Chris Pew of webtvhub.com has posted an interesting poll in which he asks the question: “What do you dislike about Amazon Unbox On TiVo
Personally, I’m rather happy with Unbox on my TiVo. I watched a show the other night and the quality was pretty good. The only thing I don’t like is the fact it sometimes take a while for the shows to download. What do you think about Unbox on the TiVo? Head on over to webtvhub.com and let Chris know.
I gave Amazon UnBox for TiVo a try, using the credits they offered when you link your TiVo account to Amazon. I rented two movies.
One thing I noticed immediately – where’s the option for a letterboxed or widescreen version of the film? I refuse to rent or buy DVDs that contain full-screen only – what I refer to as a “broken” copy of the movie. Why would I want less when I’m getting a movie via a download to my TiVo?
The other issue I had, I’m sure many hearing impaired users will complain about, too. Neither of the movies I downloaded had Closed Captions, nor did they have any option for turning on a subtitle of any sort. I’m not hearing impaired, but I frequently use English subtitles or Closed Captioning just to get through scenes with lots of ambient noise – crowds, noisy train stations, fights, that sort of thing.
By leaving out captioning and subtitles, Amazon Unbox has declared that their products are not for the hearing impaired. Not a good move in today’s business environment.
I agree with the previous comments about the lack of widescreen. Also for me it was a bit annoying to download these videos to my Series 3 Tivo only to watch them in standard definition. Maybe my XBox 360 and it’s video store has spoiled me but I come to expect a bit more when using HD technology.
I do like the service though and I could see using it again in the future. It’s an easy way to get shows and movies to my Tivo and they integrate seamlessly. Just get some widescreen HD content and I’m sold. Until then Unbox will be a good backup to the things I can’t get on my 360 or over HD on my cable service.
Overpriced – it costs less to rent the DVD.
The DVD has subtitles, better audio, better quality, commentary, and other bonus material.
I have the DVD for 5 days – not 24 hours after someone clicks “play” – this is a big deal. I have kids and sometime don’t get to watch a movie all they way when I start. I’m also busy and don’t need a death clock over my head.
If I rent a video for tivo, I should also be able to change my mind and watch it on the PC. TiVo = living room, PC = bed room. My mood may have changed since renting.
Selection is awful. Wake up call – there is a big market for independent films, and I can see X-Men 3 anywhere. I expect to see things I can’t find to rent locally.
Used up my credit and don’t see using this service again.
[...] the Amazon Unbox feature has its limitations, I’ve been rather happy with the service. It really is kind of nice to be able to start a [...]
After going HD with a Series3 and a nice TV, I can’t see myself using this service until at least the widescreen option is made available for any given movie – that’s even more of a deal breaker for me than lack of true HD. Add this to the other limitations that were imposed (e.g. 24 hours to view rentals, no special features, no sub-titles, and etc.) and it makes the whole package unattractive to me.
Which is a shame, as I was originally quite excited about the possibility when it was first announced. I was anticipating the full equivalent of a DVD.
Crafting Jen hit the nail on the head with her comments about closed captioning. I thought I’d give unbox a try this past weekend and was very upset that it was not captioned. 3 of the 5 members of my family are hearing impaired and rely on closed captioning for the movies that we watch. When I questioned amazon about it they pretty much blew me off(My experience is documented on http://www.HearingExchange.com) they didn’t even offer to refund my money. It’s a great idea gone bad — for now, I’ll stick with NetFlix.
I got a very tepid e-mail response from Amazon. I am very disappointed especially with these free NBC previews/pilots that aren’t captioned either. There’s really no excuse for not having this option.
I don’t like the fact you can’t get the closed caption. Also- I just purchased a whole season of “24″. Every episode is titled “24″ and they do not sort in order. So you have to go through all 24 episodes to figure out which one to watch next. Not a big deal, but you’d think they’d be in order or have the episode number in the title..
I consider it discriminatory for Amazon not to support closed captioned. I simple am lost without it having a severe hearing loss. Had I been advised that it was not available I would never have purchased season one of MONK – it is useless to me now. This is totally unfair to not at least let the customer know of this severe limitation.
Downloaded “Archer” episode. It’s HD but stupid player won’t stretch screen 16×9 so the video is out of proportion. $1.99 down the drain. Unbox sucks.