So we were pretty bummed in our
early testing of
Amazon's newly HD-enabled Video On Demand service to find that it only streamed stereo audio instead of full 5.1 surround, but it looks like that's actually device-dependent -- we just tried it out on our TiVo HD, and movies play back in Dolby Digital 5.1. Yeah, that's still no Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, but it's definitely a vast upgrade from the sad two channels we got off the Roku Video Player. So why the difference? The TiVo doesn't stream content like the Roku -- it actually downloads a video file and plays it locally from its hard drive. That means that in addition to surround audio, we also saw a pretty dramatic increase in picture quality over the Roku -- not exactly Blu-ray, but at least on par with the Apple TV, which also downloads content locally. Sure, downloading first means playback can be much slower to start, but we'll take the delay over a blocky image any day. Our only gripe is that the TiVo interface is far less attractive and workable than the Roku's -- although it has a search feature, everything seems a little clunky and thrown together, and the UI just feels plain slower. Overall, though, it's hard to see TiVo owners complaining about this upgrade -- check out a hands-on video after the break.
posted Apr 22nd 2009 4:11PM
The Day the Earth Stopped? Is that like The Terminators?
Haha...i was just about to say something about this....maybe "Stood Still" has too many characters?
I bet it will look fantastic on my Sorny television, but not on my Magnetbox.
damn i want a sorny, i've just got this lousy panafonics
tear. this just rubs the salt in the kuro wound. :(
When is sky going to get all of this? :(
DO YOU SEE, NETFLIX? DO YOU SEE?!
Hey Nilay, is that the comcast DVR with Tivo built in, or an actual Tivo.
I hope that my Panny TV with VieraCast does a good job. They dont have internal HDD's but i wouldn't even bother if it doesn't have 5.1 The price is in line with my FiOS VOD options so there wouldn't be much of a point. Although, why use FiOS VOD, when you have a 20/5 internet connection..
It's a standard TiVo HD -- I don't know if this service will ever come to the Comcast units, since it would compete with Comcast OnDemand.
As far as the VieraCasts (and the Sony Bravia Internet Link), it's doubtful they'll have 5.1 -- Roku told me that Amazon doesn't support surround on streaming devices at all. Hopefully they'll wise up soon.
It would be nice if their servers knew how big the buffer was based on the device using it, and also checked your bandwidth and adjusted appropriately. If I have crappy hardware with a small buffer, yet i have a really fast connection then it should support 5.1 and at least full 720p.
The idea of a buffer now to watch HD video should really be a set standard. The Roku has a 64Mb buffer which is a joke for HD video watching, but with flash drives being so cheap they should just let buffers be dependent on a user flash drive or at least have a Gig of flash memory in these things now a days.
OMG MY PICTURE FINALLY CHANGED!!!!!!!11
Ice cream's on me!
Wow that's great!
I just put a new 1TB drive into my TiVo HD a couple weeks ago. I'm less and less compelled to go grab an AppleTV at this point - this is great!
I just WISH they would fix up their interface sluggishness. Also, I don't like how the interface slightly "changes" when moving between the standard tivo interface and new things like video on demand, etc.
The interface is, in general, great, but a bit sluggish. I wish they would have picked a slightly speedier CPU.
"not exactly Blu-ray, but at least on par with the Apple TV"
No kidding. That's because Blu-Ray is 1080p and Amazon on Demand, Netflix HD and Apple TV are all 720p.
Come on guys, you're gadget people - I expect more.
That's the point I was trying to make -- Amazon HD on TiVo won't be close to Blu-ray, but it's better than the same service on the Roku, and at least as good as Apple TV, which has a similar download model.
Bah! Bah, I say!
1. Early tests by savvy users at TivoCommunity show that downloaded Amazon content is 1080p24 @ 5.0mbps.
2. But that is beside the point. 1080p vs 720p will have virtually no significance for this application. For streaming and downloaded content, its all about bitrate. And it is there that BluRay will continue to crush Amazon and other HD outlets, like the Playstation Store. And actually, at a lower bitrate, you want a lower resolution -- 720p @ 5.0mbps will generally look better, even on a 1080p display, than 1080p at the same bit rate. (Think about it... there you go!)
There's no doubt that bit rate is a big difference maker, but that's not the point I was making. I was pointing out the silly comparison made by Engadget,
Nonetheless, I can assure you my 1080p download from DirecTV is far superior quality compared to the 720p I'm getting from Amazon HD on the Tivo. This isn't streaming like the Roku, this is a download, just like DirecTV, and there is a very noticeable difference in the picture quality. Amazon should stream 720, but a download should be 1080 in my opinion if it truly wants to be a leader in this sphere.
Like I said, the Amazon downloads ARE 1080p24 -- or at least the "p" is surmised because the framerate is 23.98. But the HD Tivo units can only output 1080i. If your Tivo is down-resing to 720p, check your output settings.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7225575#post7225575
AND
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7226044#post7226044
If you guys had bothered to check, I don't know, an actual Amazon VOD product webpage yesterday, you would have seen the nice little "5.1" tag on the specifications for an HD Tivo download.
Does this work with a Comcast Box with Tivo added to it? Maybe a dumb question. Plus Netflix or do I have to buy tivo and get a comcast cable card.
That's great. So when do we get closed captioning or subtitles?
Instead of using the Amazon On-Demand search, try using the Tivo Search Beta...
Go to TiVo Central > Music, Photos, & Showcases > TiVo Search
or
TiVo Central > Find Programs > TiVo Search
Sure it doesn't limit itself to just Amazon stuff, but it "should" bring up available download options if it can't find an airing. Not sure if HD content will pop up though...
I ran a back-to-back comparison of an HD show I'd recorded earlier and the Amazon HD download - no discernible image difference on a 92" Projector screen (perfectly light-controlled room)
Audio was awesome too (slightly higher gain on the Amazon download than the digital cable recording)
Nice feature!
1. As soon as Tivo releases a Tru2way box I'm in.
2. The Playstation store down loads to the PS3's hardrive why can't they have 5.1? Come on Sony!