Very puzzled by Kindle Fire Content source

[vugtitan]

just saw this demo:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-oUrzy0Lvw

however i cannot understand where the displayed content he so slickly demonstrates is coming from.

is it from the cloud? seems too fast even for a broadband connection.

is it an always on connection to the amazon cloud?

is it from wi-fi...this means it is tied to someone's broadband?


or is it downloaded already?


is it 3G? is 3G that fast and that cheap?

In fact it is not explained at all.

so the question is where the content is coming from?

[DaleDe]

Most of what you see is local. Occassionally he uses Wi-Fi to get start a download just to show that he can which is tied to wifi available by the show where the demo is being shown. There is no 3G. It is not capable of using 3G or any WLAN.

Dale

[covfam]

also 3 g cannot stream hd video of anygood withut a HUGE buffer .. my wifes iphone 4 with verizons 3g with consistantly maximum bar reception cant stream it without it getting pixilated and neither can my ipad2 stream hd video with out huge buggering with its dedicated verizon 3g. i can stream standard definition you tube videos without much buffering but hi def you tube videos need quite a bit of buffering.

perhaps LTE devices do better i do not know since im not in an LTE area.

Originally Posted by covfam

also 3 g cannot stream hd video of anygood withut a HUGE buffer .. my wifes iphone 4 with verizons 3g with consistantly maximum bar reception cant stream it without it getting pixilated and neither can my ipad2 stream hd video with out huge buggering with its dedicated verizon 3g. i can stream standard definition you tube videos without much buffering but hi def you tube videos need quite a bit of buffering.

perhaps LTE devices do better i do not know since im not in an LTE area.

Why would you stream HD anyway? You don't need it on a device that is not capable of viewing all the HD pixels. The iPhone screen is 960 x 640 pixels, the iPad is 1024 x 768, and the KFire is 1024 x 600. The lowest resolution of HD video is 1280 x 720 pixels, which is bigger than any of those screens. Full size HD is 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is way too big. Streaming HD is just a waste of bandwidth unless you are streaming to a larger screen.

• iPad 4:3 ratio is 1024 x 768
• iPad 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• iPhone 4:3 ratio is 960 x 640
• iPhone 16:9 ratio is 960 x 540 (letterboxed)
• KFire 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• 1080i HD is 1920 x 1080
• 720p HD is 1280 x 720

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Why would you stream HD anyway? You don't need it on a device that is not capable of viewing all the HD pixels. The iPhone screen is 960 x 640 pixels, the iPad is 1024 x 768, and the KFire is 1024 x 600. The lowest resolution of HD video is 1280 x 720 pixels, which is bigger than any of those screens. Full size HD is 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is way too big. Streaming HD is just a waste of bandwidth unless you are streaming to a larger screen.

• iPad 4:3 ratio is 1024 x 768
• iPad 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• iPhone 4:3 ratio is 960 x 640
• iPhone 16:9 ratio is 960 x 540 (letterboxed)
• KFire 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• 1080i HD is 1920 x 1080
• 720p HD is 1280 x 720

720p should work fine scaled to any of these devices and still better than 480i or p. The small screens are held much closer to you face that a TV screen is and you will still see better images. All iTunes are only 720p anyway and it is fine on portable devices. 1080p is overkill on portable devices, even the largest ones.

Dale

[Luke_Y]

@Jack

Problem is, content isn't usually readily available in those native device resolutions. Unless whomever you are streaming from makes it available at your devices native resolution the only option for higher quality is 720/1080.

720/1080 streamed to and scaled by your device to its native resolution will often look much better than streaming 480 and up-scaling it.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Luke_Y

@Jack

Problem is, content isn't usually readily available in those native device resolutions. Unless whomever you are streaming from makes it available at your devices native resolution the only option for higher quality is 720/1080.

720/1080 streamed to and scaled by your device to its native resolution will often look much better than streaming 480 and up-scaling it.

As cloud technology improves I would expect that the cloud software will ultimately do the scaling automatically and provide quicker downloads and even better quality. Amazon is likely to do this for their own product and I expect the iCloud to do the same. The Cloud technology isn't just about storing applications and files in a server, it is about sharing the processing task.

Dale

[covfam]

Jack Part of why we tried HD streaming at one time was to stream video onto our 42 inch plasma television (now we just download a series/movie onto my device then play it on our television) when im just watching on my ipad2 hulu plus gets pretty pixilated with my verizon 3g with 4 or more bars. there arent many in between choices on video conetn resolution 480 resolution looks pretty poor on the ipad2 where itunes 720-hd looks fine ... sure it may be overkill but i cant find 1024x576 movie libraries out there for my ipad2.

Dale im hoping it will because out on my farm i get good verizon wireless coverage but mu DSL boradband is 765k on its best day and i cant stream internet content worth beans on it :P

Originally Posted by covfam

Jack Part of why we tried HD streaming at one time was to stream video onto our 42 inch plasma television (now we just download a series/movie onto my device then play it on our television) when im just watching on my ipad2 hulu plus gets pretty pixilated with my verizon 3g with 4 or more bars. there arent many in between choices on video conetn resolution 480 resolution looks pretty poor on the ipad2 where itunes 720-hd looks fine ... sure it may be overkill but i cant find 1024x576 movie libraries out there for my ipad2.

Dale im hoping it will because out on my farm i get good verizon wireless coverage but mu DSL boradband is 765k on its best day and i cant stream internet content worth beans on it :P

I don't think you will be able to connect a Fire to a TV. If you read what Amazon states, they say you can stream to a Fire or to a Amazon enabled TV, but no mention of connecting a Fire to a TV. After all we are talking about an inexpensive $200 device not a $500+ iPad.

I looked into a movie listed in Amazon Instant Video. First thing I noticed is the statement that it is "Also available in HD" for select TVs. That implies it is available in non-HD. Then I scrolled down to look at the four listed download types. The HD version is for TVs only and is 2.9 GB. The portable devices version is 0.6 GB. As I stated above, I seriously doubt Amazon will allow you to DL an HD video to a Fire.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Why would you stream HD anyway? You don't need it on a device that is not capable of viewing all the HD pixels. The iPhone screen is 960 x 640 pixels, the iPad is 1024 x 768, and the KFire is 1024 x 600. The lowest resolution of HD video is 1280 x 720 pixels, which is bigger than any of those screens. Full size HD is 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is way too big. Streaming HD is just a waste of bandwidth unless you are streaming to a larger screen.

• iPad 4:3 ratio is 1024 x 768
• iPad 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• iPhone 4:3 ratio is 960 x 640
• iPhone 16:9 ratio is 960 x 540 (letterboxed)
• KFire 16:9 ratio is 1024 x 576 (letterboxed)
• 1080i HD is 1920 x 1080
• 720p HD is 1280 x 720

Completely agree. If I want to watch HD, I use my Xoom @ 1280 x 800 -- it's outstanding.

[gweminence]

I think people miss a simple point: none of the devices listed, including the Fire, are INTENDED to replace, or compete with, your 42" HD tv. Most 480p content will look just fine on any of these devices, and 720p should be outstanding. It's just a waste of bandwidth to try to stream 1080p, which is TRUE hd.