1080p?

[IndyMLVC]

Any idea when Amazon is going to get to 1080p? AFAIK, they stop at 720p, correct?

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Any idea when Amazon is going to get to 1080p? AFAIK, they stop at 720p, correct?

I have the Kindle Fire HDX and it shows 1080p on a lot of the HD movies I watch.

[TBDave]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I have the Kindle Fire HDX and it shows 1080p on a lot of the HD movies I watch.

I spoke with an Amazon CS rep a couple days ago. They said the Fire HDX is the only device that currently supports AIV 1080p. Everything else is 720p.

I'd be surprised if the upcoming Amazon set-top box isn't 1080p for AIV.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I have the Kindle Fire HDX and it shows 1080p on a lot of the HD movies I watch.

Where does it show 1080P?

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

Where does it show 1080P?

In the bottom right under the progress bar for the movie. It shows "HD" and then next to that "1080p" will be displayed if the movie is offered in that resolution. Now it doesn't always come up for me even when the title is 1080p. It depends at the time on the bandwidth. But it's definitely there on a lot of movies and shows.

[TheBang]

I was streaming a movie last night on the AIV app on my Samsung Smart TV and it said 1080p in the bottom left corner of the status bar.

[Jimmy Bro]

Originally Posted by TBDave

I spoke with an Amazon CS rep a couple days ago. They said the Fire HDX is the only device that currently supports AIV 1080p. Everything else is 720p.

I'd be surprised if the upcoming Amazon set-top box isn't 1080p for AIV.

Don't you even get a file? To play on a PC?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Bro

Don't you even get a file? To play on a PC?

You can download if you have a Windows machine...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/player

Not sure what quality those downloads currently are as I haven't done one.

[Veronica Mars]

Why don't they stream in a way that can always reach 1080p like Vudu's HDX and Netflix's SuperHD?

Amazon has about 25 streaming titles that don't have blu-ray releases and may never have blu-ray releases and all of these titles are either not on Vudu at all (only a few) or are rental or sd only on Vudu (most of them).

I want to be able to enjoy these titles in 1080p HD, but it's so difficult to pull the trigger when it's not and you never know when they might end up getting the rights on Vudu. But just like with blu ray releases, it could be never or it could be years because it has to be that the studios give the rights to some of these to one streaming service and not the other for a certain period of time. Otherwise it would make no sense why Vudu wouldn't be selling them too because the studio would stand to make more money that way.

A few of the titles are $7.99 and I might just bite, but it's tough to do that when most of the titles range from $12.99 to $17.99. Amazon doesn't even show on the purchase page what kind of audio they stream. I just don't get how they can be so behind when streaming seems to be getting more and more popular. At least Netflix and Vudu tell me exactly what I'm getting.

[eledoremassis02]

I never knew about this. I've had issues with a movie going in and out of HD.

One of the movies I have on iTunes and Amazon HD that is not available on Blu ray(Rapid Fire) actually looks better than the iTunes copy.

iTunes says it's 1080 but Amazons looks better. (iTunes is also stretched out a bit)

From my laptop
Amazon:


iTunes:


Almost wondering if I can get a refund for the iTunes one lol

[sodapop]

Originally Posted by eledoremassis02

I never knew about this. I've had issues with a movie going in and out of HD.

One of the movies I have on iTunes and Amazon HD that is not available on Blu ray(Rapid Fire) actually looks better than the iTunes copy.

iTunes says it's 1080 but Amazons looks better. (iTunes is also stretched out a bit)


Almost wondering if I can get a refund for the iTunes one lol

Wow, first I've heard of someone saying Amazon movies look better than iTunes movies. Not sure why you're doing the comparison on a computer anyways but the default is 720p when downloading iTunes movies to your computer. You need to make sure your preferences in iTunes is set to 1080p.

As someone who has access to both iTunes and Amazon movies, the difference in quality is like night and day. iTunes movies are much more closer to Blu-Ray quality while Amazon are more closer to DVD quality. Of course, watching movies on a small computer screen isn't going to show that, you really need a large screen HDTV.

[eledoremassis02]

True, but there is still a difference though. I downloaded it at 1080p off of itunes. The image is still almost stretched a little too. They both look good and are way ahead of the DVD but I refer amazon for this movie (when it ever decides to play HD lol)

Showdown in Little Tokyo looks really awesome though.

[stargazeruk]

Originally Posted by sodapop

Wow, first I've heard of someone saying Amazon movies look better than iTunes movies. Not sure why you're doing the comparison on a computer anyways but the default is 720p when downloading iTunes movies to your computer. You need to make sure your preferences in iTunes is set to 1080p.

As someone who has access to both iTunes and Amazon movies, the difference in quality is like night and day. iTunes movies are much more closer to Blu-Ray quality while Amazon are more closer to DVD quality. Of course, watching movies on a small computer screen isn't going to show that, you really need a large screen HDTV.

Granted I don't have US prime but I got UK prime and UK prime is far better then iTunes in terms of quality and is the reverse for sure. I will also say I have seen prime on different connections on a friends and it does seem to vary depending on the connection.

On my home connection I see on my router I am seeing over 10mbps easy for prime. ITunes 1080 looks crap and amazon beats iTunes easy. iTunes is 5mbps and amazon is over 10mbps and that helps in quality. Not sure what you connection is like with prime to be getting bad quality.

I got a US blu-ray player that also points to amazon US instant video and it did for a short time work and it matched my UK instant video in terms of quality (I got a Disney DMA account with movies so I streamed them and instant video US did still beat iTunes by miles).

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by stargazeruk

Granted I don't have US prime but I got UK prime and UK prime is far better then iTunes in terms of quality and is the reverse for sure. I will also say I have seen prime on different connections on a friends and it does seem to vary depending on the connection.

On my home connection I see on my router I am seeing over 10mbps easy for prime. ITunes 1080 looks crap and amazon beats iTunes easy. iTunes is 5mbps and amazon is over 10mbps and that helps in quality. Not sure what you connection is like with prime to be getting bad quality.

I got a US blu-ray player that also points to amazon US instant video and it did for a short time work and it matched my UK instant video in terms of quality (I got a Disney DMA account with movies so I streamed them and instant video US did still beat iTunes by miles).

I can confirm the US Amazon is the same. As long as the streaming quality says "HD 1080p", you'll get a 10mbps stream that is equal to Vudu's HDX.

[grrrarg]

Originally Posted by whiteberry

I can confirm the US Amazon is the same. As long as the streaming quality says "HD 1080p", you'll get a 10mbps stream that is equal to Vudu's HDX.

Amazon upgraded most of their entire catalog over the last few months. Most movies are 1080p with a bitrate of 11 to 14Mbps now. Older movies with lots of grain look pretty darn good!

iTunes and vudu are lagging behind a bit in picture quality and googleplay is just the worst quality of any streaming provider

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by grrrarg

Amazon upgraded most of their entire catalog over the last few months. Most movies are 1080p with a bitrate of 11 to 14Mbps now. Older movies with lots of grain look pretty darn good!

iTunes and vudu are lagging behind a bit in picture quality and googleplay is just the worst quality of any streaming provider

Yeah, I watched the new Jungle Book on Amazon when that came out, and it looked pretty great.

[stingo]

Originally Posted by grrrarg

Amazon upgraded most of their entire catalog over the last few months. Most movies are 1080p with a bitrate of 11 to 14Mbps now. Older movies with lots of grain look pretty darn good!

iTunes and vudu are lagging behind a bit in picture quality and googleplay is just the worst quality of any streaming provider

I have about a 6.3mbps connection down with Verizon DSL. I'm guessing I see the HD icon mostly and every so often the 1080p icon now and again because of this? When I watch downloaded movies (to my Kindle 8.9 HDX), the 1080p icon is always on.

Weird thing is, Netflix can stream at 1080 on the same connection.

[stargazeruk]

Originally Posted by stingo

I have about a 6.3mbps connection down with Verizon DSL. I'm guessing I see the HD icon mostly and every so often the 1080p icon now and again because of this? When I watch downloaded movies (to my Kindle 8.9 HDX), the 1080p icon is always on.

Weird thing is, Netflix can stream at 1080 on the same connection.

Amazon actually have multiple different video encodes for different devices to download and stream.

In the case of you seeing HD and 1080p I am assuming your streaming and on that front some scenes can be low in bitrate cause they use VBR and the bitrate does not need to be that high for the scene at hand so some scenes will be able to do 1080p at 6.3mbps but other scenes will not cause they are encoded at a higher bitrate so it downgrades to keep streaming and will jump resolutions depending on scene and bitrate used.

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by grrrarg

Amazon upgraded most of their entire catalog over the last few months. Most movies are 1080p with a bitrate of 11 to 14Mbps now. Older movies with lots of grain look pretty darn good!

iTunes and vudu are lagging behind a bit in picture quality and googleplay is just the worst quality of any streaming provider

Vudu looks pretty comparable in motion.

[stingo]

Originally Posted by stargazeruk

Amazon actually have multiple different video encodes for different devices to download and stream.

In the case of you seeing HD and 1080p I am assuming your streaming and on that front some scenes can be low in bitrate cause they use VBR and the bitrate does not need to be that high for the scene at hand so some scenes will be able to do 1080p at 6.3mbps but other scenes will not cause they are encoded at a higher bitrate so it downgrades to keep streaming and will jump resolutions depending on scene and bitrate used.

So I need to up my bandwidth to get 1080p all the time, yes?