# Just took an amazon unbox survey, found this part interesting.



## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

Below are the descriptions of ten (10) potential improvements to the Amazon Unbox service. Please read these descriptions and select the top three (3) improvements that would increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service.

Free Video Streaming with ads  The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.

Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.

DVD & Instant Stream - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and receive a streamed video of the same title you could instantly playback while you wait for your DVD to arrive. This would be included in the DVD price.

High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.

DVD & Digital Copy - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and, for a small additional fee, get a permanent digital copy in Your Media Library.

Hit Movie Subscription Service  The ability to watch a defined number of videos per month for a flat monthly fee, including top Hollywood titles. Not all movies would be available for viewing; however, the selection would be comparable to most pay movie channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).

Video Extras - The ability to select and watch video extras (i.e. DVD extras) when purchasing or renting a movie.

Paid Video Streaming without ads - The ability to immediately watch your purchased Unbox movies and TV shows on your PC within an Internet browser without commercials, instead of having to download them to your PC or TiVo.

Independent Film Subscription Service  The ability to watch a defined number of independent films per month for a flat monthly fee.

Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo  The ability to access all of your purchased Unbox videos on the TiVo user interface.


20. Which potential improvement is the most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?

21. Which potential improvement is the second most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?

22. Which product improvement is the third most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?


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## shady (May 31, 2002)

BlackBetty said:


> High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.


Damn, _Potential Improvement_

I was hoping they were going to release that any day now!


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Can you vote three times for the HD option? The digital copy option would be nice, but if there's much of a fee they'd be close to the DVD price.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Free Video Streaming with ads (add: ON THE TIVO) - The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser from the Tivo. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.

Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.

High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.


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## dylanemcgregor (Jan 31, 2003)

steve614 said:


> Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.


Burn DVDs from a TiVo DVD Recorder :up:

Does anyone have a link to the survey? I couldn't find anything on the Unbox page.


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## TiivoDog (Feb 14, 2007)

Blackbetty - Was the theme or tone of questions more relevant to the use on one's computer or were some specifically related to the Tivo Unbox services? The link I have provided below is question 19, which was relevant from a Computer use perspective:

http://gizmodo.com/362637/amazon-unb...ls-coming-soon

I am real curious to know their intent to improve the breath of services related to Tivo users and more specifically, S3 / HD users as I have been hard on them in this forum regarding lack of true Widescreen, HD and Dolby 5.1 content.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

Where did you find the survey?


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

javabird said:


> Where did you find the survey?


it was sent to me via email. On Friday.


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## BlackBetty (Nov 6, 2004)

TiivoDog said:


> Blackbetty - Was the theme or tone of questions more relevant to the use on one's computer or were some specifically related to the Tivo Unbox services? The link I have provided below is question 19, which was relevant from a Computer use perspective:
> 
> http://gizmodo.com/362637/amazon-unb...ls-coming-soon
> 
> I am real curious to know their intent to improve the breath of services related to Tivo users and more specifically, S3 / HD users as I have been hard on them in this forum regarding lack of true Widescreen, HD and Dolby 5.1 content.


I am going to let DaveZatz give a go at this question. I sent him the link to the survey and it sounds like he is interested in doing a write up on his site.


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## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

for the blog, i try to be a bit more formal, think about things longer prior to posting, use spell check, and leave things open for discussion... however, on the forum i'll say this now without much reflection (or capital letters) - to improve quality on tivo, they should probably move away from MPEG-2/Series2 if they're sticking with Amazon for content - the transcoding to MPEG2 has often led to display issues, and as Dog mentioned the aspect ratio kinda sucks unless you're on a 4:3 SD set. as an aside, it's possible to do SD downloads better (see Xbox, apple tv, or Vudu) and even with DD 5.1 (xbox, vudu) withOUT going HD if the studios provide/allow it and if there's interest

the tivo-related questions seemed more specific to how we're feeling about the ordering experience, whereas the improvements seemed specific to PC playback  tivo hasn't clued me in to their HD intentions (or not) with Unbox - i bring it up nearly every time i talk to them


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## BobB (Aug 26, 2002)

Hi-Def Videos, Burn to DVD, and Independent Film Subscription Service.


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## Johnstone (Feb 17, 2002)

As usual with these types of surveys, I didn't find any of the suggested answers to be compelling.

I'd use Amazon Unbox more often if the selection of movies available for rental on the TiVo was better.


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## dorian (Feb 16, 2008)

HD - If they don't provide HD real soon they won't be taken serious. Otherwise, they may as well be shipping VHS tapes.

Independent Film Subscription service - Independent film promotions are why I stay with Netflix. If someone came out with a subscription service for Independent films my friends and I would beat a path to their virtual store.

Hit movie subscription service - I like renting, don't have enough room to own (on my hard drive nor on my shelf).


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## mackworth (Jul 31, 2006)

Haven't they missed an obvious one: a 24 hour time limit to finish the movie is not realistic for many people.


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## EVizzle (Feb 13, 2005)

HD, 5.1, playback on a PS3.


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## davezatz (Apr 18, 2002)

mackworth said:


> Haven't they missed an obvious one: a 24 hour time limit to finish the movie is not realistic for many people.


I agree. 30 or 36 hours would be better to finish watching on consecutive days. But the studios/content owners are dictating those terms...


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

engadget has picked up on this story

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/04/amazon-pondering-high-def-unbox-rentals/


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## pilotbob (Nov 8, 2007)

mackworth said:


> Haven't they missed an obvious one: a 24 hour time limit to finish the movie is not realistic for many people.


Why, seems like 24 hours is plenty of time to watch a 2 hour movie.

BOb


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## kunikos (Jul 24, 2007)

1) HD rentals to your TiVo
2) Browse Unboxed from TiVo


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## mike3775 (Jan 3, 2003)

> Free Video Streaming with ads - The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.


Nope. If I barely use it now, this will not get me even remotely interested in it



> Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.


If I could play it in a regular DVD/HD/BluRay player I would go for it, but I do not watch movies on my PC. I watch them on a TV from the comfort of my couch or Lazy Boy chair. And no special disc's either. I want to be able to use my DVD+R, DVD+R DL, or even the BluRay discs as well, I do not want to have to buy a special disc just to burn a downloaded movie when I have spindles full of blank DVD's already that I can use instead.



> DVD & Instant Stream - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and receive a streamed video of the same title you could instantly playback while you wait for your DVD to arrive. This would be included in the DVD price.
> 
> High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.


If these were combined into one, I would be all over this in a heartbeat.



> DVD & Digital Copy - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and, for a small additional fee, get a permanent digital copy in Your Media Library.


If I wanted the movie, I would just buy the DVD instead. Thats the main reason I never use Unbox now, because instead of paying what I pay to rent, I simply buy the DVD and have a phyical copy in case I want to watch it again later and do not want to wait for it to finish downloading



> Hit Movie Subscription Service - The ability to watch a defined number of videos per month for a flat monthly fee, including top Hollywood titles. Not all movies would be available for viewing; however, the selection would be comparable to most pay movie channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).


I already get that with my VOD through Comcast. Why would I want the same with downloading. And with On Demand, I can actually record them and save them to DVD already. Can't with Unbox.



> Video Extras - The ability to select and watch video "extras" (i.e. DVD extras) when purchasing or renting a movie.


I rarely watch the extra's on DVD, so why would this make me use it more often?



> Paid Video Streaming without ads - The ability to immediately watch your purchased Unbox movies and TV shows on your PC within an Internet browser without commercials, instead of having to download them to your PC or TiVo.


See my post above. I DO NOT watch movies on my PC.



> Independent Film Subscription Service - The ability to watch a defined number of independent films per month for a flat monthly fee.


I have the IFC channel and rarely watch it.



> Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo - The ability to access all of your purchased Unbox videos on the TiVo user interface.


I have only used it once, and that was for Saw III, and I have that movie on DVD now. So not a big issue to me.



> 20. Which potential improvement is the most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?


HD Downloads.



> 21. Which potential improvement is the second most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?


Ability to burn to a regular DVD, not some stupid special disc.



> 22. Which product improvement is the third most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?


The ability to buy a DVD and be able to download at same time


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

pilotbob said:


> Why, seems like 24 hours is plenty of time to watch a 2 hour movie.
> 
> BOb


not when something happens that interrupts watching it. Kids get sick, friend drops by you have been wnating to talk to, etc.. Then you go to work the next day, do activities, make dinner etc.. and you sit down at 8 to finish watching the movie but since you started at 8:05 the night before after 5 minutes the Movie is gone whether you finished watching it or not.

if it is 48 or 72 hours than such interupptions are not a big deal and you an finsih the movie the next night.

that said the time limit comes from the content owner and UNBOX/TiVo can only follow what the content owner will license for. 

the 24 hour limit is probably the most severe factor limiting my use past the free credits.


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## joysbox (Jun 27, 2003)

I want CLOSED CAPTIONING! I use this will all of my movies and it kills me to have to turn up the tv and rewind things when I can't hear something.

grumble, grumble, grumble.....


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## mlorenz (Jan 3, 2004)

I'd really, really like user ratings to show when I'm looking at movies to potentially download. Currently, I have to go to my computer and use Netflix to see if it is a good movie or not. This would greatly increase the value of Unbox for me.


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

pilotbob said:


> Why, seems like 24 hours is plenty of time to watch a 2 hour movie.
> 
> BOb


Only if you are home and awake for a 24 hour stretch!

How about starting a movie one evening at 8:00 then going to bed before it is done. You come home the next evening, have dinner, finish homework and tuck in the kids. 9:00 rolls around and you plop on the sofa to watch the rest of the movie and ... oops not valid anymore.


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## mtchamp (May 15, 2001)

Hollywood, give us more than 24 hours and I'll rent. Even with this week's great deals, I rented nothing. 24 hours is not enough. I'm glad I received 7 days for the BBC Shakespear movies, but that was free. 7 days for free, 1 day when you pay?

Everytime I see something I want to rent like the new Queen Elizabeth movie, I pass because I don't know if I'll find the time to watch it within 24 hours. Work, kids, work, kids, work, kids, day after day. I have about an hour to myself, maybe, in one day for adult TV.

I'm on my laptop while my daughter is playing with Wii, no TV again for me unless we never stick together like family and all go to our separate rooms all evening. I'snt it busy people like me who will rent more often to have shows ready to watch as time permits.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You have 30 days to watch it. The 24 hour limit only kicks in after you start watching it.

Personally I don't get how people watch half a movie and then stop and come back to it. For me it ruins the whole experience of the movie.

Dan


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> You have 30 days to watch it. The 24 hour limit only kicks in after you start watching it.
> 
> Personally I don't get how people watch half a movie and then stop and come back to it. For me it ruins the whole experience of the movie.
> 
> Dan


Like I said below, if my child comes down stairs sick then I stop the movie. This is not theory either, the very first movie I ever tried on download at Movielink, "Clear and Present Danger" was interrupted by my then young daughter coming downstairs very frightened about something. Started watching the next day at hour 23 and about 15 minutes from the end - *blip* - no movie.

I have lost a couple of UNBOX in more or less the same fashion. No plans to stretch it out beyond 24 hours but life happens. Content providers need to realize that and also that they have great competition in Netflix in which I could take 24 *days* to watch if I felt like it.

48 or 72 hour window would GREATLY increase my use of UNBOX and I highly doubt cost the content providers anything in the way of piracy or others getting to watch.


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## Daven (Jun 8, 2002)

davezatz said:


> to improve quality on tivo, they should probably move away from MPEG-2/Series2 if they're sticking with Amazon for content -


With todays announcement of upcoming YouTube availability on S-3/HD machines, I'd say Tivo is taking that approach. And, perhaps YouTube is considering making HD content available. That would be great.

--Daven


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