Update: Since October 2015, Amazon changed many things and added DRM to their content. With this update, you cannot watch videos anymore, using the plugin. You can follow the discussion here.
I have tried a lot of different streaming services in the last couple of years. Of course iTunes, WatchEver, Maxdome and some more. Th problem always was, that most of the services relay to a certain kind of hardware. Mostly proprietary hardware.
I really like my Apple TV 2. Of course a higher resolution would be nice, but right now 720p is okay for me. With my Apple TV I can switch from iTunes to WatchEver to Netflix, back and forth.
Recently I terminated my WatchEver account. I was too expensive for my too occasional TV evenings. But since I am a heavy Amazon Shopper with a Prime account, I tried. Nice! A lot of movies and TV series are included. There is more stuff included than I have time to watch. But: I did not work with my apple TV :-(.
For the first days I was watching Amazon video like that:
1) Turn on the TV
2) Turn on the Apple TV
3) Download the Amazon Instant Prime App on my iPhone.
4) Selecting the movie I’d like to watch on my iPhone.
5) Starting the video on the iPhone and using AirPlay to mirror my iPhone screen to the Apple TV.
That solution worked, but meant that my iPhone is blocked while watching the video. And I had to use a power supply for the iPhone while watching the video. But the biggest problem was that I had to put the iPhone next to my WiFi router, otherwise the streaming quality was too bad.
So, I was still looking for a solution to directly stream Amazon video from the Apple TV, without having to buy a new TV or additional hardware.
After weeks of searching in the internet, I found a solution: I found out, that somebody wrote a plugin for KODI (formerly known as XMBC), that is able to stream Amazon videos. It is still in an early development stage, but people tested it and wrote that it worked on Windows and Linux environment. So I was very curious to see if it works on a Apple TV as well.
To install KODI/XBMC on a Apple TV, you have to Jailbreak it. I recommend the following tutorial:
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kodi_on_Apple_TV_2
The second thing you need to do is, you have to install the KODI plugin for Amazon Instant Prime. A good german turtorial can be found here. Use Google Translate in order to follow that tutorial in your language:
http://www.tutonaut.de/anleitung-amazon-prime-instant-video-kodi-xbmc-einrichten.html
After following the two tutorials, your have the freedom to switch form iTunes to WatchEver to Netflix to Amazon Instant Prime on your Apple TV 2. Enjoy!
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