Dos_Box Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 Talk about annoyed! I took advantage of the £20 Amazon Prime discount yesterday and was looking forwards to setting up the Instant Video app on my Roku 3 when I got home last night, especially after reading these: Amazon Instant Video on Your Roku https://www.roku.com/channels#!browse/movies-and-tv/by-popular And thought 'Great, more choice at home, less need for terrestrial TV', only to find that the Amazon app is not availble in the UK on Roku. It's US only There is a big thread on Amazons own forums here about it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/forums/ref=cs_hc_g_m_oldest?ie=UTF8&forumID=Fx2GBEOGDU758MG&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx1CNS3ORCKDMZB (which I only found later) with many suspecting that Sky is behind this as they are a major backer in the Roku becuase they use a rebadged version for their Now TV box. I can however, watch it via the Xbox 360 and Wii U although I think the interface leaves a lot to be desired. Basically, I'm an unhappy bunny and Roku definately do not go far enough to let owners know which services they can and cannot use as you have to use the UK site to find out, not the .com where Google tend to lead you. Grrrr!
localzuk Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 Yup, its pretty annoying. I want to have all my services in one place. Its the one thing that is annoying me about my Roku also. My bluray player can run Amazon Prime Video though, so I can still access it, but its a pain. It definitely puts me off paying for Sky's service, that's for sure...
abillybob Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) I haven't found anything yet that will give me access to all the services. All I want access to is iPlayer, ITV Player, All 4, Demand 5, Netflix and Amazon Prime. I care about nothing else. Issue being I can't find one product on the market that gives me access to everything except for the Samsung Smart TV's, but they seem to perform horribly (girlfriend owns one) it will crash intermittently and restart itself or it will get stuck and refuse to stream videos for one reason or the other. Put my Roku side by side and it doesn't skip a beat... But no Amazon prime Edit: Kodi is the same. Half the plugins don't work for things like All 4 and Demand 5, also the interface is awful. Edited July 9, 2015 by abillybob
Dos_Box Posted July 9, 2015 Author Posted July 9, 2015 Just as an afterthought, does Google Play give you movie access as well as the music? And how much is the subscription as I can't find any info on this although many disgruntled Prime subscribers seem to have shifted to this service.
sted Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 i did roughly the same yesterday got prime while cheap (mainly for free delivery but i thought why not to tv/film and books) so went to the app on my Sony tv. Oh boy that was a lot of hassle. To set up netflix insert email/password. to set up amazon go to sonys site and register an account (luckily i have a ps3 so already had one just needed to play guess the password) then go to a specific page (info on tv is wrong went round in circles for 5 mins) type into the page a code displayed on tv. Ok now the app wants me to go to amazons website and type in another code to register the device there ok do that. Finally gets app on the tv and its utter pants. say im watching a tv series does it go to episode 2 after episode 1 does it chuff and everytime i start a video it spends 30 seconds or so doing streaming quality tests (after ever video seriously i could understand if it was on a phone but its on a stuffing 42" tv im not likely to move it round while turned on so how much do you think my internet will of changes in 25 mins?) its hard to find stuff quite a lot of stuff on there costs still so you could easily purchase omething even though you can watch it for free. Who wrote this app have they never seen the netflix/youtube apps that just work? 1
localzuk Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) There isn't a Google Play video subscription service - its a "buy or rent a movie/tv episode" service. So, it's comparable to Amazon's store where you can buy or rent a movie/tv episode, but not the Prime service. i did roughly the same yesterday got prime while cheap (mainly for free delivery but i thought why not to tv/film and books) so went to the app on my Sony tv. Oh boy that was a lot of hassle. To set up netflix insert email/password. to set up amazon go to sonys site and register an account (luckily i have a ps3 so already had one just needed to play guess the password) then go to a specific page (info on tv is wrong went round in circles for 5 mins) type into the page a code displayed on tv. Ok now the app wants me to go to amazons website and type in another code to register the device there ok do that. Finally gets app on the tv and its utter pants. say im watching a tv series does it go to episode 2 after episode 1 does it chuff and everytime i start a video it spends 30 seconds or so doing streaming quality tests (after ever video seriously i could understand if it was on a phone but its on a stuffing 42" tv im not likely to move it round while turned on so how much do you think my internet will of changes in 25 mins?) its hard to find stuff quite a lot of stuff on there costs still so you could easily purchase omething even though you can watch it for free. Who wrote this app have they never seen the netflix/youtube apps that just work? I'm pretty sure those streaming tests are Sony's fault rather than Amazon's. They're the same in some of the other apps that I've used on my Sony Bluray player. The process is a bit long winded but I actually prefer doing it via a web browser on a proper device rather than entering username/password via a remote control - my passwords are too complex to spend that time faffing about. Edited July 9, 2015 by localzuk 1
bmdixon Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 Just as an afterthought, does Google Play give you movie access as well as the music? And how much is the subscription as I can't find any info on this although many disgruntled Prime subscribers seem to have shifted to this service. The subscription is just for music, there isn't a movie streaming subscription for Google Play (yet, or in the pipeline as far as i know) 1
sted Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 There isn't a Google Play video subscription service - its a "buy or rent a movie/tv episode" service. So, it's comparable to Amazon's store where you can buy or rent a movie/tv episode, but not the Prime service. I'm pretty sure those streaming tests are Sony's fault rather than Amazon's. They're the same in some of the other apps that I've used on my Sony Bluray player. The process is a bit long winded but I actually prefer doing it via a web browser on a proper device rather than entering username/password via a remote control - my passwords are too complex to spend that time faffing about. i use netflix and youtube all the time on it and theyve never popped up also it has a giant amazon logo on the screen though the youtube app in recent weeks has gotten flakey its unusual now to get more than 2-3 vids watched without it bombing out
difinity Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 I haven't found anything yet that will give me access to all the services. All I want access to is iPlayer, ITV Player, All 4, Demand 5, Netflix and Amazon Prime. I care about nothing else. Issue being I can't find one product on the market that gives me access to everything except for the Samsung Smart TV's, but they seem to perform horribly (girlfriend owns one) it will crash intermittently and restart itself or it will get stuck and refuse to stream videos for one reason or the other. Put my Roku side by side and it doesn't skip a beat... But no Amazon prime Edit: Kodi is the same. Half the plugins don't work for things like All 4 and Demand 5, also the interface is awful. A PC as a bonus with a couple of clicks i get access to US Netflix which is much bigger than the UK. i wonder if it's the same for Amazon prime ?
sted Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 A PC as a bonus with a couple of clicks i get access to US Netflix which is much bigger than the UK. i wonder if it's the same for Amazon prime ? how i used to able to do this on my ps3 but recently it stopped working
difinity Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 A VPN. Client on my PC and phone, but could just as easily be setup on the/a router to provide the service permanently.
LeMarchand Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) I haven't found anything yet that will give me access to all the services. All I want access to is iPlayer, ITV Player, All 4, Demand 5, Netflix and Amazon Prime. I care about nothing else. Issue being I can't find one product on the market that gives me access to everything except for the Samsung Smart TV's, but they seem to perform horribly (girlfriend owns one) it will crash intermittently and restart itself or it will get stuck and refuse to stream videos for one reason or the other. Put my Roku side by side and it doesn't skip a beat... But no Amazon prime Edit: Kodi is the same. Half the plugins don't work for things like All 4 and Demand 5, also the interface is awful. HTPC with something like BertUI - the 10-foot UI for Windows and add in an IR card/device to accept commands from your TV remote? Does Plex have the channels you want? (May not be able to check atm after their forum was hacked). Someone on here does some of the Kodi programming, btw... Edited July 9, 2015 by LeMarchand That double post thing! 1
Novalee Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 Yeah I discovered this recently too. REALLY annoyed. I just cancelled the Amazon instead though - I'm not buying a second streaming stick just for that. I also read about Sky being behind it - that would explain why all the adverts on the Roku main page are for things on Sky Now...
LosOjos Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) HTPC with something like BertUI - the 10-foot UI for Windows and add in an IR card/device to accept commands from your TV remote? Does Plex have the channels you want? (May not be able to check atm after their forum was hacked). Someone on here does some of the Kodi programming, btw... In case anyone is interested in BertUI, I'm the developer rewriting it in C++ is currently on my todo list as it's overly resource hungry ATM due to reliance on .NET, plus it's Windows only for the same reason. But it's functional if not perfect at the moment and I'm always happy to add new features when I can (just moved house so development is on hold at the moment) EDIT: as an aside, the one thing that lets my HTPC down (IMO) is that Netflix requires mouse. For that reason, I'm planning on developing a FF/Chrome plugin to enable remote control support for Netflix, possibly others too. It's a bit of a blue sky thing at the moment but if it's something that interests others, I'll make sure I post about it on here when it's ready for testing... Edited July 9, 2015 by LosOjos 1
LeMarchand Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 In case anyone is interested in BertUI, I'm the developer rewriting it in C++ is currently on my todo list as it's overly resource hungry ATM due to reliance on .NET, plus it's Windows only for the same reason. But it's functional if not perfect at the moment and I'm always happy to add new features when I can (just moved house so development is on hold at the moment) ...and someone on here does all the programming for BertUI. I was struggling to remember where I read about it! (And it looks like @abillybob has already tried it!) Must get around to trying it myself, but I mainly just use Plex which launches from a button on my TV remote.
abillybob Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 I couldn't ever get it to work and when I did it went really strange if I remember rightly. I can't remember the exact specifics but thought it was a great concept, I just couldn't get it to work
LosOjos Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) I couldn't ever get it to work and when I did it went really strange if I remember rightly. I can't remember the exact specifics but thought it was a great concept, I just couldn't get it to work If you decide to have another crack at it, feel free to PM me any issues and I'll do what I can to help. It's one of those things I created for myself and thought might be useful to others and as such hasn't seen any testing beyond my own machine, so problems are almost inevitable! Edited July 9, 2015 by LosOjos
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