So Adobe has launched its own 1.0 version Media Player – but how does the AMP actually perform?
Well, with a minimum of effort we are sat watching an episode of CSI: New York from the AMP channel’s CBS feed, which suggests that, DRM issues aside, it’s fairly successful.
Downloading is a cinch – although you will need both AMP and Adobe Integrated Runtime, both free downloads with rather weighty T&Cs. Once it’s up and running you have access to the central AMP application and channel.
Navigation
It’s certainly not difficult to navigate around, and finding the shows we wanted was as simple as clicking on the network and browsing to the right channel. So far, so intuitive.
We plumped for the latest submitted episode of popular US programme CSI: New York – DOA For A Day – which is dated to 04/03/08.
As far as streaming, the programme plays by default in a minimised view which is perfectly watchable, although far from HD quality.
Fullscreen
The fullscreen option allows a bigger picture, although it only fills to width, with the picture staying in 16 x 9.
Moving onto an episode of MTV cribs saw the picture quality suffer, unless 50 Cent’s Crib really is blurry. Even in the miniscule default size, the programme is far from clear.
A music video from Universal Music did run in full screen resolution, however, and quality was okay.
The sizing also gives options to fit to ‘size to fit’ and ‘full window’ and again the quality seems to depend on the provider.
Downloading
Downloading and managing files is a little more problematic, with Adobe seeming to block the option of downloading for the major shows, leaving a little yellow marker for ‘online access only’, although this is perhaps different if you are US based.
The application allows you to add programmes to favourites, and will then tell you when a new episode is available – be it streaming or downloadable. The stated goal is to allow users to keep tabs on their favourites and download them for offline (or online) use, and this functionality appears to be in place.
In fact an awful lot of fairly intuitive and useful tools are working well. From an early perspective the system is fine – the functionality is there and the GUI is intuitive.
A lot depends on the content providers and the take-up, but in its current state, Adobe doesn’t appear to have dropped the AMP ball.
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Reader comments (2) Jump to Add Comment
kresh
April 9th
2. Adobe has responded to me and told me that their LiveDocs information was wrong, and since I have posted this comment on the first fifty news items I could find on Google, I think I should follow up with the information they sent me:
"Sorry for the trouble. Please note that Adobe Media Player is an
application built on AIR, so AIR is required to install and use AMP.
The uninstaller is actually located in the /Application/Utilities
folder."
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kresh
April 9th
1. My only complaint is that Adobe acts like a virus.
I did not have Adobe Air installed and when I installed AMP so Air had to be installed as well.
After playing with AMP, and not being able to get any of the CSI stuff to play, I uninstalled AMP. There was no provision to uninstall Air.
I went to the Adobe website and looked through their LiveDocs and they direct you to run the uninstaller located in my /Applications folder. As you can imagine, it is not there.
I download the Air installer hoping to install AIR again along with the uninstaller, but it says my version is up to date and quits.
Adobe does not provide a link to download the uninstaller.
So what makes Adobe different from any other virus that I might pick-up. It it is hidden on my system, I can't uninstall it, and I don't know what it is doing in the back ground. Thankfully I have Little Snitch and have denied Air access to the Internet.
I am through with Adobe and I hope it does not make it to my iPhone or my iPod Touch.
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