Ameba TV Review
Ameba, an IPTV company, sent me a set top box to review on my dad blog. The Ameba TV box is essentially a hard drive that enables dads and moms to download shows for their children watch on a regular TV. It’s kinda of like a combination of cable and Tivo. But instead of recording cable shows, parents download content with an Internet connection. And unlike cable, Ameba gives parents total control over what their children can watch by allowing them to preselect content from thousands of educational and music themed shows. The kids and I have used Ameba TV on and off for about a month now (we’re returning it soon).
How does Ameba TV works?
In order to watch Ameba shows, dads and moms first need to purchase or rent an Ameba device. The set top box ships with composite and Ethernet cables. And if needed, you can also order a wireless adapter (I think it’s free). After ordering an Ameba box, parents need to select shows for their children. The process is fairly simple and you don’t have to enter any programming codes. Instead, dads and moms simply select programs with a mouse from the online Ameba library. The content selected are automatically downloaded to the Ameba device. The rentals are good for a month and kids can watch the shows at any time. Parents can also create profiles for their children and designate which shows each child can watch. When your children are ready to watch, they can use the remote to watch any show that has been preprogrammed just for them.
What shows are available?
The Ameba library contains over 500 hours of programming from Decode Entertainment, Breakthrough New Media, Casablanca Kids, Sockeye, Marble Media, Portfolio, TVO, Compugraf, Blender, Agogo Entertainment, Ingaldson-Smith Productions, Janet’s Planet, National Film Board, and other publishers. Titles include: This is Daniel Cook, SkinnamarinkTV, Wee Sing, Mother Goose Club, Olivers Adventures, Rainbow Fish, Hoobs, and I Love Mummy. My kids’ favorites are A World Of Wonders and Monster By Mistake.
How much does it cost?
Dads and moms have three Ameba plans to choose from:
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Pay As You Go Plan
The initial cost under this plan is $344 ($299 for the Ameba box, $35 setup charge, and $10 first time load up fee). After the initial costs, you only pay for the content you watch (downloading is free). There are no monthly fees and you can cancel at any time. -
Rental Plan
The up front cost of this plan is $154 ($99 deposit, $35 setup, and $20 first month’s rent). Under this plan, dads and moms pay $20 a month for the box and $14 worth of programming credits. The rental plan requires a three-year contract. -
Purchase Plan
Under this plan, parents can purchase the Ameba device for $244 ($199 for the Ameba box, $35 setup charge, and $10 first month’s rent). Under this plan, dads and moms pay $10 a month to receive $10 worth of programming credits. The rental plan requires a one-year contract.
What I like about Ameba TV
- Kids, moms, and dads can watch at anytime
- Children can watch the shows as many times as they want
- Dads and moms can hand pick which shows their kids can watch
- There is a wide selection of content for children (over 500 hours of programming)
- Rentals are good for 30 days
- Shows are relatively inexpensive (for example: 30 cents for a 11-minute show for 30 days)
- Monthly rental fee is less expensive than cable
What I don’t like about Ameba TV
- Slow downloads — it takes a long time to download the shows even though the programming is only 5 to 20 minutes in length. According to Ameba, this is because they do not want to consume too much bandwidth (reminds me of the period when Comcast either blocked or throttled BitTorrent traffic). The other reason the downloads take so long is because the entire show is downloaded instead of streamed in real-time. This enables high resolution whenever possible and the ability to watch the show over and over again without using additional bandwidth.
- Children have to watch a preview of a new show before they can watch the show. Seems like there should be option to play without a peek. It really doesn’t make sense to force kids to watch a 20-second clip of a two-minute show. Note: after watching the preview, parents won’t get charged for the show if the kids don’t select the play option (maybe Ameba should place the preview option online — makes more sense to preview before downloading).
- There’s no way for dads and moms to set a daily time limit for their kids. A key reason parents would want to sign up for Ameba TV is control what their kids watch and for how long they can watch. With the system, parents can select the content but they can’t set a time limit.
- The Ameba system doesn’t automatically play the next NEW show. Instead, it plays a show that has already been viewed. Kids have to stop it. Then they have to go all way back to the main menu, navigate to their profile, manually select a new show, and watch its preview before they can watch the new show.
- The set top box runs hot. According to the Ameba website, the device only draws as much power as a clock radio. But for some reason, the fanless box gets very hot — even when it’s powered down and doing nothing.
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Interesting, I think I’ll stick with the Roku and Netflix. :) I do love my kid watching TV this way over commercials.
Hugs,
Holly
Roku now has a dedicated channel for amebatv. I believe it is $10 a month. May check it out.