A look at the Amazon Prime Video app for Windows 10
Amazon launched its Amazon Prime Video for Windows application this month officially for Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system. Windows 10 users may download the application from the Microsoft Store and use it provided that they have an Amazon Prime account.
One question that may come to the mind of Amazon Prime customers is if the application differs from using Amazon Prime Video on a PC or other device. The short answer is that there are major differences that may persuade customers to use the application.
The application installs without issues from the Microsoft Store. It prompts you to select a region and to sign-in to an Amazon Prime account to start using it.
The frontpage displays the usual assortment of shows and movies including user selected or watched content.
You can watch any show or movie with a handful of clicks, use the built-in search to find content, or browse categories or channels.
Prime Video Channels are subscription-based add-ons that you may subscribe to; these channels increase the number of videos and shows that you have access to. Categories separates the list of content by shows, movies, 4K UHD, deals and other content.
The main difference between watching Amazon Prime Video in a browser and the Amazon Prime Video app for Windows is that the latter supports downloads while the former does not. You may want to open the Settings before you start downloads as you may change the desired video quality there.
The default value is set to better and uses about 1.1 Gigabytes of storage for every hour of playback. You can improve the video quality by selecting best; doing so increases the data size to 2.4 Gigabytes. Users with slow Internet connections may also reduce the quality to good to decrease the quality and the data per hour to 0.5 Gigabytes.
There is no option currently to change the download location. The app picks the default partition for that and if you are low on space, you will not be able to download a lot using the app.
Downloads work surprisingly well. Just select the "download" option when you select a movie or TV show. Even better, for TV shows, it is possible to download an entire season from the season overview page.
The download button changes to "downloading" automatically when you activate it. It includes a pause button to pause the transfer, but there is no option to control the download in any other way. Options to change or monitor transfer rates are not provided. The pause button acts as a download status indicator as it is filled as the download progresses.
You find all downloaded content under downloads. There you may also delete downloads or search for additional episodes if available.
Pros/Cons of the Amazon Prime Video for Windows 10 app
- Pro: Easy to use
- Pro: You can download single episodes or movies, and entire seasons.
- Con: You cannot change the content's language.
- Con: You cannot change the download path.
- Con: You get just a few settings and little control over downloads or streams.
Closing Words
The Amazon Prime Video app for Windows worked well during tests. Its main advantage is that it allows you to download videos to the local device to watch them while offline. Downside is that it lacks controls and options, but it is possible that Amazon is going to add some of the missing options to the app eventually.
Now You: Do you use streaming apps on your devices?
Lack of language change option is a major shortcoming. How about asking users What Regional site they want to log into as well as What display language they want.
I can’t understand why using the Prime Video APP from the Windows store of Windows 10 I don’t see the icon for the cast on Chromecast. I can’t understand why I have to keep using Chrome just to cast to TV. But from a smartphone, yes? Why this? If i want to use it on pc why the hell can’t i do it?
where is the app .exe installed? can’t find it in file explorer.
I’m in Sydney, Australia and on the one month Free Trial for Amazon Prime. I installed the Windows 10 App for Prime Video from Microsoft Store and have downloaded the complete series of Hunters. As described in the review, the downloaded videos are stored in one location (Prime Video App), and cannot be moved or accessed by another browser such as Chrome. This means I can only watch the videos on my Windows 10 PC in the Windows Edge browser, and not cast to my Android Smart TV.
When I accessed Amazon Prime in Chrome, I would have to download the series again to have the opportunity to cast to the Smart TV. This is very narrow minded and controlling by Amazon Prime, that it is not available to be shared between devices under the same Prime Account Name.
Streaming does suffer in quality and internet connection speeds. The downloader is fine if you do it whilst sleeping to watch the next day, because you do download in “Best” mode, but because of DRM protection, you can’t take it on holiday on other devices
If you buy so much stuff from Amazon that Prime saves you money on P&P, then go for it – the streaming service is an undeniable bonus.
But if you only want a streaming service, Amazon’s offering doesn’t compete with its rivals.
The free offerings look like a lot, but if your tastes aren’t totally indiscriminate the appeal won’t last long. I say free, because there is a wealth of stuff on Prime that’s only available for an extra monthly fee. In my case, bugger that for a game of soldiers – I’ve paid once, I’m not paying again.
It’s all personal choice of course, so which streaming service would I recommend? Prime? NowTV? Netflix? Actually – none of them, on a permanent basis at least. The sheer quantity of new material available rarely cuts it, especially now a pandemic is slowing new production.
Happily there’s no harm in trying any of them for a month or two, possibly in rotation – but I guarantee that, even with a family viewing, it won’t be long before you’ve seen all you want to.
@Wayfarer:
A couple/few months back, John Oliver joked that the most popular new series on Netflix was spending 40 minutes scrolling through Netflix trying to find something worth watching. To be fair, I *have* found some movies and series on Netflix Streaming that I enjoyed. And to be equally fair, they often took a *lot* of scrolling to find. Netflix’s DVD offerings — in the US at least — are far more extensive than Netflix Streaming’s. Shame about the 480p resolution, although you can pay a subscription surcharge to get access to Blu-rays (when those are available). As for Amazon Prime, I’m pretty sure I’ve come across the odd movie or series that I thought was worthwhile, but overall it still seems to be pretty slim pickin’s.
For what it’s worth, I’m not a fan of the vertically integrated model of video production and streaming distribution. If you like a couple things on Netflix, a couple things on Amazon Prime … on HBO Go, on CBS Interactive, on Disney+, etc. … you’d have to subscribe to *all* of them if you want to watch your favorite shows legally, when they are first released. You might be better off just subscribing to Netflix DVD, with its significant release delays, and living in terror of spoilers. (My little brother watched all of Game of Thrones this way. Never have I had to keep such careful track of so many things not to say for so long. ;-).
Thanks for sharing. And the funny moments. :D
hi. after download movie with this app, can i watch it with other players like Pot player or TV?
Thanks.
I did not try. They are DRM protected, I guess and that would mean that you cannot play them in any other player.
hi. after download movie with this app, can i watch it with other players like Pot player or TV?
Works great for download; and, yes, this needs to allow user to specify location.
Another advantage of this is I am always behind my VPN; which, means I can’t watch Amazon Prime programming online w/o disconnecting my VPN.
Even though you can’t change the download location of the videos in the app you are able to change where your windows computer installs apps. I changed it to install on my external hard drive and then downloaded the amazon prime video app from the Microsoft store. The app installed on my external hard drive. Now when I check the settings for the app it shows my storage location as my external hard drive for downloads.
bleh
To bad that except for the series Bosh you can with a speed of 2.4 GB download absolutely nothing, worth watching. Amazon is the largest space of really bad programs that are all on or even below the golden Raspberry level. Not only their tv programs but also their movies are about as low quality-wise as the number of morals Jeff Bezos has.
A no I do not mean Raspberry Pi 4 (And their heating problem)
I use Amazon prime app on iPad, apple TV and iPhone. Cant use it on Windows since I dont have windows account, only local. Never had any need for Windows store. But if you have to specify regien, doesnt that make the use of VPN (crossborder streaming) if you want to see what you can see in another countries?
You don’t need a Microsoft account to download Free Apps from the Store. I have installed multiple apps without signing in.
Yeppers, it’s funny. Many people have this misconception – because they are just used to the Apple&Google sauce of things which require you to have an account.. :D