Amazon Prime TV/Movie Watchers

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JHZR2

JHZR2

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Hi,

I am an Amazon Prime member. Apparently there is a ton of TV and Movie options that you can access for free. If I want to do this on a real TV, can anyone suggest the best approach to doing this?

Thanks!
 
I use one of two depending on which room I am in. XBOX in the main room (but does require an XBOX live subscription) or Sony Blu-Ray DVD player in the bedroom (no extra fees involved). Most of the newest DVD or Blu-Ray players allow streaming from Amazon or Netflix.

Hope this helps!
 
I have a Home Theater PC connected to my big TV. Any PC with HDMI output should work on a TV with HDMI input.

The main monitor for my work-from-home PC is a smaller LCD TV, so I use that a lot, too. Again, HDMI out from the PC to the HDMI input on the TV.
 
I'm using this here to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime: SMP-N200

It's not perfect, but I like it. I'm not an I-tunes user, so I use it to stream music as well (from foobar2000 to my receiver). This works w/DNLA, which was a big deal for me. Honestly, if you're bought into the Apple infrastructure, you may be better off looking to see if Apple has something similar which will integrate more easily w/your tablet/phone/laptop. The player works well, but the interface is a little janky and the Android interface though my phone isn't quite there. The good part is that the picture and audio quality are excellent. It actually has an optical/Toslink out, as well as HDMI. As I said, it's not perfect, but I've been happy with it.
 
Some of the high-end Blu-ray players support it too. My parents' Denon can do Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, and some others (possibly Amazon).
 
Actually very basic BR players have the Amazon app. Doesn't need to be high-end at all.

I use the Amazon Prime/OD "app" on my Panasonic Blue Ray player (BD65, which was only 1 step up from the their most basic BR player at the time, which was like $85 about 2-3 yrs ago), which is connected to my Samsung LCD HDTV using HDMI cable.
(It also has Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Cinema now, etc etc...)


I have the BR player hard-wired to my linksys router. (we have TWC 'turbo' internet, which is 15-20 MBPS supposedly, and it can do hi-def streaming just fine - the Amazon app actually checks your connection speed to see if it's good enough for HD streaming, the 1st time you try it)

Another method is to use a laptop/netbook (with HDMI out) and connect it to the TV using HDMI.
I am sure you can also do VGA out with a laptop/pc, but won't be HD
 
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+3 on the HDMI computer/ Blue ray setup.

I use the blue ray when I can as it has no fan noise-- haven't yet set up a dedicated quiet HTPC.

Until very recently, amazon didn't have a (findable) queue system so one had to tediously search using the ABC chicklet remote control function. Frustrated, we'd just find it on a web browser on the PC and watch it that way.

But, they fixed that. Queue stuff up whenever, access it through blue ray.
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And for those using XBMC (available on both PC and Mac), there are plug-ins available for Amazon Prime as well as Hulu.

I'm a bit on the fence about signing up for Prime. The free 2-day shipping is mostly what I like. Not sure how relevant their streaming content is though. Is there a place on the web where I can see their current list of free movies and shows before signing up?
 
Streaming content is not THAT great on Amazon Prime, but it will grow. It makes a good addition to Netflix streaming I think.

I got Prime because I shop on Amazon quite a bit, and 2-day free shipping has probably already paid more than the cost of the membership - Prime Video free streaming is a bonus in my case. One also gets some great free book offers on Kindle (We have a Kindle touch). So all these combined, Amazon Prime has been well worth the price for me.
 
Yeah, I'll probably buy it for the 2-day free shipping alone. I ran a report on Amazon... looks like I spent close to $100 on shipping alone this year. Granted maybe not all that would have been covered by Prime, but probably half of it would have.

Also, is it true that you also get 1-day shipping for only $4?
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Hi,

I am an Amazon Prime member. Apparently there is a ton of TV and Movie options that you can access for free. If I want to do this on a real TV, can anyone suggest the best approach to doing this?

Thanks!


I have a Samsung TV.

I use the TV Yahoo app. From the Yahoo app, you can use amazon prime
 
Yes, but it is next day shipping for $3.99 per item.

One other benefit to Prime membership is that you can share your free 2-day shipping with a spouse or family member. The other Prime benefits (Amazon Instant Video / Kindle) don't apply, but it's still helpful.

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Also, is it true that you also get 1-day shipping for only $4?
 
We have Amazon prime and use the HDMI off the laptop to view their content. Works GREAT!

Nothing else to buy and love their service.

Bill
 
Yeah I use amazon a lot do signed up for prime for convenience.

Now, we run 768k dsl. Amazon prime seems to be streaming only. Can we buffer an expanded amount of data or schedule it so that the Internet connection doesn't become a bottleneck? Is there an nas that can serve as a big buffer for prime streamed data so that we can schedule it?

Thanks!
 
I find that sometimes, even with a good connection, the picture pixellates then stops, interrupting movie playback. This could be the internet service or Amazon itself, I know not which. My sister's Samsung TV also did similar things upon my last visit, and with an occasional audio track out of sync thing which would require stopping and resuming. The HD streaming on that TV was very impressive. Pretty much mind blowing the WIFI is passing that much data.

One time, despite a very fast connection, it would not allow me to watch in 480p on my laptop, 240 only, and I asked their tech department what was up, and within a few minutes 480p was restored. So A+ on service from me.

On my laptop every movie starts as 240 then in less than a minute will go to 480p if the connection is good. My Sister's TV did the same thing in higher resolutions though, and much faster went full HD.

I most recently enjoyed watching the Sherlock series on Prime. Highly recommended.

I do wish they had more content, and the purchase price to stream some not free movies seems excessive.

To those without it, ONLY the items that say free shipping on orders of 25$ or more are eligible for free PRIME 2 day shipping. and 1 day shipping is just 4$ on those items as well.

So not every item gets free 2 day shipping, or free shipping for that matter.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Can we buffer an expanded amount of data or schedule it so that the Internet connection doesn't become a bottleneck?

This doesn't appear to be an option, at least to my knowledge. However, my XBMC plugin allows you to specify what your bandwidth is before playing a movie. You can go as low as 384kbps. Presumably, the movie will stream in lower quality then to help avoid freezes while watching. If you're on a PC, the stream should automatically detect how big your pipe is and should auto adjust the streaming quality, at least in theory. It sounds like it's not always the case.
 
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