topic Re: Searching Amazon Prime in Android TV

Searching Amazon Prime

pautaylo4 — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 10:46:09 GMT

I have a KD49-XF9005 with the Amazon Prime app built in. That works fine, but the only thing I cannot work out is how to filter searches to, for example, only show videos included with Amazon Prime. I imagine that the facility is there somewhere, but could someone point it out to me please.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 12:10:14 GMT

Hi there,

Hopefully one of the community members will be able to help.

Best wishes,

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

batee5 — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:51:42 GMT

Hi pautaylo4,

Welcome to our community!

I think it's best to check with Amazon directly about this as apps usually change interface and features with every update released by the service provider.

Regrads,

Batee5

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

Kuschelmonschter — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 12:11:55 GMT

Amazon recently removed the Prime filter in their web front-end, probably to promote their rental/purchase stuff.

Then they hid 4K content, probably to save bandwidth.

The Amazon Video experience has always been poor on Android TV. For 2 years it was a stutter-fest on Sony.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

stormyuk — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 12:30:59 GMT

Yeh, unfortunately don't think there is a way, they want you to buy paid content and they don't really want you clicking UHD versions if they can avoid it. My partner never looks for the UHD versions/content (the search will only reveal 1080p content) so I assume its a tactic which serves them well.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

pautaylo4 — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 14:10:31 GMT

All of what is said here is probably right, but the reason I asked the original question was that Amazon on their site say

On many devices, if you're using Search to find a specific title, you can also use the Refine or Ways to Watch filters to only show available Prime titles.

This suggests that the filter is available on some devices and not others, and I was wondering why Sony TV's were among those on which the facility is not available.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

stormyuk — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:08:53 GMT

You might be best off contacting Amazon, although I have personally tried this unsuccessfully regarding the no UHD results being included in searches and just got ignored.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

royabrown — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 08:28:34 GMT

@stormyuk wrote:
Yeh, unfortunately don't think there is a way, they want you to buy paid content and they don't really want you clicking UHD versions if they can avoid it. My partner never looks for the UHD versions/content (the search will only reveal 1080p content) so I assume its a tactic which serves them well.

I've just tried this on my iPad, and you can certainly still get the Search/Refine options there; I typed 'UHD' in the Search, and Refined it to UHD available on Prime.

To ensure I did indeed have the latest app, I went to the Apple App Store where, oddly, it said 'Get', not 'Open', so I got it, and I now have two copies of the App, 6.0.1778.19 on the existing one, and 6.0.1778.6 on the new one.

But both have the same facilities, and give the same results.

I did try '4K' as a search string, and got more results than 'UHD' did, but the extra ones seem to be about 4K, rather than being in 4K.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

pautaylo4 — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 07:57:04 GMT

royabrown

That's very interesting research you have done and suggests that the problem is with the way Sony have implemented the app, but why on earth they would exclude the filter facility is a mystery.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

Kuschelmonschter — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 07:58:41 GMT

It is an Amazon app, not a Sony app. Amazon Video experience on Android TV has always been poor. Probably market is too small to invest more.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

pautaylo4 — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 15:14:59 GMT

In the light of the comments made, I contacted Amazon support to try to get to the bottom of whether it was down to Amazon or Sony. Set out below are extracts from the holding reply I have received

"I'm sorry to know the trouble you're having while accessing "Refine" or "Ways to Watch" filters on your Sony TV.

In this case, I've escalated the issue to the technical team to investigate this issue and provide a better resolution. These errors are usually corrected shortly after they're reported.

As our technical team is already aware about this issue, they're using every tool at our disposal to get this resolved for you at the earliest."

This suggests to me that it is down to Amazon, but unintentional. For my part, I hope that they do manage to correct it.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

pautaylo4 — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 16:16:29 GMT

By way of a final update, this is an extract from the reply I have received from Amazon.

"I wanted to let you know that, I've received a response from our Technical Team and they have informed me that, the option to "Refine" or "Ways to Watch" filter is currently unavailable on Sony TV devices. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

It could be a long wait before we get the facility on Sony TV's.

Re: Searching Amazon Prime

Graeme2812 — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 19:13:38 GMT

Amazon Prime search is a mess for me. One way i managed to get a few Ultra HD titles were to sign into Amazon on my iPad and just google 'The Grand Tour Ultra HD' for example. Click the amazon link, add to watch list, then go back into TV and search the saved items in the Watchlist. This only worked for a few titles however.

I found scrolling the deep depths too occationally produced a Prime Ultra HD catagory, but you really have to scan and search the catagories as it's a bit of a lottery.

I'm hoping the more random Ultra HD titles i find and click, the more it will realise that this catagory is something i'm interested in (i.e learn it) and will then start to display more.....wishful thinking?