The New York Times is reporting that Amazon is scrapping its
Unbox service in favor of a new online TV and movie store called Amazon Video on Demand. Unlike iTunes and Unbox, Amazon's new digital store-front will stream any of 40,000 movies and television programs to customers. According to Bill Carr, Amazon's VP for digital media, "Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can't help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button." In this regard, the first 2 minutes of every video will begin to play when customers visit the video's product page. Movies can be purchased and downloaded to your hard drive or stored in an Amazon video library allowing you to stream the content to other (any?) Internet connected devices. Films and TV shows from "almost all the major studios and television networks" will be available for sale or rental in the US at undisclosed prices -- only Disney and its ABC subsidiary are holding out for uh, obvious reasons (Steve Jobs is Disney's largest individual shareholder).
Amazon also plans to bring the service directly to the living room through a deal with Sony (and others) which will ultimately embed store access into future Bravia TVs. For now, Amazon's VoD store will be available through Sony's $300
Bravia Internet Video Link device. The store goes beta-hot today for a limited number of "invited" US Amazon.com customers before going a live later this summer.
[Thanks,
setteB.IT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ginzuknives @ Jul 17th 2008 4:42AM
Unbox sucked. I used it on TiVo a few times to test it. The user interface was worthless. Movies were so hard to find. They had some movies that were able for purchase but not for rent. A complete mess. I want to know how this service is any different from ON Demand?
waterwagen @ Jul 17th 2008 9:58AM
Unbox has been the best video download service on the net. Not only do they have the best sales on rentals (used to be Movielink until Blockbuster bought them last year), they have the best quality video files (barring iTunes, which I haven't tried yet), and movies/tv are very easy to find, at least on the web.
Jake @ Jul 17th 2008 10:36AM
@ waterwagen: Unbox's video quality is overall slightly better than iTunes (non-HD) for movies and TV episodes. iTunes crushes black like CRAZY; not so with the big WMV files that Amazon uses. I've use both depending on price/content (on an HTPC, can't comment on mobile quality for either), but I definitely give the nod to Unbox on quality.
I hope this doesn't effect the quality, or the deal with Tivo.
Shmapple @ Jul 17th 2008 4:56AM
Why do Apple fanboys always think Apple was the first to do something? (Hint: Apple did not "start" Video on Demand for your television or via the Internet/Data Networks to your computer).
yoshi @ Jul 17th 2008 4:58AM
Soon? I haven't had a television for, let's see, about 5 years now.
WilsonGoneWild @ Jul 17th 2008 5:17AM
What happens to Tivo now?
rita hainsworth @ Jul 17th 2008 5:21AM
Well I have used the Unbox service since launch and have been quite happy with it...yes its not great, but I have my PC hooked up to my Pioneer 50 incher and its been fine for renting/buying movies from..I'm definitely interested in what they have to offer now...I use On Demand, Unbox and Itunes for all my movie rentals and now will use the Xbox/Netflix service...I say bring it on..more is better...
rita hainsworth @ Jul 17th 2008 5:26AM
There is a "beta" signup on the unbox site right now if anyone is interested in testing out the service.
SuperSexyErik @ Jul 17th 2008 5:29AM
lol here we go again with anti-apple fanboys denying iTunes influence in the market. Old news you hippies. I'm glad you took your mouth off your gravity bong long enough to bash apple. You too yoshi! :)
matt @ Jul 17th 2008 5:31AM
More DRM encumbered bollocks
xvertigenx @ Jul 17th 2008 5:32AM
While not trying to step on their own VOD service for the PS3, Sony would be wise to try to secure it for Playstations as well.
rita hainsworth @ Jul 17th 2008 5:37AM
Well I just tried it .....works great....the preview starts right away of the episode or movie you want to view. You can also download to your PC to view later...Picture and sound were fine, though I could not get a "widescreen" going.....still for instant viewing I think its great.....back to Weeds...
rita hainsworth @ Jul 17th 2008 5:42AM
Ok honestly I LOVE it so far...was able to "widescreen" the picture with my TV remote, not through their service, so at least thats a work around for me.
The picture looks great. I have a very fast internet connection..Roadrunner Extreme..so I dont know how that would effect someone elses viewing. Go try it.....Do I seem excited?
Galley @ Jul 17th 2008 8:20AM
Down with "Stretch-o-vision"!
david amodt @ Jul 17th 2008 5:48AM
looks great. signup for beta program and get $5 credit through 7/31/08. Works on mac too. awesome
Dave @ Jul 17th 2008 5:57AM
Does this work in Denmark as well?
Neeko @ Jul 17th 2008 6:08AM
So everyone is jumping on the bandwagon now... Wonder what quality these will be. i welcome more competition in this market.
tubes @ Jul 17th 2008 6:33AM
Why is Disney ALWAYS the last to offer their content outside of their own sites and iTunes?
Geoffrey Sperl @ Jul 17th 2008 7:56AM
I flipped through the PlayStation store last night and Disney has content up there (I specifically remember seeing "Dumbo").
Rob @ Jul 17th 2008 10:26AM
Two words : "Steve Jobs."
He's got to be one of the most insecured dictators around. Actually, all dictators are insecured. However, the simplicity he has brought into Apple products has made him a billionaire.
Michelle @ Jul 17th 2008 7:22AM
will this work through the Tivo box - since Tivo already features Unbox?
Geoffrey Sperl @ Jul 17th 2008 7:57AM
Maybe this is why TiVo is rolling out the 9.4 update, which is supposed to support video on the web.
Time will tell.
Rob @ Jul 17th 2008 10:28AM
TiVo should allow its owners to stream content from other TiVo units or a pc. That whole nonsense of waiting for the entire content to be copied onto each unit is ridiculous. The waiting is fine for SD content. But, doing HD has never been successful for me. Maybe I'm lucky like that.
neofolklore @ Jul 17th 2008 7:54AM
House's phallic reference.
Skemo @ Jul 17th 2008 7:59AM
Though Sony lost out on the NetFlix deal, if they are putting this capability on their Bravias it only seems natural that it will eventually make its way on the PS3.
rudefyet @ Jul 17th 2008 9:14PM
Agreed. Although, if they drop the ball don't bring this to the PS3, someone at Sony needs to be stabbed repeatedly with an e-coli infested spork.
Johan @ Jul 17th 2008 8:05AM
Why oh why can't ANY GODDAMN halfway decent streaming service be available outside of USA??? Sweden is apparently a third world country.
Rob @ Jul 17th 2008 10:29AM
Isn't ABBA from Sweden? My sincere condolence.
Paul Dullford @ Jul 17th 2008 8:08AM
Streaming video on demand did *not* start with iTunes. Yes, I'm sure iTunes does have an excellent video store with low prices. However, I doubt Apple was the start of all this. It was just in the right place at the right time.
What really started this over-the-net VOD competition is YouTube, which appeared in Feb 2005 (3 months before iTunes added video support). YouTube offers free user-generated content, some of which are very high-quality, and pirated TV content. To compete with those YouTube pirates, the foray into Internet VOD was inevitable.
Right now the ones having more influence are likely IPTV people doing stuff like Revision3, TWiT and Meveo. Because they offer free, quality content on their websites, likely there is more influence. IPTV has been around since 1994. Granted, it's not the same thing as video on demand, but it started from there.
andyg8180 @ Jul 17th 2008 8:13AM
get most of the good TV shows on HULU.com anyways... with minimal commercials... Along with shows that arnt even airing anymore... why pay when there are a lot of services out there willing to give it to you for free... and im not talking torrents lol... (ok torrents too) lol
patsy @ Jul 17th 2008 9:03AM
Perhaps this is one of the new services hinted to by Roku officials soon to be available on their Netflix box.
vypergts @ Jul 17th 2008 10:47AM
You do realize that they are competitors right?
patsy @ Jul 17th 2008 3:47PM
Netflix and Amazon, yes, Roku and Amazon, no.
Lars Blåsjö @ Jul 17th 2008 9:21AM
Dave asks: "Does this work in Denmark as well?"
I tried it from Sweden and got this:
"We have detected that you are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Video On Demand customers must located be in the United States (the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia) when viewing videos online."
Steve Gates @ Jul 17th 2008 9:41AM
Sigh...Is he the new clak? Hope not.
Ed T @ Jul 17th 2008 9:51AM
The real news here is that Unbox is dead. The "replacement" is in beta.
LOL
John B. @ Jul 17th 2008 10:09AM
If they'd ditch that ridiculous PlaysForSure DRM then I'd be all over this, but it's just a complete deal breaker for me. The Amazon MP3 store is absolutely amazing - nowhere else can you buy music for an average of 89 cents a track with absolutely zero DRM. I was excited to learn that they had a video store, and I didn't read the fine print before I bought Season 1 of House. I can't burn it to a DVD or VCD to watch on my TV (which most of America still uses, Apple TV fanboys need to get over themselves), and I can't play it in a good media player like VLC. Worthless.
cduran01 @ Jul 17th 2008 2:50PM
You shouldn't worry too much about the AppleTV fanboys. There aren't many of them. Actually Apple hasn't had much luck with Apple TV sales, seems more people are interested on either playing their iTunes video on a computer or an iPod/iPhone.
Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 17th 2008 10:16AM
Apple iTMS was the market leader last year with 80% of TV show downloads, so whether Apple invented the market or not it is a force to be reckoned with. Fanboys use the wrong terms to boast about Apple's prowress. In many cases it's because Apple has a high profile and even though other companies may have started a particular idea in a smaller way, the media hype jumps when Apple starts to do it and turns it into an Apple creation because the media hasn't done enough research or doesn't even care who had it first. Maybe you can say that Apple brings recognition to ideas that were already in place and therefore, in a way, legitimizes it.
It's like Nokia with it's N-gage Next Gen game playing platform. It started and hasn't seen nearly the recognition that Apple will see from having games downloadable from the App store. As big a company as Nokia is, the N-gage store didn't even come close to upstaging PSP or Nintendo mobile platforms.
I care little about using a service such as Apple TV or Amazon since I have a couple of premium newsservers I use and downloading free movies or TV programs is a breeze. Besides, the content that I'm looking for (Asian movies and TV dramas) can't be found in quantity on either of the paid services.
Vcize @ Jul 17th 2008 10:24AM
HD?
Jake @ Jul 17th 2008 10:42AM
Thomas Ricker:
Are you sure it's accurate to say they are "scrapping" Unbox? It looks like they are keeping the Unbox moniker. From the sign-up page:
"The Amazon Unbox team is conducting this Beta Program to gather feedback on new enhancements to the Amazon Unbox Service. The results of this Beta Program will be used to guide Amazon's efforts in improving the Amazon Unbox experience. This Beta is open to a limited number of participants. Every participant will have a $5 promotion for Unbox videos added to their Amazon account."
It seems that they are keeping the existing functionality, but adding "VOD" streaming.
I hope their servers can keep up. They seem to be getting slammed...
LC @ Jul 17th 2008 11:16AM
I hope you are right and that it is indeed an addition. I have an Archos 605 which is compatible with the DRM on Unbox portable. I would be pissed if they only had streaming and nothing else.
Jake @ Jul 17th 2008 11:32AM
Yeah, the old functionality is still there. Seems maybe the service will be called VOD, but the player will still be called Unbox?
"Customers with registered PCs and TiVos can download their purchases to view them offline or on a TV. Just click the download button in the player after you make a purchase. To download to your PC you must install the Unbox Video Player. To download to your TiVo you must register your TiVo DVR with Amazon Video On Demand."
The streaming video quality is decent, but not at full-screen...
Globular @ Jul 17th 2008 11:47AM
Looks like it's the same player as Hulu... on Linux anyway.
fanman @ Jul 17th 2008 1:04PM
Lol, he's one of these guys who thinks apple made podcasting and the MP3 player.
roole @ Jul 17th 2008 1:39PM
Yawn.
roole @ Jul 17th 2008 1:40PM
Oh, and it's nice to see the amazing level of interest in this story......
(end sarcasm)
GARY DeTore @ Jul 18th 2008 3:59PM
I'm a 52 year old fogey. I flipped open my macbook, clicked Amazon, and within three minutes was watching There Will Be Blood in the comfort of my bed (wireless). BUT when I went to use my intel imac with its bigger screen, I could never get the Adobe Flash to install. Found all the help sites, did everything except Terminal stuff, and no go. Weird.
But the wireless laptop and Amazon interface were as easy as watching a movie on Itunes. Hopes this brings more competition, bigger selection, lower prices. Right on Amazon!
Shawn O @ Jul 27th 2008 5:28PM
How is this is all that different than Unbox? Seems all that's been added is on-demand streaming vs. having to first download it. Whopty Doo! Since I watch all Unbox content via my XBox 360 so I can watch it on my TV vs. a tiny monitor this really doesn't seem like news at all. Maybe a Media Center plug-in or deal like the Netflix one with the 360 would make this actually useful but since you'll have to fully download it anyway to get a decent experience this seems sorta... flat.