Amazon adds Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, and Science channels to Prime Instant

[darkewaffle]

I wish they'd have the [old] History Channel catalogue on there, I remember there was this awesome doc on The Flying Tigers I saw years ago that I've never found since then.

 

[Nintendesert]

Hulu is the best since it's free.

Most of the good stuff is on Hulu Plus, especially if it's older than 5 shows ago. Trying to watch a show that you've missed all season is impossible. Then you pay more than Amazon Prime or Netflix and still have to sit through shitty commercials.

I'm less than impressed with Hulu Plus right now. :\

 

[Jeff7]

Amazon Prime keeps getting better and better.

Now I just need for it to stop skipping every 30-40 minutes, which then also results in the player being unable to resume where it left off. The page needs to be reloaded completely, and then manually seek to where it skipped.

Grr... why isn't all of this content on Netflix as well?? I wish that all of the online TV watching services could share this content, so I could finally drop my cable subscription.

Of course, it will probably never happen just for that very reason. The cable companies simply own too many channels of their own, and they want to protect their revenue streams.

Cable companies are going to have themselves a real royal shit-fit soon. Guess what, we don't need cable TV anymore. The network we've gone and built up can quite possibly handle lots of video data. (FIOS everywhere.)

 

[Saint Nick]

I dropped Hulu+ after I saw commercials. Fuck Hulu. My question is when will Amazon make an app for the XBOX???

 

[lokiju]

I dropped Hulu+ after I saw commercials. Fuck Hulu. My question is when will Amazon make an app for the XBOX???

You already sort of can http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/xbox

 

[Saint Nick]

Thank loki... will check it out tonight! How awesome!

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, if there was a la carte choices for channels from directv, those are most of the channels I'd get. Instead, I have to move up to the or 3rd tier, which I refuse to do, because I don't want to pay for the 90% of crap that I'd get with it (MTV, etc.) not to mention all the infomercial channels which I ignore 100% of the time. At under $10 per month, what a bargain!

 

[ponyo]

Most of the good stuff is on Hulu Plus, especially if it's older than 5 shows ago. Trying to watch a show that you've missed all season is impossible. Then you pay more than Amazon Prime or Netflix and still have to sit through shitty commercials.

I'm less than impressed with Hulu Plus right now. :\

I wouldn't dream of paying for Hulu Plus. I would sign up for Netflix before I did that. But I wouldn't pay for Netflix either.

I get Amazon Prime Instant streaming as throw in bundle. I wouldn't pay for it on its own.

So that leaves Hulu as the default winner since it's 100% free. And Hulu commercials don't bother me since I can fast forward through it.

 

[AeroEngy]

I dropped Comcast Cable/Phone/Internet triple play to just the internet (no other providers available) and went streaming only. I use an Xbox 360 for Netflix, Hulu +, and ESPN (mostly just NCAA) on one TV and a Roku 2 XS on the other for Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu +. We also still get all the major networks (NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC) and other random channels through the cable even though we don't pay for it. I guess they just broadcast that stuff unencrypted over their network regardless.

I haven't had any regrets dropping cable and don't miss it. It is kind of nice catching up on an entire series that you missed and watching episodes back to back. I have a nice backlog of BBC's Top Gear, Breaking Bad, etc. to catch up on.

 

[ScoobMaster]

8 year DirecTV customer here that cut the service and went streaming-only last year. It was an adjustment for my family, but my wife and son have embraced it and we have not looked back. We have 2 Roku XD boxes plus the PS3. I subscribe to netflix and am a member of Amazon Prime. Even with the $140 NHL Gamecenter subscription and the $119 MLB.TV subscription (gotta have my Hockey and Baseball) I am spending less than HALF of what DirecTV was costing me annually (that was with NO premium channels).

 

[drebo]

It's unfortunate that the Amazon Instant Video interface sucks donkey dong. Especially on the Roku.

 

[ScoobMaster]

It's unfortunate that the Amazon Instant Video interface sucks donkey dong. Especially on the Roku.

Yeah - I'll agree with that part. I keep hoping some enterprising developer will write a custom channel like the Netflix instant queue browser. I'd pay a few bucks for one.

 

[Jeff7]

...
I haven't had any regrets dropping cable and don't miss it. It is kind of nice catching up on an entire series that you missed and watching episodes back to back. I have a nice backlog of BBC's Top Gear, Breaking Bad, etc. to catch up on.

I started out my cablelessness with the series of Stargate:SG1 on DVD. Over 9000 hours of commercial-free widescreen TV, for about $100.

 

[amish]

You already sort of can http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/xbox

i just wish that there was an app on the xbox dashboard. it makes netflix so easy to use.

 

[lokiju]

Wanted to update that I did try this at home yesterday on my Roku and was disappointed to see that while they do have the Discovery stuff added, the most recent 3 seasons of what I checked were NOT free/included at no additional cost over Prime membership.

Shows like Mythbusters, currently at 11 seasons. Season 1 through 8 are no extra cost. Seasons 9 through 11 have a per episode streaming cost. Total shit and a big let down for me.

 

[ibex333]

Does anyone know if I can watch the History Channel on Roku? Also... any Pron?

 

[mannbub]

how would I get this Amazon to my roku 3 and where and how to signup so that I can watch discovery channels including Animal Planet

 

[Homerboy]

how would I get this Amazon to my roku 3 and where and how to signup so that I can watch discovery channels including Animal Planet

Good necro...

Pretty sure Roku 3 streams Amazon you'd just have to make sure its up dated and navigate to the Amazon option.

You need Amazon Prime to stream this content -- and likely be in the U.S.

 

[Linflas]

Good necro...

Pretty sure Roku 3 streams Amazon you'd just have to make sure its up dated and navigate to the Amazon option.

You need Amazon Prime to stream this content -- and likely be in the U.S.

Yes I watch both Amazon and Netflix on the Roku 3, you just need to add the channel.

 

[edro]

$8/month Netflix
$12/month Hulu
$79/year Amazon

And I have yet to run out of things to watch.

Same

Good to know about the Science Channel additions on Amazon though.
I never use Amazon video even though I have Prime. Hell, I haven't even tried it.
How It's Made (Science Channel) on Hulu has used up all of my free TV time.

Edit: Wow! That was from 4 years ago... and still holds true.

 

[zinfamous]

Hah, reading those old posts thinking they were current is pretty amusing. I was going to say "and nothing of value has been added!" ...and yet, it is still true.

Amazon is still pretty terrible compared to Netflix, but has certainly gotten much better than it was 4 years ago. The interface remains practically unusable.

 

[pcslookout]

I love Discovery and Animal Planet!

 

[Strk]

Hah, reading those old posts thinking they were current is pretty amusing. I was going to say "and nothing of value has been added!" ...and yet, it is still true.

Amazon is still pretty terrible compared to Netflix, but has certainly gotten much better than it was 4 years ago. The interface remains practically unusable.

Yeah, they for such a big company, Amazon has done such a shitty job with UIs. Even now it is easier to find something to watch on Prime through my browser and just add it to my watchlist.

 

[CountZero]

Hah, reading those old posts thinking they were current is pretty amusing. I was going to say "and nothing of value has been added!" ...and yet, it is still true.

Amazon is still pretty terrible compared to Netflix, but has certainly gotten much better than it was 4 years ago. The interface remains practically unusable.

One of the greatest features of Amazon Video is the ability to download videos for offline viewing (at least on Android). It is limited in the number of items you can download total but it has been a game changer for me for traveling. I used to buy and then rip the dvds of shows/movies I'd like to watch on the plane now I just download them.