Anyone using Amazon VOD with Panasonic's Viera Cast?

the question i have is are you getting 5.1 audio and if so how?

My bar turns green but i am paying for a 20mb down internet package from FIOS>

I am in the process of purchasing a plasma and the Viera Cast is a big factor in my choice as to weather I choose a Panasonic or Pioneer (both floor models).

an 50" 850U or 50" 5020FD - gadgets, internet connectivity etc is a big deal to me - can you guy's tell me if the Viera Cast is worth it....?

Just bought the new Panasonic 54G10 54' HDTV with Vieracast from Beach Camera for ~$1,800 including shipping. The picture is stunningly beautiful, the audio isn't bad either, and Vieracast is very cool - great for watching Youtube .. and Amazon's movies on demand works very well with a broad selection of movies to select from. Don't forget, broadband of greater than 3 Mbps is recommended.

I tried the Amazon VOD using Viera cast on a T1 modem and the connection bars on the bottom of the screen were Blue. Picture was awesome too.
Then another day they all were green, picture was still HD quality but I could tell it was because there was alot of use on the internet line, and less bandwidth. I took this to my house with a 14mb download cable modem speed and at that time only one bar was green and the rest grey. I could tell this wasn't HD. I guess Verizon's FIOS they will soon install will clear this issue.

I'm using a roku box (wireless connection to internet) with my slightly older panasonic (without vieracast) to do almost the same thing. $100 for the box, and you can stream amazon, netflix and who knows what next. So, not sure I'd decide on my next tv based on just vieracast option -- there are other ways to do almost the same thing -- but it would be handy.

I'm curious - is there a wireless option for the vieracast (via an adapter?) .... or does it need an ethernet connection?

Also, how the YouTube feed looks on large screen -- is it worth bothering with such small video?

I tried it but it didn't work for me

Viera Cast uses ethernet, they provide instructions for connecting over wireless.

We don't have wifi in the house and I probably won't get one until I get a new laptop or PAnny picks up Netflix. Amazon just doesn't have the kind of movies we are interested in on demand.

I've got the WD HDTV but I did consider Roku for a minute but I'm holding out that Netflix and Panny make a deal.

You might like it - not all netflix movies are available, of course, but there's an interesting mix, especially if you enjoy old/classic and foreign films. Also, some tv programs can be streamed now, too. The quality is pretty good on the netflix feed - some are available in HD , others only sd (but they look okay on my panny most of the time). I definitely have gotten my $100 worth on the roku box while "waiting" for that deal - I use HDMI connection to the panasonic but there are a lot of options. You can connect via ethernet or wireless. We don't bother ordering online movies from amazon unless there's absolutely nothing else to watch, or if I want a very new release not yet available on Netflix.

If they make a deal it may make me swing to netflix over blockbuster.

Hey all,

Wanted to cycle back to TheLoveone post's on whether the text HD next to the four bars connection meter is greyed out for you all or is it green or blue? Often enough greyed out means disabled; i.e.the streaming is in SD and not HD even though you might be getting a 4 bar signal (is that a true statement?)

And my other question, with Amazon VOD through Viera Cast the audio is coming from my TV; is there a way to redirect the audio to my AV receiver instead?

And lastly: any word on Panasonic's plan to include Netflix streaming to its Viera cast lineup of offerings.

Thanks

Just to clarify, are you saying that you are feeding the audio out from TV to the receiver but NOT getting the streaming video audio, or have you just not connected tv to receiver yet?

Artwire,

Thanks for your response, I got the sound streamed to the AV receiver, the TV audio out was connected to the receiver via audio optical cable but I wasn't switching the output audio to the proper channel on the receiver end. So I am good in that department.

I saw in a prior posting that you have the Roku box; are you happy with the Netflix streaming quality? Is that close to HD or more like SD up converted to 1080 or worse? My Viara Cast Amazon on Demand from the Panasonic TV looks crappy, I guess because I have a 768kbps DSL line and I wasn't sure whether I'll get a big boost in picture quality that merits the DSL upgrade cost to 3mbps.

Thanks.

I've only done a few Amazon "HD" movies, and in almost all cases they looked worse than Roku. Not all Roku offerings are in HD though -- I'd say on average, they are generally equivalent to viewing an upconverted DVD. I watch a lot of older movies -- the newer releases are offered in HD. I'm connecting Roku via HDMI.

I've used it over a fast comcast cable connection and also with a DSL 3 mbps connection, and rarely have lower than **** quality on the box -- occasionally if there's a network slowdown (comcast) it will pause to reload itself but it seems much smoother than amazon. I haven't noticed any difference in quality of image wtih varying speeds -- it just triggers a pause/reload and then resumes. 768 might be a little slow -- it might just give you a longer load time -- it should not interrupt the flow of the movie (at least it hasn't for me)

Glad to hear you resolved the audio out issue !

We watched our first Amazon on demand movie tonight through our Panasonic G15 Viera. None of the Panasonic's play/pause/ff/rewind buttons worked. How does one enable those features on the remote? Thanks.

As I recall, the physical "play/pause/rewind/etc" buttons on the remote don't do anything, but their functionality has all been mapped to the D-pad on the remote (up/down/left/right/select).

Not very impressive from a usability standpoint, but it probably has to do with limitation of Viera Cast.

Thanks. I'll try it tonight

Just answering OP re: bars...
I have a TH-50PZ850U, VOD form amazon HD is awesome. HD and the 4 bars are blue when it is true HD. 4 green bars and gray HD is close to HD, but lacks that "looking through a window" quality that the BlueHD does. I have noticed that sometimes, if the stream starts with 4 green bars, it sometimes will jump up to BlueHD. I have not noticed it ever going the other way, but I suppose it is possible.

Setup:I have broadband cable. I don't know what speed I am paying for, but I consistently get 4.5 to 6 meg down. Stream is sent to TH-50PZ850U by way of Wireless-N access point plus an N-bridge back to cat-5 (through a dumb hub shared w/ dir.TV reciever and network printer.)

anyone have any use for an amazon VOD code??

I haven't been able to get any Amazon VOD to play at all. If I click play for an TV episode, it jumps out of the Amazon VOD screen and back to the Main Menu.

YouTube works fine. Bloomberg, The Weather Channel seem O.K. The samples in Picassa work.

If you're not going to use I'd take it Send me a PM if you've still got it.

Thanks,
Rob

Has anyone been able to get Amazon On Demand to work?

I still have not been able to get any Amazon On Demand content to play.

I can access my libraries, but when I select "Watch Now", nothing happens.

Anyone have luck with this?

Thanks.

I bought a Panasonic Blu-ray player with Viera cast for about $150. Have now used Amazon on Demand multiple times, and it works great. It's in HD most of the time, although it briefly dropped to SD over the New Year's weekend, when I'm sure net traffic was very high.

I got some free credits when I purchased the player, along with some other credits, so I haven't actually paid for a movie yet.

Thanks.

I hope I can get it working on my TV.

I have a Viera Cast enabled Panasonic TV. Initially, I thought of it as a cool gimmick, but gimmick nonetheless. However, now that Netflix has its stupid 28-day purchase window for WB titles, Amazon VOD has become my goto place for HD titles. For example, we watched "Whiteout" last night in HD and it streamed flawlessly. On Netflix, you'll have to wait until February 16th to see it. Also, Amazon VOD was a $1 cheaper than Cox OnDemand. The only gotcha was that it came down in 2.0 instead of 5.1. I don't know if Amazon or my equipment was at fault though. It's only my second rental on Amazon. The last one was "A Perfect Getaway" and I didn't check the sound format.

I'm hoping that Panasonic will upgrade their existing TVs to support Netflix (more choice is always better), but in the meantime I like Amazon VOD. Definitively happy I have it now!

I am having the same issue. I can stream Netflix from my PS3 with a digital signal, but Amazon VOD HD does not come with digital audio. And that just ticks me off.

Anyone having success with digital audio from Amazon VOD on Viera Cast?

I have constant problems with Amazon HD video streaming. I have Comcast ISP with average download speeds of 15-18 Mb/sec. When I stream Amazon VOD the highest streaming speed I get is 2500kb/sec. While this is fast enough to play in HD, it constantly drops to a lower speed and rebuffers to non HD. It does not matter if I am wireless N or connected through ethernet cable. Also, when I stream Amazon VOD through my Roku, I get digital audio (5.1). When I stream it through my Panasonic Blue Ray Vieracast, it is stereo 2.0. Not sure why the audio is streamed differently- played with all settings and connections on my receiver and cannot get it to play in digital. I've sent an email to customer support. Will report back on what I hear.

Update for me. I called both Panasonic and Amazon about not being able to play content, through my Panasonic plasma. Panasonic was able to duplicate the problem, using the same model TV. They will be issuing a firmware update 2/2/10 to correct it. This update may be model specific, not sure.

I'd also love to know what's up with the 2.0 sound instead of 5.1.

I'd immediately buy a season pass to Supernatural, since the local CW affiliate stopped broadcasting 5.1 sound back in September/October of last year. But since AzVOD is only two channel as well over my VieraCast BD player, not much point to it.