Amazon launches Prime instant videos, unlimited streaming for Prime subscribers

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/amazon-launches-prime-instant-videos-unlimited-streaming-for-pr/

by BvS • 15 years ago

118 68 15 years ago

engadget.com

Tichy4• 15 years ago

Of course, US only.

I get that the whole system of rights to movies (an music) is a mess.

Could we not reset the system at least for NEW movies, and give them somehow unified world wide distribution rights?

pavel_lishin• 15 years ago

But that would only profit the consumers!

tomjen3• 15 years ago

Whomever makes an iTunes for movies but especially shows that I can pay for and download as soon as they are available on cable and view on my computer is going to get my money.

Unfortunately iTunes in Denmark only has music, so thats a no go (and I don't care to be 2 seasons behind on my favorite shows anyway).

I am happy to put money where my mouth is, but nobody is willing to sell to me on these terms.

Tichy4• 15 years ago

There is always BitTorrent, so it seemes it would benefit the film owners as well to make them available everywhere as soon as possible. Convenience and even morals can beat BitTorrent, but only if it is reasonable.

In fact, some video streaming services now seem to be available in Germany. But guess what: they require some dedicated software to be able to play the movies. I am not yet sure I really want that. Also, I am not sure my TV can deal with that (whereas it can probably play torrent movies out of the box).

(I think iTunes might have some movies in Germany, too, but last time I checked the selection was not great and highly overpriced).

chaz• 15 years ago

Unfortunately, no. Studios still need to sell rights to local distributors that can do all of the local marketing (TV, print, billboards). The distributors want exclusivity in their country to ensure that their marketing dollars (TV, print, billboard) are recouped. If customers can simply get a Netflix membership after hearing about it through their local advertising, the distributor will lose money on their investment.

Tichy4• 15 years ago

I suppose the local distributors could simply become affiliates of Netflix and Amazon.

mikecarlucci2• 15 years ago

That could be a powerful offering if Amazon can boost the library a bit. $89 per year for Amazon Prime with 2 day shipping and streaming is a few bucks cheaper than a year of Netflix streaming only (7.99*12=95.88) and potentially much more valuable.

For someone who shops at Amazon a lot, only uses streaming a little and doesn't have a DVD add-on, this could be huge.

Although, when MP3s arrived at Amazon most people stuck with iTunes. Netflix might have enough brand recognition to prevent more than a handful from switching unless Amazon launches a serious campaign.

Edit: The other nifty part is Amazon offers video on demand for free with some DVD/Blu-ray purchases. Sending those along speedily plus instant watch also helps people choose Amazon over the local Target, Best Buy etc.

poet• 15 years ago

Agreed. I'm canceling my Netflix subscription the second Amazon increases their selection.

EDIT: And holy shit. A video player that works beautifully and I don't have to install anything. I get a nice big message about installing Silverlight when I browse Netflix with Chrome. Although after further experimentation there are a bunch of things that annoy me off the bat. First, pressing escape while in full screen stops the movie, instead of just exiting fullscreen. Also, exiting fullscreen appears to close GChat windows that I have popped out of my browser. Obviously still some kinks to work out :P

burgerbrain• 15 years ago

Note to other linux users, their video player works brilliantly in linux despite being flash. Waaay better than youtube's fullscreen even. After fullscreening it, I can't even tell it's not mplayer. Very obviously an improvement from the shit netflix situation ;)

Of course your milage may vary, but you can test it out with a free clip first.

jim_h7• 15 years ago

The Amazon home page says Prime is $79/yr.

mikecarlucci2• 15 years ago

Whoops. Well, even better!

In slightly related news, I wonder if this is what came out of the TechCrunch rumors last year about free Kindles for Prime customers: http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/12/amazon-wants-to-give-a-free...

Maybe we'll see Amazon add book rentals too as a prime perk, even if it's a higher tier.

ryandvm• 15 years ago

So... are they anticipated to follow this up with the other half of the Netflix-style service? You know, renting movies that people actually want to watch.

mkinsella• 15 years ago

I assume they'll be pushing for more client apps first: Xbox 360, PS3, etc.

carson• 15 years ago

It is interesting that they say there are 5000 titles but the "Prime Eligible" search only returns 1,669 Results. Hopefully the selection will grow.

pitdesi2• 15 years ago

My search returned 2,153 results. They must be working on it.

berberich2• 15 years ago

Looks like it's 2,153 movies (1,669) + TV shows (484).

pitdesi2• 15 years ago

Link to Amazon site: http://www.amazon.com/Video-On-Demand/b?ie=UTF8&node=162...

vault_• 15 years ago

As a college student using a free prime subscription, it's kind of lame that it's paid only (I understand their reasoning though).

My only other concern is how they're delivering the videos. Is it just flash? Or is it some crazy Silverlight+DRM thing like netflix? If it's the former they could attract some Linux users who can't use netflix.

ojbyrne• 15 years ago

Seems to be just flash.

berberich2• 15 years ago

It's just Flash, like their existing purchase/rental videos.

jim_h7• 15 years ago

The one benefit of Silverlight is that it's not as cpu intensive as Flash. It's nice because you can play it on an older pc/laptop.

DRM isn't a big concern since you're not buying the movies. It is different from buying and downloading songs. You weren't expecting them to let you keep the movies, right?

baddox• 15 years ago

DRM is still a big concern if your HTPC runs Linux and they don't provide a client that works with Linux.

diego2• 15 years ago

Do you use Netflix? A while back I bought a Zotac Mag to have as my entertainment center. I set up Ubuntu on it, my usual dev tools and Boxee. I found out that there was no way to make Netflix work on Linux, other than through a Windows VM (which the Mag's cpu couldn't deal with).

Because I had to have Netflix (my wife uses it all the time) I took the Mag to the office and bought a used Mac Mini on Craiglist just for this.

adestefan• 15 years ago

This is only for paid prime accounts. With my free Amazon Mom prime account I just get a button to upgrade to the paid account. I have about a years worth of free prime built up from buying diapers.

jim_h7• 15 years ago

It seems like it's also for NEW trial accounts.

"Start your one month free trial of Amazon Prime now and begin enjoying the benefits of free two-day shipping and unlimited instant streaming of movies and TV shows today." - amazon.com

growt• 15 years ago

can someone please write a little app that compares which movies are available on netflix, amazon prime or both?

orky56• 15 years ago

So is Amazon hoping to topple Netflix with this? I'm curious to find out if devices that support Amazon Instant Video will also have this service automatically. That would be a game changer for sure.

Amazon clearly has the user and advertising base for this sort of option. However, would I really put customers that want quick shipping and want streaming video in the same bucket? I guess the only similarity is wanting a premium service at a subscription.

scottkduncan• 15 years ago

I think this is just a toe-dip into streaming video service rather than a full-on attempt to topple Netflix at this point. Prime subscribers give Amazon a ready-made, loyal group of beta-testers and I imagine they'll be paying close attention to the data that comes out of this offering.

I see similarities between this and the way they incrementally roll out new AWS features - they don't always feel the need to make a massive splash and they leave space to incorporate user feedback before betting the farm on a new service.

jonknee2• 15 years ago

Amazon has been doing streaming for a while (September 2006), this isn't dipping their toe in the space. They actually beat Netflix to it (January 2007).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Video_on_Demand

http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=201

jonknee2• 15 years ago

According to Jeff Bezos' note on Amazon's homepage, it is indeed compatible with Amazon Instant Video devices (over 200 and counting these days). Apparently TiVo is an exception currently, but that's the only note:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/ontv

dablya• 15 years ago

Where is the PS3!?!?! I'd switch today...

jim_h7• 15 years ago

I wonder if Amazon Prime instant videos will also work for shared accounts. Prime allows for sharing the account with 4 family members. Will instant videos work for family members too?

Netflix allows 7(?) devices that can be linked to an account. Some people also share accounts and it seems to work for them.

bowmande• 15 years ago

It would appear so. Our Prime account was started by my wife and it is shared with my amazon account, and I am able to watch Amazon Prime videos.

jim_h7• 15 years ago

Thanks for the confirmation.

CrazedGeek3• 15 years ago

Sadly, I share a Prime account with my parents, and it's giving me the "upgrade to full Prime" message. Odd.

jim_h7• 15 years ago

That is odd. Is the account trial or paid?

Splines• 15 years ago

I get that too - my wife is the primary prime account holder, and I'm invited under her amazon account. I'm not surprised that I can't get streaming from my account, seeing as my membership is technically free.

jbellis• 15 years ago

One very interesting aspect that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that Netflix does a LOT on AWS. I wonder if seeing their infrastructure provider start competing more directly with them, makes them rethink that.

diego2• 15 years ago

No question they are thinking about it. I went to a meetup last week in which they explained how moving to the cloud was extremely important to them, and how they transitioned to SimpleDB and Cassandra.

http://www.meetup.com/cloudcomputing/events/16395288/ (link to paper about their experience).

I have both Netflix and Amazon Prime and would probably drop Netflix if Amazon had a better selection. If most users are like me, this means that Netflix has to increase their catalog, which has both technical and licensing implications. On the technical side it's caching and long-tail inefficiencies which will increase their infrastructure costs. If they are still using AWS (the Mercedes Benz of cloud hosting), I'm sure it's because their margins are high. Given their size they could get a much better deal with another provider.

thematt• 15 years ago

Netflix is in a difficult position I think. Their infrastructure is becoming commoditized, much of their content is also being licensed to their competitors and their delivery mechanism is no longer unique. What's left for them to differentiate themselves from the competition? It seems like their only choice is to pay steeper and steeper prices to get content that nobody else has in order to justify their value to subscribers.

anonymous2463• 15 years ago

Their recommendation engine is a key strength. I LOVE it.

Second, at <$10/mo, the cost is not high enough to make bother with switching. I would rather pay $10/mo have the best streaming experience than pay $6/mo have a second-rate streaming experience.

I expect Netflix to come out on top in this battle. Obviously, I'm rooting for them (I dislike companies which squeeze competitors through loss leaders).

acangiano• 15 years ago

This was mentioned the last time a similar thread came up as well. Reputable, large corporations don't tend to work that way. A department will often end up doing their best to provide a service to a competitor of a different department.

anonymous2463• 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure getting data about # of bytes transferred on a hourly basis from Netflix's instances would be valuable to estimate # of movies viewed. Further subdividing the flow by (src, dst) IP will give a good idea about # of minutes watched per day etc.

The point is that innocent statistics about Netflix's machines gathered for routine "security" and other housekeeping efforts can lawfully give Amazon a lot of information about Netflix.

IMHO, Netflix has needlessly put themselves in a vulnerable position by moving to Amazon.

Tichy4• 15 years ago

Why would they rethink it, I wonder? For fear of Amazon spying on them?

I think Amazon is too big to try something funny - because they are big, a dent in their reputation would probably also hit them big. Who would still want to host on AWS if they would let down Netflix?

jasonkester• 15 years ago

Same story, different provider:

We have detected that you are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Instant Video customers must be located in the United States when viewing videos online

If they can get this to follow me around the world, I'm there. Until then there are a lot of us still without a viable way to watch movies from the internet. (no legal way, that is.)

dotBen3• 15 years ago

Honestly, the best thing to do is own a US based VPS (esp a lowendbox - google it) and proxy your connection when abroad.

It's worth proxying your connection securely via SSH/OpenVPN when you are on open wifi anyway.

A cheap $5/month VPS is something every hacker should have in their toolkit.

dhess2• 15 years ago

Wow, lowendbox is a fantastic resource! I've been looking for a cheap UK VPN endpoint for years, and lowendbox has plenty of options. Thanks for the link.

c2• 15 years ago

One of the things I was really mad about Netflix was the fact they stopped publishing their list of most viewed instant play movies as far as I can tell because customer's were using it too much.

Same with the "New Release" DVD page, which is now hidden but still accessible. Again, customers were using it too much. That one I could somewhat understand as it caused contention for physical DVDs, but the solution seems to be buy more DVDs, don't hide a useful feature.

If Amazon's selection improves, I will be the first to cancel the Netflix subscription and I truly believe Netflix will be in trouble. They just aren't anywhere near as customer focused as Amazon.

kentbuckle• 15 years ago

instantwatcher.com does a good job of indexing new and popular streaming titles on Netflix, if you haven't already heard of it or something similar.

Locke1689• 15 years ago

How would "using it too much" hurt Netflix?

MichaelApproved• 15 years ago

A lot of people are saying they'd cancel Netflix the moment amazon increases their selection but in order to do that amazon will have to raise prices. That means it'll probably cost more than Netflix and you'll probably not make the move since most wont need fast shipping AND streaming movies.

ctdonath• 15 years ago

Countdown 'til it's on AppleTV?

Amazon launches Prime instant videos, unlimited streaming for Prime subscribers

Related Stories