Amazon Prime Instant Video - Page 5

I do

Almost everything I rent is BD, and if I watch a movie the day I get it I can clear 15-20 discs in a month. I don't always, because of other stuff in life, but not for lack of discs.

This is interesting overall.

I would be really interested to know if Netflix could step back and offer people an all new releases, the day they release, no 28 day wait, no long wait' issues plan anymore even if they wanted to. Even if it meant adding $6 or $7 to the current plans.

My guess is that the studios wouldn't give them that. They view Netflix as the bad guy now and will fight against anything new that they try to do.

Problem is, if Amazon or Vudu (presumably in the studio's good graces for the amount of money they charge per stream) tried to shake up the apple-cart in a similar way, I think we would see them being thrown under the bus right next to Netflix in a heartbeat.

-Suntan

My experience with Netflix has not been so good .. DVD, yes, BD, no .. unless it's just a "filler" title that's been out a good long time .. I'm still on long wait for the BD of "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" ..

Of course it's worth it to me to have access to thousands of movies instantly without being limited to the 2 discs I have at home, and all the long waits that come along with it (including the actual waits, scratched/cracked discs, no mail on Sundays and holidays (and maybe Saturdays....what ever happened to that stuff anyways?), and don't forget about having to worry about getting things in the mail in the first place.

That's the whole idea/dream of the streaming model, and I'm willing to pay a premium for a better selection and the best quality the tech will currently provide (which currently would be Vudu).

Right now I think Netflix is the best bang for the buck (it's pretty cheap for what you get), and I'd pay more for it even in it's current state. I'll definitely pay more for increased selection and quality.

True, but I was only talking about new releases say in the past 4-5 months. You already get the other thousands of titles - I'm just talking about $35-$45 on top of what you get and pay, for instant access to lower quality stuff rather than supplementing your wait for a disc with other streaming movies.

I don't want to turn this into a BD thread, so I apologize for the insertion. But for instance, since Dec 8th (and I don't only rent new releases, so you should double this), I've gotten these new releases within a week - all in BD unless noted:

The Sorceror's Apprentice
The Expendables
Easy A
Eclipse
Micmacs
Eat Pray Love
Knight and Day
Inception
Cyrus
Despicable Me
The Other Guys
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Devil
Going the Distance
Dark Star: Director's Cut (DVD)
Twelve
The American
The Town
Nowhere Boy

Now, the last couple months have actually been slow disc times for me, because I've been catching up on TV and some streaming (X-Files). Usually it's more. I just see no reason to pay the extra $40 a month for getting these instant instead of waiting a couple days.

Again, yes. It would totally worth it to me not to have to do the wait game for discs, or do the Saturday trick (or this week I am going to try the Wednesday trick to get Megamind which comes out Friday). I hate having to hold discs in order to make sure to mail back on Saturday to get the new release, and I hate being limited to the stuff I have at home. For example, even if I do get Megamind on Friday my kid has a sleepover planned, so I won't be watching it, which means it won't go in the mail on Saturday, which means I'll miss one of next weeks' new releases.

Yeah, I could just arrange my queue so there's no chance Megamind gets sent to me, and then I could watch it in April or whenever Netflix gets around to mailing it. Or the better solution is to just be able to stream it Saturday instead, not having to worry about the whole disc issue. And yes I could stream it if I wanted to, as I'm sure Vudu will have it. I would just rather have the buffet option available to me.

Yes, one example, but it's not a rare occurrence to have to fight the mailing system to get the movies I want when I want. And it's not unusual for me to have a 120 minute or longer movie at home, but only have time for a 90 minute movie, or just not be in the mood for something I was in the mood for several days ago. Of course, perhaps I am unusual in that I frequently schedule watching a movie around my life, not my life around watching a movie.

Regardless, the point is that yes, the premium is worth it to me. It's not like I would be paying much more than I am now....I pay Netflix around $25 (3-at-a-time + BD) and then get a couple Vudu or Zune movies, so that's another $12-$18. That' already up to around 40/month. I would just use Vudu more with a buffet plan, and probably hold onto Netflix's 1 disc (maybe...I might keep their streaming and use Redbox for an occasional disc).


Yeah, such a hassle though....

fair enough, to each their own. I think it has a lot to do with mail too. For instance, my NF "schedule" if you could call it that, is dropping two discs in the mail on Monday after I had the weekend to watch them, and then getting the new releases shipped out to me on Tuesday or Wednesday, watching them Wed if I want and dropping them again Thurs to get Sat - OR not having time to watch them and watching them over the weekend again to drop on Monday.

So I either get 2 or 4 discs a week, usually. at 4, i'm getting 16 movies (at least) a month to watch on disc, all BD for the most part and at least half new releases if there are good ones out that week. 16 discs is almost too much to watch anyway, with TV and other streaming thrown in.

They have Human Centiped.
I'm in !

Definitely not overwhelming, but it's a start. We'll see where it goes from here. This is my 5th year of Prime membership, so it's all gravy for me (just like Netflix WI was when it popped up). We'll see where it goes.

My main problem with it is that, of the 4 devices I can stream on (PC, TiVo, Xbox, PS3), it's supported on only one, the PC, where they're only delivering 480p with stereo sound. (They really need to change their TiVo player from downloading to streaming).

Sub SD quality Video streams with Amazon Prime are a non-starter for me. There are no reports of any HD quality.

Addressing the quantity of product questions, I saw this in the comments at the end of the endgadget article.
"Amazon has aquired the UK Lovefilm (I believe they now fully own the company). They've promised to keep Lovefilm as a separate service that is still called Lovefilm, but there's no way they won't be tapping into their immense film library, and hopefully improving their streaming servers. I hope Amazon will bring high quality streaming to Lovefilm subscribers, ideally the same service as is offered here because current Lovefilm."
Here is the link to that site:
http://www.lovefilm.com/. They seem to have quite a bit of content. Hopefully this may become part of the deal.

Yawn, yawn, and more yawn on the Amazon.com "deal." I order a lot of stuff on Amazon.com, and it doesn't cost me anything for shipping right now because I'm not one of the impatient, got-to-have-it-yesterday types that plague modern society. So what if it takes a week for something to be delivered.

If I want to watch the "free" stuff on Amazon.com, it'll cost me $79.00 per year. I'll stick with Netflix streaming and keep my life simpler and put the $79.00 to better use.

I like that it's a Flash based player with the 'pop out' option. Using the pop out and 'always on top' I can watch a movie while surfing.

respectfully, just because you need something quick as possible, due to your own situation, doesn't make someone a plague. for instance, if a drive dies at work and we need one ASAP, it's free two day, or $4 for tomorrow.

There are some TV shows in HD available through instant streaming. Most all of which I have seen.

I do not own a streaming device on the Amazon VOD supported list!!!
I use a PC to stream to my TV and noticed there were no HD Movie titles listed as available for instant streaming. Then I noticed the following note below most movies:

You can't stream in HD from a PC due to content licensing. This really bummed me out, as I just purchased an LG Blu Ray player from Amazon, which doesn't support Amazon VOD.

Emailed Amazon and got the following response.

Wow! You buy everything online with completely free shipping in deals that are cheaper than anywhere else with shipping? I'm impressed .

At this point, most of what I buy that's not groceries I buy online (and I buy some groceries online). Given the cost of regular ground shipping from most sites, most of the time Amazon has the best deal ("Hey, this site has the item for $12 less than Amazon! Oh--they want $14 to ship it."). This past year, I ordered so many things from Amazon that the $80 I paid for shipping came out to about 70 cents a package. Most of the time I could care less about it being 2 day shipping; I shop around and if I find a better deal with 7-10 day ground shipping, I take the better deal and wait.

For those of us that have been long time Amazon customers and order regularly, Prime is a good value, even better now with the addition of some degree of streaming .. we pool our orders as well as the cost of Prime among some relatives and friends and that essentially brings the cost down to very little per person .. and Amazon lets you do this ..

As well, when you buy groceries and such it's a real deal, period .. add to that $4.00 next day delivery if you need it .. then calculate how much your gas and time is worth .. as well, the cost does not have to meet the $25.00 standard Amazon minimum, so if you need something cheap and shipped fast, you can go for it .. I don't know how many inexpensive deals over the years I have taken advantage of that were under $25 .. but quite a few ..

Point is, it's not just about speedy delivery / ..

For my first Amazon VOD instant streaming selection I watched Revolver (director Guy Ritchie) last night with my Roku XD. The streaming was transparent, no rebuffering, and the video quality was at least DVD. The sound was stereo but I put it into Neo:6 matrixing and it sounded fine. The PC download of this movie has 5.1 sound. I'm pleased with my first experience.

I'll add one more comment and then I'll shut up .. I look at Prime along the same lines as SAMS Club, Costco, etc .. who all charge a membership fee ..

Yeah but SAM's Club has 4 Berry Sundays

-Suntan

This writing has been on the wall for a long time (evidence the Redheaded Stepchild status that computers have received on Netflix's streaming service ever since hardware players capable of streaming became available.

Paradoxical as it might seem, the days are numbered for streaming shows via a computer in any meaningful way.

-Suntan

I know what you mean about devices to stream Amazon. I thought the Samsung Blu Ray 6500 I bought had Amazon on it, but no--but my Samsung 6800 TV does--but no 5.1 sound output--go figure. Now I have way too many things that stream just so I can have the options I want, Samsung TV, Samsung Blu Ray, Apple TV, and Roku (the last addition so I can now get Amazon HD 5.1 to my TV).

I've not really been aware of any serious limitations on PC streaming/Netflix .. I stream at my office at times .. 720p and no 5.1 of course, but on a 40" set it looks fine ..

Care to elaborate .. ??

I don't see this at all. Its just that most would prefer to stream to a bigger screen...

Streaming from a properly equiped PC has no screensize limitation .. I've run my laptop thru my projector to a 120" screen .. many display devices accept SVGA .. many PC's also have an HDMI out ..

If you review the various threads in the HTPC forum, you will see a long history of complaints about excessive judder when playing the Silverlight based streams from Netflix on the PC. Basically, when Netflix originally started streaming (only on computers) and used a derivation of WMP9, everything worked relatively well. When they upgraded to studio mandated Silverlight (for DRM purposes) the quality took a deep dive. Years later it still isn't up to the same quality that you can get from most all of the dedicated players.

In addition, HD streams were not available at all on the PC for a significant period of time after they became available on hardware streamers, again due to licensing mandates from the studios. Even now, there is a sizable number of titles that a person can stream in HD on the hardware players that you can only stream in SD on computers, again due to contractual stipulations imposed by the studios.

Content owners don't like the idea of having to stream content to those nasty, pirate infested PCs. IMO, as soon as they feel it is viable, they will shut them out completely to streaming as we know it.

-Suntan

As I said, feel free to peruse the HTPC threads about it.

Also, play the Netflix stream of Matrix 2 back on a large screen with the PC and then again with the PS3. I think you would be pretty amazed at the quality difference.

-Suntan

Ignoring the PS3 advantage, I think the biggest PC limitation is the lack of HD titles compared to other devices. Although this seems to have gotten better:

http://www.netflix.com/WiHD

See how the full list is 65 pages, while the PC list is 45 pages? That's roughly a 600 title difference (I don't care enough to check to see which titles are missing on the PC though).

I vaguely remember the difference being significantly more awhile ago (perhaps in the 1100-1500 range? My memory isn't that great). So the gap is narrowing.

I agree with Suntan though....the devices and apps get much more love than the PC does (the PC couldn't even stream HD until long after devices could). I just think he meant that if your preferred device is the PC, then you're basically the "last in line" after features have been rolled out to other devices, if history is any indication.

Although I'd still take the PC over the Wii

I like how they think rather than just straight up ripping a BD, which people can easily do, they would rather capture a crappy stream.