Amazon Prime Instant Video - how to maximize viewing on computer?
I'm exploring what I can do entertainment-wise with Amazon Prime Instant Video. (In late May I signed up for a one month trial for Amazon Prime when I purchased something and forgot, so now I have it. Might as well use it. It may not be as good a value as Netflix; but as mentioned, I might as well take advantage of all the free videos.)
I think getting the Roku 3 Streaming Player at $100 will be worth it for the home theater in the living room. So I'll be doing that...
The streaming looks fantastic on the iPad. It's also excellent on the laptop.
But I'm having a less than satisfactory viewing experience on my computer. It does not look HD at all (grainy and patchy). Whereas otherwise games and YouTube videos all look great.
The page at Amazon on this subject states
"Amazon automatically detects your connection speed, sends you the highest quality stream your connection can support, and then displays the stream quality on the video player."
And the page lists Browser Plugins of Microsoft Silverlight Player and Adobe Flash Player, of which I have the latest versions installed. I'm using the supported browsers. I can't imagine that what I'm seeing via Silverlight and Flash Player is actually HD. Certainly not compared with what appears in the iPad and laptop.
But I would like to see if there is a way to stream via software instead to get HD. Maybe there's a workaround? It's all relatively new, though. I'm not finding any tutorial videos on YouTube for this yet.
If anyone is familiar with using Amazon Instant Video for the computer, or has well informed ideas even if not, I'd appreciate suggestions.
Here's my system specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium
Pentium Dual-Core CPU E5700 @ 3.00GHz 3.00GHz
RAM 2.00 GB
32-bit Operating System
ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
Samsung SyncMaster SB350_S27B350H
Thanks in advance for any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions anyone may have!
***
Edit: It doesn't state so explicitly on Amazon Prime Instant Video, but I'm suspecting now that HD streaming is not supported by Amazon's use of Silverlight or Adobe Flash Player...
When I compare the same trailer (eg, for the Hobbit) on the computer using Prime Instant Video and YouTube at the HD 1080i setting the difference is like night and day.
I think getting the Roku 3 Streaming Player at $100 will be worth it for the home theater in the living room. So I'll be doing that...
The streaming looks fantastic on the iPad. It's also excellent on the laptop.
But I'm having a less than satisfactory viewing experience on my computer. It does not look HD at all (grainy and patchy). Whereas otherwise games and YouTube videos all look great.
The page at Amazon on this subject states
"Amazon automatically detects your connection speed, sends you the highest quality stream your connection can support, and then displays the stream quality on the video player."
And the page lists Browser Plugins of Microsoft Silverlight Player and Adobe Flash Player, of which I have the latest versions installed. I'm using the supported browsers. I can't imagine that what I'm seeing via Silverlight and Flash Player is actually HD. Certainly not compared with what appears in the iPad and laptop.
But I would like to see if there is a way to stream via software instead to get HD. Maybe there's a workaround? It's all relatively new, though. I'm not finding any tutorial videos on YouTube for this yet.
If anyone is familiar with using Amazon Instant Video for the computer, or has well informed ideas even if not, I'd appreciate suggestions.
Here's my system specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium
Pentium Dual-Core CPU E5700 @ 3.00GHz 3.00GHz
RAM 2.00 GB
32-bit Operating System
ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
Samsung SyncMaster SB350_S27B350H
Thanks in advance for any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions anyone may have!
***
Edit: It doesn't state so explicitly on Amazon Prime Instant Video, but I'm suspecting now that HD streaming is not supported by Amazon's use of Silverlight or Adobe Flash Player...
When I compare the same trailer (eg, for the Hobbit) on the computer using Prime Instant Video and YouTube at the HD 1080i setting the difference is like night and day.
Post edited by Lemernis on
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