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Does anyone know why I can't use Amazon Video on my apple tv? Don't tell me I can use airplay, either. I don't like watching stuttering garbage that sounds like

by NDizzle 13y ago

Does anyone know why I can't use Amazon Video on my apple tv? Don't tell me I can use airplay, either. I don't like watching stuttering garbage that sounds like crap. Why isn't there a native app yet?!

tptacek 13y ago
Because Amazon and Apple compete even more directly than Netflix and Apple do. If there was an Amazon app in Apple TV, nobody would buy iTMS content. (iTMS content is of higher technical quality, but less discoverable).
- tehwebguy 13y ago
  Which makes them both worse!
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Than Netflix? No, it doesn't. Netflix doesn't offer a paid catalog at all, which sucks. If Netflix did do that, they might have trouble with both Amazon and Apple.
    - tehwebguy 13y ago
      That's not what I meant, I meant that the two companies fighting a war using incompatibility makes both of their services / platforms worse (than they could be).
- DrJokepu 13y ago
  I don't think this is really the case. First, I don't think Apple regards iTunes as anything else but means to sell more Apple devices. They make some money on it but it's still negligible compared to hardware profits. Second, there are other content providers (e.g. Netflix) already present on the Apple TV. Third, Amazon clearly has no problem with conducting business with their direct competitors; it's well known that Netflix is one of the most important customers of AWS, often beta testing new services before they become publicly available. Neither does Apple, the default search engine on all Apple devices is still Google.
dublinben 13y ago
Or why can I not use Amazon Video on any Android device other than their off-brand Kindle tablets? I'm already a paying customer, but they won't let me use their service.
- shakethemonkey 13y ago
  Concur. I would use it but it's not watchable on any useful device.
  - xur17 13y ago
    Yup. I've gone to rent a movie twice in the past few weeks. Instinctively I checked Amazon first, but ended up getting it from Google Play since they actually support my devices.
- ja27 13y ago
  Or on Chromecast. I know - competitive blah blah blah - but it sucks as for us as customers. Amazon has no problem selling Chromecasts themselves, but they won't add support for them in their own apps?
  - mattmcknight 13y ago
    You can stream an Amazon video tab on Chromecast if you disable Silverlight and choose to use the Flash player.
GrantS 13y ago
It sounds like maybe you're describing AirPlay mirroring instead of passing the video stream straight to the Apple TV via AirPlay from an iPad or iPhone. Mirroring has to re-encode the on-screen video on the fly, so I've seen the stuttering you mean when mirroring, but I've never experienced that using the built-in video player method to send a video straight to the Apple TV from within the Amazon instant video app, or the Netflix app for that matter.
xcrunner529 13y ago
Competing interests. But if you have a non-shitty router AirPlay works fine and the quality is as good as it would be otherwise streaming from Amazon.
- NDizzle 13y ago
  I have a decent netgear 5g router that lets me get the full 50/12 out to the internet. You'd think that would be enough for airplay, but I've never - NEVER had a good experience. (and the appletv is hardwired to a gigabit switch.)
  - ahknight 13y ago
    Sounds like you have a LAN problem. AC66U, iPhone/iPad/MBP, ATV 3, gigabit LAN, and a 12/1 connection and I stream like a stream (Internet, AirPlay, whatever).
    - NDizzle 13y ago
      You know, you're right. I updated the amazon app on my iphone and was able to airplay in decent quality. The complaint I have is that I'm a secondary member on the prime account. (wife is #1 in many ways... prime account is one of them.) I don't get the option to play any of the 'prime' stuff being a secondary member.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  The latest-and-greatest Time Capsule at 3 meters away is a shitty router? I find to get AirPlay working reliably, you really need to have one of the devices wired.
  - gonzo 13y ago
    3m? You might try a bit more distance. The free space path loss at 1m is only 41dB. If your signal leaves the device at only 10dBm, it arrives at the other device at -31dBm, (let's say antenna gain and loss in the coax cancel), which exceeds IEEE 802.11 maximums.
mwfunk 13y ago
No idea, but I wish they'd work something out. Amazon video is now the most glaring omission on Apple TV IMO. In a similar vein I wish Spotify had way more of a presence on set-top boxes in general. It's on Roku but nothing else, and it makes no sense to me. I'm intentionally not counting clients built into receivers or smart TVs, since those UIs are almost always awful to the point where I'd rather AirPlay the audio from a computer than run the built-in app on a TV or receiver. I could understand it not being on Apple TV, but I'd think that at a bare minimum, there would be a Spotify app for all the major game consoles.
- mattmcknight 13y ago
  Spotify, Amazon, and Netflix are all on the tivo now. https://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/TiVo https://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/TiV...
  - EpicEng 13y ago
    But the netflix app on TiVo is utter garbage. Slow, featureless, garbage. There's not even a back button for crying out loud! Want to change episodes once you're already watching something? Have fun waiting 5 minutes to exit and re-launch the app. I just cut my TiVo. Unusable slow junk for $200 + $15 / month.
    - mattmcknight 13y ago
      To get back to the Netflix menu- just press up. No need to relaunch, just to RTFM... :-) It is much better on the Premiere and Roamio than on the Series 3 and earlier...
      - EpicEng 13y ago
        ...I guess I'll never get the chance to try as I cancelled my TiVo subscription. Why in the world wouldn't the back button take you... back? Up? WTF? Anyway, that was just one annoyance out of many. TiVo is garbage, slightly better smelling garbage than the cable providers give you, but still garbage, and at a higher price. No thanks; my HTPC is outperforming any DVR I have ever had.
josteink 13y ago
> Does anyone know why I can't use a direct competitor to the Apple iStore on my apple tv? I think if you read your question this way and look at how Apple historically has done business, you will find your answer without the need for further examination.

by NDizzle 13y ago

tptacek 13y ago

Because Amazon and Apple compete even more directly than Netflix and Apple do. If there was an Amazon app in Apple TV, nobody would buy iTMS content. (iTMS content is of higher technical quality, but less discoverable).

tehwebguy 13y ago
Which makes them both worse!
- tptacek 13y ago
  Than Netflix? No, it doesn't. Netflix doesn't offer a paid catalog at all, which sucks. If Netflix did do that, they might have trouble with both Amazon and Apple.
  - tehwebguy 13y ago
    That's not what I meant, I meant that the two companies fighting a war using incompatibility makes both of their services / platforms worse (than they could be).
DrJokepu 13y ago
I don't think this is really the case. First, I don't think Apple regards iTunes as anything else but means to sell more Apple devices. They make some money on it but it's still negligible compared to hardware profits. Second, there are other content providers (e.g. Netflix) already present on the Apple TV. Third, Amazon clearly has no problem with conducting business with their direct competitors; it's well known that Netflix is one of the most important customers of AWS, often beta testing new services before they become publicly available. Neither does Apple, the default search engine on all Apple devices is still Google.

dublinben 13y ago

Or why can I not use Amazon Video on any Android device other than their off-brand Kindle tablets? I'm already a paying customer, but they won't let me use their service.

shakethemonkey 13y ago
Concur. I would use it but it's not watchable on any useful device.
- xur17 13y ago
  Yup. I've gone to rent a movie twice in the past few weeks. Instinctively I checked Amazon first, but ended up getting it from Google Play since they actually support my devices.
ja27 13y ago
Or on Chromecast. I know - competitive blah blah blah - but it sucks as for us as customers. Amazon has no problem selling Chromecasts themselves, but they won't add support for them in their own apps?
- mattmcknight 13y ago
  You can stream an Amazon video tab on Chromecast if you disable Silverlight and choose to use the Flash player.

GrantS 13y ago

It sounds like maybe you're describing AirPlay mirroring instead of passing the video stream straight to the Apple TV via AirPlay from an iPad or iPhone. Mirroring has to re-encode the on-screen video on the fly, so I've seen the stuttering you mean when mirroring, but I've never experienced that using the built-in video player method to send a video straight to the Apple TV from within the Amazon instant video app, or the Netflix app for that matter.

xcrunner529 13y ago

Competing interests. But if you have a non-shitty router AirPlay works fine and the quality is as good as it would be otherwise streaming from Amazon.

NDizzle 13y ago
I have a decent netgear 5g router that lets me get the full 50/12 out to the internet. You'd think that would be enough for airplay, but I've never - NEVER had a good experience. (and the appletv is hardwired to a gigabit switch.)
- ahknight 13y ago
  Sounds like you have a LAN problem. AC66U, iPhone/iPad/MBP, ATV 3, gigabit LAN, and a 12/1 connection and I stream like a stream (Internet, AirPlay, whatever).
  - NDizzle 13y ago
    You know, you're right. I updated the amazon app on my iphone and was able to airplay in decent quality. The complaint I have is that I'm a secondary member on the prime account. (wife is #1 in many ways... prime account is one of them.) I don't get the option to play any of the 'prime' stuff being a secondary member.
kalleboo 13y ago
The latest-and-greatest Time Capsule at 3 meters away is a shitty router? I find to get AirPlay working reliably, you really need to have one of the devices wired.
- gonzo 13y ago
  3m? You might try a bit more distance. The free space path loss at 1m is only 41dB. If your signal leaves the device at only 10dBm, it arrives at the other device at -31dBm, (let's say antenna gain and loss in the coax cancel), which exceeds IEEE 802.11 maximums.

mwfunk 13y ago

No idea, but I wish they'd work something out. Amazon video is now the most glaring omission on Apple TV IMO. In a similar vein I wish Spotify had way more of a presence on set-top boxes in general. It's on Roku but nothing else, and it makes no sense to me. I'm intentionally not counting clients built into receivers or smart TVs, since those UIs are almost always awful to the point where I'd rather AirPlay the audio from a computer than run the built-in app on a TV or receiver. I could understand it not being on Apple TV, but I'd think that at a bare minimum, there would be a Spotify app for all the major game consoles.

mattmcknight 13y ago
Spotify, Amazon, and Netflix are all on the tivo now. https://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/TiVo https://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/TiV...
- EpicEng 13y ago
  But the netflix app on TiVo is utter garbage. Slow, featureless, garbage. There's not even a back button for crying out loud! Want to change episodes once you're already watching something? Have fun waiting 5 minutes to exit and re-launch the app. I just cut my TiVo. Unusable slow junk for $200 + $15 / month.
  - mattmcknight 13y ago
    To get back to the Netflix menu- just press up. No need to relaunch, just to RTFM... :-) It is much better on the Premiere and Roamio than on the Series 3 and earlier...
    - EpicEng 13y ago
      ...I guess I'll never get the chance to try as I cancelled my TiVo subscription. Why in the world wouldn't the back button take you... back? Up? WTF? Anyway, that was just one annoyance out of many. TiVo is garbage, slightly better smelling garbage than the cable providers give you, but still garbage, and at a higher price. No thanks; my HTPC is outperforming any DVR I have ever had.

josteink 13y ago

> Does anyone know why I can't use a direct competitor to the Apple iStore on my apple tv? I think if you read your question this way and look at how Apple historically has done business, you will find your answer without the need for further examination.