Amazon Launches Fire TV

The old computer I have in the bedroom under the TV that does all my streaming is acting flakey. This might not be a bad replacement. Low Power, and Low foot print. If it did HBO/MAX Go.. I would be SOLD.
 
Max Mike said:
On a streaming device gigabit is superfluous.
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I wouldn't say that, ESP with 4k content coming up, there's some content that can max out fast Ethernet currently.
Plus some switches don't like mixing 100 with 1000.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Unless it's been added very recently, the PS4 & Xbox One don't have it. It is incoming, though. Just no ETA on when. For being huge on the media front, I'm very surprised it didn't come out of the box. Especially from Sony.
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My Xbox One has had it since day one.
 
Okay, the hardware is reasonable. Though, the lack of 802.11AC in this age seems an oversight.

However, my Ouya (and even the old WDTV Live+ that my folks use) will still prove superior. Why such a limited number of codecs? No FLAC? Well, forget that for music. What about .mkv containers for h264 content? Support for container formats with switchable soft subtitles, or external subtitle files? Can this thing browse CIFS/SAMBA fileshares on the network? I have a lot of content I have on my local network, not just on various subscription and streaming sites, and any sort of media player like this is useless if I can't watch bluray and webrips in high quality. Don't get me wrong, I like they support a wide variety of streams (HBO Go is absent, so are others that should be available, like NHK World or Al Jazeera English)., but what's the point if I can't even watch things that reside on my own network?
 
so can I stream videos from my computer that I ripped myself to this? Or is it like everything else in that's no because of the potential "piracy" issues? My TV allows streaming over a wired connection, however the compression scheme it supports are quite limited due to the fact they're worried about 'teh pirates!"
 
TwistedAegis said:
Nice! Are you getting the gaming controllers too? Would love to hear what the "gaming" on this thing looks like.
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Yes, I ordered a game controller too. I'll post what I think of it. I'm not much of a console gamer, so I don't think I'll get too into it, but I never know when something good comes along to keep my attention. I didn't think I'd like gaming on a smartphone, but now I'm a regular player of Angry Birds and geoDefense.
 
I might take the plunge next month (I am travelling this month and already spent too much as it is) ... I was wanting to replace my Roku 2 (and give it to my Mom) and get a new streaming unit ... the specs seem pretty nice and I have started streaming more stuff from Prime ... we'll see what the reviews from the first round of purchasers are like :)
 
When it comes right down to it, the primary reason I would never buy this device from Amazon is that I have no interest in encouraging their anti-competitive BS. They still haven't released an Android app for Amazon Video (despite it being an easy thing to do given all their Android-based products), and until they do I won't even consider their hardware. Screw them sideways.
 
Apple TV is 20.00 cheaper, does everything this does Except Games and Amazon Streaming but if you have an iPad you can share that onto the Apple TV. Competition is good but I think if they priced it cheaper more people would have looked deeper into it myself.
 
Also, I would note that comparing Amazon's box only to Roku 3 is a bit deceptive. Roku has the Roku 1 which will do all the streaming video (except Bloomberg) that the Amazon box will do, and it'll do it for $50.
 
Babbster said:
When it comes right down to it, the primary reason I would never buy this device from Amazon is that I have no interest in encouraging their anti-competitive BS. They still haven't released an Android app for Amazon Video (despite it being an easy thing to do given all their Android-based products), and until they do I won't even consider their hardware. Screw them sideways.
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Most platforms do something to encourage you to buy into their platform. I can play Amazon video on my Xbox 360, but I can't buy anything because Microsoft wants me to buy their video. If I use the Amazon app on the Wii U, I can order movies because Nintendo does not sell movies. My Cable Company rents me their Tivo which should have Netflix built in, but since they want me to use their service, they disable it.

That's just a small sample - so don't buy their products if you don't like them, but let's not pretend that they're the sole proprietor of the lock in/lock out model.
 
WaltC said:
I was about to say that Amazon sells a Sony BDP-S5100 BR (I have it) player for $80 that blows this away....;) The Sony doesn't do voice recognition, though--no loss, there...;) If you have a remote, who needs voice?

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-blu-ray-player/
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Your Sony Blu-ray player is a different device and it is a dead end. Fire TV has huge potential and a lot of room for growth.
 
ServerKing said:
Apple TV is 20.00 cheaper, does everything this does Except Games and Amazon Streaming but if you have an iPad you can share that onto the Apple TV. Competition is good but I think if they priced it cheaper more people would have looked deeper into it myself.
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Yea well except the small point processor wise Apple TV is a dog compared to this thing.
 
ServerKing said:
Apple TV is 20.00 cheaper, does everything this does Except Games and Amazon Streaming but if you have an iPad you can share that onto the Apple TV. Competition is good but I think if they priced it cheaper more people would have looked deeper into it myself.
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Apple TV has less powerful hardware and has yet to enable games on their Apple TV (except through Air) ... they are also long overdue for an upgrade cycle ... I think the Roku 3 is a little more competitive but this is the most competitive hardware for any streaming device that isn't a HTPC or full Console (and those are all much more expensive than $100) ;)
 
Max Mike said:
Your Sony Blu-ray player is a different device and it is a dead end. Fire TV has huge potential and a lot of room for growth.
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Are you aware of how often Sony updates the firmware on their Blu-Ray players to add new services and features?
 
DoubleTap said:
That's just a small sample - so don't buy their products if you don't like them, but let's not pretend that they're the sole proprietor of the lock in/lock out model.
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The first thing to get straight is that this is a very specific issue I have with one company. I'm not an idealogue and instead approach problems one at a time. So, I'm not pretending anything. Anyway...

My problem with them wouldn't be as big if Amazon didn't offer their service on other platforms (most notably, IOS devices). In other words, if they said, "hey, we're making tablets over here, so only our tablets will have Amazon Video," I'd find that very annoying but understandable. Instead, the route they've chosen is to very specifically screw over non-Kindle/Fire Android tablet users despite allowing IOS tablet users and using Android as the basis of their own tablet OS.

I consider their position on this both unreasonable and counterproductive. Unreasonable because they could make an Android app available tomorrow if they wanted (I wouldn't be surprised if they keep an in-house version up to date on the off chance that the policy changes, and even if they don't we're talking an Android->Android port). It's counterproductive because when they sell their tablets (and now this device), they're not looking for significant (if any) profit from the hardware but instead are looking for users to buy and rent content. What kind of sense does it make to tell a large segment of the market to give their money to some other company?
 
Babbster said:
The first thing to get straight is that this is a very specific issue I have with one company. I'm not an idealogue and instead approach problems one at a time. So, I'm not pretending anything. Anyway...

My problem with them wouldn't be as big if Amazon didn't offer their service on other platforms (most notably, IOS devices). In other words, if they said, "hey, we're making tablets over here, so only our tablets will have Amazon Video," I'd find that very annoying but understandable. Instead, the route they've chosen is to very specifically screw over non-Kindle/Fire Android tablet users despite allowing IOS tablet users and using Android as the basis of their own tablet OS.

I consider their position on this both unreasonable and counterproductive. Unreasonable because they could make an Android app available tomorrow if they wanted (I wouldn't be surprised if they keep an in-house version up to date on the off chance that the policy changes, and even if they don't we're talking an Android->Android port). It's counterproductive because when they sell their tablets (and now this device), they're not looking for significant (if any) profit from the hardware but instead are looking for users to buy and rent content. What kind of sense does it make to tell a large segment of the market to give their money to some other company?
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I guess I must have missed all those iTunes Music & Movie apps released for Android.
 
Are the Plex, Netflix, etc.. apps just the Android versions of those apps or does it offer native apps? Is this a glorified Android stick/set top box. This should be being compared to Minix Neo Google TV or a MK908.
 
So the idea here is to make up for the shortcomings in roku, which is a little bit slow and underpowered. Yes once you get your stream up it's fine, but browsing and loading performance is a bit laggy at times, even on the best roku. They feel with a slick polished android interface running on solid hardware you will have an experience very similar to browsing content on your high-end smart phone. This is where chromecast comes in, which basically says your cellphone already makes for the best universal remote, so lets just let the cellphone control everything. In doing so, they were able to ship a device for $35 that is already familiar to you since everyone knows their cellphone UI like the back of their hand.
 
McFry said:
So the idea here is to make up for the shortcomings in roku, which is a little bit slow and underpowered. Yes once you get your stream up it's fine, but browsing and loading performance is a bit laggy at times, even on the best roku. They feel with a slick polished android interface running on solid hardware you will have an experience very similar to browsing content on your high-end smart phone. This is where chromecast comes in, which basically says your cellphone already makes for the best universal remote, so lets just let the cellphone control everything. In doing so, they were able to ship a device for $35 that is already familiar to you since everyone knows their cellphone UI like the back of their hand.
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Nice for the Cost Savings which is $15 if the Roku Stick is compared, but the Chromecast offloads content management to your phone as well. A cell phone remote isn't all that its cracked up to be. Maybe personal preference. I've tried a few times. Has pluses but drawbacks. These things end up requiring a dedicated phone/tablet for stability of use. Or do you want to hand over your personal cell to your kid for his 2 hr Youtube spree? And you need a server for your non-Youtube content. Suddenly $35 isn't $35 anymore.
 
Unreasonable because they could make an Android app available tomorrow if they wanted
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You can stream the Amazon Prime app from your iPad to Apple TV, iOS just doesnt have the stupid Amazon Prime app on there STB, if they did they could almost nulify Fire TV, plus Apple TV hasnt been upgraded in 2 years so I expect Apple to come out with something newer this year to impress I hope.
 
ServerKing said:
You can stream the Amazon Prime app from your iPad to Apple TV, iOS just doesnt have the stupid Amazon Prime app on there STB, if they did they could almost nulify Fire TV, plus Apple TV hasnt been upgraded in 2 years so I expect Apple to come out with something newer this year to impress I hope.
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I believe when you do that that the sound that comes out is only stereo. That might be a deal breaker for some.
 
ServerKing said:
You can stream the Amazon Prime app from your iPad to Apple TV, iOS just doesnt have the stupid Amazon Prime app on there STB, if they did they could almost nulify Fire TV, plus Apple TV hasnt been upgraded in 2 years so I expect Apple to come out with something newer this year to impress I hope.
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I can almost forgive Amazon for neglecting Apple TV because a) the device is sold (and bought) pretty much as an iTunes extender and b) Apple barely seems to care about it themselves. Roku, on the other hand, has been pretty aggressive with upgrading their boxes and those boxes are open to virtually any streaming a person wants to do, to such an extent that their system is open to be programmed by anyone.

I'm not entirely against Amazon's Fire, though. If nothing else, I expect the eventual Roku 4 to be a big upgrade since they've got real competition now.
 
As people get their hands on the FireTV and start messing with things many of have been thinking about (emulation, Xbox360 wireless compatability, etc.) it is becoming more appealing to me. I'd love to have a clean, small, all inclusive box to stream my videos, music and play simple/retro games.
 
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