Nobody gives one crap about the finer points on Amazon's website, I was talking mainly about tivo.com, and they're the ones leaving out the important details.

I'll grant that there's two entirely different ways of looking at this.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> It's all Amazon Instant Video to the average consumer, man. Nobody gives one crap about the finer points on Amazon's website, I was talking mainly about tivo.com, and they're the ones leaving out the important details.


Tivo's website does state it

Available on:
TiVo Series2, HD, HD XL, Series3, and all TiVo Premiere boxes
Prime instant videos are only available for streaming and cannot be downloaded to a TiVo DVR. For more information please visit the Prime Instant Videos help pages at Amazon.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-features/on-demand/amazon-instant-video/


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

atmuscarella said:


> I bet near 100% of people who know nothing about either would assume that Hulu Plus includes all of Hulu - Plus something more and that Amazon Instant Video includes Prime Instant Videos.


Exactly my point, and few would go to amazon.com to learn the gory details (and lack of Tivo support). They just go to tivo.com, see it supports it, and assume they get streaming because Tivo doesn't bother to explain that it doesn't really mean *all* of it, just some.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

compnurd said:


> Tivo's website does state it
> 
> Available on:
> TiVo Series2™, HD, HD XL, Series3™, and all TiVo Premiere boxes
> ...


In mice type, and not on the front page so you have to dig around. It would be a lot more helpful if you could click on the Amazon logo at tivo.com to see this.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> In mice type, and not on the front page so you have to dig around. It would be a lot more helpful if you could click on the Amazon logo at tivo.com to see this.


I wouldnt call that mice type and it is on the page section of Amazon Instant Video..... Would you rather it scroll across there homepage in big Neon letters?


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Please, don't be stupid. There's way too much spin in this thread as it is.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

If i am being stupid, they you are being 100% unreasonable It is clearly noted on both companies Web Pages that it does not support Prime


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

Chris Gerhard said:


> .... I don't know the reasons TiVo supports a tiny percentage of internet video streaming available, either it isn't possible or isn't feasible with a huge majority of streaming services for some reason.


other potential reasons (not saying they are but we don't know at all since TiVo has decided to be so mum on this and most other issues...) is bad architecture choices or insufficient resources (could be supplying enough resources is not financially feasible - could be a poor decisions again)


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

Chris Gerhard said:


> The TiVo ad lists about a dozen things and indicates it handles them all, not all things that somebody might want handled.
> 
> If you think whining, pretending you can't read or can't understand simple ads is the way to get new features, great, I disagree. I do recall about twelve years ago that people were whining about lifetime service not being lifetime of the purchaser but instead was lifetime of the TiVo. I don't know how anybody could have come to that idiotic conclusion but whining about it got all of us with a pre-whining TiVo with lifetime a one time transfer and I took advantage of that even though I never believed I could purchase one lifetime service agreement and it would last for my lifetime and dozens of TiVos.


I dont necessarily agree with them all but just because someone has a difference of opinion with the way you happen to see things doesn't make them a whiner. (plenty ARE whiners for sure) If i recall "lifetime" on directv was (is?) in fact lifetime of the owner for however many tivo's you stuck on the account. So clearly it wasn't totally out of left field for people to think that a possibility for tivo itself.

As I type I'm trying to think of anything else that you buy "lifetime service" on and besides Tivo and Satellite radio I can't think of anyone else selling it off the top of my head. The concept of service for an appliance was something of a newer thing at TiVo's birth so i personally dont think it's totally crazy that people at the beginning thought of it that way.

(for the record I never saw it that way either- just willing to give others the benefit of the doubt)


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> I dont necessarily agree with them all but just because someone has a difference of opinion with the way you happen to see things doesn't make them a whiner. (plenty ARE whiners for sure) If i recall "lifetime" on directv was (is?) in fact lifetime of the owner for however many tivo's you stuck on the account. So clearly it wasn't totally out of left field for people to think that a possibility for tivo itself.
> 
> As I type I'm trying to think of anything else that you buy "lifetime service" on and besides Tivo and Satellite radio I can't think of anyone else selling it off the top of my head. The concept of service for an appliance was something of a newer thing at TiVo's birth so i personally dont think it's totally crazy that people at the beginning thought of it that way.
> 
> (for the record I never saw it that way either- just willing to give others the benefit of the doubt)


I also had DirecTV TiVo lifetime, it was lifetime of the account not me, of course I had to continue to maintain a DirecTV account, a pretty big bill to maintain the DirecTV TiVo lifetime service. I dropped DirecTV, I am still alive and no longer have DirecTV TiVo lifetime service. If I go back to DirecTV, I have nothing. I did use that one lifetime DirecTV $200 service payment for over 8 years so it was quite a good deal but the DirecTV bill still became too high for me, so I dropped the service, purchased a TiVoHD with lifetime service as my DirecTV HR10-250 lifetime service was worthless once I dropped DirecTV. Obviously DirecTV could easily just add a little to our bills to cover any cost for the lifetime DVR service customers. That obviously is nothing at all like a TiVo lifetime service for stand alone DVRs and is nothing at all like a lifetime service that had been for my life would be.

I saw the TiVo lifetime complaints as silly whining, it was absurd based on the language of the agreement and even more absurd once you consider TiVo would have no revenue from that purchaser for unlimited TiVos for his life if that had been the agreement. I see this complaint about no Amazon Prime Instant Video and comments from several here about TiVo shortcomings and what they want and feel entitled to as silly whining. When I first heard about Amazon Prime Instant Video, I immediately went to the Amazon site, read a few seconds, saw it was not offered on TiVo and sent Amazon an email expressing interest in using TiVo for that service, I think that was about last August if I recall correctly. I got a very timely negative response but at least I had made my interest known and moved on. TiVo and Amazon don't owe me anything, everything I purchased my TiVos to do, works as well as I hoped it would.

I also had a stand alone Philips TiVo with lifetime purchased in Nov. 1999, eligible for a single lifetime transfer, I used that in 2009 for a second TiVoHD after my analog cable and analog OTA days were behind me. Pretty cool that a lifetime account for an obsolete DVR was valuable and could be transferred to a current usable product. If not for the silly whining, I sure wouldn't have gotten that deal although in the cosmic overall scheme of things, TiVo might be able to offer lifetime for less today if it didn't have to eat that cost for those thousands of users that got that deal. TiVo can only lose so much from operations and still manage to stay in business. Take a dime out of one TiVo pocket and there must be a way to put another dime in a different product or the company goes bye bye.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> other potential reasons (not saying they are but we don't know at all since TiVo has decided to be so mum on this and most other issues...) is bad architecture choices or insufficient resources (could be supplying enough resources is not financially feasible - could be a poor decisions again)


First of all, TiVo loses money on hardware as is, a more expensive better processor, more RAM, better DVR would have to cost more and it is apparent there is no significant market willing to pay much for a DVR. Cable companies and satellite companies basically use the DVR as a loss leader and make up the loss with profitable monthly service, TiVo is already charging the most it can hope to receive for DVR service. I suspect hardware shortcomings are at the heart of the reason we haven't seen some of the other streaming services become available.

I don't agree that it is a poor decision that the design is incapable, assuming that is true, but believe it was the best that could be done and still have a product at a price the market would bear. You might note the common whining drivel I see here so often, never includes the whiner indicating a desire to pay more to get more, it is always give me more for what I have paid, blah, blah, blah. TiVo already can't make a profit from operations and responding to the never ending whining would be a waste of time, the company probably gave up years ago trying to respond reasonably to the unreasonable whining complaints. A sense of entitlement, lacking of common sense and lacking understanding financial realities just isn't something that can be responded to in my opinion.


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## rdodolak (Dec 18, 2008)

MC Hammer said:


> *Notice how "Prime Instant Videos" and "Amazon Instant Video" are clearly separated.* They even differentiate between _streaming_ (Prime) and _rent/buy_ (Amazon Instant). There is nothing misleading about this. You are simply attempting to twist an ad that is perfectly clear as to which Amazon feature is provided to support your inane argument. Quit whining.


In all fairness all other devices which support Amazon Instant Video also support Prime Instant Video. On these devices there is only one app, not two, which is called Amazon Instant Video. In each case, within the Amazon Instant Video app there is a section called Prime Instant Video. They're clearly not two separate services instead Prime Instant Video is a part of Amazon Instant Video. Prime Instant Video is simply a section which makes it easy find the free Prime eligible videos. This is the case for all the devices I own to include the Roku, PS3, and television.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

The reason why TiVo can't do Prime Instant Video is because their player was the first embedded one, launched in March 2007, before Amazon Instant Video (then called Amazon Unbox) was available as streaming video; it started out as download only to the PC in September 2006. After Amazon VOD streaming video was introduced at CES in January 2009 (because 99.9% of prospective CE devices had no storage in which to download) TiVo didn't have any need to update their player to support streaming until Prime Instant Video launched last February, two years later. That launch is something that they may well not have been informed of before it happened, so they could only start considering placing Amazon streaming on their development schedule then.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Of course - the beef (as usual with Tivo) is that it takes them way too long to update anything.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Chris Gerhard said:


> You might note the common whining drivel I see here so often, never includes the whiner indicating a desire to pay more to get more, it is always give me more for what I have paid, blah, blah, blah. TiVo already can't make a profit from operations and responding to the never ending whining would be a waste of time, the company probably gave up years ago trying to respond reasonably to the unreasonable whining complaints. A sense of entitlement, lacking of common sense and lacking understanding financial realities just isn't something that can be responded to in my opinion.


Can you please stop with the name calling? It's getting old. I could've called you a Tivo fanboy over and over again in this thread because they can seemingly do no wrong, but didn't.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> Can you please stop with the name calling? It's getting old. I could've called you a Tivo fanboy over and over again in this thread because they can seemingly do no wrong, but didn't.


i fail to see where there was name calling in his post but you had no issues calling me stupid.......


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

I said 'don't be stupid', didn't call you that. C'mon man. I'll change it to silly if it makes you feel better.

We're not all 'whiners' here just because we want Tivo to deliver something that everyone else does, and there's no need for that kind of labeling.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> I said 'don't be stupid', didn't call you that. C'mon man. I'll change it to silly if it makes you feel better.
> 
> We're not all 'whiners' here just because we want Tivo to deliver something that everyone else does, and there's no need for that kind of labeling.


Are you on the Amazon message boards complaining about the same thing? While i think Tivo is slightly at fault here, I see this more of an amazon issue


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

No I'm not, but does it really matter who's at fault? We've had this discussion before in the other thread - Tivo's name is on the box, so IMO ultimately it's their responsibility to get it updated.


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

slowbiscuit said:


> No I'm not, but does it really matter who's at fault? We've had this discussion before in the other thread - Tivo's name is on the box, so IMO ultimately it's their responsibility to get it updated.


That again makes no Sense.. They support Amazon Instant Video as it clearly states... why do they have to support Prime?


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

compnurd said:


> While i think Tivo is slightly at fault here, I see this more of an amazon issue


Based on what?

Do we know who writes the apps that run on the Tivo? Does Tivo do it, the content provider, or both?


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

smbaker said:


> Based on what?
> 
> Do we know who writes the apps that run on the Tivo? Does Tivo do it, the content provider, or both?


I don't know but I would assume both is the answer most of the time. Is there a DVR, other than a PC, that can stream Amazon Prime Instant Video?


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

compnurd said:


> That again makes no Sense.. They support Amazon Instant Video as it clearly states... why do they have to support Prime?


 Gee I dunno, maybe because the OP and tons of others have asked for it? And pretty much every other device that handles Amazon supports it?

I give up, this is pointless.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I just wouldn't want them to start supporting Prime and lose the ability to download the Amazon content. Currently the TiVo Premiere offers the best quality from Amazon with 1080P24 video. While the devices that do the Amazon streaming are limited to 720P video.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

compnurd said:


> That again makes no Sense.. They support Amazon Instant Video as it clearly states... why do they have to support Prime?


Well clearly TiVo/Amazon doesn't "have to" support Prime streaming on the Premiere line up.

However Tivo is still marketing the "one box" concept and is clearly marketing their Premiere DVRs based on access to the "web entertainment" they provide almost above being an excellent DVR, just look at their current entry page.

So while Amazon may not need Prime streaming on TiVo I think TiVo does need Prime streaming (and Vudu, CinemaNow and any other web streaming service that comes along for that matter) on their Premieres.

When they release their IP based extenders this summer it will be even more important that it has access to pretty much everything someone might want so people can see how having a central TiVo with extenders can save them from having other boxes on their TVs heck they should put together an extender with blu-ray built in so you really can have "one box" at your TVs. Just look at what some of the lower cost 2012 blu-ray players can do like the Panasonic DMP MBT220 - and you can get that now for $135.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

Chris Gerhard said:


> I don't know but I would assume both is the answer most of the time. Is there a DVR, other than a PC, that can stream Amazon Prime Instant Video?


I would assume that most DVRs are designed to not provide competing sources of programming to cable/sat customers. Is there a cable or satellite DVR that supports Netflix or Amazon?

Do we see Tivo moving toward supporting _any_ new streaming video providers that compete with cable companies? The last I recall was Hulu+, which is rather restrictive in terms of content. They've kept the services they've always supported (Netflix, non-streaming-Amazon) because it's hard to take something away. It's easy to not add something new (Amazon Prime).



atmuscarella said:


> So while Amazon may not need Prime streaming on TiVo I think TiVo does need Prime streaming (and Vudu, CinemaNow and any other web streaming service that comes along for that matter) on their Premieres.


If their intended customer is you and I, then it's important. If their intended customer is Comcast, then these services are unimportant, or even a detriment.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Good point, and one that might make more sense. It's been obvious recently that they want to make nice with the cableCos.


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