Amazon Videos A "NO-SHOW"

[ScottNY845]

Hello All:

Anyone else having problems where they buy a movie and they get NO errors, everything seems fine, and yet nothing is downloaded into your Tivo?

I contacted Amazon after waiting 24 hours for 2 movies, and I even went so far as to re-order 1 on the computer after thinking the HME program failed. But the computer purchase did not even show up...

Anyways, Amazon credited my account, and I am trying again to get a movie, and so far nothing....any ideas?

[bpurcell]

How is your TiVo networked to the internet. I believe I remember reading in other threads that you needed to make sure your internet settings were done a certain way. I can't remember what they are, but you should do a search on the Help forums.

[ScottNY845]

My Tivo is through a network adapter which is linked wireless to my router. I have internet access on the tivo and everything works perfect, except for me getting the amazon videos.

[BrianEWilliams]

Do you get TiVocast downloads? Ordering an Unbox movie seemed to break my TiVocast subscriptions, and I had to resubscribe to get them to download. I never got the Unbox movie, and decided it wasn't worth the bother to troubleshoot.

Do you have an error message in the To Do list?

[ScottNY845]

I have been subscribing to the CNET videos and getting them with no problem each week.....

I tried getting another 2 videos today and still no luck.

[dswallow]

I have been subscribing to the CNET videos and getting them with no problem each week.....

I tried getting another 2 videos today and still no luck.
Have you gone through the troubleshooting steps listed in the light gray box at http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/tivo ? Especially the cancel and re-register option?

[cfneumann]

It worked for me, but I cannot back it up to my server because they are copy protected and cannot be downloaded from TTG.

[rtwolfe]

Hi Scott:
I had the same 'symptoms' so am not sure if this will fix it for you, but....

I have a Series 2 with 60Mb. The 'boss' fills it with Oprah, etc so the drive had very little free space. Amazond downloaded but nothing appeared. Tivo confirmed that 'lack of free space' probably caused my problem.

Here's my original post on my problem
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=344155

I upgraded my box with a bigger hard drive, see the store links above. It was pretty easy.

I then had LOTS of room. The download of Little Miss Sunshine worked perfectly.

I since was looking for a HME plugin app. No luck but there is a great XHTML webpage you can configure that WILL show you lots of data on Tivo hard drive (programs, size, etc) AND if you enter the size of your hard drive in the XHTML, it will do the math - to tell you the remaining free space.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5028809#post5028809

Lastly, there is a great program that 'closes the loop' by letting you order from Amazon using TIVO and your TV. Thread is below.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=346051

Good Luck.

[TiVoStephen]

First troubleshooting step (which you may have done already, but just checking) -- head to TiVo Central, Find Programs, To Do List, View Recording History

Do you see the download listed there? Is there any description there of any errors?

Secondly, do you see your video in the Your Media Library section of Amazon.com?

Are you able to subscribe and receive any TiVoCast programs?

The biggest two issues are:
1) Insufficient disk space. Try clearing up some space on Now Playing and in your To Do list.
2) Networking issues, particularly DNS. Making sure DHCP is configured properly, checking your router and ISP, unplugging and replugging your adapter, and possibly even rebooting your box may be helpful.

[Stu_Bee]

I had a similar issue:
The amazon.com videos were not automatically downloading unless I did the extra step of going into Amazon's interface "Your Media Library", and hit the Download Button.

I believe the reason for this was that a stuck show was in the queue preventing new orders from downloading.
After I placed an order..and waited about 30 secs....the amazon.com screen refreshes a couple of times and displays:
----------------
Your video is behind 1 other video in your download queue for DVR56E3.
Move to top or manage your queue in Your Media Library.
-----------------
I have no idea how to move a pending video to the top of the Queue..but I did eventually figure out how to move the other pending show to the trash.
After I did that, the new show came down without further prompting.

[briguymaine]

I finally deleted shows to free up some space and visited the download button, poof it began to download. Definitely not the most user friendly experience.

Overall, I'm not too impressed by this service. I'm basing this on how easy it is to browse, purchase, dl, and watch movies on my Xbox 360. The choice seems pretty limited, the search function is hit or miss when looking for Tivo specific titles, and WHAT? no streaming (I have to wait for the download to finish?).

I've used up my free credits so I'll wait a while and see if it improves in the future

[nirisahn]

I ordered two movies today while I was at work, and by the time I got home they were waiting for me. I don't know if they actually play, but I'm saving them for next week, so that's when I'll know if they actually play.

The first day this was available, I downloaded the Illusionist and it downloaded and played just fine.

[Lrscpa]

I continue to have problems with Unbox. In Recording History, the error I get is "this program will not be downloaded to the dvr because it could not be found", yet I get other TivoCast content, which repeats itself multiple times.

The only unusual thing is that I have a static IP set for the TiVo.

[ivyvine420]

I downloaded the first half of season 2 of Bones since I had about $19 worth of Amazon Unbox credits and needed the episodes... They downloaded just fine, and I deleted them. Then after replacing my series 3 tivo, and getting it activated and hooked up to my home network, I was having problems with it actually showing the TivoCast and Guru/Kidzone Guides below the ToDo List selection. I was able to download and set up season passes for these through the Tivo website and have them download just fine, plus redownloading a few episodes of Bones worked just fine as well. Right as I was about to call Tivo to ask what the problem could be (well, the next day as it was midnight and I was about to go to bed), I checked the menu list one last time (or I guess second, as I would have done so again in the morning before the phone call) and found that after 2 whole days of the 2 items not being listed there where they should have been, they finally were...

The Amazon Unbox also had no problem downloading to my PC a free episode of some random TV Show that I found available on Amazon.... The quality was just as good as from tv, if not better (gets hard to tell when everything on your tv is upconverted to 1080i), and seemed like I was watching a normal recorded episode if it weren't for the fact that it didn't have commercials...

My experience was so good, and I enjoyed the free content for the initial Tivo/Amazon linking ($15) and from purchasing DVDs from Amazon (2x $1.99) very much. While I also enjoy getting DVDs for their Extras/Bonus content which seems to not be available with the Amazon Unbox downloads versions, I can see myself renting many movies from them (as the timer countdown of 24 hours only starts from the first time you start to watch it), and possibly even some "to buy" movies that I really don't care too much for the extras (especially if it ends up being cheaper and you can get it through download and watch it almost right away (still quicker than next day delivery). I would still buy actual DVDs from them for the special versions or director's cuts/bonus material/gift set editions with added gift etc and also if the DVD was cheaper in price than the download version was (as it seems most are a standard $14.99 price and I have looked at the DVD version price in comparison for some movies and they were lower ($10.99 or whatever).

I do like the fact that they store everything in your Media Library of your Amazon Account so you can see what you have, and *don't* need to keep a download copy on your PC or TiVo at all times, but have it on their servers (which can mean alot if you purchase/rent quite a few things and also already have tons of media content being stored on your computer/ external HDD/NAS units etc as well.

I also like that you can download to many devices at one time (2 PCs or 2 Tivos *and* 2 portable media devices (that are listed compatible)... I am guessing you can do 1 PC and 1 Tivo, but as they make it seem like you can only download to 2 computers *Or* 2 tivos at the same time, that you can't do all 4 - they say to use a new device to download to, you just have to uninstall the Unbox software from another computer (to add 1, or 2 for 2 etc)... But you only actually install the software to PCs (with portable media being linked through the software when connected), and not on any Tivo, and so how would they be able to tell that you need to "unactivate" a device before adding another???

I say this as I currently have 2 Tivos assigned/linked to my Amazon Unbox account *plus* one PC (for now, and I have not yet tested the portable devices, though my Toshiba Gigabeat S is compatible with it)... So from the pulldown menu and it letting me choose from those 3 selections as the destination device, it makes me think that it might actually let me download to 2 PCs and 2 Tivos (unless the current tivo with it downloaded to already and not deleted gets taken away from the option list when choosing to download it again to another device.

Does anyone know exactly (that has already tested this out)?

And just for the people that are first time downloading from Amazon Unbox know, after I "downloaded" it (put in my order and selected the device) it took about 15-20 minutes before it started to actually download the episode, and took approx. real time to do it (45 min for a 45 min show), and if doing multiple things in queue, it would stop (blue light goes out) and then start the next one a few minutes later again (and so on). So you can actually see when it starts to download one episode and stops and then starts again (in my experience at least, this might have been do to lagging and be quicker at times for other people possibly).

I would say that renting a movie or purchasing one episode of a TV show that you like (and would want to keep) would be the best way to test it out for yourself. You have until April 30th to link your Tivo account to your Amazon account and get the free $15 credit, and they also still have the Buy a DVD and get one $1.99 tv show for free credit going on as well... Perfect way to not spend your money testing it out. Also to note, they say if you have many credits, that you can only use *ONE* per order, which means that if you had 2 $1.99 credits, you would want to make them 2 separate orders for one show each (or you would pay $1.99 and get one free only). With the larger amounts in one credit ($15), you can spend it like a gift card, a bit at a time, or all at once (with you just paying for the rest of the $$ over the free credit amount).

[Stu_Bee]

I continue to have problems with Unbox. In Recording History, the error I get is "this program will not be downloaded to the dvr because it could not be found", yet I get other TivoCast content, which repeats itself multiple times.
The only unusual thing is that I have a static IP set for the TiVo.

- When you go into the Tivocast menu (on your Tivo)..does it take 5 seconds to show the GUI, or more like 1-2 minutes?
- Does your Tivo to Router network connection wireless...or is it all wired. If it is wireless, does something like your wireless Phone or Microwave normally interrupt your wifi signal in your house?