I'm doing it wrong ... obviously

Nov 20, 2009
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Morning All,

I signed up for an Amazon Prime account a little more than a year ago. I did this for the benefit of delivery options and not the streaming video option. I have since only very slightly tried the streaming video thing, but that was only through the Xbox 360 and maybe a table or cell phone.

I now have the HP Stream Mini sitting at a TV and would like to formally give Amazon Prime video streaming a try. I have never done streaming video, let alone a paid for service (not even Netflix). But I have this obviously embarrassing issue in that on a PC I have no f-ing idea how to use the Amazon Prime streaming service.

Worse, on my newest tablet (iPad Air 2) when I log into Amazon using the Amazon Prime Video app I am seeing a bunch of search responses with 'free with commercials' bullshit. Sorry, but I could watch these shows natively on the Internet with commercials so what the frak good is AP?

So two issues: How do I stream Amazon Prime on a PC (Win8.1), and why am I getting 'free with commercials' instead of the benefit of without commercials as an AP subscriber?
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
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Nov 20, 2009
10,046
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Amazon is a very poor example of a streaming video provider. They have to give it away to Prime users as it isn't going to find subscribers otherwise. I find it annoying that they return search results you didn't ask for. If I am searching for oranges and they return lug wrench how is that supposed to help me? Of course this analogy isn't exactly applicable but most of what I have searched for in their instant video will invariably return 90% of something I didn't ask for.

Oh the humanity! And no, it wasn't a trick question.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
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Amazon is a very poor example of a streaming video provider.

Agreed. They have some good content but they play too much hardball compared to say Netflix. The fact that they didn't release on Android until the Fire Phone flopped still irks me.