Amazon Prime Instant Video - Page 20

i love hulu but i really hate the commercials... I at least want some variety with my commercials.. not the same 2 commercials over and over...

^^
Not sure what that has to do with Amazon Prime?

Has anyone gotten the Kindle Fire yet? How do videos loook on that screen?

I read a couple of reviews of the Kindle Fire and watched a couple of video reviews--here's a long, fairly comprehensive one:


Not bad, but I'm not as psyched about it as I was before. There are a few things I'm not really wild about (a single power hard button, all other controls are on the touchscreen--I'd much prefer hard button volume controls, for instance), but there are a few other things which are kind of cool, and I am an Amazon Prime member (coming to the end of my 5th year) for whom there are significant perqs. I'm not in any rush--I'll reconsider after the December Nook Color firmware upgrade, a major one which will bring Netflix and Hulu Plus.

What I'd really like is an 7" Android 3.0+ tablet, on which I could run e-book apps for all of the stores, but they're so damned expensive. A couple of the 7"ers are on sale right now, so I might go that route.

The Kindle Fire has already been hacked to run full Android. Sounds like it's a pretty simple process.

My membership has paid for itself many times over. I bought a sizable (400 lb) snow blower and my 55" Vizio through Amazon and didn't pay a cent for 2 day shipping. We do a lot of shopping through Amazon and now are reaping the benefits of streaming video for Amazon Prime members through our aforementioned Vizio, which has an Amazon Prime app.

I've told this story here before, but when I first signed up for Prime, I bought an Onkyo HTiB that weighed in at around 110 lbs; just for grins and chuckles, I paid $4 for overnight shipping, even though I knew that it'd be couple of weeks before I finally got around to setting it up . I'm pretty sure that overnight shipping on a 110 lb package would cost significantly more than the $84 I'd paid to that point, and I shipped probably over a hundred more packages that year.

If they can rope you into Prime, the no-additional-cost 2-day shipping greatly increases the probability of selling you something. I use price search engines when I shop online, and often find better deals on basic price, but when you add shipping it exceeds Amazon's price (and that's not for 2-day shipping). I buy all sorts of little stuff that wouldn't make sense to buy online because the shipping would exceed the cost of the item itself. Little perqs like Prime Instant Video and the new "Kindle Owner's Lending Library" are intended to get more people to sign up so that they'll get hooked on the shipping benefit. I fully expect them to keep looking for additional benefits to add to Prime membership.

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All very true. I can't say enough about Amazon Prime. Sure I spend more money but for things like Blu Rays, Amazon is constantly raising and lowering prices so it is usually best to pick something up you want when it gets to the price you want it at as it may not last long at that price. That wouldn't work if you had to wait until you found enough under $10 BDs you wanted to equal $25 for free regular shipping. But with Prime, you can get a nice $5.99 BD and have it in two days. One of my first orders with Prime was my Marantz AV receiver--somewhat heavy. I ordered it on a Saturday for delivery on Tuesday but it did not get processed for shipping until Monday evening--so Amazon shipped it FedEx Next Day Air and I got it before noon on Tuesday. You really can't beat it!

I used to buy my Maxwell House South Pacific Blend Coffee with Prime shipping just so I could boast that my Coffee was airlifted from such exotic places as Tulsa OK and Lexington KY. Amazon offered me a 15% discount on it if I let them ship it via ground...

Anyone with the Kindle Fire stream Netflix? does it look like the video playback is too fast?

Netflix streaming is fine on my Kindle Fire. I only watched a couple things but no problems so far.

Netflix, Hulu+ and Amazon all seem to be of pretty good quality on the Kindle Fire and I haven't run in to any problems so far. The prime videos have also been really nice to have access to.

if you search for "prime eligible" in kindle books, then refine your search to only include books, you get a list of many of them. There are some interesting books, but not as many as I'd thought/hoped. Not sure it's worth basing a reader purchase on this option, but if you already have Prime, it's a nice extra.

I just got a kindle touch yesterday - I will be exchanging it for another one to be sure that the screen is actually "supposed" to be this dark (others have described theirs as grayish white, mine is more like a dark gray - even under a bright reading light or by an open window). As is, it may not offer enough contrast for indoor reading, at least for my eyes.

I downloaded my first loaner last night - it takes just a few seconds. Apparently you can do one a month -- and you are limited to when you can do the next one by the calendar (that was a bit unclear -- after downloading, it said I can borrow another after Dec 1 ... so it may be ONE a month, rather than every 30 days. Not sure about that....

I like the kindle concept and I'm not a fan of glossy screens (even my mac laptop has the non-glare option). But this is positively dim, even under a bright reading lamp. I like the option of these 'free' loaners and the chance to download samples, but .. if you can't actually see the black letters on dark gray screen, I guess it's a moot point. Hoping I just got a clunker and that they're not all this way. Time will tell... I may have to swap it for a tablet model Fire or an ipod touch -- both of which can also take advantage of the Amazon instant video. I'm not sure the Nook tablet can access Amazon prime... dont think so, but it does do netflix and word is, the screen is a bit better for e-reading than the Fire.

Thanks! When I searched for "prime eligible kindle books" and narrowed it to "Kindle eBooks" I got a page at this URL (which may or may not work for anyone else and may not be valid forever). It lists a total of 4434 results, which seems a fair amount, more than what seems to be about 3200 Prime Instant Video selections. Nothing that I recognize as any recent best seller, but I wasn't really expect that.

I have a Nook Color since its introduction about a year ago (and the first Sony Reader before that and an RCA REB1200 before that and my Palm organizer before that--I've been reading e-books for over 10 years). I predict that no non-rooted Nook will ever have access to any Amazon Prime content, be it e-book or video. Both the Nook and Fire will only download apps from their respective stores (not the Android Market) and I don't think that they'll be offering apps with which to play or read their competitors content. The Nook Tablet is supposed to have Netflix and Hulu Plus players when it ships and a major firmware upgrade coming in December will give the same to the Nook Color; I can't wait to see how well it works.

I've considered ordering a Fire to check it out and either returning it if I don't like it or keeping it and selling my Nook Color. Spec-wise, the Fire is kind of weak having only 8 GB of internal memory (only 6GB of which is available to you) with no memory slot for expansion (the Nook Color has 8GB with a micro-SD slot for an up-to-32-GB card; the Nook Tablet has 16GB built in and an expansion slot). I've read pretty mixed reviews of the Fire so far.

The Nook Tablet has the same form factor as the Nook Color (an ounce lighter). It has a faster, dual core processor and twice the internal memory, but otherwise doesn't seem to be an improvement over the Nook Color.

I've played with one of the last generation Kindle keyboard models and the background was very light with good contrast, definitely better than my first gen Sony Reader, which I used for hours everyday for four or five years. Are you sure that the Kindle doesn't have brightness and contrast controls? I believe that my Sony Reader did.

Is there a definitive source of available titles on Prime and NetFlix? 4000 this and 6000 that doesn't do you any good if the 5-6 that you want to watch aren't present.

Thanks!

For netflix streaming go to feedflix.com or instantwatcher.com

To search both at the same time, go to TV and Movies NOW. You can filter for HD and/or 5.1 sound and/or closed captions

^^

Thanks--looks like a very helpful link for Prime users.

The only contrast adjustment (with minimal effect) is a software option which is only present when reading PDFs (which don't display all that well on the Kindle Touch). There are no corrections possible when reading standard books other than shining a light on the screen. I just sent the first Kindle Touch back, and the replacement is a tiny bit brighter and a bit easier to read - the background is slightly lighter- a medium/dark gray and, more important, the 'whites' or blank spaces are brighter (so much so that I now can see ghosting of underlying text! ) This one is much more usable than the first unit, but the type itself seems even more ragged/ less antialiased (one of the down sides of being able to see more clearly, I suppose) . At least I can decipher what the book icons represent now - on the first one, all I saw were black rectangles. There must be some significant variations in quality control on these early units. I plan to try it for a week or so and see if I can read comfortably with it before deciding whether or not to keep it. They say your brain gets used to e-ink. ( really???)

Fire seemed tempting at first, and I would like to see how it displays texts as well as the video feeds, but I've read some pretty awful reviews. The video should be ok and it's nice to have the choice of Amazon AND Netflix movies on the same device -- but when it comes to using it as a reader... I'm not convinced it's worth it. Of the two, I think the Nook tablet sounds better, if only because it's expandable, has more memory, and supposedly a slightly better screen, but they both seem clunky. I am going to try to wait til spring when (maybe) a retina display ipad or an improved ipod touch will be out. Hope springs eternal!

I have no idea what's causing the darkness that you've seen--the ones that I've handled look exactly like the pictures on Amazon's site (my housemate bought 3G keyboard models last year as gifts and one of his friends bought one, using my Amazon account to get the Prime shipping). He gave one to his GF and one to his mother; neither had used e-ink displays before and neither had any problem using the Kindle.

Did the ones you tried look like it does in this video review?


EDIT: That blog.the-ebook-reader.com site (from whence the video review in the above spoiler comes) is pretty good. The blogger is a pretty good reviewer and he's posted a ton of reviews and comparisons, include this comparison of the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet:



The blog's YouTube channel is kind of interesting--I've never seen one formatted like that before (panels with descriptions of the clips like a magazine TOC. EDIT: The link doesn't give you what I saw and I have no idea how I got to it--can't get back there. Oh well ).

Thanks for the info. The touch is getting some harsh feedback on the amazon forums - not sure if they shipped a bad batch or what, but the one I received was much darker than your video sample. They are saying that the the gray /black seems harder to see than the prior models' screens, which were beige bkgrd/black type. This second one I received is better than the first - I think I'll keep it, but it's not equivalent to reading a paperback. I do like the form factor and the touch screen size is nice - so far, the screen has been responsive. But unless there's bright light, it still feels a bit dim. My photo is a bit deceptive, because there was additional light cast on the device when I took the picture - in person it appears darker. Images and thumbnails on the kindle were literally indecipherable. The new one is about the same gray background, but the white parts are brighter and there's better contrast. Sample image of the one I returned is here:

http://twitpic.com/7m8kb3

On another related note, I was reading a piece today reprinted in Motley Fool speculating that AMZN is considering spinning off their streaming division -- wouldn't that be a hoot, if now that they have all these Fire 'customers' they start pulling a netflix on us. Hmmmm.

http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/sto...utm_source=rss

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield in October said he thinks it's more than likely Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will follow Netflix's (Nasdaq: NFLX) playbook and eventually break off the streaming business, specifically using the Kindle Fire to fuel growth.

Greenfield said Amazon Prime has helped it establish a recurring revenue subscriber base, and he pointed out that it now offers 11,000 movie and TV titles.

As to when, and if, Amazon will spin off the video streaming business, Greenfield put it this way: "Looking at how Netflix approached its evolution, it is hard not to see parallels with Amazon's evolution, with Amazon essentially incubating Instant Video streaming within Prime," he said. "Given Netflix's bold pricing/packaging moves (which has likely helped open the door for Amazon and other competitors), we would not be surprised to see Amazon offer a standalone streaming video product in the next six-months."



Also reading that a lot of Fires are being ordered, then returned by disappointed customers. It'll be interesting to see how this market develops. The hardware is cheap and there are some tradeoffs, but there are a lot of people out there for which under $200 will be 'good enough.'

Looking at those pictures, I see what you mean. The Kindle that my housemate bought for his girlfriend had crisp black text on a very light gray background. The Touch is their first touchscreen model; the hardware has to be different than the others.

After reading and watching some of the stuff on that e-book reader blog I'm seriously considering buying a Nook Tablet and selling my Nook Color. I'd really like a 7" Honeycomb tablet, but they're generally $100 more expensive than the Nook Tablet at the low end, and I don't need features like front and rear cameras. I just want to read e-books and run any Android app that I want to and maybe watch some videos. If Amazon published a streaming app for arbitrary Android tablets as Netflix and Hulu have, it'd be great.

The blogger reveals that "rooting" the Nook Tablet is very simple and doesn't involve tricks with memory cards, etc., and you can go back and forth from the Nook to an Android one with a tap on screen icon. I just wonder how long it'll be before B&N plugs that hole .

I strongly doubt that Amazon will remove Prime Instant Video as a feature of Prime membership, whether they offer it for a separate price to non-Prime members or not.

Prime is only about six-anda-half bucks a month as is. Why would Amazon want to sell it as a separate service? To charge $7.99 like NetFlix?

Just ran across this listing of Amazon Instant Video Compatible Devices. I did a search of this thread and didn't find a similar entry. FWIW.

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...with-glee.aspx

I still can't believe they have no folder or queue for free prime video. How do you all organize shows you want to watch?

The search screen is the easiest way. It remembers 10 (or so) of your searches.
Just head to the search screen and pick the search you want.

I still hate the fact that I can't preselect (or put into my "shopping cart" or "wish list" style queue) a bunch of movies, and then get back to them easily. You can do it with the ones you buy and rent, just not the free streaming ones. It's reallly annoying. I just picked up a cheap blu-ray player that does amazon video better than my roku did, so I'm using it more frequently now (the roku used to constantly reload, even with a supposedly solid and fast connection). The interface (panasonic) is better than the one on roku's netflix, but still, no way to pre-select movies and tv shows for later quick access. You have to remember them to "search" and sometimes I'm just windowshopping , and like to add things to get back to later. Re-searching isn't the same. It's astonishing to me that they haven't fixed this yet.