Questions on Amazon VOD

[DaFury]

Hey guys, I'm brand new to the TIVO world, so my apologies if this is the wrong place to be asking these.

I'm considering purchasing a TiVo TCD658000 HD XL. My questions, however, deal with the Amazon VOD capabilities. I currently have a 400-disc DVD carousel that I use for storage of my "library". I'd like to begin making the transition to a digital storage medium, and am wondering if the TIVO HD XL might be what I'm looking for.

I seem to be coming across quite a bit of contradictory info regarding what the TIVO and Amazon VOD can do. If someone could clear up these questions for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

1. Looking at the VOD page for movies, it shows the video format for TIVO boxes as "letterbox" with a 1.33:1 ratio. Is this compatible for widescreen televisions? 1.33:1 is a standard 4/3 tv. :confused:

2. Does the TIVO support 5.1 audio downloads? Again, Amazon shows "stereo" available for download to TIVO...but then there are posts online indicating that it DOES do 5.1. I wouldn't consider using the capability unless it does 5.1 audio like standard DVDs do.

3. What is the resolution on the HD downloads? 720p? 1080p?

Thanks in advance!

[bkdtv]

The HD downloads are delivered in the correct aspect ratio. I'm not sure about the SD downloads, as I haven't ordered one of those in a few years.

Amazon's HD downloads are in 1080p with DD5.1 sound, although the TiVo can only output them as 1080i with the current software. Amazon HD is heavily compressed at 5.0 Mbps using H264, so you should not expect it to look anything like Blu-ray on a 60" screen. That compares to ~6.0 Mbps for DirecTV's 1080p PPV, 3-4 Mbps for Apple's 720p HD, 2.5-3.8 Mbps for Netflix's 720p HD, and 15-35 Mbps for Blu-ray. At best, it looks comparable to what you get with broadcast HDTV.

[DaFury]

The HD downloads are delivered in the correct aspect ratio. I'm not sure about the SD downloads, as I haven't ordered one of those in a few years.

Amazon's HD downloads are in 1080p with DD5.1 sound, although the TiVo can only output them as 1080i with the current software. Amazon HD is heavily compressed at 5.0 Mbps using H264, so you should not expect it to look anything like Blu-ray. That compares to ~6.0 Mbps for DirecTV's 1080p PPV, 3-4 Mbps for Apple's 720p HD, 2.5-3.8 Mbps for Netflix's 720p HD, and 15-35 Mbps for Blu-ray. At best, it looks comparable to what you get with broadcast HDTV.
bkdtv,
Thanks for the timely and thorough reply. I certainly appreciate it. That's exactly what I wanted to know...now I'll have to crunch some numbers to see how expensive TIVO would be over the long-run.

I'm not expecting to get anything approaching Bluray quality...but I was hoping to simultaneously get a sizable video improvement over standard DVD (my current "library" medium) and a sizable audio improvement over downloading via Roku (stereo only).

Again, thanks for the help.

[bkdtv]

If you've used Amazon HD on a Roku, Amazon HD on the TivoHD is a significant improvement over that. Amazon HD on the Roku is streamed in 720p24 @ 2.5Mbps with stereo sound.

Be aware that you may not be able to watch Amazon HD instantly on the TiVo. That would depend on the quality of the connection between you and Amazon servers. I found that I'm able to start watching Amazon HD from start to finish about 10 minutes after content is ordered. On the TivoHD, Amazon HD content downloads and you can watch it as it downloads.

[DaFury]

If you've used Amazon HD on a Roku, Amazon HD on the TivoHD is a significant improvement over that. Amazon HD on the Roku is streamed in 720p24 @ 2.5Mbps with stereo sound.

Be aware that you may not be able to watch Amazon HD instantly on the TiVo. That would depend on the quality of the connection between you and Amazon servers. I found that I'm able to start watching Amazon HD from start to finish about 10 minutes after content is ordered. On the TivoHD, Amazon HD content downloads and you can watch it as it downloads.
bkdtv,
Yes, I have used my Roku to watch Amazon HD. The video was serviceable, but even after Dolby Prologic processing, the sound left room for improvement.

I don't envision using TIVO/VOD as an instant gratification tool. I plan to purchase movies and download them to TIVO as more of a "I really like this movie, and would like to have it easily at my disposal...at better-than-DVD quality" kind of deal.

On that note...I was reading that TIVO HDs aren't able to process data beyond 1.2TB or so. Is this correct? If I were to eventually fill up a TIVO HD XL...would I be able to purchase one of the WD expanders, or would the TIVO XL not be able to utilize anything beyond its included 1TB drive?

ETA: Scratch those questions. I found the answer in one of the stickied threads. I guess I should look around before asking more questions.