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story category Amazon Video Store Launches
Unbox doesn't allow burning to DVD
(old news - 09:13AM Friday Sep 08 2006)
tags: Video · content
Amazon late yesterday launched their Unbox Video Store, which allows users to buy or rent TV episodes, films, and other video content. Film downloads will cost you between $7.99 and $14.99, with television shows running $1.99 per episode. Film rentals will cost you $3.99. The videos can be downloaded to two PCs and mobile devices, but cannot be burned to DVD - a caveat that will likely cost the outfit customers. Another problem is that neither Mac nor iPod users have been invited to the party - this show is Windows XP only.

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Forums » Amazon Video Store Launches
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GilbertMark
Premium
join:2001-05-02
Gilbert, AZ

Yuck

I'll stick with Netflix it makes so much more economic sense.
chemaupr

join:2005-06-06
Alexandria, VA

Re: Yuck

Why these people insist in pricing rentals or dvd downloads (many of a lesser quality) so high $$$. There are many (including myself) waiting for more services like Vongo with better quality. Vongo give you access to the Starz Movies for only $9.99 a month and this people want to charge 3.99 for a rental????????????

owenhome
keeper of the magic blue smoke
Premium
join:2002-07-13
Bentonville, AR

Re: Yuck

This is only for those people who don't know any better.

Simple, yes?
--
Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.

mrchris
We don't miss you Bush
Premium
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY
Netflix > this crap service from Amazon

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: Yuck

said by mrchris See Profile :

Netflix > this crap service from Amazon
Until netflix starts throttling you.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

anon1652352

@comcast.net

Re: Yuck

Throttling you? Do you even KNOW how Netflix works?
AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA

Re: Yuck

Maybe Netflix starts sending you pieces of the DVD you've rented? XD

Steve
Pipe Wrench Fight
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
said by anon1652352 :

Throttling you? Do you even KNOW how Netflix works?
Yes. Do you?
Sharps97

join:2006-02-09
Glen Mills, PA
·Verizon FIOS

My question is (aside from all the DRM and pricing nonsense), how do they define DVD quality? I had trouble finding what resolution is actually being provided (720x480p) and what 'bit rate' is being used. Normally, DVD should be in the neighborhood of around 8 Mbps for an MPEG2 stream, I believe. However, WMV is a very good format (at least for HD is seems to rock) and a lower bit rate would be fine, as long as the resolution is correct.

This would be a much better product if it allowed burning to a regular DVD to watch on any player and/or if the price was competitive (since there is no packaging or shipping for them to pay for).
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Here

One day...

I see this tye of stuff taking off once centralized home media centers become common but till then most people aren't going to sit in front of their comp to watch a film on a 19" screen.

Of course wih the inevitable integration of TV, Internet, and PC thigs like this will be a boon to the end-user and I think will be profitable. Until then not being able to transfer it to media to view on a TV will keep it from becoming immensely popular.
Alphy

join:2001-12-31
Troy, MI

Re: One day...

This = failure.

GilbertMark
Premium
join:2001-05-02
Gilbert, AZ
·Cox HSI

Hmm

It's not a screen limitation issue if you have a newer LCD TV in your living room. Just a standard DVI cable out and you could have a big screen to watch it on. The real problem is the cost. $7.99 per title? That's just nuts. I guess only the bored, elite rich will use this service.
--
Got a V3 or a V3i? Want to get the most out of them? Check out my sites »hacktheV3.com and »hacktheV3i.com

kapil
The Kapil

join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL

Amazon.com

Amazon has become somewhat of a relic...it's old, slow moving and always a step behind and removed from the reality of what its customers want.

The only reason it still exists is because it's the oldest online business.

This video store will be a flop and will mark the beginning of the end for this dinosaur.

Mospaw
I'm Vap-O-riffic
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-08
Las Vegas, NV
·Cox HSI
·Embarq

Host:
Road Warriors, Not..
All Things Macintosh
Automotive

Meh.

I wish them luck with it, but I'm also one of those who doesn't watch much video on my computer monitors. Without the ability to burn to media I can play in my stand-alone players, it doesn't have much use for me. The proprietary player doesn't help, either. So really, I'm not a potential customer.

As for my main objection, not being able to burn media, it will probably take a few weeks at most for someone to crack the format and enable burning (despite the DMCA prohibition against such things ... what doesn't the DMCA prohibit? ).

I just can't get terribly excited about any of these video downloads stores. Another issue is my crappy Embarq connection. At 512K/128K max speed (that's all I can get) the downloads will simply take too long. It would take less time to go to the video store and won't take up expensive hard drive space. In fact, I rarely watch the same movie more than once, and if I want to do that, I buy the DVD.

Yep, good luck, Amazon. I hope you find some customers and can keep ahead of the hackers.
jeffjr1

join:2005-01-06
Rome, NY

Re: Meh.

I remember reading somewhere that about 20% of the cost of a dvd is the dvd box (plastic, it used to be card board at one point) its self and any bonus dvd that comes with it filled with bonus extra content. this is usually the case with all DVDs now anyways.

my point is were in the HE** do these company's get off charging the same amount for movies without the extra content without the dvd box and without the ability to play the movie on multiple devises?
mr_cool

join:2003-10-14
USA
You can crack the drm, its plays for sure, so use fairuse4wm and bam! no drm and you keep your file

c0de

join:2004-10-14
Richmond, VA

netflix untill the price drops about 7 dollars

i agree about watching TV on a monitor, but then again i can watch it on my bigscreen cuz i gots de media center hooked up to it.

But i would just rather use netflix as for 15$ bucks or so a month i get as many as i want, and perhaps its not as quick as downloading a movie, but the quality is better (and i could copy it if there was no copy protection on it), and i really am too busy to sit in front of a computer for an hour or so waiting for a movie to download. when it gets here it gets here.

arundc

join:2004-08-11

Re: netflix untill the price drops about 7 dollars

waiting for an hour to download? you must have DSL :-O j/k peace!

c0de

join:2004-10-14
Richmond, VA

Re: netflix untill the price drops about 7 dollars

seriously, has anyone used such a service, im curious to know what size the files are and if you can choose quality and download times, i have 11mbits down at my house, but im guessing they dont push them from thier servers at that speed?
fldiver
Premium
join:1999-12-27
Jacksonville, FL

Re: netflix untill the price drops about 7 dollars

I used Vonage for a while and the quality wasn't too bad (sub dvd); but their limited selection of less than 2000 movies was a real turn off; so I stuck with Netflix..online downloads just isn't ready for prime time in my humble opinion.

-Dan

c0de

join:2004-10-14
Richmond, VA

Re: netflix untill the price drops about 7 dollars

right and how big were those files and how long was it taking you to download one.

usenetrocks

@charter.com

7 bucks??? you wanna pay the price of a movie theatre admission (they're 6.50 in town here, used to be 4.00 a couple years ago and 8.00 or more in the city) to buy a movie you can only watch on a computer monitor?

for 4-5 bucks you can rent a ppv from satellite or cable and watch it on your tv set AND (in most cases) record it as well to tape or dvd. for a few bucks you can rent a dvd from a rental store or service...

for 7-10 bucks or so a month you can subscribe to a premium movie service (hbo, etc), and record-to-keep anything that's aired, including 'on demand' selections and hd too.

so, for crippled computer-only movie downloads, i say a fair price is more like 2 bucks (or less) a movie.. 50-75 cents for an hour long (40-45 minutes w/o ads) tv show, and 25-50 cents for a half-hour (20-22 minutes) show.

but the first site that streams movies on a system like abc did a few months ago (and still does for abc family shows like kyle xy & three moons), with limited ads, for free will be the site that takes this 'non-dvd-compatible' computer-only online movie business.

arundc

join:2004-08-11
·Comcast

$1.99/episode for TV shows sound ok to me

I guess I could use it to catchup if I miss an episode but I just checked the site, the shows haven't caught up fast enough to the current Fall season. I'll check back later.

Movies, no way am I paying that much to download. My BB online membership is a much better deal. Thank you very much.
Forums » Amazon Video Store Launches


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