TiVo Amazon Unbox service goes live
I was just checking the TiVo.com website for something else when I noticed the homepage now touts Amazon Unbox and says Now Available! TiVo and Amazon.com offer Amazon Unbox Video Downloads on TiVo service. Learn more. Now Available? It looks like the service is going live today - very likely timed to coincide with the end-of-quarter-and-year financial conference call in the afternoon. Here's a bonus - if you register for the service by April 30, 2007 you get $15 in free movies and TV shows. So you can try it without any risk. Very nice, TiVo and Amazon, good move.
TiVo has the product page, an overview, a 'Get Ready' page, a FAQ, and a troubleshooting guide. Likewise, Amazon has an Amazon Unbox on TiVo page
on their site with more information. They also have a complete list of videos currently available for TiVo download
and a support page with a FAQ.
It looks like the service is launching with a slightly limited list of titles, but Amazon says they will continue to expand the list of titles. I expect that's due to the conversion process, it takes time to convert videos into a TiVo-compatible format, so they're just not going to have thousands of videos ready to go on day one, even if they've been converting things for weeks. But it looks like a good start, and I believe Amazon will continue to convert additional content to grow the list.
It is very easy to use. You simply register for the service, which ties your Amazon and TiVo accounts together. Then you can shop for videos via your web browser, and have them downloaded directly to your TiVo. Right now it is not possible to shop for videos directly from the TiVo itself, but I believe we'll see that added down the road. It would even be possible for a 3rd party to write an HME application that allowed you to browse the Unbox site and then order videos, all with the TiVo remote. (Anyone want to get started on that? ;-) )
I'd love to hear some feedback from people. How easy (or hard) did you find it to use? How do you like the service overall? What do you think of the quality of the videos?
Digg this post!
TiVo has the product page, an overview, a 'Get Ready' page, a FAQ, and a troubleshooting guide. Likewise, Amazon has an Amazon Unbox on TiVo page
on their site with more information. They also have a complete list of videos currently available for TiVo download
and a support page with a FAQ.
It looks like the service is launching with a slightly limited list of titles, but Amazon says they will continue to expand the list of titles. I expect that's due to the conversion process, it takes time to convert videos into a TiVo-compatible format, so they're just not going to have thousands of videos ready to go on day one, even if they've been converting things for weeks. But it looks like a good start, and I believe Amazon will continue to convert additional content to grow the list.
It is very easy to use. You simply register for the service, which ties your Amazon and TiVo accounts together. Then you can shop for videos via your web browser, and have them downloaded directly to your TiVo. Right now it is not possible to shop for videos directly from the TiVo itself, but I believe we'll see that added down the road. It would even be possible for a 3rd party to write an HME application that allowed you to browse the Unbox site and then order videos, all with the TiVo remote. (Anyone want to get started on that? ;-) )
I'd love to hear some feedback from people. How easy (or hard) did you find it to use? How do you like the service overall? What do you think of the quality of the videos?
Digg this post!