(2013-04-24, 20:01)DonGateley Wrote: [ -> ]Here's what I think is driving the video service deprecation:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/201...et-top-box
That only makes sense if you think amazon is in the hardware business. And if that's the case, they'll pull streaming from roku, xbox, playstation, all the various TVs and blur-ray players, etc, too.
Nah.
I agree ... but, there will probably be something in the fine print that you either really didn't buy the content, or if you did actually buy it that you're only allowed to view it on approved equipment ...
(2013-04-25, 00:26)jpavlocak Wrote: [ -> ]For those of you that purchased movies...
I think that a company that sells a product or service and willfully fails to deliver is inviting a class action lawsuit.
Wouldn't you think?
I think you should figure out what you actually bought. The only think I have seen is the amazon prime terms of service, which doesn't say that you bought anything at all. Is there something else?
There is no product. They don't promise you can stream to arbitrary devices. They can change the terms whenever they want, and they just did, pray they don't change them further, etc. If you disagree, it sounds like Amazon support is willing to cancel Prime memberships. Honestly, half the crap I purchase from Amazon falls under that new "add on item" BS anyway, which was obviously designed to evade customers with Prime.
I mean, it sucks, but there really isn't anything we can do except complain and hope they change their minds.
Based on the job listings Amazon been posting for this "secret project", I would guess an over the top cable service rather than just a set top streaming box.
(2013-04-25, 02:37)rodalpho Wrote: [ -> ]There is no product. They don't promise you can stream to arbitrary devices.
Frankly, the Terms of Service don't promise that you can stream even to "supported" devices.
Well, I'm glad they did this now rather than later. I was just starting to buy video content from them (a few movies, Duck Dynasty) so I haven't lost much. I haven't "lost" those either, they're now only accessible via a windows-based web browser. I wonder how long that will last.
It looks like my initial wariness of buying digital content was justified since they can pull the rug on you at any time without warning. I didn't think Amazon would pull that kind of nonsense, given their past willingness to fix problems, but apparently things change. Buying behavior also changes in response. I'm sure my one little account won't change their minds, nor the combined XBMC/non-kindle android community. However, all an individual can do is assess business relationships on behavior, and buy accordingly.
(2013-04-25, 22:18)Citizen_Seven Wrote: [ -> ]Well, I'm glad they did this now rather than later. I was just starting to buy video content from them (a few movies, Duck Dynasty) so I haven't lost much. I haven't "lost" those either, they're now only accessible via a windows-based web browser. I wonder how long that will last.
Content you purchased can also be downloaded using the Amazon Unbox app. From there it can be played with Windows Media Player (or Windows Media Center). I have an external player defined that launches WMP and plays .wmv files. It's a little disruptive, but it does make things relatively seamless.
None of that fixes anything if you're trying to access Prime content though. I was right in the middle of watching Dollhouse. I'm finishing watching that on my iPad. I mostly have Prime for the shipping benefits (it's the only way to get stuff to Hawaii without either waiting weeks or paying out the nose), so I'm less frustrated by this change than are the people who got Prime for the streaming content.
I'm not a big fan of WMP or WMC. Hell, frustration with WMC is what drove me to XBMC in the first place. Now, WMClassic I would use, but I suspect very strongly that won't work with unbox.
I tried using firefox as an external player, and it worked but I must be missing something in the playercorefactory.xml because I eventually discovered that it seems no matter how I write the play rule, there's only two outcomes: firefox isn't invoked, or it's invoked for everything (DVDs, mp4's etc). I suspect it might be related to using a "portable" version of XBMC as well (one directory, run with -p switch) because some things that the wiki says just plain don't work. For instance, it seems that it ignores the playercorefactory in the (portable) user directory, but follows the one in the (portable) system directory.
(2013-04-23, 14:21)varanasi Wrote: [ -> ]With amazon dead and the ability to watch netflix looking imperilled, xbmc has lost some significant usefulness in the last couple weeks. XBMC and its addons are wonderful, and I'll continue to use them, but these twin whacks are the kind of thing that can kill projects.
I'm not sure what the long-term solution might be. We all seem to be increasingly entrapped by these very closed, corporate-based services that we feel we need. And as long as that trend continues the irrational or at least arbitrary changes to their services and compatibility will be constant.
In the short-term, I don't grasp the technical reasons that prevent an xbmc addon from working with these services but allow me to use them in a linux browser window.
You nailed it. Without netflix and amazon and giddyup still down and crackle broken and navi overloaded there is little reason to continue using xbmc unfortunately.
Quote:You nailed it. Without netflix and amazon and giddyup still down and crackle broken and navi overloaded there is little reason to continue using xbmc unfortunately.
Sorry, have to disagree with you there: XBMC, from the onset, was an interface to your already existing media, be it tv shows, movies, music or photos.
in that respect, it works very well and has been the cornerstone of every iteration of htpc(s) I've set up in my home. over the years I've put together a rather extensive collection of movies and tv shows and the features of XBMC have allowed me to organize them in a that is useful to me and my family.
newer iterations of XBMC, particularly of late, have allowed for newer media to be included into this framework, namely streaming files and live tv/pvr. for myself, this has been a boon, since as my children grow up they need more content that's relevant to them. Netflix stills works, but you have to shell out for playon or tool around with plex server. Hulu still does as well. For the most part, those 2 services fill the gap that Amazon has left quite nicely if not even more so. what stings about Amazon is that we had to shell out a year's subscription up front. Netflix and Hulu are a month to month basis and hence much "easier" to drop should they stray.
this Amazon debacle isn't an XBMC problem, not as it was initially conceived nor in its current iteration: bluecop's plugins are NOT built into the core of the program. and as such, if and when Hulu and Netflix change the way they deliver their content, i'll either figure out a way to work around it for the sake of my kids or look for different providers altogether.
XBMC however will always be the cornerstone.
As a tool for organizing content, be it local or online, XBMC is the best I've seen, and I would still use it even if it couldn't play anything. The fact that it will play local content, and even online content with a bit of a kludge in the case of Amazon, is a bonus.
I agree with others, this is bullshit and worthy of a class action lawsuit. They may think they have their asses covered by their Terms of Service, but we users need to stand up for our rights. Media companies are headed down a dark road when they try and limit which devices can play back videos.
In this case, XMBC was able to play Amazon videos without issue for quite a while, and now Amazon decided to "Fix a bug" aka prevent us paying users from watching our purchased videos on XBMC just so we will be forced to buy yet another set top box. Amazon can take their Kindle TV Set-Top Box and shove it up their ass. I've purchased many tens of thousands of dollars from Amazon over the last few years but this is the final straw.
If a class action lawsuit isnt possible I suggest we all vote with our wallets and stop supporting companies that shit on their paying customers. Amazon claims to support open source and then turns around and basically tell us more advanced users to take a hike -- while I'm listening and will be taking a hike with my wallet to another company that respects me.
Goodbye Amazon.
Is there any way to create more awareness for the general public on this issue.
As much as I would like to believe to the contrary, I suspect the general public wouldn't care. The existence of the cell phone industry is proof of that, general acceptance of devices being purposefully locked out of walled gardens, or nerfed in functionality. I mean, really, people are willing to pay extra fees to cell phone companies to use wi-fi on their own devices, or pay to monitor their own usage. If that's generally considered "acceptable", I doubt there would be much outcry over a company changing a protocol that just so happens to break unsupported (but worked previously) devices.