I rented a movie expecting a good movie night with my wife. Well, I spent more time trying to get the movie to play properly than enjoying a nice quiet night at home. The first problem was the download. The Amazon servers gave me two errors, before I was able to get the install file. After a few minutes I was able to install the software and find my rental. The video quality was poor and half the size of standard definition. After confirming my router connections, network speed, video card and TV display settings, I concluded that a refund was in order.
Now, fast forward to 2010. Netflix dominates the video streaming market and computers are now replacing dvd players in some cases. I decided to give Amazon another shot only because I bought a Roku box for Netflix streaming, which happens to have Amazon's On Demand service. I bought a movie from Amazon before my Roku arrived knowing it would be my backup if Unbox failed again. This time the download and install was quick and easy. I registered my Amazon account in the Unbox software, then waited for a confirmation screen. One note to mention, Amazon On Demand has two components. One service for TV sets via media streamers like Roku and one service for computers via the Unbox software.
I pressed play and all my frustrating memories of 2007 surfaced. The picture was on half the screen and flickering. Once my Roku arrived, I was able to view the movie with little effort and picture quality was excellent. Streaming Amazon video on my Roku will be the only way I watch future titles purchased from Amazon On Demand. Amazon's desktop software leaves me thinking Netflix has nothing to worry about.