Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me watch Amazon videos on my TV

Dear Aunt TUAW,

Checking out your apps, you have some major talent, thanks for sharing. I know you probably get a gazillion requests, but one feature that would be incredible that I can't find anywhere is the ability to 'stream' Amazon Instant Videos to the AppleTV. I have these free movies since I pay for an Amazon Prime membership but have no way to view them on my TV. I would gladly pay to see such functionality. Do you have any ideas or know anyway to do this?

Your loving nephew,

Chris W

Dear Chris,

Auntie's going to go all practical on you here. If you want your Apple TV to work just like a desktop system, consider just...buying a desktop system.

Connect a small Mac Mini or Win PC to the TV. Really. Older low-profile units are perfect for that. You can buy a used netbook for peanuts--or you may have an old system already lying around the house; many modern TVs accept VGA input. You can hook them up using either Ethernet or Wi-Fi and use any number of media center apps on either OS.

Use a simple VNC app like Chicken of the VNC to connect to and control your new TV media center or use it in reverse to mirror your laptop. Sometimes the most obvious solution really is a workable one.

Amazon's videos aren't exactly high-definition so be prepared for some fuzziness in your life. You can leave your Apple TV connected as well to take advantage of all that AirPlay yumminess.

Hugs,

Auntie T.

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Dear Aunt TUAW, Checking out your apps, you have some major talent, thanks for sharing. I know you probably get a gazillion requests,...

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Ad7am

Erica, I've been looking forward to trying your very own AirFlick app — won't this work to to serve files with Amazon Video to AppleTV?

January 16 2012 at 3:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bily Foster

A cheap way to get Amazon VOD to is to pickup a Blu-Ray player with support for it. I picked up a Sony one for $150 that support Netflix (which of course AppleTV currently supports), Hulu Plus, Amazon VOD and a few others I don't use. You could also pickup a RoKu box for under $100 and they have a bunch of 'channels' you can add of which Amazon VOD, Netflix and Hulu Plus are a part of as well.

July 12 2011 at 3:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

futuretheory

AppleTV is great, but...it doesn't do everything (yet?). Despite my longing for a full fledge iOS device supporting 3rd party apps connected to my TV, there is another player that does offer a platform that can help us: Roku. If you are serious about having a connected media player that supports a lot of 3rd parties but hate the idea of connecting a desktop computer to your TV, that's the way to go. I have a Roku and an AppleTV both, for differing reasons.

July 12 2011 at 12:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dan Blanchard

My TiVo does Amazon video, Hulu Plus, and Netflix, so that's what I use in these kinds of situations. The resolution is also higher on the Amazon videos when streaming from the TiVo than from a computer.

July 11 2011 at 10:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wranglerdriver

Roku (http://roku.com) supports amazon and netflix. No air play though (obviously).

July 11 2011 at 9:44 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

gbuell

Pretty sure there's an Amazon Video plugin for Plex, and that you can put Plex on the Apple TV. Why not mention that option?

July 11 2011 at 9:41 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply