# Amamzon Prime Instant Video



## midson (Feb 26, 2005)

The firmware on my Sony Blu-Ray was recently updated, which added closed captions to Amazon Prime Instant video. This was a must for my wife and we've been watching more thru that service because of it. I really hope TiVo adds it to the Roamio and minis in the near future (with a CC option of course). It's the only time (other than actually watching a DVD/Blu-Ray disc) I have to use something other than my TiVo for video viewing.


----------



## brshoemak (Nov 27, 2010)

Highly doubtful it will support Prime Instant Video pretty much ever. Amazon appears to be working on their own set top box so they will have very little incentive to spend the time and money on updating the app to provide free (under Prime) content.

The current Tivo Amazon Instant Video setup only works for paid content which makes them money and I'm sure Amazon is happy to support it.

btw, I'm a huge Prime user so I would love to see support. I currently have a Tivo, Chromecast, Blu-ray player and Vizio television - only the Vizio supports Prime Instant Video and its interface is pretty terrible.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

brshoemak said:


> btw, I'm a huge Prime user so I would love to see support. I currently have a Tivo, Chromecast, Blu-ray player and Vizio television - only the Vizio supports Prime Instant Video and its interface is pretty terrible.


You should get a Roku.


----------



## midson (Feb 26, 2005)

I for one want one box for everything. More boxes equals more clutter, more wires, more inputs, more hassle and less wife acceptance factor. TiVo is close to that for me now. Amazon Prime is all that's missing for me.


----------



## brshoemak (Nov 27, 2010)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You should get a Roku.


Yeah, I know a Roku will do it but that's yet another A/V device to plug into my receiver and try to teach the wife - that's the learning curve that can't be overcome. The new Roku Stick comes out soon which is very similar to the Chromecast and will do Prime also. I could replace the Chromecast, but I JUST got it a week ago and my wife is already in love with it - and she hates technology with a passion.

This is what I want: A Roku (Stick) that supports all major streaming services including Prime Instant video, that comes with a backlit remote with a quality backlit QWERTY keyboard on the back - for about $60-70.

EDIT: Yeah, what midson said.


----------



## elwaylite (Apr 23, 2006)

My speed sucks, and the PQ of the downloaded file is actually better than streaming. I wish more services allowed you to download the entire show/movie as an encrypted file...


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

midson said:


> I for one want one box for everything. More boxes equals more clutter, more wires, more inputs, more hassle and less wife acceptance factor. TiVo is close to that for me now. Amazon Prime is all that's missing for me.


Same here, although I wouldn't mind HBO GO along with Prime Streaming.


----------



## bayern_fan (Aug 12, 2013)

laria said:


> Same here, although I wouldn't mind HBO GO along with Prime Streaming.


HBO Go would be an excellent option. I feel that we would be more likely to see this offered on the Opera TV Store before a "native" Tivo app like Pandora/Spotify.

That being said, I hooked up my PS3 once again to the same TV as my Roamio Plus in order to take advantage of the new HBO Go app on Playstation for the time being. Best of both worlds!


----------



## moedaman (Aug 21, 2012)

midson said:


> I for one want one box for everything. More boxes equals more clutter, more wires, more inputs, more hassle and less wife acceptance factor. TiVo is close to that for me now. Amazon Prime is all that's missing for me.


I picked up a Sony BDP-S5100 blu-ray player for our bedroom. Not only does it play discs, but it has all of the streaming services I'm interested in, including Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Vudu, MLB.tv, Netflix, etc. It also is dlna certified, so I can access the media that's on my home server (including kmttg converted Tivo recordings). For my money, it's as close to the "everything in one box" that I found. It's sitting right next to a Tivo, so I'm only using 2 inputs. Thanks to Google and Apple having their own stores, there will never be a perfect solution (even if Tivo adds a BD unit in a model).


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

bayern_fan said:


> HBO Go would be an excellent option.


Well, I guess I'm just back to Amazon Prime Streaming.  I got an email today that Xfinity On Demand now has all seasons of all shows of HBO, so that eliminates my need for HBO GO.


----------



## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You should get a Roku.


misread


----------



## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

bayern_fan said:


> That being said, I hooked up my PS3 once again to the same TV as my Roamio Plus in order to take advantage of the new HBO Go app on Playstation for the time being. Best of both worlds!


I tried that too, but unfortunately Comcast/Xfinity won't authenticate HBO Go on the PS3.



> I got an email today that Xfinity On Demand now has all seasons of all shows of HBO, so that eliminates my need for HBO GO.


laria, did they say that was immediately effective? Because I'm not seeing that right now. And it seems that XOD doesn't include all the movies that are on HBO Go.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

humbb said:


> laria, did they say that was immediately effective? Because I'm not seeing that right now. And it seems that XOD doesn't include all the movies that are on HBO Go.


It was just about TV shows. It says:



> *All of your favorite
> HBO® shows - now on your TV*
> 
> XFINITY TV Customers: HBO® is bigger and better than ever.
> ...


----------



## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

This is interesting. When I use the XOD app on the Roamio Pro, I can't find shows like "Deadwood" or "The Wire" on the HBO Series menu. When I use the Search screen, a Deadwood episode comes up as a "Watch now from..." using XFINITY VOD HD selection. When I select that, I get the "Please Wait..." dialog followed by an ERR-2 error dialog and an invitation to visit Comcast.com/help and a "We're sorry, but we're experiencing an issue at the moment" message.

This is still going on since I first tried last night. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe it's local?


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I haven't actually tried it, just got the email... we still haven't paired our cable card after getting the Roamio the day after Christmas, so I still can't use the Xfinity app.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Does this mean the iOS app, or only via the cable directly? 

As a single data point contrary, Bored to Death has only 3 random episodes listed in the Xfinity app..

Not like I need even more choices of stuff to watch though!


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

It is my understanding from what I've read on here that the Xfinity apps like the one on Xbox do not have the full range of Xfinity VOD available. But that the app in the TiVo is the same as if you had a cable box.


----------



## mdm08033 (Apr 23, 2007)

laria said:


> Same here, although I wouldn't mind HBO GO along with Prime Streaming.


Affirmative! Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Go are the tentpole streaming services for over the air cord cutters.

I never warmed up to the iffy picture quality, stereo sound and mandatory commercials on Hulu Plus. I much prefer getting my over the air network programming from my antenna where i get perfect AQ/PQ AND a skip button.

I agree with the predictions that the pending arrival of the Amazon branded streaming device puts the final nail in the coffin of Amazon Prime Streaming on a TiVo device.

Cheers, Michael


----------



## pele2014 (Mar 20, 2014)

I'm new to TiVo, first-time poster to this forum, and agree with others eager to see Amazon Prime availability. In addition to a basic Roamio DVR, I went for the Mini, and see that the Amazon Instant Video app on the DVR, cruddy as it is, is missing from the Mini. A TiVo tech support person told me the reason for that unlike Netflix, which streams, Amazon Instant downloads. That means, she said, that if you download content from Amazon to your DVR it will appear on the Mini under "My shows."

I've read as well that Amazon is developing its own set top box. Some have suggested this may mean Amazon is not interested in working with TiVo to allow Prime members to access Prime content on a competitor's box. That would be a very shortsighted strategy. Just as Microsoft is developing Office for iPad, and Apple has iTunes for Windows, and Amazon has Kindle apps for iOS devices, Amazon is too smart, I'd hope, to alienate all the Prime members who are also TiVo customers and want to see Prime content available on their TiVo boxes.
--
update:

Since posting the above earlier today I chatted with an Amazon rep who said: "Amazon prime videos are not available on TiVo since TiVo only supports downloads and not streaming." 
Now obviously, that's not true, since Amazon supports Netflix, which streams. In a follow-up email, the Amazon rep wrote: "Because streaming is not supported at this time, you can't stream Prime Instant Video titles on your TiVo." 
Note the passive voice, such that it's ambiguous *WHO* does not support streaming. Clearly TiVo supports streaming for Netflix, so either TiVo is not supporting it for Instant Video, or Amazon is not making it available for streaming -- or the two just can't/don't want to come to terms. Or???


----------



## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

The latest rumor version is that the Amazon "set top box" is actually a USB dongle similar to the Google ChromeCast.

Hard to imagine Amazon has much incentive to improve the Instant Video experience on Tivo's. Tivo probably accounts for an extremely tiny percentage of their video business. I guess one could hope the Roamio will be popular enough to change that.


----------



## dbattaglia001 (Feb 9, 2003)

See this excerpt from a British publication. So seems to confirm speculation here that it is Amazon that's not interest in getting Prime on TiVo. Oh well.


Virgin Media talking to Amazon about taking its video-on-demand service 

Tara Conlan

Tara Conlan 

theguardian.com

730 words

21 March 2014

Guardian.co.uk
(c) 2014 Guardian News & Media Limited. All rights reserved 


Tom Mockridge confirms cable network's interest in Prime Instant Video, which recently bought third series of Ripper Street. By Tara Conlan

Virgin Media has held talks with Amazon about putting its video-on-demand service Prime Instant Video on the cable network and is " certainly open" to the idea, according to Virgin's chief executive officer Tom Mockridge

Last year Virgin struck a deal to show Netflix programmes such as Breaking Bad and House of Cards via an app on Virgin Media's TiVo set-top boxes.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London, Mockridge was asked if he had had discussions to carry shows from Prime Instant Video, which recently announced it has snapped up the third series of BBC drama Ripper Street.

Mockridge said that, "the honest answer is we have talked to them" and "we are certainly open to it", but " it takes two to tango" and said there is nothing to report currently as Prime is still "working out" their proposition since online retailer Amazon rebranded the former LoveFilm VoD service and folded it into its website.


----------



## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

dlfl said:


> Hard to imagine Amazon has much incentive to improve the Instant Video experience on Tivo's. Tivo probably accounts for an extremely tiny percentage of their video business. I guess one could hope the Roamio will be popular enough to change that.


I think the difference between Amazon and TiVo is that Amazon wants to be on as many devices as it can even if there's a certain redundancy -- if you're gonna support 422* device, supporting 423* devices really isn't that big an issue. Plus if you can support 422* devices, supporting more probably isn't that difficult at all, either, as it's unlikely you're tied to just about any specific platform/API/interface/hardware design. TiVo generally half-implements something then moves on, content to demonstrate it can be done, but not willing to make any commitment or worry about "details." To them, the Amazon support is feature-complete, and to TiVo they're even demonstrating their "commitment" by not having removed it from the Roamio feature set.

*422 is a made-up number but is intended to present the idea that Amazon Instant Video is supported on countless devices, both newest and older versions, and continues to provide updates across many of those platforms as new features are introduced. 423 is 422 + 1.


----------



## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Hasn't Dave Zatz repeatedly said an Amazon instant app is coming?


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

dswallow said:


> I think the difference between Amazon and TiVo is that Amazon wants to be on as many devices as it can even if there's a certain redundancy --.


It's on my Sony tv, Blu-ray player, PS3 and Roku, is it on Chromecast? I can't remember I'll have to fire it up and take a look. Personally I think Chromecast sucks. I guess it would be nice if Prime were on my Roamio but I can live without it.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk


----------



## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

Joe01880 said:


> It's on my Sony tv, Blu-ray player, PS3 and Roku, is it on Chromecast? I can't remember I'll have to fire it up and take a look. Personally I think Chromecast sucks. I guess it would be nice if Prime were on my Roamio but I can live without it.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk


 Redunancy is good, one box that does everything is one box that does nothing when it crashes, and sooner or later all computer based devices will crash at least once and when you really don't want it to happen.


----------



## anthonymoody (Apr 29, 2008)

mdm08033 said:


> Affirmative! Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Go are the tentpole streaming services for over the air cord cutters.


You can't be a cord cutter and (legally) get HBO Go. They don't offer stand alone subscriptions to people who aren't already cable subs. But you probably knew that


----------



## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

humbb said:


> This is interesting. When I use the XOD app on the Roamio Pro, I can't find shows like "Deadwood" or "The Wire" on the HBO Series menu. When I use the Search screen, a Deadwood episode comes up as a "Watch now from..." using XFINITY VOD HD selection. When I select that, I get the "Please Wait..." dialog followed by an ERR-2 error dialog and an invitation to visit Comcast.com/help and a "We're sorry, but we're experiencing an issue at the moment" message.
> 
> This is still going on since I first tried last night. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe it's local?


It looks like all the HBO series/seasons are now available on XOD. I had a feeling it would happen tonight as just about all of the previously available series had expiration dates of 3/24. Seems like Comcast is getting ready for the Xfinity OD "Watchathon" starting Monday.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

anthonymoody said:


> You can't be a cord cutter and (legally) get HBO Go. They don't offer stand alone subscriptions to people who aren't already cable subs. But you probably knew that


The "legality" of sharing HBO Go passwords is a bit of a gray area. The HBO CEO doesn't seem to mind very much if people do it, so why should anyone else care?

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/17/ceo-thinks-shared-hbo-go-passwords-are-a-great-promotion/


----------



## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

tarheelblue32 said:


> The "legality" of sharing HBO Go passwords is a bit of a gray area. The HBO CEO doesn't seem to mind very much if people do it, so why should anyone else care?
> 
> http://gigaom.com/2014/01/17/ceo-thinks-shared-hbo-go-passwords-are-a-great-promotion/


 Because grey areas are borderline morality areas, just because someone may look the other way doesn't mean you entitled to steal service.


----------



## anthonymoody (Apr 29, 2008)

tenthplanet said:


> Because grey areas are borderline morality areas, just because someone may look the other way doesn't mean you entitled to steal service.


Exactly. The CEO may feel that on balance it leads to more subs. And he may be right, for now. Otoh of there were one sub and 25 million people using that one password for HBO Go I'm fairly certain he'd feel otherwise.


----------



## swerver (May 18, 2012)

anthonymoody said:


> Exactly. The CEO may feel that on balance it leads to more subs. And he may be right, for now. Otoh of there were one sub and 25 million people using that one password for HBO Go I'm fairly certain he'd feel otherwise.


When I recently tested multiple HBO Go streams to different devices, I was only allowed 3. Sharing passwords certainly happens but the damage is kept in check by this restriction.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

tenthplanet said:


> Because grey areas are borderline morality areas, just because someone may look the other way doesn't mean you entitled to steal service.


When the "someone" looking the other way is the CEO of the company, I think that has a lot of moral authority behind it. If the CEO of the company providing the service doesn't consider sharing passwords with a few close friends or family members to be "stealing service", then I see no reason why I should either.


----------



## anthonymoody (Apr 29, 2008)

tarheelblue32 said:


> When the "someone" looking the other way is the CEO of the company, I think that has a lot of moral authority behind it. If the CEO of the company providing the service doesn't consider sharing passwords with a few close friends or family members to be "stealing service", then I see no reason why I should either.


When you let your personal sense of morality be set by someone else, you get into treacherous waters IMHO.


----------

