Amazon Unbox content going HD on TiVo

We had a pretty good feeling this would go down eventually, but we certainly didn't see a confirmation (of sorts, anyway) coming this soon. Jim Denney, VP of product marketing at TiVo, has been quoted as saying that although the current version of Amazon Unbox can't process high-definition content, TiVo and Amazon will jointly announce HD capabilities "in the not too distant future." Granted, the content -- whenever it does actually arrive -- will only be accessible by "cable subscribers" with adequate bandwidth, but it's not like that's any sort of surprise. Sadly, details beyond what you've seen here were left out, but at least you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that high-def Unbox material is most certainly on the horizon.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

[SiLo @ May 11th 2008 2:32AM]

"Cable subscribers with adequate bandwidth?" Ehhh, isn't that [cable] broadband? Assuming bottom of the barrel is 1.5 Mbps, that's ~187.5 KBps. Assuming you're only able to get half that due to network load and remote server times, that's still ~94 KBps.

I don't see how that couldn't possibly stream HD content, even if it used a small delay (1-3 minutes) at first to get a good starting buffer size filled up.

[Taylor @ May 11th 2008 3:47AM]

You proved yourself wrong.

Adequate bandwidth is NOT bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

[BrettB @ May 11th 2008 9:52AM]

I don't know why it would need to be streaming HD content. The unbox service on my computer certainly isn't streaming, even in SD. Plus, the Tivo has a hard drive. Seems like it could work over a lower speed connection (not dial-up, but basic level broadband).

[Leroy Jenkems @ May 11th 2008 2:35AM]

in before comcast limits all high-def unbox downloads.

[James Crasta @ May 11th 2008 7:41PM]

I almost agreed with you, until I remembered

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/22/comcast-tivo-makes-it-into-the-wild/

comcast is a TiVo partner. They provide TiVo DVR's, so it doesn't make sense if they limit TiVo.

[Andy Anonymous @ May 11th 2008 4:28AM]

"in the not too distant future."

Next Sunday, A.D.?

[Hafk @ May 11th 2008 8:03AM]

There was a guy named Joel, not to different from you or me.

[Quikboy @ May 11th 2008 4:58AM]

I'm hoping they could release an online store through WMC someday. That would be nice instead of having to buy it from the desktop.

[monkeydust @ May 11th 2008 6:26AM]

That's good news. I may actually use the service now.

[superseagulls @ May 11th 2008 7:08AM]

.......And In other News.........
Comcast have already killed off any competition with their monopolistic download limits.........

[Pavan @ May 11th 2008 1:32PM]

Not trying to be a smartass...but does Comcast really have dowload limits??

[Peter @ May 11th 2008 1:54PM]

No, Comcast does not have download limits.

[superseagulls @ May 11th 2008 3:18PM]

sorry, meant 'soon to be monopolistic' practices. If you read here often enough you will have heard of Comcasts wish to put a cap on downloads... streaming video uses more bandwidth than p2p.......

Then enter comcast with 'their' download service, obviously not affected by limits, and you instantly shutter out ALL your competition in the streaming market, thanks.

[Jake @ May 11th 2008 12:29PM]

I think the TiVo guy meant that HD capacity on cable is currently limited by bandwidth, and Unbox HD is a good alternative. There's plenty of bandwidth for HD, especially if you are willing to wait a little while. My FiOS connection is 13mbps-- that'll do HD just fine.

[csoto @ May 11th 2008 11:47PM]

Who cares? This is proprietary stuff on closed systems. Apple is evil! Oh, wait... this is TiVo.

[David @ May 13th 2008 1:59PM]

Amazon unbox has been useless for me since none of their content is Close Captioned.