Amazon Unbox on Tivo - Needs Improvement

Chuck — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 02:33:00 -0400

As a long time Tivo owner and Netflix user, I had hoped their partnership would provide the ultimate on-demand video service. Unfortunately, the venture ended with nothing to show.

I was naturally excited about Amazon Unbox on Tivo. Amazon Unbox allows you to rent or buy movies and TV shows and download them to your PC. With the new Unbox on Tivo service, you can now download videos directly to a broadband connected Tivo.

The key selling point for me is movie rentals. I have a stack of DVD movies that collect dust because I never re-watch them. I love Netflix, but I don’t watch enough movies to justify the monthly fee anymore. Currently, my preferred video viewing model is my cable provider’s on-demand/pay-per-view service, with instant gratification, decent video and audio quality and complete control of playback for 24 hours. The only negative is the on-demand movie selection is very limited.

With great anticipation, I tested out Amazon Unbox on Tivo today. By registering my Tivo before April 30th, I received a $15 Unbox credit. The cost to rent a movie is $3.99, $14.99 to purchase a movie and $1.99 to buy a TV show. For my Unbox test, I rented The Illusionist and bought Casino Royale. Renting or purchasing a movie is an easy one click process and the movie automatically began downloading to my Tivo within 15 minutes. According to the Unbox on Tivo FAQs, download times vary depending on your Internet connection speed. On my broadband connection, it took over 1.5 hours for a 109 minute video and 2.5 hours for a 145 minute movie. Unfortunately, video playback is not available until the movie is completely downloaded to your Tivo.

Once a movie rental is downloaded, you have a limited window, 30 days, to begin watching it. After you start watching the rental, it’s available for 24 hours and then is automatically deleted, much like a cable provider’s on-demand movie service. Rental can be downloaded to either your PC or Tivo but not both, and therefore not available for re-download from Your Media Library on Amazon Unbox. If you purchase movies, the videos are “available for re-download from Your Media Library and can be downloaded on up to 2 (two) different personal computers or Tivo DVRs and can be transferred to up to 2 (two) portable devices at any one time.”

According to Tivo, Unbox videos “are of better quality than videos recorded at the Best Quality setting on a TiVo Series2™ DVR.” After watching part of the movies on my Tivo, the video quality is about the same as the Best Quality setting. However, the video and sound quality is only adequate for viewing TV shows. I expect DVD quality video and digital surround sound while watching movies. The Tivo Series3 is capable of digital audio; however, I believe Unbox videos are only offered in stereo sound.

The video quality, using the Unbox player to watch videos on a PC, isn’t much better than on the Tivo. But I’m more forgiving of video on PCs versus an HDTV and I usually don’t watch videos on a PC unless it’s free. One positive on the Unbox player is the progressive download feature, which allows you to watch videos while it’s downloading.

Overall, I’m disappointed with the Unbox on Tivo service. I was hoping for a service that would replace my cable provider’s pay-per-view service and Netflix. With a limited rental library, the inability to immediately watch videos and poor video quality, I don’t plan on using Unbox on Tivo unless it’s the last option. Additionally, there’s no point in purchasing a movie from Unbox when you can buy the DVD with superior video and audio at the same price. It’s the same reason I don’t buy any movies or music from iTunes. Why pay the same price for inferior video or audio?

Despite my disappointment, Unbox does allow you to easily download video to your Tivo in just one click. As a movie renter, I’ll add Unbox on Tivo as an option but it will be third on my list after DVD rental (Netflix, etc.) and pay-per-view/on-demand. I’ll gladly move Unbox on Tivo up my list and even to the top with the following improvements:

Improve video and audio to DVD quality
Allow video playback during video downloading
Expand video rental library

If Amazon and Tivo can make these improvements, I would also finally pony up the $650 and upgrade to a Tivo Series3 HD DVR. Until then, I’m keeping my eye on the Apple TV (no rentals is a downer) and the SlingCatcher.

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Amazon Unbox on Tivo - Needs Improvement