Netflix isn’t the only online video service quizzing customers… Amazon’s also looking for input - to presumably guide future Unbox offerings, or perhaps to validate their existing (HD) intentions. Of course, it’s the theoretical scenarios that seem to get folks into a frenzy. So, without further ado:
Free Video Streaming with ads ? The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.
Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.
DVD & Instant Stream - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and receive a streamed video of the same title you could instantly playback while you wait for your DVD to arrive. This would be included in the DVD price.
High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows. *
DVD & Digital Copy - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and, for a small additional fee, get a permanent digital copy in Your Media Library.
Hit Movie Subscription Service ? The ability to watch a defined number of videos per month for a flat monthly fee, including top Hollywood titles. Not all movies would be available for viewing; however, the selection would be comparable to most pay movie channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc). *
Video Extras - The ability to select and watch video ?extras? (i.e. DVD extras) when purchasing or renting a movie.
Paid Video Streaming without ads - The ability to immediately watch your purchased Unbox movies and TV shows on your PC within an Internet browser without commercials, instead of having to download them to your PC or TiVo.
Independent Film Subscription Service ? The ability to watch a defined number of independent films per month for a flat monthly fee.
Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo ? The ability to access all of your purchased Unbox videos on the TiVo user interface. *
My preferences are itemized in the screengrab below (and starred above). However, both the Xbox 360 and Vudu have proven that I don’t neccessarily need true HD pixel counts for good looking content - but I do need a more appropriate aspect ratio and better encoding than Amazon Unbox is currently feeding my TiVo and 16:9 HDTV. Interestingly, Mac support wasn’t explicitly offered as an improvement… Would that fall under web browser playback or is it entirely off their radar?
Thanks to BlackBetty of the TiVo Community for the heads up and survey access!
