engadget.com — sually when a vendor says available "later this year," they deliver in December, not the following month. So excuse our surprise to find Amazon's Unbox video download service "Now Available!" to any broadband connected Series2 or Series3 TiVo. That's right, after a brief pilot kicked off in February, TiVo subscribers can now register their box...
Mar 7, 2007 View in Crawl 4
vegangMar 7, 2007
Hehe I read the headline and thought, "Tivo is serving up Unboxing Videos? That's odd..."<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unboxing_%28internet_meme%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unboxing_%28internet_meme%29</a>
stephaniebambamMar 7, 2007
To 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. :)
xtigerMar 7, 2007
So 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!
ldkronosMar 7, 2007
From the TiVo site:---------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.---------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.
loplaMar 7, 2007
I'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'.
xtigerMar 8, 2007
I 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= 2.7gig10 mbx60 seconds=600mbx 4minutes = 2.4Gig5 mps would be 8 minutes1mps would be 40 minutes. So you are getting less than 1mps. That there is pretty bad.Believe me or not, I could care less.
kid76Mar 9, 2007
No it won't and I have two Directv TiVos. T I L T.
morphixMar 11, 2007
Great, if you're in the US, but STILL UNAVAILABLE IN CANADA.
matador1Mar 30, 2007
Anyone know what's to stop you from using a DVD recorder hooked up to the TV to record a rented program as it plays?
metroidchiefMay 26, 2007
The 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.
metroidchiefMay 26, 2007
The 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.
metroidchiefMay 26, 2007
Also 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.