Amazon Video on Demand - Days of video rentals are numbered...

polkatese

I got a $30 credit from Amazon to try out their video on Demand, and I have to say that I am impressed with their selection and streaming quality. I hooked it up via computer HDMI and qualities are very good, definitely as good as DVD. Perhaps future physical rentals are limited to Bluray for me, if those are not owning..

Give it a try (I suppose current VOD online Netflix subscribers are excluded)

mutelight

I have tried it a little bit when I connected my bedroom TV to the network, the quality is fairly decent. When I linked my TV to my Amazon account they gave me some creits but I don't know if I will ever use it as I already have Netflix and 4 different devices that will play it back.

jimbo1421

polkatese wrote: »

I got a $30 credit from Amazon to try out their video on Demand, and I have to say that I am impressed with their selection and streaming quality. I hooked it up via computer HDMI and qualities are very good, definitely as good as DVD. Perhaps future physical rentals are limited to Bluray for me, if those are not owning..

Give it a try (I suppose current VOD online Netflix subscribers are excluded)

Hi polkatese,

What download speeds do you have that gets you DVD quality? Do you get 5.1 audio as well? My DSL is nominally 1.5 gb, actually about 1.29 gb. From Netflix VOD I get what looks like standard definition and not very good stereo (maybe it's mono, not sure).

Jim

polkatese

howdy Jim,

I got DL speed of about 2.5mb on my Verizon DSL. I haven't really tested out with the surround 5.1 audio, let me try it out next time.

Watched Night at the Museum 2 and Ghost of Past Girlfriends last night. OK movies but the kids had a good laugh. Of course, we watched Avatar 3D too in the afternoon, now that is all movies should be judged against. Simply stunning.

bobman1235

Physical rental days may be numbered for you, but the number is still rather large for most people, I think. Doing tech support for friends and family I truly come to appreciate how completely retarded people are when it comes to technology. The vast majority of people cannot hook a computer up to their TVs.

With lots of set-top boxes (BluRay players, gaming systems) now having internet connections and streaming options, maybe that will help, but still, physical media has a while to go before it's gone.

Demiurge

This is the way of the future. Netflix has been doing this for years now and the quality is great and only getting better. The fact that this stuff is now integrated right into TV monitors says it all.

DForeman

I read somewhere (not an authoritative source) that downloaded movies are 720p and 2.0 audio. Any truth to that?

jimbo1421

jimbo1421 wrote: »

My DSL is nominally 1.5 gb, actually about 1.29 gb.

Correction: 1.5 megabit, not gigabit.

http://www.hulu.com/ has a default download at 360p and offers 420p which stutters and re-buffers too much at my speed. Netflix doesn't state their resolution but appears similar to hulu's 360p. Netflix automatically chooses the download speed, hulu let's you choose.

Jim