Talk:Amazon Instant Video

Bitrates

This article equates difference in bitrates as being directly related to quality accross different codecs, which may be incorrect if amazon is using a codec with better compression than the dvd video standard codecs. Perhaps the video quality is similar to dvd? Also, it seems to suggest that a 4.7 gig dvd disc is the standard for video releases which may not be true.

Download Speeds

My edit wasn't the best, but I thought people should know how absolutely pitiful the download speeds have been. I downloaded a vid right after it was released at 160 kb/s, which isn't bad, but by today (9/11) download speeds were at 17kb/s. Took me all day to download a single episode of chappelles show. --Karafias 04:53, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

There is a "Watch Now" button. I tried it with standard DSL. The movie paused every 15 to 20 seconds, then hung completely after 25 minutes. And you can't change your mind and try to download after pressing "Watch Now" unless you buy it again! Total rip-off. Physicsjock (talk) 03:19, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Unbox Ports

Can someone find some good documentation on the ports used by Unbox? I traded a (now lost) email with their customer support where they claimed that they are only using TCP Ports 80 and 443 for outgoing connections. It'd be nice to find it published some place so that it is verifiable. Also, their videos do play in Windows Media Player as they appear to be standard WMV encodes (with DRM, of course). GulDan 07:47, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I have no idea why people seem to think it won't play in windows media player. I didn't even try it because of what I read, but trying it now, works just fine ;p --Karafias 08:04, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Criticism

Whould the size of the .NET framework even be mentioned? 24MB is like pissing in the ocean considering the service is used for downloading movies in sizes in the 2-3GB range.

81.233.73.177/Håkan (2006-10-31)

Cleaned up on the recent critique to try to make it more NPOV. Unfortunately, critique are, almost by their nature, not NPOV. This doesn't mean that I'm objecting to this section's presence, more just noting it it is more difficult for all involved (myself included) to edit correctly. I removed some factual inaccuracies. The .Net framework is 24MB, not 80 something (and whether it is cruft is definitely opinion). There are menus (in the upper right and context). You are able to manage download order as well as add and remove things from your download queue through the application. The only thing that I can find that you can't do through the application is pausing all downloads (which is done through right-clicking the systray icon (as noted by the editor)). Finally, if the player says in the EULA that it communicates with the service, can it truly be said to be secret? Yes it communicates (and that should be noted in the criticism), but I'm not sure if the word "secret" is applicable. (To be open, I have a generally positive slant on Unbox, use it commonly and like it. Because of this, I try to limit my edits to strictly factual stuff and no opinion, even neutral.) GulDan 06:35, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I removed the following passage, which is not cited and sounds an awful lot like original research based on one user's opinion. 71.217.119.130 00:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

The player is unusual, with no menu bar and just three main options at the top. There isn't full integration between the application and the download service -- you have to right click on the mini-task bar status icon to pause or resume downloads. The player feels slow and "dead", with no feedback as to what it's doing or what you can do next.

I'm afraid criticism is criticism. I really wanted to find some old episodes of Wild on E! (because hey, that's all I've done every summer, stay up late until they came on at 2a.m., but they're off the air now) and Unbox had them, so I was eager to give it a try. Before I did, I looked up everything I could find about it, and much to my dismay, I couldn't find a single positive review, just a "two thumbs down". Reading this article made it sound like the technology was spot-on, and I guess it should 'theoretically' work, but apparently it doesn't. Zchris87v 04:11, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, the right thing to do if you have a personal experience is to write it up elsewhere. Wikipedia is not a place to share personal experiences- i.e., No Original Research. If you find others who had a similar experience, you can certainly document that here. --206.79.158.100 18:14, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Criticism- TOS allows Amazon to remotely operate your computer

1. (cur) (last) 18:06, 16 July 2007 206.79.158.100 (Talk) (9,368 bytes) (put back criticism that TOS allows Amazon to remotely operate your computer- contrary to White's claim it is not covered above) (undo)
2. (cur) (last) 03:27, 13 July 2007 White 720 (Talk | contribs) (9,203 bytes) (Undid revision 144300576 by Treekids (talk) Removes statement about TOS that was already covered earlier in the same section) (undo)
3. (cur) (last) 00:50, 13 July 2007 Treekids (Talk | contribs) (9,368 bytes) (→Criticism - add the terms-of-service) (undo)

White, could you explain how you think it's covered? I think you are confusing two different issues. --206.79.158.100 18:09, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

The EULA was roundly criticized at launch, something that has already been covered by reputable media (not just alarmist blogs). The EULA criticism you made is already covered in the preceding paragraph, though I amended the language to be more inclusive. The "permits Amazon to remotely operate your computer" is based on an alarmist interpretation of an older version of the EULA. (Disclaimer: I work for Amazon. These edits have not been made on behalf of my employer and do not represent the official opinions of my employer.) White 720 19:50, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

No Linux Win DRM?

Unbox movies will only play in desktop applications that support Windows Media DRM, of which none exist for Mac OS X and Linux.

I'm not sure if this is true in regards to Linux because Tivo's software itself is a Linux app supporting Win DRM. A user would just need to install Tivo's OS on their Linux machine. --Ephilei 05:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I've heard that the TiVo version of an Unbox movie is in a different format. Is it possible to install TiVo's OS onto a separate machine? I've heard they only made the GPLed parts widely available/compatible. I'd be surprised to hear that a non-MS OS would support Windows Media DRM. (Disclaimer: I work for Amazon, though not in the Unbox team. This does not represent the opinions of Amazon.com.) White 720 13:15, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

New name: Amazon Video on Demand

Effective today the name of this service is Amazon Video on Demand. The Unbox name lives on only as the name of the player application which is now optional. The default is to stream in a browser with Flash regardless of client OS. White 720 (talk) 14:29, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Criticism Section

Should a lot of this stuff still be here? For instance, complaints about the first version of the program that no longer exist are a bit silly. Also, the statements that Unbox only plays on machines with Microsoft DRM, and that it only works on PlayForSure devices are a bit redundant. Those statements also don't belong in the criticism section, considering that neither the iTunes or iTunes Store articles even have a criticism section, let alone one which mentions Apple's draconian DRM. Slow load times two years ago? I think that's a bit moot now. And overall, the DRM argument is moot now that the Video On Demand service is up and running. I'm going to cut a lot of this out. Dlmccaslin (talk) 16:50, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

It's not silly, since Amazon's response to the original "bug" was to introduce another "bug". I.e. the second bug was inherited from the first. SharkD (talk) 03:19, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

There's one additional thing that wasn't mentioned: if you disable the service from starting with Windows, you cannot start or run the program *at all* in non-admin accounts. SharkD (talk) 03:21, 15 September 2009 (UTC)