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Totally agree. They are destroying their most valuable component of their brand, for a relatively weak one (Prime Video). I have Prime and prefer Netflix, bec

• atonse 11y ago
  Yeah I agree with this. There are a couple of shows that are only on Prime Instant Video that I use it for. But I'll still watch it on my Apple TV. If Amazon chooses not to build an app, I'll go elsewhere, I won't buy a whole Fire TV just to watch a show. All this for one of the weakest parts of Prime. I've been a Prime member for 3-4 years before I watched my first prime video. I simply don't care for the service.
• danboarder 11y ago
  I also have Prime but wish I could display it on our TV using Chromecast. The only way to do this is to cast a tab (desktop) or cast the entire device display (Android). It would be great if Amazon Prime Video supported Chromecast with a cast button like Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Vevo, etc...
  • zaphar 11y ago
    My wife was just complaining about this very thing. The solution to Prime's streaming issues isn't to ban the sale of Chromecasts it's to add Chromecast support to prime. This is a very odd choice on their part.
    • untog 11y ago
      Their solution is for you to buy an Amazon Fire Stick and use it instead of your Chromecast.
      • dublinben 11y ago
        >Amazon Fire TV Stick Which unsurprisingly, doesn't support media from the Google Play Store. The only acceptable streaming device is one from a neutral third party (Roku, Tivo, etc.) who will support all providers.
        • chinpokomon 11y ago
          But you still can't use the Cast button from your phone to launch on those devices. My Xbox One shows me the option for YouTube videos, but nothing else. There isn't a one-stop option right now.
      • wvenable 11y ago
        It doesn't make any sense. They want to sell me Prime not the Fire Stick. To sell Prime get it on as many devices as possible and adding Chromecast support is easy. Amazon makes some strange decisions.
        • vidarh 11y ago
          They want to sell the Fire TV and Fire Stick because it will get you 1) used to talking to their remote, 2) hopefully get you searching and browsing around for all kinds of stuff - their selection is a fascinating mix of really new stuff and older stuff and b-movies, and it's often surprising what's covered by the prime subscription and what you have to pay extra for. By getting you to spend more time in their interface, they can add things. E.g. Prime Music had me spending a lot of time checking out playlists, some of which may very well lead to purchases of albums where only a couple of songs are available for free. It also gets them penetration for whenever they add shopping to these devices, and e.g. lets you talk to Echo and ask it to bring up the top five best new phones on your TV for you to choose fro. Getting Prime on Chromecast would help their penetration of Prime, but it might hinder their overall service penetration by giving some people a reason not to get a Fire Stick. Especially when the Fire Stick/Fire TV and Chromecast are all cheap enough that there's little stopping people from getting both... It may very well backfire for them, but there's all kinds of reasons for them to want to push the Fire TV devices hard.
          • wvenable 11y ago
            But the Chromecast has no interface of it's own! If I use Netflix on Chromecast, I'm in the Netflix app on my tablet or phone. Amazon can still own it's interface. I don't have enough ports on my TV for a Fire Stick and a Chromecast (and everything else) so I'm going to choose the one with the most options (Chromecast).
            • vidarh 11y ago
              Yes, but if you're used to picking an app and casting from it, rather than picking a device and chosing apps on it, Amazon faces a much larger hurdle. On the Fire TV/Stick they control the UI. On Chromecast, they have to not only convince you to use Chromecast, but convince you to stay in their app. They can lose a lot of users and still find it to be worth it for the extra engagement of the ones they did get.
      • vectorjohn 11y ago
        I got a fire stick when it was on sale for like $20. It is a useless piece of garbage with a terrible user experience. The UI is clunky, as it tries as unsuccessfully as every set top box manufacturer to do everything with a crappy remote. Chromecast did it right and going back to the bad UI of a set top box is just unacceptable anymore.
    • Spoom 11y ago
      Hell, until recently, you couldn't play Prime Video on Android at all without resorting to Flash trickery in the browser. (But, of course, you could play it on Fire OS devices, even though they're running a fork of Android.) Amazon really does not like Google. This is not a failure on Google's part, this is all of Amazon's own making in an attempt at product lock-in.
      • VikingCoder 11y ago
        ...I had Prime Video working on my Android phone a while back, but it no longer works. Is there a new, new way to get it to work that I don't know about?
        • Spoom 11y ago
          Install the Amazon app, but not the Amazon app from Google Play, the sideloaded one directly from their site, and then do a bunch of convoluted stuff to install the Prime Video player within that app.
          • mmebane 11y ago
            It's been a couple of weeks since I did it, but I got it working on my nVidia Shield TV, and I remember the process being something like: 1) Sideload Amazon app APK 2) Sideload Amazon Video app APK 3) Open Amazon app and log in 4) Open Amazon Video app However, it wasn't a pleasant experience. The version of the Amazon Video app I was able to get working didn't scale well to large screens, didn't work well with remote-based navigation, and didn't seem to do HD. I watched one episode of something, and haven't used it again since.
          • deleted 11y ago
            [deleted]
        • brerlapn 11y ago
          You can install the Amazon Video app on Android now via the Amazon app. No Chromecast, so I haven't really used it much, and it doesn't look like you can tell it to download shows onto your SD card instead of internal storage. I'm guessing I'll end up using it for limited times when I wouldn't have a TV anyway, like airplane trips.
    • guelo 11y ago
      Everybody here is bashing Amazon but do we know why Amazon video isn't available on Chromecast or Apple TV?
      • codazoda 11y ago
        I think, at least for Chromecast, it's because they didn't implement Chromecast support in their app. Google makes the API's available so I think it's up to Amazon to add support for that.
      • dangero 11y ago
        Yes could this move be an attempt to force Apple to allow the Prime app on the Apple TV? I've always wondered who: Apple or Amazon is stopping Amazon Instant from appearing on the Apple TV.
        • aioprisan 11y ago
          There's nothing preventing Amazon from creating a video app for Apple TV, HBO, Showtime and many others have created similar apps for the Apple TV. This is Amazon choosing not to.
          • Reedx 11y ago
            That's probably the case, but how do you know for sure? Maybe Amazon did create one and Apple rejected it?
          • Donzo 11y ago
            Amazon wants to sell digital downloads on their app, and they don't want to give anyone 30%. HBO does not.
            • aioprisan 11y ago
              Apple wouldn't force Amazon in a 30% rev share deal. They don't with HBO and Showtime. And if Apple tried that, then Amazon would be in the right to block Apple TV sales.
• yid 11y ago
  > They are destroying their most valuable component of their brand, for a relatively weak one (Prime Video). This is why it almost seems like Amazon's Google+ moment: one underperforming product area somehow manages to convince leadership to change the company's underlying principles in its advantage to the long-term detriment of overall brand perception. Edit: 32 points in 19 mins for this comment. I really hope someone from Amazon is reading.
  • Artistry121 11y ago
    This is a really good point. One difference here is that Amazon can quietly go back on their decision if it doesn't work and they see people aren't viewing the Apple TV, Chromecast and Fire as substitutes- since it is just a few listings. Google integrated everything with Google+ the vestiges are still all around.
    • newjersey 11y ago
      For example, it still isn't possible to create a YouTube channel without Google Plus.
      • reitanqild 11y ago
        Get over it already, single signon is here to stay a n d it is (now) easy to create a bunch of different "pages"-identities that are hard to trace back to your main account. Or am I wrong?
        • newjersey 11y ago
          Here is what I am referring to: >> So in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. YouTube will be one of the first products to make this change, and you can learn more on their blog. As always, your underlying Google Account won’t be searchable or followable, unlike public Google+ profiles. And for people who already created Google+ profiles but don’t plan to use Google+ itself, we’ll offer better options for managing and removing those public profiles. https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/everything-in-its-right-place.html https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/everything-in-its-ri... This was published on July 27, 2015
• misnome 11y ago
  I have prime, and mainly consume via IOS. It's annoying to search for something only for results to come up as "You can pay for this!". It'd be nice if there was a way to hide all non-prime content (or at least, if it is there - then it should be the default with, say, a "Search again including pay video" option)
• latj 11y ago
  I dunno, I wouldnt be surprised if Prime Video and AWS actually make money, unlike the "most valuable component" that does not. Besides, will you really stop using Amazon if it is the "Everything except a few devices store"?
• duaneb 11y ago
  I don't think that Netflix is Prime Video's competition; it's iTunes, Google Play, and DVD sales.
• davidgerard 11y ago
  Prime Video is, like, what does this even have to do with why I signed up for Prime. We use Prime because we order enough stuff in a year that postage would be over £45. They're trying for nonexistent "synergy" to satisfy internal numbers in some way, and nothing a customer wants.
• endymi0n 11y ago
  Absolutely, and if they really try to open up a front against Google, that might be a stupid move, as they risk an "accidental" visibility penalty in their Google SERPs. Usually, Google doesn't play this low, but Amazon has much more at stake. Shameless self-plug: See both your Netlix and Amazon Prime accounts' content at once at our site justwatch.com - filtered to your likings :)
  • chinpokomon 11y ago
    Remember when Google TV used to do that?
• PaulHoule 11y ago
  This reminds me of the stupid stuff Comcast kept doing when they were trying to get approval for the merger with Time Warner Cable. It only hit them after the fact that they could sue Verizon over "skinny bundles" or buy TWC. I see how Amazon loses from this but not how it will win.
• Pyxl101 11y ago
  I use them both as well. What I like about Amazon* Video is that it has new releases. If I don't catch a movie while it's still in the theater, I can watch it the day it comes out online. I still have a Netflix DVD subscription, so I could go that route too, but I always forget. Are there other good ways to watch new releases? Looks like the iTunes store also lets you rent movies. *Edit: I meant Amazon Video here when I said Prime Video. (The difference being that Prime has a set of included videos you can watch for free)
  • mathgeek 11y ago
    Vudu is a pretty solid platform for both renting and buying digitally. It works on pretty much everything these days, but I don't believe there is a native AppleTV app yet.
  • thrownaway2424 11y ago
    Amazon _Prime_ almost never has new releases. Can you point to any recent release that's on Prime right now?
    • Pyxl101 11y ago
      You're right (fixed). I meant to say Amazon Video, not Prime Video. I was thinking of the feature where you can pay to rent or purchase a video, not just the set of movies that are included in Prime without additional cost. I agree that the 'Prime' part does not have a lot of new releases.
      • thrownaway2424 11y ago
        It's not your fault. Amazon's branding is confusing.
• mosdave 11y ago
  not to mention the fact that Prime Instant Video UX is complete shit...
• npsimons 11y ago
  > I have Prime and prefer Netflix, because Prime Video still doesn't have a great selection. In my (limited) experience, the selection between Amazon Prime Video and Netflix is about the same. While this move very much feels like degrading performance of competing office suites on your OS or even refusing to run your windowing system on a competitor's OS (cough Microsoft cough), I can see why they would do it. For one thing, it's kind of the reverse: it's telling Apple and Google to get their shit together and not degrade performance of Prime Video on their devices (last I heard, my Apple loving family still couldn't watch Prime Video). To someone like me, who owns no Apple products and isn't tied to Google either, but is an avid Netflix user, Amazon Video and Netflix fill my needs quite nicely. Of course, take this all with a grain of salt from someone who's logging so many hours climbing and hiking he hasn't seriously watched TV/movies in a while. But the couch potato wife hasn't complained, and she's the one who bought the Amazon Fire TV.
  • dragonwriter 11y ago
    > For one thing, it's kind of the reverse: it's telling Apple and Google to get their shit together and not degrade performance of Prime Video on their devices Chromecast only doesn't support Amazon Video because Amazon hasn't made apps (iOS, Android, or Web) that support the Google Cast SDK, not because Google does something to degrade performance. AFAICT, essentially the same is true of AppleTV -- Amazon Video doesn't work on the platform because Amazon hasn't bothered to make an app for the platform.
    • npsimons 11y ago
      > Chromecast only doesn't support Amazon Video because Amazon hasn't made apps (iOS, Android, or Web) that support the Google Cast SDK, not because Google does something to degrade performance. > AFAICT, essentially the same is true of AppleTV -- Amazon Video doesn't work on the platform because Amazon hasn't bothered to make an app for the platform. Interesting. Do we know definitively that this is the case? I mean, is it possible Amazon did submit apps and they were rejected? Or in the case of Apple they didn't want to give Apple their 30% cut? And this may seem facetious, but are we begging the question of who should be supporting Amazon Video in the first place?
• slowmovintarget 11y ago
  Selection was not the issue for me. I view on PC and streaming to a PC from Amazon Prime was essentially non-functional. Crappy Silverlight, which would buffer eternally and never play, or flash, which still paused to buffer every minute. Netflix just works. It'll even play in in higher resolution (not full HD) without the HDMI cable. Prime just says "no" and gives the low-res stream. There are many things on Amazon's service I'd watch, but the actual viewing experience for me is awful.
  • tracker1 11y ago
    Agreed, trying to go from one season to the next in the same show is painful.. Amazon Prime Video in general has turned me off ever since they started.. I've had a prime account since it first came out and tend to buy a lot of stuff on amazon... more and more, it's a fairly unpleasant experience and I'm now questioning the need for a prime account.
• alelefant 11y ago
  I think it's funny that you proved exactly what the poster above you was saying. You don't like Prime simply because of selection.
• bwohlergo 11y ago
  i couldnt find an andoird app for their service last weekend. terminated my testmonth after 3 hours because of this and went back to netflix