Help Trouble with streaming Amazon Prime?

[jdercole]

So, I previously downloaded Flash 11.1 and was using Firebox to stream Amazon Prime to my Nexus 7. Recently, though, it stopped working. I uninstalled everything and reinstalled, but still no luck. The flash appears to work on other sites, just not Amazon streaming. Is anyone else having this problem? Any solutions? I've tried the other commonly used flash-capable browsers, but get the same with each. It looks like it's going to connect (connecting screen and everything) and then just goes to a black box. Is it just me encountering this? Just noticed it two days ago.

 

[umataro42]

Its not just you, I tried it after seeing this post in the general Apps thread and it doesn't work on my GNex either (using Firefox and phony). Looks like they don't support the last version of Flash available for Android.

 

[sparksd]

Something changed at Amazon. I haven't updated Flash and it used to work with Boat browser. Well, it still comes up but the video is very laggy over an excellent connection. And when I select fullscreen, the video expands within the embedded video window but the video display does not go fullscreen. Same with Puffin browser.

Prime Video has always been a bit dicey on Android but it appears to have worsened. I'd say that Amazon is pushing people to the Fire (I have an original Fire and Prime Video works great on it).

Update - I am seeing the same behavior on my Asus Infinity Prime. In Puffin browser, when I started a video I got a msg across the video display - "Updating player". And video was clear but choppy. So I'd say something changed at Amazon.

And Amazon continues to list no compatible mobile Android devices in its Instant Video Compatible Devices list.

 

[Trimbaud]

Same problem here. I tried boat and the older version of dolphin with flash 11.1. Tried the user agent as desktop as well as android. Nothing from amazon played

 

[sparksd]

A user posted at another site -

Amazon Instant Video not working WITH Adobe Flash Player installed?!? - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com

He indicates that with the release of pilots for their new TV shows, Amazon implemented Adobe DRM on all Instant Video content.

 

[Hoosiermama]

I'm not real happy about this. Here's the email I got today. My first email basically said that it had worked and now it didn't. The first reply:

I'm very sorry that you're unable to stream videos from your Nexus 7 tablet anymore.

We use Adobe Flash Player to support our videos, last fall Adobe announced that they were no longer supporting Android Devices and some select web browsers. Amazon Instant Video wasn't intended to be compatible with Android devices, though because Adobe Flash was still supported it did allow some customers to use it.

Amazon Instant Video requires the latest Adobe Flash Player to stream videos. Unfortunately, because your tablet is no longer supported by Adobe, it cannot keep up with the new updates.

We know that convenience of being able to watch videos from anywhere is very important to our customers. What's important to our customers is important to us, rest assured that we are constantly looking at options and ways to expand. I'll take your email as feedback and send it to our Amazon Instant Video team for consideration as we plan for the future.

If you have questions about your Prime Membership or would like to know about other viewing options, please check out our website or contact us again.

The second reply:
Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com.

First of all, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused in this regard.

I've checked our list of compatible devices and found that Amazon Instant Video isn't currently available on Nexus 7 tablet.

However, The issue you reported us needs real-time troubleshooting to be done. I'd suggest you to please contact us by chat or phone so we can try some real-time troubleshooting with you to fix this problem.

Basically, the only Android devices compatible now are the Fires, and they're shifting the blame to Adobe.

 

[sparksd]

This has been an on-going issue for quite a while now (a couple of years?) - Amazon Prime would work with Android devices for a while, then it wouldn't, then it would ... And their response has always been essentially what they told you. e.g., from my Motorola Xoom days:

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/84439c0c9e

 

[jdercole]

This is a total bummer. I hope some sort of workaround pops up in the future. I knew going in that Amazon didn't play nice with the Nexus 7, but was pleased to know I could sort of sidestep it. Now I lose some functionality from my N7. Amazon needs to give it up and embrace other android devices. I'm never going to tie myself to a platform as closed as the Kindle Fire, and I'm sure they could actually increase their paying customer base if they worked harder to support other android devices.

 

[sparksd]

I've often wondered about how good Amazon's Android development capabilities really are. As an example, neither the Kindle app for Android nor the Android-based Kindle Fires support book collections the way the original Kindle device does. Very irritating as this thread shows:

Amazon.com: Customer Discussions: Collections on Kindle Fire?

They just released Ver 4.0 of the Android app today and again, no collection support. Not having the capability on the showcase Kindle Fires indicates to me that their Android development capabilities may be stunted.

 

[John Bean]

That link doesn't seem to point to a thread, but I understand the point you make about collections (or lack of) on the Kindle app. I'm surprised the Fire doesn't have it though, I assumed it would and the lack of it on generic Android devices was a deliberate ploy to encourage users to switch to a "real" Kindle.

Going back to this thread, it seems clear that there is a "dirty tricks" campaign going on by Adobe and others in being selective with which devices get support for which DRM delivery system. If Flash is no longer supported for Android in general then how does The Fire manage to play Amazon Prime videos that require the latest version of Flash?

There's a lot more to this than meets the eye, and none of it is good for consumers. I'm getting a distinct sense of deja vu; it reminds me of the days when Microsoft claimed IE was an integral part of the OS and went out of their way to encourage the use of software that made it hard for other browsers to compete.

 

[Hoosiermama]

Going back to this thread, it seems clear that there is a "dirty tricks" campaign going on by Adobe and others in being selective with which devices get support for which DRM delivery system. If Flash is no longer supported for Android in general then how does The Fire manage to play Amazon Prime videos that require the latest version of Flash?

There's a lot more to this than meets the eye, and none of it is good for consumers.

Agreed. My assumption is that they don't want other Android devices to be able to stream Prime videos in the hopes that it'll increase Fire sales.

I have a Fire, so I can still stream, but one of the features I hate about it is that carousel. The latest version of the Android Kindle app has that carousel. Joy. I haven't looked to see if it can be disabled yet.

 

[John Bean]

I haven't found a way to permanently disable the carousel but clicking on "Books" in the pop-out sidebar gives the old interface. I hoped this would "stick" as default, but my hope was in vain :-(

Don't you love it when developers break things rather than fixing them...

 

[tcat007]

My solution: I bought a Roku and watch Amazon a screen you can actually see what's going on But yeah, kind of a bummer when so many other sites stream perfectly well.

 

[sparksd]

It appears that Amazon has made a change of some kind - Amazon Prime now works on both my N7 and TF700T using Boat browser.

 

[mykrix]

I cannot get Amazon Prime instant video
To work with my Nexus 10 running 4.3, even using the Boat browser. Sit just says flash player is needed, takes me to the Adobe website, which says it is not available for the Nexus.
I even downloaded the last available flash player for Android 4 from the archives, but no joy. Any ideas?

 

[WoohooGuy]

I cannot get Amazon Prime instant video
To work with my Nexus 10 running 4.3, even using the Boat browser. Sit just says flash player is needed, takes me to the Adobe website, which says it is not available for the Nexus.
I even downloaded the last available flash player for Android 4 from the archives, but no joy. Any ideas?

The Android 4.3 update broke flash on my Nexus 7, it was causing constant crashes with both Dolphin and Xscope Pro browsers. Firefox became very unstable with the 4.3 update as well.

Rolled back to 4.2.2 and everything is normal again, not sure if that is an option for you.

 

[mykrix]

Update to my previous post - I was actually able to get the system to work using the Boat browser. The reason it didn't when I wrote the original post was that I had not changed the browser setting to enable Flash; when I did that Amazon Prime Instant Viewing streamed fine , although try to stream the "HD" versions of TV shows only gave a small window and not the whole screen. Non HD video worked fine.

Unfortunately the next day the unit (which I only had for less than a week) crashed; was able to restart once, crashed again and now is DOA.

Oh well, back it goes to Amazon

 

[crenita]

Puffin browser works great w all flash videos including amazon prime