# Amazon Videos on Roamio, but not the Mini?



## TheWizz (Aug 27, 2013)

I just recently acquired the Roamio, Roamio Pro, and a couple of Minis. The Roamios have NetFlix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video On Demand. But the Minis do not have the Amazon option. Does anyone know why? 

When I bought these I thought they all had Amazon (Prime) capabilities, so was disappointed when that option wasn't there on the Minis or Roamios.


----------



## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Because it's Amazon downloads, not Prime Streaming, and the Mini has no storage for downloads.
What makes it more annoying is you can't download Amazon videos to your Roamio and stream to your Mini either, so you are forced to watch wherever your Roamio sits.


----------



## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

I think the only way you will see Amazon on the mini is by TiVo/Amazon implementing Amazon streaming service.

I believe that Amazon never wanted to do this because the Premier line couldn't handle the app with acceptable performance.

With the HTML5 ecosystem on the Roamio/mini line, I think you will see Amazon Streaming now coming to those platforms.

But as MoyekJ indicated, the current implementation will not work on the Mini.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I completely agree. With the new apps platform I'm hoping we see a lot more streaming services coming to the TiVo ecosystem. I'd also like to see HBOGo and VUDU.


----------



## Irishb (Dec 11, 2013)

Amazon downloads on the Roamio will not play on the Tivo mini if the show is selected from the Tivo mini menu. If you try to play it on the mini you will receive a "Copyright message".

Here is the work around that works for me -
I have the Tivo App downloaded to my IPad.
Open the app. 
In the drop down menu that lists your Tivo devices - Select the Mini that you want to watch a program on.
Now, go to My shows in the Tivo App.
Select the Show that you downloaded from Amazon.
Press Watch Show.
The show will now play on the Tivo mini that you selected.

I have confirmed that this will work on the Tivo App for Iphone and the Ipad.

Enjoy


----------



## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

So you are watching on the iOS device in the end though, right, not the Mini? If so that is very surprising as the Stream cannot handle recordings from H.264 channels.


----------



## Irishb (Dec 11, 2013)

No. The video is playing on the Mini. I just use the iOS device to cue the programming to play. This will bypass the "Copyright" detection that you see when the show is selected on the Mini menu.


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Shhhh. Great to know.... This seems like a bug many can live with!


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

So if that works then why prevent it at all? I always assumed there was some technical limitation, but it seems to be purely artificial. What harm does it cause to allow streaming of Amazon downloads if the hardware/software is capable of it?


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

So will this work with an Android device or is it just for Apple devices?


----------



## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> So will this work with an Android device or is it just for Apple devices?


 There's no "Watch Show" capability in Android App (yet) so iOS only.


----------



## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

The whole Amazon thing just bugs me. It's so poorly done. Other companies would never allow such a confusing mess on their products. I wonder how many calls Tivo CS gets about this.


----------



## Futureinsights (Nov 19, 2013)

aadam101 said:


> The whole Amazon thing just bugs me. It's so poorly done. Other companies would never allow such a confusing mess on their products. I wonder how many calls Tivo CS gets about this.


Before I had tivos, I had roku's, the roku's still work, and I now have cable in the bedroom (used to be streaming only). Only one more box to buy for hbogo, since I am in Comcast, and they don't like roku.


----------



## StevesWeb (Dec 26, 2008)

Dan203 said:


> So if that works then why prevent it at all?


Lawyers


----------



## mjgraves (Oct 11, 2003)

Yes, indeed this is an inconsistent mess. We downloaded Riddick to our Roamio Plus and stared to watch. Got about an hour into the 2:07 directors cut and decided to relocate to a room serviced by a Mini. There we found that we could not resume playback of the downloaded movie. 

FWIW, we knew for certain that the entire move had been downloaded. In fact, the download was remarkably fast, pegging our 35 mbps Comcast internet service.

I wholly understand not allowing streams to portable devices. However, Tivo Mini is not a portable device in the manner of iOS or Android. If the media is held entirely within a Tivo chain of custody (Amazon -> Roamio -> Mini) then playback should be permitted.


----------



## tre74 (Nov 12, 2010)

The limit of viewing media on only one device is Amazon's policy. I ran into this when buying a TV show episode some time ago. I remember reading the message from Amazon that the purchased item could only be downloaded and viewed from a single device and I had better make sure I downloaded it to the right one.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

mjgraves said:


> Yes, indeed this is an inconsistent mess. We downloaded Riddick to our Roamio Plus and stared to watch. Got about an hour into the 2:07 directors cut and decided to relocate to a room serviced by a Mini. There we found that we could not resume playback of the downloaded movie.
> 
> FWIW, we knew for certain that the entire move had been downloaded. In fact, the download was remarkably fast, pegging our 35 mbps Comcast internet service.
> 
> I wholly understand not allowing streams to portable devices. However, Tivo Mini is not a portable device in the manner of iOS or Android. If the media is held entirely within a Tivo chain of custody (Amazon -> Roamio -> Mini) then playback should be permitted.


Someone posted a trick to get it to work. Apparently if you use the iOS app, select your Mini in the app, then pick the Amazon video and click Watch On TV it will work. Not sure why this bypasses the block, but apparently it does.


----------



## Luckyluc (Jan 24, 2014)

Man I wish Amazon worked...


----------



## megpeg (Oct 21, 2003)

I tried the bypass trick method and it didn't work. Does anyone else have success with this method still?


----------



## Irishb (Dec 11, 2013)

megpeg said:


> I tried the bypass trick method and it didn't work. Does anyone else have success with this method still?


This trick still works for me. I have a Tivo Mini in my sons room, and he uses the TIVO App on his IPAD to queue Amazon downloads. I have also confirmed that the IPHONE Tivo app works too.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You have to make sure the Mini is selected for the app, not the host TiVo, then select the Amazon program and pick Watch On TV.


----------



## megpeg (Oct 21, 2003)

I did all that, but it crashes my mini- a total freeze, it goes blank, and then I have to reboot. Specifically, it tries to queue the show but then it does nothing. When I hit live TV and give up, it crashes. After multiple attempts I'm afraid it just doesn't work for me and my mini.

I should mention I queued another show not from Amazon, just a regular TV show, and it worked fine. It's just the Amazon downloads that crash it.

Update: I asked Tivo why this happens, and they told me today it's because the mini isn't a supported device. I guess if I tell them it crashes when I attempt it, they are saying "don't do that".


----------



## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

megpeg said:


> I did all that, but it crashes my mini- a total freeze, it goes blank, and then I have to reboot. Specifically, it tries to queue the show but then it does nothing. When I hit live TV and give up, it crashes. After multiple attempts I'm afraid it just doesn't work for me and my mini.
> 
> I should mention I queued another show not from Amazon, just a regular TV show, and it worked fine. It's just the Amazon downloads that crash it.
> 
> Update: I asked Tivo why this happens, and they told me today it's because the mini isn't a supported device. I guess if I tell them it crashes when I attempt it, they are saying "don't do that".


Might have something wrong with your Mini, someone else mentioned they couldn't get the Apple Amazon play trick so I thought I might try mine again since the only different was the recent early spring update but mine even after the update still works.

Are you using MoCa or ethernet with your Mini? Are your working with Amazon purchase or rentals and are the Amazon download complete and not still transfering when you try to view them?


----------



## megpeg (Oct 21, 2003)

Thanks for the reply. I have the Mini connected via MoCa, and I purchased from Amazon some TV shows. The shows are completely downloaded on the Roamio. Does this give you any ideas why it doesn't work for me? Like I said, I can start up regular saved Tivo shows using the iPad to watch on the TV with the Mini. I just tried again- it says on the screen "There was a problem playing the video, please try again". Trying again fails again. I was able to play another normal tv show after that, and when I hit Live TV, it was OK. If I don't successfully play a video and hit Live TV, it crashes.

Another update: I tried doing a 3 thumbs down total reset, and it still doesn't help.


----------

