There are 6,245 restaurants on Seamless in New York City. Sometimes deciding between a roast beef sandwich and a pepperoni pizza is an impossible choice. But this is not an isolated dilemma—the question of what to watch, what to eat, and what to click is indicative of an issue that plagues the whole internet.
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Folks in the Land of the Rising Sun will be pleased to know that there’s now another option where they can rent or buy movies and TV shows. Today, Amazon announced the arrival of its Instant Video service in Japan, bringing with it a selection of more than 26,000 series and films from local and international studios — such as Shochiku, Toho, TV Asahi, TBS and Warner Bros., to mention a few. Of course, this means viewers will have access to Amazon Instant Video on a number of different platforms, including PCs and the company’s Kindle Fire line of tablets. So what are you waiting for? Start building out your very own Watchlist right about now — and we’d definitely recommend placing Pacific Rim in there.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Amazon
Via: The Verge
Source: Amazon
Amazon Instant Video has been launched in Japan today, it offers movies and TV shows for streaming, download rental and outright purchase. Customers can choose titles from a library containing over 26,000 movies and TV shows, out of which around 15,000 titles are available in HD. Content from local major studios and TV networks is available as well through the service. The launch comes at a time when the Kindle Fire HDX tablet is also making its way into Japan, with Amazon offering customers a 2,000 yen coupon to get them to try the service on their new tablet.
By launching Instant Video in Japan, Amazon joins rivals Apple, Google and Hulu. Netflix, which is already quite big in other parts of the world, has no presence in the Japanese market as of now. Amazon also goes up against local operators such as NotTV, Tsutaya TV and GyaO Corp. Pricing structure varies for newer and older titles. For example old films like Good Will Hunting can be rented for 100 yen, for 24 hours. Newer films like Monsters University cost $5 to rent for one day, and $25 if they user wants to purchase it. Local broadcasters Fuji TV, NHK as well as Shochiku Co. and Toho Co. are Amazon’s initial content partners in Japan. Titles from Hollywood studios are obviously included as well.
Amazon Instant Video Launched In Japan original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Amazon Studios clearly isn’t messing about. One of the more notable series in its original round of pilots is getting a bit more star power. Comedians Amy Sedaris, Wanda Sykes and Sex and the City alum Cynthia Nixon are set to join the cast of Alpha House, which already includes the likes of John Goodman. The Garry Trudeau-penned show is shaping up to be the largest of Amazon’s first round of five green lit series. The show will premier through the company’s streaming service later this year.
Billy Steele contributed Photoshopped magic to this report.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Amazon
Amazon Instant Video for iOS now supports AirPlay, allowing Prime customers to beam video from iPhone or iPad to their TV. Neat.
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Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting that Amazon will soon be announcing its own streaming box to pair up with its Amazon Instant Video and video on demand. More »
Already saddled with a 56-day premiere delay, your Instant Queue isn’t getting any younger—assuming you can even find something to watch. Here’s how to make up for lost time and keep your queue packed with Netflix’s (relatively) newest and best offerings. More »
The Nintendo Wii U has been able to access Amazon Instant Video content for quite some time already, and we are thankful for those folks over at Amazon who have a heart for the older Wii console, as Amazon Instant Video has recently been made available for the original Wii as well. Nintendo tweeted this particular bit of news, touting that the streaming service can be downloaded via the Wii Shop Channel – but only if you live in the US, that is. Too bad for folks living in the other regions, as until we receive official word from the House of Mario, we will just have to make the assumption that you won’t be able to get Amazon Instant Video anytime soon. Basically, the process is painless as all it requires is for you to download the app via the system, followed by registering it via a link. Boy, you didn’t even need to break a sweat for this, no?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Dueling Coming To Diablo 3 In Patch 1.0.7, Possible Final Fantasy V And VI Announcements Teased For 17th January, 
If you own a Wii, you were probably a little bummed out to hear that Amazon would be serving up Instant Video to the Wii U and not to your older console.
But fret no longer, as Amazon has just announced that its library of streaming video content is now available to Wii owners.
Amazon’s Instant Video library is home to over 145,000 titles, and if you’re a Prime member you have automatic access to over 33,000 titles right off the bat.
Other features you may have grown accustomed to on Amazon’s media streaming platform are also present, including Whispersync, which lets users pick up right where they left off on another device. Like, say, a Kindle Fire.
Navigation is relatively simple, giving users categories like Recently Watched, Watchlist, Genre Recommendations and Your TV Shows.
Users will also have access to Parental Controls and Kid Zone title lists to make sure kids aren’t wandering into treacherous territory.
The service is available now to all Wii owners and can be found in the Wii Shop Channel.
We’ve seen web portals that let you search for TV and movies on the internet across different services, but a new update for Roku is bringing that capability directly to its set-top boxes. Whether you’re searching by movie, TV show, actor or director it will sniff out related content across some of the higher profile services it offers, including Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Crackle, Vudu and HBO Go. The new Roku Search function is front and center (once your second gen HD or higher player has been updated to the latest version) and in our tests worked quickly, pulling up content wherever it was available and mentioning if it was available in HD. The only downside is navigating the onscreen keyboard via remote, although you can always sub in your mobile device thanks to those recently upgraded remote apps for iOS and Android. All in all Roku says it can reach its tendrils across around 130,000 titles and almost 100,000 actors and directors. Check after the break for a couple of screenshots and a quick demo video, hit the official blog for more info or force an update on your hockey puck to check it out yourself.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Roku update adds cross-provider search over Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, Vudu and Crackle originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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