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greenman
join:2002-06-18
Athens, GA

greenman

Member

Amazon Prime Video is Muddy - and High Bandwidth

For 2.5 times the bandwidth, you get muddier video than Hulu, and at two and a half times the download bandwidth.

Frankly, I'm disappointed in Amazon.

Here's a video about the problem.

»youtu.be/c-LlTJ1xb_U

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

r81984

Premium Member

Bandwidth is dirt cheap, so why worry about how much you use???
Almost 100% of the costs of your connection are based on the equipment and physical lines, using a lot of bandwidth or a little changes nothing for the cost to your ISP.
Why should amazon care about bandwidth usage just because your ISP unethically charges you by the byte??

As for the muddier video.
On HD videos on amazon instant video, you can see all the pixelation flickering. It is weird, but its obvious it is not HD or near HD.
There definitely is something wrong with their videos.

Weirdal
Premium Member
join:2003-06-28
Grand Island, NE

Weirdal to greenman

Premium Member

to greenman
I've also found Amazon's web player to be pretty crap compared to Netflix and Hulu.
drslash (banned)
Goya Asma
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA

drslash (banned) to greenman

Member

to greenman
I have watched dozens of videos on Amazon Prime. I see no issue with it at all. The picture is very clear and crisp, no flickering or pixelation. When your connection becomes inferior, the video stream goes to a lower resolution.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok to greenman

Premium Member

to greenman
Amazon streams on the computer always look like shit, because it is only SD quality--they require you to use a proprietary device (Xbox 360, PS3, Roku, or Kindle Fire) to view HD content.

Pretty bullshit.

Weirdal
Premium Member
join:2003-06-28
Grand Island, NE

Weirdal

Premium Member

said by Krisnatharok:

Amazon streams on the computer always look like shit, because it is only SD quality--they require you to use a proprietary device (Xbox 360, PS3, Roku, or Kindle Fire) to view HD content.

Pretty bullshit.

That's not true. They have different pages for HD and SD content.

For example:
»www.amazon.com/Pilot-HD/ ··· peaks+hd
»www.amazon.com/gp/produc ··· ect=true

It's another thing I don't like about it. They split them because their entire service was initially built as a way to sell digital content, not as a netflix-like service. So since HD and SD content costs different, it's considered two different items on Amazon.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

Premium Member

Hm. I have purchased HD content before and then tried to play it on the computer and gotten the pop-up that says HD content is only available on yada yada yada devices...

greenman
join:2002-06-18
Athens, GA

greenman

Member

said by Krisnatharok:

Hm. I have purchased HD content before and then tried to play it on the computer and gotten the pop-up that says HD content is only available on yada yada yada devices...

While I haven't purchased any content in particular, some HD content does show up as available for Amazon Prime Streaming (sort of free). I get the same message. I don't have xbox, roku or an apple TV. So I don't have access to HD, even if I have 1080p monitor on my computer. I suspect it would be pretty crummy and at truly ludicrous bandwidth, even if I did have it.
greenman

greenman to r81984

Member

to r81984
said by r81984:

Bandwidth is dirt cheap, so why worry about how much you use???
Almost 100% of the costs of your connection are based on the equipment and physical lines, using a lot of bandwidth or a little changes nothing for the cost to your ISP.
Why should amazon care about bandwidth usage just because your ISP unethically charges you by the byte??

As for the muddier video.
On HD videos on amazon instant video, you can see all the pixelation flickering. It is weird, but its obvious it is not HD or near HD.
There definitely is something wrong with their videos.

I can understand your point of view to some extent. Most people really don't care. Heck, most people don't even know to check. For that matter, most people can't tell when the screen is that much muddier because they're not really watching. They're simultaneously chatting with friends or sending out an email. Or napping. So it comes back to "who cares?", just as you say.

Except they do care when they get a letter from their ISP saying: "You've been naughty. We're going to charge you extra next time you go over your limit."

Other streaming services use less bandwidth and still provide clearer video. I expect Amazon to do better. I expect them to respect my bandwidth the way other services do.
H_T_R_N (banned)
join:2011-12-06
Valencia, PA

H_T_R_N (banned) to Krisnatharok

Member

to Krisnatharok
said by Krisnatharok:

Hm. I have purchased HD content before and then tried to play it on the computer and gotten the pop-up that says HD content is only available on yada yada yada devices...

I just for giggles started to play an HD video on this PC and it played fine. No notice about other devices.