This week, Amazon teamed up with TiVo to offer the Amazon Unbox video download service directly through the popular digital video recorders. I gave it a try with my TiVo at home, and while I found it very easy to set up and use, there were some annoying gotchas that make me more inclined to go for pay-per-view through my cable provider instead, at least for rentals.
Setting up the service was painless and quick, and really only required linking my Amazon and TiVo accounts. Afterwards, I could select a show online and have it downloaded straight to my TiVo, or quickly go through new TiVo menus to choose a show.
The movies cost from $2 to $4 to rent, and between $9 and $15 to buy. TV shows are $2 each to purchase. There are about 1,500 TiVo-compatible movies listed at Amazon for rent - not a particularly thorough selection.
Once I downloaded a movie, it played fine on my TV. Amazon says the quality is as good as or better than shows recorded on the best quality TiVo setting, and my test movie (Blood Diamond) looked that way to me.
But unlike with the PC movie player, you have to wait for the entire show to download (hours potentially) before you can watch it. Also, while you can keep a rented video on your TiVo for a month before watching it, you only have 24 hours to finish watching it.
That's fine most of the time, but if something came up while I was in the middle of a movie, and digital rights management wiped it before I could get back to it, I'd be pretty ticked. By contrast, if I pull down a pay-per-view movie from Comcast, I can record it on my TiVo and keep it as long as I please.
Seriously, is it going to hurt anyone's profits if I have three days to finish watching a movie, or (gasp!) a week in which to maybe watch it again? Why, in a burgeoning era of DRM-free music, is Amazon going with such a stringent limitation?
Unbox does offer the nice option of re-downloading movies you've purchases, so you can delete them from your TiVo to save space and then pull them down again later. But again, DRM sneaks in with a gotcha. According to Amazon, "certain new release movies are unavailable for re-download for an unspecified period of time starting 90 days after their release date." Sigh.
Still, the service works smoothly and is worth trying for the novelty alone. And the couple of hours to download is still faster than the couple of day's wait for a new flick to arrive in the mail from Netflix - though you can keep Netflix discs for as long as you want, and watch as many as you want for a flat monthly fee.
If you'd like to try Unbox through your TiVo, here's how to set it up:
What You'll Need:
1. A Series 2 or 3 TiVo connected to your home network. TiVo has instructions for the setup at their site, and doing so brings other advantages like being able to schedule recordings online, or play music from your computer. A word to the wise: use a wireless adapter from TiVo's list of compatible devices, since not all will work.
2. An account at Tivo.com
3. An account at Amazon.com
Setup at Amazon.com:
1. Head to http://amazon.com/unbox and click the "Unbox On Tivo" link at the top of the page. From there, click the big Register Now button in the middle of the page.
2. You'll be prompted for your Amazon.com login, and then your Tivo.com login.
3. After agreeing to the EULA, you'll select a 5-digit PIN. You'll use this if you buy or rent shows directly from your TiVo (instructions below). You can also select a show online and send it to your TiVo.
Selecting and Downloading through Amazon.com:
1. Find a TiVo-compatible movie or TV show. Their descriptions are marked with the TiVo logo, and you can find the full list by searching for "tivo" among all offered shows. Afterwards, you can refine your search by choosing categories on the left side.
2. On a given show, click the "Rent now with 1-Click" and select your TiVo as a download destination.
Selecting and Downloading through your TiVo:
1. From the TiVo starting menu, choose Find Programs, and then Download TV and Movies.
2. From the many sources listed, choose Amazon Unbox.
3. From here you can choose from a limited number of categories such as "Top Movie Rentals" or "Latest TV Episodes." You won't get the option of choosing comedies or dramas, though, and there aren't anywhere near as many shows listed as on Amazon's site.
4. After choosing a movie you can opt to buy or rent it. Either way, you'll need to enter the PIN you chose during online setup, which is easy using the TiVo remote.
Watching the Show on Your TiVo:
1. Once the download begins - which according to the confirmation message can take up to 30 minutes - the show will be listed in your Now Playing list under an Amazon Unbox folder (but again, you won't be able to watch it until it's completely downloaded). While the download is in progress you'll see a blue button next to the show's name.
2. When it's finished, you can watch the show like any other recording.
