Pros & Cons
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- Reasonable prices.
- Lots of content.
- Clear HD video (when available).
- Fast downloads.
- Amazon Prime members get commercial-free stream streaming with select content.
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- Some programming isn't available in HD.
- Not every show has a TV Pass.
- Some content can't be viewed online or downloaded for a specific time due to licensing restrictions.
- Mac users can't download video.
Amazon Video Specs
| OS Compatibility: | Mac OS |
| OS Compatibility: | Windows 7 |
| OS Compatibility: | Windows Vista |
| OS Compatibility: | Windows XP |
| Type: | Personal |
Now untethered from a larger Amazon Prime subscription, Amazon Video (formerly Amazon Instant Video) gives entertainment-seekers a hefty amount of television and movie content that can be downloaded and streamed to Windows PCs, compatible TVs, mobile devices, game consoles, Blu-ray players, DVRs, or set-top boxes—and in some cases, at 1080p resolution. With wallet-friendly prices, a nice programming variety, and years of steady improvements, Amazon's streaming service is finally on par with iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix.
Design/Interface
Amazon gives you plenty of ways to dive into its deep content pool of more than 100,000 television shows and movies. You search for programming by keying a title into the search box, or use product categories that let you view movies and TV shows based on genre, release date, channel, and more. The layout has become easier to navigate; each piece of content is displayed as a big, conspicuous box.Clicking a movie or TV show link opens a page showing the user rating, run time, release date, and other pertinent information. If you're on a TV show page, you can click the Preview button to watch a snippet; movie pages let you watch a trailer. Both are viewable in full-screen mode.
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