Amazon Unveils Beta Video On DemandLook Ma, Yet Another Broadband Video Service ( old news - 10:40AM Thursday Jul 17 2008) tags: Video · business · alternativesBecause there's such a clear lack of alternative broadband video delivery options, Amazon today announced the beta version of their new Amazon Video On Demand service. According to the New York Times, the service will offer users streaming access to some 40,000 TV shows and movies. Amazon has struck a deal with Sony to provide the service on Bravia TVs via the $300 Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, but the Times says that ultimately such technology will be built right into the TV. Amazon VOD varies from their former Unbox service: It will also let users buy a TV show or movie without actually downloading the video file to the PC’s hard drive. Amazon will store each customer’s selection in what it calls “Your Video Library.” Customers can then watch that show or movie whenever they return to Amazon, even if it is from a different computer or device, a solution that neatly gets around studio concerns about piracy. Of course most people can barely watch the video they already have access to (360, PS3, Netflix, Cable/DBS/IPTV, YouTube, alien transmissions), so to win consumer hearts, a carrier has to really be offering something innovative, cheap, easy, and with a serious catalog of content. It's hard to judge the service until there's an actual product to see, though it's unlikely consumers are going to want to shell out $300 for yet another external video solution. How long before Amazon VOD is brought to the PS3?
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 CurGeorge8
join:2005-05-02
Pittsburgh, PA | What about my Tivo What about hd vod for my tivo? They have unbox, but no hd content. I'd love to send my hd box back to vz and just use my tivo.... | |
|  | | | | socrplyr
join:2008-03-25
Canton, OH | Re: What about my Tivo Amazon supposedly has all major TV studios on board for this except for ABC/Disney (who is in bed with apple). The content providers seem to be much happier about streaming as it isn't as easy to copy. | |
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Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
 ·Comcast
| Unbox isn't going away, but like you said there's no HD content. The SD programming isn't bad and they do have a huge library, but the lack of HD basically kills it for me.
TiVo just implemented streaming of YouTube videos so maybe they can partner with Amazon's new service as well. | |
| | | socrplyr
join:2008-03-25
Canton, OH
| Re: Format wars all over again In a way there is no DRM (not really true) but this service is streaming video. You don't get a file, period. So really you don't have to worry about DRM, because it isn't transferable in the first place. Hopefully this means it should be relatively cheap as it is always like a rental. | |
| | 
BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by PhoenixDown  :While I love the idea of being able to obtain service from different providers (Sony PS3, MS Xbox, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, etc) -- I simply hate the fact that they all have their own proprietary DRM which makes transferring content all but impossible. What if I want to ditch the PS3 and go to Amazon or vice versa? I would have to rebuy all my movies which sucks. I'd rather buy a DVD or Blueray and at least I own it and can (try) to rip it into whatever format pleases me the most. This is about RENTALS not buying. | |
| ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Getting content to the TV isn't hard What amazes me is how these alternative video delivery services can put these systems in place yet completely drop the ball on getting the content to the TV. From the article, Amazon plans to work with Sony to get content to their Bravia line of HDTVs using a $300 add-on box. And Netflix has their own video player, and Akimbo had its own video player. I haven't kept up with too many of these services, but I'm betting others had or have their own players, and some have none at all, figuring that people love to watch television on their computers.
Do these companies not see the madness in all this? I don't mind getting a single player that will handle all these services, but I'll be damned if I'm going to buy one for each. Actually, I don't see why I need to buy one unless it gets me something besides pay services. If these companies want to sell me stuff, then send me the box to allow me to buy their services. I might be willing to pay some amount for it, but $300 is a bit extreme. Even the $100 Netflix box is pushing it unless it allows me to stream other content from the Internet. I already have a DVD player. $100 will pay for several months of Netflix by mail, and if I really have to see a movie today, I can rent it locally.
How hard can it be to build a cheap box with a video decoder chip, an Ethernet port, A?V out, and some embedded software that allows me to select services and perform authentication to access them? As far as DRM, in case the content owners haven't noticed, pirated material is all over the Internet right now. I seriously doubt that such a box is going to make things any worse at this point. | |
| | 
SLD
join:2002-04-17
Los Angeles, CA
·Comcast
2 edits | Re: Getting content to the TV isn't hard Hey, just build a nice media center PC! I needed a RAID array to backup work stuff, so while researching NAS options, I discovered that I could build my own for about the same price and added an HD Homerun. Voila - dual QAM tuners over the network, and I can watch Comcast HD content (unencrypted) and Netflix streaming right on the big screen via an HDMI cable from the video card to the TV. Plus the file transfer speed reaches about 90MB/sec over the LAN to my workstations for file backup. The 3 disk RAID 5 gives me 1.5 TB of file and video storage - WAY more than any consumer DVR, and I can keep expanding up to 8 disks. The case looks great too - like any other component under the TV. | |
| | | mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Getting content to the TV isn't hard Ditto. I turned my older gaming PC (still pretty powerful) into a Media Center PC. I can find all the TV shows I normally watch just a few hours old via eztv and download them via BitTorrent. I setup filters that download all my shows atuomatically and put them in pre-determined folders.
Before I got FiOS, I didn't even have TV service and survived just fine using the BT --> Media Center PC method, plus everything is in HD (MPEG4 encoded). I also turned my Xbox 360 into a Media Center Extender, so I have access to my shows on every big screen in my house.
If I wasn't such a soccer fan, I probably wouldn't have FiOS TV. My girlfriend would complain, too. | |
| | 
Millenniumle
join:2007-11-11
Fredonia, NY
| While the idea of using multiple services out of one box is nice, I'd be happy with one affordable service with lots of content; and a confidence that my internet bill isn't going to one day soon go through the roof with caps and overage fees.
I'd jump with glee to dump my expensive cable for a $15-20/month VoD service. But I'm not interested in adding the same above and beyond my cable bill. Nor am I willing to spend $300 on hardware for VoD service that might get priced out of usability in 6 months with the introduction of ISP caps and overage fees.
Only time will tell... | |
| | | ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Re: Getting content to the TV isn't hard I think the best defense against caps is to make video services popular now, before caps are widespread. I don't think it's any secret that the cable and telephone companies like caps because they block competing services. Get those services out there and make them popular, and it will be difficult for these companies to implement caps down the road. It's much easier to block something that people aren't yet familiar with than to take it away once they've used it a while.
Come to think of it, I wonder how hard it'd be to build a simple audio/video streaming box that could be connected to the TV. All the components are available off the shelf. If all it would need to do is stream, it wouldn't need much storage. Maybe store the OS and other needed software on a SD card, and use another one to store streamed content if you happen to need that storage. Run the whole thing on a stripped-down version of Linux. No browser, no e-mail, nothing besides streaming. Come up with "tuner" software that can allow the box to find streams using some sort of standardized naming scheme and store them in a favorites list. Make the whole thing so simple that any couch potato will be able to use it. Make it as simple and cheap as possible. I'd be willing to bet that the programming would soon follow. I'm guessing that there are plenty of video producers out there who can't get their content on cable because the cable companies won't carry channels that they have no financial interest in.
Get something like that popular, and imposing caps would be politically tricky for the cablecos and telcos, to say the least. | |
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Millenniumle
join:2007-11-11
Fredonia, NY | Re: Getting content to the TV isn't hard You just might be right. It would be difficult for them if it spoiled competition already in place. I'll have to look at the content and service costs when it becomes available. | |
| | alchav
join:2002-05-17
Palm Desert, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by ISurfTooMuch :How hard can it be to build a cheap box with a video decoder chip, an Ethernet port, A?V out, and some embedded software that allows me to select services and perform authentication to access them? As far as DRM, in case the content owners haven't noticed, pirated material is all over the Internet right now. I seriously doubt that such a box is going to make things any worse at this point. My point exactly, these Electronic Companies are missing the boat. I'm waiting for a BluRay Player with an Ethernet Port and Software that plays various Video Formats including High Definition. This is all that is needed to connect to your HDTV to enjoy DRM Free Video. | |
| | | 
dudeman
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: Getting content to the TV isn't hard Actually.. the xbox 360 streams Netflix video just fine from Windows Media Center.. I laughed at the fact netflix decided to issue out a box that ONLY decodes thier video, then to say it's coming to the 360 when it was technically already there. Thus making that box obsolete. | |
| | | Cod
join:2000-07-05
Greensboro, NC
| said by alchav :I'm waiting for a BluRay Player with an Ethernet Port and Software that plays various Video Formats including High Definition. This is all that is needed to connect to your HDTV to enjoy DRM Free Video. PS3? | |
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