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54 Comments
- mikeintosh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10This is awesome, probably the easiest movie download i've had next to itunes.
Finally movie downloading done right by soomeone other than apple. - samgigliotti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I am the lead engineer on the Unbox team. It's great to see all this interest in the TiVo launch.
We're working on getting HD content for the Series 3, as well as cleaning up the 4:3 vs 16:9 issue. It just takes time to re-encode thousands of video files and get them uploaded to our CDN. You will see this situation improve in the near future.
We are also working on a method to purchase videos from your TiVo. Browsing a catalog of thousands of videos using a remote is a challenging UI problem. - lubberwort, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Nevermind, it asks for card, but doesn't charge it.
- Lou3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The only thing is that most of the movies I want aren't available for the 3.99 rental price, I have to buy them. Well, that kind of sucks.
This is pretty easy to use, but the Xbox360 download service is pretty good too.
We'll see what the quality is like, The Departed should be on my TiVo in a bit. - Radscott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I can't freaking wait to try this out. Anybody have an early review of picture quality and how easy it is to use the site?
- xtiger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So I saw conflicting information on the video I rented. On Amazon it said I had 30 days to watch it. On tivo it says I only have 2 days? Which is it? thanks!
- d3bruts1d, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Any idea about how long it'll take for a movie to download?
- firefoxman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Will it work with series2 DirectTivos? Probably not, given their restrictive licensing.
- digduggler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Early reports from users are fullscreen only. While this is super easy to use pan + scan is unwatchable to me. Especially when widescreen is available on the equivalent pc downloads.
- Radscott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3748&#download_rate
- robaustin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@markzahn -
You're a geek, you get all this stuff, that's why TIVO became unappealing.
For the masses, TIVO is the Mac of DVRs. It's simple, cheap (to the unaided eye) easy to use, easy to network, and works out of the box with little to no technical knowledge needed.
You can have your Media Center PC with its myriad of options - all I want is a DVR that does what it says it will do easily. TIVO does that, without question, reliably. Adding movie rentals - well that seals the deal!
--*Rob - ripflash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So am I right that you need to go to the amazon website to purchase the movies and then wait for them to appear on your Tivo?
I had been excited about this, but now that I realize I can't just order movies from the Tivo (a la xbox 360), I'm disappointed. It seems that the Tivo interface and hardware would be able to handle such a system. Call me lazy, but it seems that ordering from the Tivo would be much nicer. Same advice for the Apple TV when that comes out. It's nice to browse through movies while sitting on my sofa with my TV. - ldkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2From the TiVo site:
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What is the "Pay-TV Blackout Window"?
Due to restrictions from the video rights holders, most newly released movies will occasionally become temporarily unavailable for re-download from Your Media Library—even after they’ve already been purchased.
During this "Pay-TV Blackout Window" certain programs will be temporarily unavailable from the Unbox catalog and Your Media Library. This happens during the program’s run on a pay-cable channel.
The video will be automatically replaced and made available to you through Your Media Library once the "Pay-TV Blackout Window" has ended.
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You have to be kidding me. What type of insanity is that? "Yes, we know you've already watched the movie 15 times, but NOW it's on CABLE, so we can't let you watch it at the moment". Yes, I understand this probably isn't TiVo's or Amazons fault....more likely the stupid requirements of movie studio, or maybe something to do with their contract with the pay-TV channels. But still, what sense does that make? You can still buy and rent the video from stores, so how is this really any different?
That right there is enough to make me not want to use this. - digduggler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2From TCF:
"No content for Tivo is 16:9. It is either Letterboxed or Pan&Scanned. This is what the Tech Support person told me. Also, audio is 2.0 (stereo) only." - ripflash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Thanks for the responses to our concerns. It's great to hear from the developers instead of just guessing about what you're doing. I certainly see your points about the content and UI issues. I hope you can get it sorted out and that the Unbox effort is a success.
- xtiger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a 108mbs connection actually. And yes it was 100% complete. I puts up a red flag when its done and the "in progress" is gone. All I know it wasn't hours. It was definitely less than 10 minutes. So it looks like you got issues on your end. Mine ran quickly.
And as a little info on what mbs is.
What is 108Mbps 802.11g turbo mode? How fast is it really?
A The 802.11g turbo mode uses more than one 2.4Ghz channel to increase the overall bandwidth. Because there are only 3 non overlapping channels at 2.4Ghz channel 6 must be used. Even when the center channel is used there is still some overlap if you are running access points on channels 1 and 11. For this reason 802.11g turbo is better used in a situation where just one access point is required per location. In our testing we saw overall throughput of up to 45 mbps at close range.
45 mbx60 seconds= 2.7gig
10 mbx60 seconds=600mbx 4minutes = 2.4Gig
5 mps would be 8 minutes
1mps would be 40 minutes.
So you are getting less than 1mps. That there is pretty bad.
Believe me or not, I could care less. - nickels, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All I know is with Bit Torrents and Videora Tivo Converter (or Tivo.net) I have been downloading movies and watching them on my Tivo for about 2 years now. This is a great new feature for law abiding citizens, though.
- metroidchief, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You don't need to buy the full version of vista premium. Buy the oem version for 120. Great deal compared to the Full retail versions, and if you are a real geek, you always buy the oem version.
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14 minutes? You might want to recheck that. The movie shows up in your library instantly, however, if you look at the length of the movie, it will indicate how much of it has been downloaded. 2gigs over a 54Mbit connection is simply not possible in 4 minutes. Assuming you were able to hit the theoretical maximum of 5MB/second, that would mean you could download 300 Megabytes/minute or 1.2Gigs in 4 minutes. Just over half. Since no Wireless G connection hits that 5MB/Second speed, and at best you might see 2MB/min. I think what you were seeing was just the info in your Now Playing List. The movie was still coming down.
Oh, and that is not to mention that there is no way you are getting full 54Megabit downstream on your internet connection. - Radscott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can burn a backup of the data, but you can't burn a video to watch on a DVD player.
- mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nope.
- VipeNess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is awesome! Works Great.... nice they gotta BORAT for download. Nice!
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hehe I read the headline and thought, "Tivo is serving up Unboxing Videos? That's odd..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unboxing_%28internet_meme%29 - metroidchief, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Also the thorough put that is listed on your router box has to be divided by 8 because it is rated in megabits and not megabytes. 108 mbps = 13.5 max megaBYTES (not bits) per second bandwidth that is available on your HOME (not to to the Internet) network.
- xtiger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I downloaded a 2 gig movie, The Illusionist, in about 4 minutes. This was over a normal wireless G connection.
- ldkronos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Since you say that widescreen is coming, if one were to buy now in fullscreen, would the widescreen version be free when it becomes available?
- metroidchief, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The files probably have macrovision encryption which would block the dvd recorder because most dvd recorders that are sold in the U.S. abide by that drm.
- mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1TiVo really is pretty cheap, when you look at it... building a media center PC is pretty pricey (upfront) especially if you want to use Vista (in order to get some of the new online movie rental/purchase services, or you just like Windows, or lack the experience needed to use MythTV). Without any software, you're going to spend over $500 to get a dual tuner system up and running, assuming you have to buy everything you need and want a somewhat small/stylish case for under/near your TV. Toss in another $250 for Vista Home Premium, if you're so inclined, and you could get an 80-hour DT TiVo, upgrade the HDD, and buy 4 or so years of service. Not a bad deal for the amount of time and PITA you're going to save.
- lopla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm amazed a company with the resources of Amazon could only come up with the name "unbox" for a service like this. Not only does it make no sense, it paints a picture of something else completely unrellated to 'video'.
- metroidchief, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The wireless bandwidth that you get is for your home network only. There is no way that you have a 108mbps line to the internet. The time that you are saying is the time that you have to wait to begin watching the movie which is about 4 min and then the rest of the movie downloads in the background as you watch it. It is basically buffering it a la online video.
- KSUdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Pretty simple to use, and I'd likely use it a lot except for one fact that I just discovered. I purchased Stranger Than Fiction while I was at work today to try out the service. Got home and there it was waiting for me on the tivo. So far so good. Picture quality was great. I'm no videophile but I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference from that and a DVD. Audio was quite good, but I thought it could have been better. From buying the movie to watching it, the experience was pretty good. The service was quite easy to use, though if they can get it to where you can purchase directly from the tivo that would be better. After finishing the movie I thought "OK this is pretty nice, don't even have to go to the video store or mail ***** to netflix now."
Then I got up and thought about the movie sitting in the tivo. Is it forever stuck there? I paid $14.99 for the download, I better be able to get this thing off the tivo so it doesn't eat up the hard drive. So I go over and open up tivo's desktop app and try to download the video. One small problem, the video isn't recognized. So now I'm stuck with this damn movie forever in my tivo. Hopefully they will fix this (or when someone hacks this DRM), then Amazon has my movie download business. - mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Then I got up and thought about the movie sitting in the tivo. Is it forever stuck there? I paid $14.99 for the download, I better be able to get this thing off the tivo so it doesn't eat up the hard drive. So I go over and open up tivo's desktop app and try to download the video. One small problem, the video isn't recognized. So now I'm stuck with this damn movie forever in my tivo. Hopefully they will fix this (or when someone hacks this DRM), then Amazon has my movie download business."
According to Amazon, you can re-download movies you've bought anytime you want, so you can delete it off your TiVo. They mention that some movies have a no re-download period of 90 days after they are first released - that is can watch it all you want but if you delete it you need to wait 90 days to re-download it, but it sounds like after that initial 90-days you can download all you want. - griz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I am 3 hours into a download and the movie is only 1/2 downloaded. I have a 4Mb connection and it works very fast most of the time. Transfer speed to the tivo is very slow.
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Right would be that you can pick the movie from the Tivo interface without the need to a computer every time you want to pick something. Right would be that when you pick a movie, you can watch the trailer right away.
- knetch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0But is that secure? TiVo gives no information as to whether passwords are sent unencrypted. For example, if I put in my yahoo account for the weather info, is this sent over http?
- xtiger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I just ordered the Illusionist. Pretty cool. It downloaded the 2 gig movie in about 4 minutes.
- JackJT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just so ya know, you can get the Unbox downloads on your TV through MediaCenter as well.
- nonymous666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't mind at all.... I can browse and purchase while at work and by the time I get home, the videos will have downloaded to my TiVo for viewing that evening.
- StephanieBamBam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0To me, anyway, it's totally simple to buy - go to amazon's unbox site, choose where to send the show (I got tv shows) to - I had the choice of my PC or either of my TiVo's, and buy with one-click. By the time I had walked into the other room 5 minutes or so later, the show was downloading, and I had it all within 15 minutes. Show looked just like it did if it was on television, but I am not an audio/video phile.
I have so been waiting for something like this...I'm a happy camper. :) - Bobromops, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Mp3-waves cause mutation!
http://digg.com/videos/comedy/Mp3_waves_cause_mutation
Nice :) - nonymous666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I was going to rent Borat as my first purchase since I've never seen it. But they want me to "buy" it for $14.99! They need rental prices for *all* TiVo downloads. Give me a week to watch it after I download it or something then expire it on me.
- matador1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Anyone know what's to stop you from using a DVD recorder hooked up to the TV to record a rented program as it plays?
- gjenkin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I connected my tivo to the unbox service today. Sure, the unbox software blows, but the unbox-tivo combos doesn't require that software. I bought Borat, and had it on my tivo within what seemed like about 15 mins. Quality was great. This was the easiest buying experience I've had since iTunes came out. As Borat says: "Very nice".
- MrMullen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Damn, does not work with my uber-hacked Series 1. Got a NIC and swapped out the original drive with a larger one.
- Morphix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great, if you're in the US, but STILL UNAVAILABLE IN CANADA.
- wahiggins3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I tried this out yesterday and I can say that this is by far the easiest way to watch non-recorded content on your TiVo. I found the video quality to be very good for standard definition and not having commercials is very nice.
- gxsr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0can you burn the purchased videos?
- my10cent, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1CHRISTMAS!!! I get to buy a FREE movie just for signing up, Score!
- kid76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No it won't and I have two Directv TiVos. T I L T.
- MarkZahn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Too little, too late, as far as I'm concerned. TiVo, though I've openly praised it and recommended it in past, has grown less and less attractive to me. The last nail in the coffin was the ridiculous increases in pricing unless you commit to long-term contracts, especially considering they're inundating you with advertising more and more. Sure downloading movies and viewing them direct to a TV is a great feature, but not nearly enough to make me stay beyond the end of my terms in May (and I have two dual-tuner Series 2 TiVos).
I've recently built a Windows Vista PC specifically for Media Center use, and with my Xbox 360 as an extender to my home theater, I can't imagine ever going back to TiVo. I can pretty much do everything I loved about TiVo with Media Center, such as web scheduling (with WebGuide4). There's a lot I can do with Media Center that I can't do with TiVo, like burning DVDs, adding tuners (ATSC for antenna HD and NTSC for cable) and storage at will... plus all the little things like the sports features and the movie guides. I've had it running for less than a week and I'm absolutely hooked. I'm earmarking some cash to pick up another Xbox 360 to extend to my other HDTV. And there's no monthly fees and no advertising. Sure I had the upfront costs of building the PC, but if I wanted to go HD with a Series 3 TiVo, that's a whopper of an upfront fee to pay for that box too. And at least with a Vista Media Center, there's more flexibility of upgrading down the road. I'm really looking forward to getting the ATI CableCard device when it comes on the market too.
Plus if you have Vista, you can download unlimited movies (from Starz' current library) with Vongo for $9.99 a month and view them on your TV through the Xbox 360. Their library isn't 100% current, but there's plenty there. I've got about 20 movies waiting to be watched on my Media Center now. They're akin to DVD, quality-wise (many are available in widescreen so it works great on my HDTV) but I can't imagine Unbox downloads would look very good coming off my Series 2 TiVo.
I loved TiVo. I really did. But I just can't justify having them anymore. So Unbox movie downloads are just too little, too late for me. -
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