  BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Lack of HD is an issue for me Why should I have to buy a special TV or blu-ray player to get HD? Since most of this content will be older stuff that Netflix also has an has in HD why bother? Also I can get NEW movies for rent from Vudu in HD. So Amazon really needs to get with the program if it wants my money. | |
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 |  DeathKPremium
join:2002-06-16
Cincinnati, OH | Re: Lack of HD is an issue for me Just checked and there is HD streaming available for PC now. Nova Season 6 is in HD. Bitrate is 2500Kbps and res is 720p.
Their TV show offering is kind of slim at the moment, but that might change. | |
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|  TechieZeroTools Are Using MePremium
join:2002-01-25
Gibsonton, FL
 ·Verizon FiOS
| said by BF69:Why should I have to buy a special TV or blu-ray player to get HD? Since most of this content will be older stuff that Netflix also has an has in HD why bother? Also I can get NEW movies for rent from Vudu in HD. So Amazon really needs to get with the program if it wants my money.
Ditto...waste of time. | |
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 Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 |  Not for ALL Amazon Prime members; must be a PAID member
quote:
As a guest of another Amazon Prime member you already receive:
* FREE Two-Day Shipping with no minimum order size
* One-Day Shipping for $3.99/item
Upgrade to a paid Amazon Prime membership for $79/year to also get:
* Unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows
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| | | Re: Not for ALL Amazon Prime members; must be a PAID member Yup, all the student primes don't work also. | |
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|  crazediamondHate and treason? That's your heritage.Premium
join:2002-01-19
Charlottesville, VA | aww that's no fun  | |
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | said by Romney2012:Just a little reminder that this only applies to PAID Amazon Prime members. If you are Prime member only as a guest of a Paid Prime member, you don't get the free streaming. So I don't see a problem with this. If you're not paying anything why shoud you get anything? | |
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| |  spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1 | Re: Not for ALL Amazon Prime members; must be a PAID member  | |
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| |  ThalerPremium
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA
kudos:3
 ·DSL EXTREME
| said by BF69:said by Romney2012:Just a little reminder that this only applies to PAID Amazon Prime members. If you are Prime member only as a guest of a Paid Prime member, you don't get the free streaming. So I don't see a problem with this. If you're not paying anything why shoud you get anything? Not sure if he's posting that as a "problem" persay, but more so informing people that may be accessing Amazon Prime for free (ie. students) aren't eligible for this new offering.
I mean, I'm still in my Amazon Prime for Students year, and I have no problem with getting free 2nd-day air deliveries. This new Amazon Prime streaming option will have to wait until it's time for me to renew. | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·Charter
| said by BF69:said by Romney2012:Just a little reminder that this only applies to PAID Amazon Prime members. If you are Prime member only as a guest of a Paid Prime member, you don't get the free streaming. So I don't see a problem with this. If you're not paying anything why shoud you get anything? I share the yearly cost with two others, yet am not the primary Prime account holder. Am I not paying for anything too?
Broad strokes... | |
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| | | ThalerPremium
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA
kudos:3 Reviews:
·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | Re: Not for ALL Amazon Prime members; must be a PAID member said by nocannothave:I share the yearly cost with two others, yet am not the primary Prime account holder. Am I not paying for anything too?
Amazon only has a financial agreement with the primary Prime account holder. You have a financial agreement with the primary Prime account holder as well. However, you do not have a financial agreement with Amazon.
ie. You've certainly paid for your share of the split Amazon Prime account. However, Amazon isn't privy to individual financial split/agreements and still only sees one paying member. This new service perk is intended to be only for primary paying members. Whether or not the Amazon Prime continues to be worth your split cost is up to you (and the parties you split the costs with). | |
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| ThalerPremium
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA
kudos:3 Reviews:
·DSL EXTREME
| said by Romney2012:Just a little reminder that this only applies to PAID Amazon Prime members.
It works for me as a student receiving Amazon Prime status for free. Of course, my Prime status will lapse later this year...but for as much crap as I buy & now can get video streamed, I'll probably pay the cost.
I mean, for the streaming alone, that works out to less than $7/month - right up there with Netflix's streaming-only offerings. So it's not a shabby price, plus free 2nd-day air on Amazon orders.
(quick edit) Damn, nevermind. Guess that student thing updated fast. Well, at least this is another reason to actually continue paying for Amazon prime when my service lapses. | |
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 jgkoltPremium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH | tivo I wonder if this will allow unlimited streaming on the Tivo premiere? Does this apply to all of their catalog as they have a lot of new and good movies on there. | |
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: tivo said by jgkolt:I wonder if this will allow unlimited streaming on the Tivo premiere? Does this apply to all of their catalog as they have a lot of new and good movies on there.
I can guarantee you any new movies or current season TV shows will NOT be part of this. Just like Netflix. Older movies and past season TV shows. | |
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| | nycitynyPremium
join:2005-08-09
New York, NY | Re: tivo Oh, disappointing for me as I get my Amazon VOD content on my TiVo. Guess I'll have to wait for their Prime instant videos. Wonder why the delay? | |
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 mobModerhatedPremium
join:2000-10-07 | Heh - nice I signed up for "Prime" to get free shipping on a huge order.
I guess this is a bonus. | |
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 King PDon't blame me. I voted for Ron PaulPremium
join:2004-11-17
Franklin, TN
·Comcast
 ·Vonage
| Been a prime member for two years! This is a great benefit. Even if it is streamed at 480p, I don't really care at this point. Most of the stuff we watch in Hi-Def is movies that we wind up buying anyway from AMZ VOD.
I'm glad that AMZ finally rolled this out.
--
My Music blog:
»www.zunetracks.net | |
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| | 480p isn't high def 480 lines of resolution is not high definition. It's a little better than interlaced, but progressive scan at 480 lines is definitely not HD. | |
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| | | Re: 480p isn't high def Nobody says it is. | |
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 VanPremium
join:2009-07-08
New Orleans, LA | Karl, can Amazon Streaming be viewed on the PS3? I know it can be on the 360 per this - »www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/faq
"Are there other ways to watch Amazon Instant Video on my TV?
If you do not have a compatible device and you would like to watch Amazon Instant Video content on your TV, you can connect many newer TVs to your computer, or use an Xbox 360, or a Windows Media Center PC." | |
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| DeathKPremium
join:2002-06-16
Cincinnati, OH | Re: Karl, can Amazon Streaming be viewed on the PS3? You can't instantly stream on the 360. You can only watch Amazon videos that you've downloaded. | |
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| | If you are a student.... NVM just saw where people said the Student prime memberships don't work....BS | |
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| | | Re: If you are a student.... Free Prime members are not able to use this. | |
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Reviews:
·Optimum Online
| No refunds after your first Prime purchase or video Be aware of this if it makes a difference:
Membership Cancellation:
We will refund your full membership fee if you cancel your Prime membership before you or your invitees have made any eligible purchases and before you have accessed any Prime instant videos. You are not entitled to any refund if you cancel after you or your invitees have made any eligible purchases or after you have accessed a Prime instant video. However, if we remove access to Prime instant videos as a Prime benefit and you cancel your Prime membership before you or your invitees have made any eligible purchases, we will give you a prorated refund of your membership fee (even if you have accessed a Prime instant video). | |
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| | 480p is EDTV (Extended Defenition) So I guess that this is what the Amazon icon on my blu-ray player is for?
Just for the record, my tv is a 42" plasma EDTV, which means 480p is max resolution. I bought this in '04, (hi-def was still over $4000 for this size, got my unit on the internet, some outfit out of Brooklyn, don't exist anymore, $2000 with wall mount, Pioneer PDP 424MV, before HDMI but it has DVI) but I didn't get hi-def programming until I went hi-def with DirecTV (HR21-700, still use it) about 3 years ago.
For those who say there isn't much difference between 480i and 480p, they have never looked side by side. The difference is stark! Side by side, at 42", I can't tell the difference between 480p and 720p. In fact, I think my picture looks better than many LCD displays I see today! | |
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| amungusPremium
join:2004-11-26
America Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: 480p is EDTV (Extended Defenition) HD, when downscaled will almost always look good. SD, when upscaled, may or may not. Therefore, your EDTV should look decent no matter what you throw at it 
720p is noticeably sharper though, as is 1080p, but it does depend on the source material, and of course, the display.
1080i (from most sources) can pixellate due to MPEG2 at sub-optimal bitrates. 720p is generally 'smoother' from any TV provider as the resolution is already lower, and the bitrate doesn't have to be as high - on most HD sets (720p or 1080p), it looks "better" in some cases for these and other reasons...
A blu ray, or true uncompressed HD, on a 1080p (or higher) display is obviously far sharper than any EDTV can fully render. Raw, uncompressed HD is something most folks never see though, as the storage, bandwidth, and throughput require specialized equipment - the common misconception that blu ray is "uncompressed" is not true; it's still very compressed (AVC, MPEG, etc.), but it is generally the 'least' compressed form of "HD" video available to home users and the audio can be truly uncompressed, which is very nice.
Good for Amazon. More choices for streaming can't hurt! I recently got credit towards their 'unbox' video store and tried a movie about a month ago. The 480p stream I ended up with actually looked alright. Probably due to the HTPC upscaling it (1080p LCD). Whatever the case, if this new service is on par or better quality than what I recently saw, it should be 'good enough' for most folks  | |
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| | | | Re: 480p is EDTV (Extended Defenition) said by amungus:~snip~Good for Amazon. More choices for streaming can't hurt! I recently got credit towards their 'unbox' video store and tried a movie about a month ago. The 480p stream I ended up with actually looked alright. Probably due to the HTPC upscaling it (1080p LCD). Whatever the case, if this new service is on par or better quality than what I recently saw, it should be 'good enough' for most folks
This was my point. More choice is good, and for the folks who are not hd snobs, it will be 'good enough', at least for the time being.
As for the upscaling making that 480p stream look better, I would tend to think not. That is what 480p looks like with good quality content.
edit: Also, most ota hi-def content is uncompressed. | |
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| | | amungusPremium
join:2004-11-26
America Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: 480p is EDTV (Extended Defenition) Indeed, choice is good
Sorry to burst your bubble on OTA, but it's MPEG2, which is a form of compression
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_%28standards%29
"A terrestrial (over-the-air) transmission carries 19.39 megabits of data per second (a fluctuating bandwidth of about 18.3 Mbit/s left after overhead such as error correction, program guide, closed captioning, etc.), compared to a maximum possible MPEG-2 bitrate of 10.08 Mbit/s (7 Mbit/s typical) allowed in the DVD standard and 48 Mbit/s (36 Mbit/s typical) allowed in the Blu-ray disc standard."
"Compression" is a tricky topic. This page has some good info for getting started - »www.microsoft.com/windows/window···ats.aspx
...See "table 2" for some interesting #'s.
...Raw "AVI" (audio/video interleave) at full HD resolutions takes a TON of storage...
A Cisco link - »www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collate···40c.html "Uncompressed 1080i video requires approximately 600 GB of storage for an hour of content."
My point is that pro level uncompressed raw HD is just that - "pro level" - several cameras, even at "pro" level, still do their own compression in many cases, just to store video on tape (or hard disk). Doesn't mean it's "bad" or "worse" - it's just a fact of life - in any case, playback involves decompression in all cases.
Check this for some interesting info oh cams/compression - »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV
Then there's this guy's prototype... looks pretty neat - »frankglencairn.wordpress.com/201···to-life/
Finally, the actual amount of "data" being sent out of a video card is kind of staggering when you get down to it... Playback "1080p" HD from, say, a blu-ray, ends up being far more data than the ~40Mbps that is read from the disc itself... When decoded, and output to a display, the # is more like almost 8Gbps! | |
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1 edit | They're not really being snobs. It's just that the competition offers it so it will be viewed as a negative thing. It's hard to purchase a tv that isn't HD, so no harm in expecting a service to meet the current basic standards. | |
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 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Exciting news! This is great news for consumers. We need competition in the streaming arena, and we need more players to convince studios that losing DVD sales is not the end of the world. | |
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| | | Re: Exciting news! Definitely. I looked at the selection and it doesn't look worthwhile for me (at the moment) compared to my Netflix account, but it is something I'd keep an eye on. And with Amazon streaming like this now, more pressure can be put on the studios to pry open their vaults and allow Netflix/Amazon/etc to stream their titles.
In related news, some Netflix deals must have taken effect recently, because I just found a ton of new content on Netflix streaming including old episodes of Rugrats and (newer) Phineas and Ferb. My boys will be loving this.
--
-Jason Levine | |
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Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
| ... Am I the only one who sees the absurdity in all these services to rent or "buy" digital media? They try to make it sound as if they're enabling customers to do something new when in reality, they're doing the exact opposite. They're creating a "service" that is entirely designed to place restrictions on what you can do with digital files. It's like asking people to voluntarily wear a breathing helmet so that they can monitor how much air they breath and charge them for it.
Buying a digital file should be a simple 3-step process;
1. Pay for the file. No membership required,
2. Download the file. No proprietary software required.
3. Play the file. No special player software required. No connection to the net required. No license required.
Instead, there's a list of hoops you have to go through and all sorts of restrictions you have to deal with, just to download a digital copy of a file that is, by its very nature, inferior to the ones you can get from unauthorized sources, which usually only require steps 2 & 3 above. | |
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| | Still don't see the value in Prime I don't understand the appeal of Amazon Prime. Maybe it's because I live in a big urban city center.. I've never had to wait more than 3 business days for anything sent Super Saver. Just as an example, I ordered some stuff on Friday afternoon, and received it from UPS today at 3:30pm. That's with Free Super Saver shipping.
And if I'm in to streaming video.. I probably already have Netflix (yup).
So where's the value in Prime? | |
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| DeathKPremium
join:2002-06-16
Cincinnati, OH | Re: Still don't see the value in Prime You know, I really dislike it when people try to act as if their particular situation or expectations are somehow like everyone else's.
I order all kinds of stuff off Amazon. Having it show up here in at least two business days is quite nice. I like the option of being able to order something and have it arrive the next day 90% of the time (most of my stuff ships out of Kentucky or Indiana as it's physical media). That's a convenience I'm willing to pay for as it pays for itself many times over the course of a year. Add in guaranteed next day shipping for $3.99 per item and it's a bargain IMO (Saturday delivery is $6.99 if you must have it on the weekend). I ordered a $1000 camera lens with $4 next day shipping and got it by a Friday so I could use it over the weekend. I notice they have often upgraded my shipping to next day air at no extra charge especially around the holidays.
If you're a student and can get a free Prime account it's a no-brainer. They also allow "family members" to piggy-back on one account so multiple people can take advantage of the primo shipping for the same price. I've seen people on forums get in on one account and share the cost.
If you don't mind waiting for your items that's fine. Not everyone else is going to feel the same way you do.
This new streaming service is icing on the cake. | |
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| Reviews:
·Charter
| It's not that you live in "a big urban center", it's your proximity to a warehouse that stores most of the items you order.
Amazon is kind of like netflix with their warehouses all over the country. Amazon stocks lots of popular items so they can be shipped as quickly as possible to the most amount of people.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com···ehousing
The value in Prime is two day shipping, and consistent tracking of packages, e.g. no USPS deliveries. | |
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| | | said by ct0wn :I don't understand the appeal of Amazon Prime. Maybe it's because I live in a big urban city center.. I live 45 minutes away from NYC...so I guess you can say I also live in a "big urban city center." If you can't see or understand the appeal of Amazon Prime, well then, you're retarded. I'm truly sorry to be so blunt and derogatory but someone has to be honest with you. Sorry, pal. | |
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decifal
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| ful Wonderful. Another service I can't utilized because of my internet options.. Yay for progress!!!!!
At this rate, the internet will be capped and over charging for use when I get it at anything respectable in speed..
Still neat to see what it would be like to have options though.... | |
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