# Amazon Instant Video will not let me download HD to TiVO HD



## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

I have 2 TiVO HD DVR's, each connected to an HDTV by HDMI. I would like to use the Amazon Instant Video service, and would like to rent HD video that is available on that service. But each time I try on either TiVO HD, I get the message "This device cannot support the format requested". According to Amazon Instant Video FAQ, the TiVO HD or any Series 3 TiVO should support HD video downloads. I can't any information on this by Googling this phrase, the Amazon site, or this site (a couple of mentions of this, but no solution I could find). Netflix HD downloads are no problem. I also have no problem with iTune HD downloads through my AppleTV. Does anybody know what the deal is here? Won't the TiVo HD work with Amazon Instant Video HD downloads? Or is there a fix for this?


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## dwit (May 5, 2004)

Is this downloading(and saved on the hard drive) or streaming? If it's streaming(from Amazon), I think I have read that the service is indeed not supported for S3 Tivos. Read all the fine print.

Could be wrong though.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Are you getting the error message on your TiVos or on a PC? You should be able to rent HD videos through the TiVo HD directly. 

The "free" streaming service that comes with Amazon Prime in not available on any TiVo at this time. 

Good Luck,


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## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

No not streaming, downloading HD content like a movie from the Amazon Instant Video service found on my TiVO HD menu under Video on Demand. When I select an HD video movie to rent from Amazon to download to my TiVO HD, I get the message "This device cannot support the format requested", and the transaction does not proceed.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

What happens if you go through the Amazon web site to purchase and initiate delivery to a TiVo HD?

Have you tried talking to Amazon customer service?


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## mmcgown (Feb 7, 2002)

If you want to easily download Amazon videos [not stream], you must first link your TiVo and Amazon accounts.

You will have better luck if you initiate the download from the Amazon site rather than from the TiVo; although in theory it works the same, in practice it does not.


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## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

My Amazon and TiVO accounts are linked, but I didn't know I could initiate a rental on Amazon via computer, and then have it go to my TiVo. I thought that method would only let me watch the rental movie on the PC. My other option is to get a Roku 2 for $70 and get Amazon Instant Video that way. Doing what TiVO is supposed to do--getting HD video from Amazon. Really disappointing TiVO isn't doing what it is advertised to do.


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## djwilso (Dec 23, 2006)

TiVo will download HD videos from Amazon. It works for me anyway...

TiVi will not yet stream the free Prime videos. If you need that feature, yes get a Roku. I have two Roku boxes and they work great for Amazon.

Roku will also let you access purchased videos from "Your Video Library". TiVo does not have this feature either.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

fenway42012 said:


> My Amazon and TiVO accounts are linked, but I didn't know I could initiate a rental on Amazon via computer, and then have it go to my TiVo. I thought that method would only let me watch the rental movie on the PC. My other option is to get a Roku 2 for $70 and get Amazon Instant Video that way. Doing what TiVO is supposed to do--getting HD video from Amazon. Really disappointing TiVO isn't doing what it is advertised to do.


TiVo does what it is advertised to do, at least for me, I have paid for and downloaded several Amazon HD videos and each played propely. What title can't you download for playback and are you sure you aren't selecting the instant streaming option rather than rental download?


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## nycityuser (Dec 30, 2004)

Chris Gerhard said:


> TiVo does what it is advertised to do, at least for me, I have paid for and downloaded several Amazon HD videos and each played propely. What title can't you download for playback and are you sure you aren't selecting the instant streaming option rather than rental download?


How could he possibly select instant streaming when that is not even offered on any TiVo searches or on demand selections done on a TiVo device?


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## mmcgown (Feb 7, 2002)

fenway42012 said:


> My Amazon and TiVO accounts are linked, but I didn't know I could initiate a rental on Amazon via computer, and then have it go to my TiVo. I thought that method would only let me watch the rental movie on the PC. My other option is to get a Roku 2 for $70 and get Amazon Instant Video that way. Doing what TiVO is supposed to do--getting HD video from Amazon. Really disappointing TiVO isn't doing what it is advertised to do.


TiVo *will* absolutely let you **download** HD movies from Amazon. If your accounts are linked, you can go to Amazon, select the movie and then select "download to my Tivo." You can even pick which TiVo it will go to if you have more than one. And it will be High Definition.

This is completely different from Amazon Instant **streaming**, which you cannot do on a TiVo at present. For that, yes, you need a Roku or similar.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

nycityuser said:


> How could he possibly select instant streaming when that is not even offered on any TiVo searches or on demand selections done on a TiVo device?


He didn't say he was selecting the program with a TiVo. Could he be using a smart phone or tablet to try to initiate the transaction? The message he says he receives isn't anything I have seen from using TiVo selection, regardless of service used.


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## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

If you read my first post, I said I am using 2 TiVo HD DVR's, and I am not able to rent (NOT stream--rent and download) an HD movie when I click on the "Rent this movie" button on either of my TiVO HD DVR's menus, which is accessed from the Video on Demand menu on my TiVO, and further accessed from the Amazon Instant Video menu on the TiVo. I click the "Rent this movie" button on the TiVO menu for an HD movie, it asks for my Amazon code, and after I input the code to finish the transaction, I get the "This device cannot support the format requested" message. I have tried several movie rentals, all with the same result on both of my TiVO HD DVR's.

I'm glad to see other people can get HD rentals. Maybe it has to do with my wireless network setup to my TiVO's (which I have using TiVO's USB wireless adapter--the newest and fastest one) vs. a wired setup. I don't know what the reason neither of my setups is working--it's just annoying, whatever it is.

I appreciate the feedback, folks.


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## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

Problem solved! Even though the Amazon website, as seen on my PC, showed my 2 TiVO HD's as registered for the Amazon-TiVO linkage on my Amazon Instant Video account, as a last resort I decided to unregister the TiVO's and then I re-registered them, again using my PC on the Amazon website. Now going to my TiVO HD, I was able to successfully rent and download an HD movie to my TiVO. I'm glad I tried this before ordering a Roku--Amazon lost out on that purchase.

In thinking back, I'm pretty sure I set up the Amazon Instant Video from my TiVO box, so the accounts got linked from my TiVO box (which TiVO states is a way to do it) instead of the Amazon site on my PC. I don't know if this is the reason I had a problem, but re-registering on Amazon's website is what fixed it. Hope this helps others with the same problem.


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## mmcgown (Feb 7, 2002)

fenway42012 said:


> Problem solved! . . . .
> In thinking back, I'm pretty sure I set up the Amazon Instant Video from my TiVO box, so the accounts got linked from my TiVO box (which TiVO states is a way to do it) instead of the Amazon site on my PC. I don't know if this is the reason I had a problem, but re-registering on Amazon's website is what fixed it. Hope this helps others with the same problem.


Your experience reminds me of my own when I did this five years ago. Something went wrong when trying to link the TiVo to Amazon. TiVo support tried but could not help. A fourth tier network engineer at Amazon finally fixed it by de-linking and then re-linking from the Amazon side.

The lesson I learned is that starting from the Amazon site instead of from the TiVo box, even for downloading movies, works more reliably. I'm glad you got it fixed!


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## fenway42012 (Aug 31, 2005)

Interesting you had a similar experience. Makes me feel my suspicion of the problem coming from linking via the Tivo box, and fixing it via the Amazon site is correct.

Thanks!


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## yahoojames97 (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm running into the same issue using a Series3 with one wrinkle. I can download and watch TV series content in SD just fine, but initiating a download of any HD TV series does not work. The show never makes it to my TiVo. Oddly enough, I can rent HD movies. It just won't work with HD TV series programming.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

Thought I would try the Amazon Instant TV (as it is called) with new Comcast broadband service. I understand that STREAMING cannot be done with the TiVO HD, but that you CAN download HD content to the TiVO from Amazon. It also says on Amazon something about "progressive download," saying that you should be able to watch the movie after about 10 minutes worth of downloading (not exactly "streaming," but better than waiting for the whole thing to download, if you want it sort-of-immediately). AM I reading that correctly, and has anyone tried this with a TiVO HD?


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## Speed Daemon (Jan 15, 2012)

fenway42012 said:


> Interesting you had a similar experience. Makes me feel my suspicion of the problem coming from linking via the Tivo box, and fixing it via the Amazon site is correct.


When things get complicated, some things are bound to break. I noticed that my setup in identical to yours--2xHD w/HDMI and using the TiVos to set up the Amazon service. Why you had a problem and I didn't is anybody's guess. IMHO some web-based businesses (like my bank ) are in such a big hurry to add bells and whistles that they often forget what the site is there for first and foremost, and break a perfectly good interface. I suspect that your problem may lie in that sort of rapid change. Welcome to the future!


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

hybucket said:


> AM I reading that correctly, and has anyone tried this with a TiVO HD?


Yes.. but to make it absolutely clear, this is NOT the free shows you get with Amazon Prime.. this is pay per episode, e.g. $1.99/episode (I think).

I used it over the weekend to get the free episode of the new musical show.

I actually had to wait close to an hour, but it was still downloading, and I was downloading over a WiFi bridge! (I didn't care that I had to wait, of course I had other stuff to watch.)


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## wmlrvg (Nov 6, 2006)

I tried downloading two HD movies (Contagion and Water For Elephants) to my Series 3. They both ended up in my Now Playing list. Contagion had a length of 8:24 (8 hrs, 24 mins)! and played OK until near the end when it seemed weird with some scenes stopped but music playing normally. Since I havent seen the movie "normally" I don't know if it was screwed up or not. Water was only 1:04 (Partial) and that was correct. It was truncated. 
I believe I asked to d/l the second before the first finished. Don't know if that is a problem, but something screwed up. I cannot find how to ask Amazon for a refund for this. Anyone know or have a similar problem?


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