Amazon Instant Video is an Internet video on demand service by Amazon in the United
States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.
It offers television shows and films for rental and purchase, as well as free to customers
with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Like competitors, Amazon has pursued a number of exclusive content deals to differentiate
its service.
Most recently, Amazon reached a multi-year licensing deal with content provider HBO.
History The service debuted on September 7, 2006,
as Amazon Unbox.
On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed to Amazon Video on Demand.
The Unbox name still refers to the locally installed player, which as of August 2014,
is no longer available for downloading purchased instant videos.
On February 22, 2011, Amazon rebranded as Amazon Instant Video and added access to 5,000
movies and TV shows for Amazon Prime members.
On September 4, 2012, Amazon signed a deal with pay-TV channel Epix to feature movies
on their streaming service, in a move to rival their competitor Netflix.
Additionally, in November 2013, Amazon premiered the comedies Alpha House and Betas, which
are original series available exclusively online via the Prime Instant Video service.
Amazon offered the first three episodes of both series at once for free, with each subsequent
episode released weekly thereafter for Prime members.
In February 2014, Amazon announced that the streaming part of its UK-based subsidiary
LoveFilm would be folded into its Instant Video service on 26 February 2014.
Compatibility Amazon Instant Video is available on numerous
compatible devices.
This includes a number of smart TVs and Blu-ray players such as recent Samsung and LG models,
as well as consoles like the PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, the Xbox 360,Xbox One, Wii
and Wii U, and mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, Android Phones,Kindle Fire tablets and
the Fire Phone.
The service is also available through streaming devices such as Roku and Amazon's own Fire
TV.
Amazon Instant Video's app for iOS devices is compatible with Apple TV via AirPlay.
Video quality Depending on the device, Amazon supports up
to 1080p streaming with 5.1 Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus audio.
For titles that are only available for purchase, the HD option is often offered at an additional
price.
By the end of 2014, Amazon will support 4K streaming, beginning with its original content.
Requirements Customers of Amazon Instant Video need only
a web browser with Silverlight to stream videos.
For transfer to portable device, the service requires the installation of a client application
which manages playback and the transfer of video to portable devices that bear the Microsoft
PlaysForSure certification, such as the Creative Zen or a Portable Media Center.
For use with a TiVo DVR, no client application is needed.
The user only needs a broadband enabled Series 2 or Series 3 DVR.
Use on various TVs, Blu-ray players and consoles requires a broadband connection.
Use on Xbox Live the user needs broadband connected Xbox with Xbox Live Gold membership
whereas PlayStation 3's version of Amazon Instant does not require PlayStation Plus
membership.
Amazon Instant Video can be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel and the Nintendo eShop
and be used on Nintendo's Wii and Wii U consoles respectively at no additional cost.
Points of differentiation RemoteLoad allows customers to download to
any Unbox-registered PC or TiVo from any Internet-connected computer.
For example, a user can purchase an Unbox video from a work computer and request that
it be downloaded on a home computer or TiVo DVR.
Your Media Library allows people to delete most large video files from their local hard
drive when finished and store them in Amazon's Media Library for later redownload.
This allows people to download more movies than their hard drive could otherwise store,
and it provides a backup in case of hard drive failure.
Unbox on TiVo allows customers to send content directly to their DVR.
As of March 26, 2008, Unbox offers more than 5,000 movies to purchase This compares with
about 800 movies on the iTunes Store.
Many titles are also available for rental or purchase, often hours after broadcast on
TV.
This contrasts with subscription-only based providers like Netflix, where customers may
need to wait several months or more to view content.
In addition to shows from mainstream networks, Amazon Instant Video sells television series
from the BBC, MTV, BRAVO, and the Korean Broadcasting System.
Amazon also sells more obscure television series such as Giant Robo, a 1960s Japanese
television show popular in the U.S. in the early 1970s.
Beginning with the 2007–08 television season, Amazon Instant Video became the exclusive
provider of NBC content, replacing iTunes as the delivery mechanism for these shows.
NBC Universal later signed a new distribution agreement with Apple starting with the 2008–09
season and started distributing some of its shows for free on Hulu.
Criticism In the first version of Unbox, a background
service would launch itself upon system startup to contact the Amazon server to see if there
were any new videos to download.
Also, the program would attempt to contact the Amazon server when uninstalled.
This automatic behavior, which could not be disabled without uninstalling the Unbox application,
drew negative reviews for its implicit permission to run arbitrary code as designated by Amazon.com
personnel.
This is also confirmed in the video player's license agreement.
In an upgrade released shortly after launch, thought to be a response to these criticisms,
Amazon made "launch on startup" optional, though disabling it necessarily disables the
RemoteLoad feature, and makes the program impossible to run in non-administrator computer
accounts.
Rented Unbox movies cannot be transferred to a portable device.
They can only be viewed on the device to which they are downloaded.
TV Passes purchased in the middle of a television season require the purchase of all previous
episodes of the current season.
Further, TV Passes are restricted to a season and the user isn't notified when new seasons
become available, so the user must find out through other means when the new season starts
and then manually order it.
Amazon does not support WebM for VP8 support with streaming of Prime HD movie content on
computers, but it is available on some devices.
You can only download content to Unbox that you paid for.
Free Amazon Instant Videos can only be streamed or downloaded to select Kindle devices.
Although many movies and TV shows have built-in support for multiple languages for audio and
for subtitles, as for August 2014, Amazon Instant Video does not provide alternative
audio for any of their movies or shows for rent or sale.
See also List of original programs distributed by Amazon
References
External links Official site
Amazon App on PS3