[REQUEST] Amazon Prime Instant Video addon (similar to Netflix)

See page here for some details: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/amazo...-hands-on/

Basically, its amazon's equivalent to Netflix and you can stream TV and movies. People in the US who pay for Amazon Prime (a service that gives you free 2-day shipping) now get this service included for no extra charge. I know several people that have it, and for those that don't, it can be a worthwhile service because you only have to buy one package for your entire family to use. My mom, dad, me, my sister and her husband and kids all use one account.

An addon for this would be excellent!

Agreed it would be a great add-on - I think however only the primary member (i.e. not your extended family) would be able to use the on-demand service

I am working on one. I am a prime member so it is has good free movies and content for me.

I am still researching. I do understand have the process to get the final rtmp link for playback. I just have some test scripts written so far.

I just saw this on the amazon home page and the first thing i did was start searching to see if anyone was working on an xbmc solution to this...hopefully you are making headway...I can't offer much help, but i can give two thumbs up that this would be awesome!!!

toprunner2786 Wrote:I just saw this on the amazon home page and the first thing i did was start searching to see if anyone was working on an xbmc solution to this...hopefully you are making headway...I can't offer much help, but i can give two thumbs up that this would be awesome!!!

what he said!

Ditto!

BlueCop Wrote:I am working on one. I am a prime member so it is has good free movies and content for me.

I am still researching. I do understand have the process to get the final rtmp link for playback. I just have some test scripts written so far.

I'd be happy to test or help out in anyway. Not a coder unfortunately.

Also for anyone that's curious Amazon Prime streaming uses Flash not Silverlight and is working under Linux Mint 10.

Well good news. I have all the authentication and playback code done.

I am watching a Doctor Who episode right now with xbmc from amazon prime. None of the listing code is done. I am seeing if it is possible to use some amazon python libraries that already exist to do the listings.

So right now it isn't useful to the average person because you have to manually feed it the amazon link to the video. anyway I am done for today. hopefully more progress tomorrow

also I just wanted to add. I am watching it in HD

How would you compare Amazon Prime Instant with Hulu and Netlflix in terms of XBMC playback... which is better/worse in your humble opinion

Thanks for another great addon BlueCop!! What you do amazes me and I wish I could shadow you for a day to understand the process of breaking down the different pieces and assembling them into a nice python addon for XBMC.

well their resolution and bitrates levels are different from hulu. they use the same streaming method(rtmp) in the same container(flv) with the same codecs(h264/aac). So it all depends on which quality level you select.

the 3500kbps 720p hulu stream looks better then thr hd stream from amazon. the 2500 and 1500kbps 720p from hulu are comparablr to the amazon hd.

for sd content it is a little different. the 480p hulu (700x400 for 16:9, 640x480 for 4:3) is generally streamed at 1000kbps. the amazon highest sd quality is 704x384 at ~1200kbps. so you lose a bit of resolution but gain some bitrate. It is hard to compare these I think they look very similar. the amazon is less prone to compression artifacts imho. I can't substantiate that with evidence though.

I can't compare to netflix because it isn't on my htpc right now(linux).

I want to write a guide to reversing rtmp sites. amazon was interesting because it used ssl like it was going out of style. seting up ssl proxies was essential to figuring everything out. The process I use most is just a proxy to monitor and save traffic. I then just try to reverse those logs. I start with finding the rtmp link and working backwards. It isn't that hard. You just have to replicate what the client does. Sometimes sites use encryption with keys and algorithms in swf files. this requires more work by dumping the swf action script and grepping through to find the important bits.

also you wouldn't want to spend time with me. I am quite literally a crazy person(untreated bipolar). hypomania is when I code. I am not that good at it but I keep going. I like the sense of accomplishment. the depressive periods suck though. I also smoke way too much pot. you would end up smelling like bob marley.