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Amazon Fire TV

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Re: Amazon Fire TV

#271

Post by ycaspirant »

smackfu wrote: post #200
dankoss wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon added this about six months ago, but it requires another iOS device: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/amazons-instant-video-app-a...

Interesting that Amazon now has a pretty good motivation to remove this feature.

Why? That's like saying that Amazon has a motivation to remove the Kindle app from iPhones and iPads so that you'll be forced to buy their Kindle. Amazon actually doesn't care if you buy their hardware or not, they only care about selling you content.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#272

Post by drzaiusapelord »

WoodenChair wrote: post #45

I'm really not that impressed. This is just Apple TV for the Amazon eco-system with gaming lopped on. The majority of people don't care about the specs of their set-top box since that really doesn't affect the performance of streaming an HD video in this day and age. So the two differentiating features are: - Voice Search - Gaming Are those enough of a value proposition? Probably not to make converts. I suspect the m…

>Voice Search

God yes. The level of stupidity of all the set-top boxes I've used is staggering. I sit there and use a tiny keyboard to type in B-R-E-A and get tons of hits for things nowhere close to Breaking Bad until I practically type out the whole title.

I'd love to be able to just say the title and be done with it. Heaven forbid I'm ever allowed to say "Season pass, bob's burgers, new episodes only," and walk away. I do similar things with my Nexus phone and google now. The tech is certainly here.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#273

Post by nroach »

Osiris wrote: post #249
mikeryan wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they would have been better served by spending their time getting HBO-Go, Starz/Encore and Spotify all hooked into their little box Give it time. These are usually 3rd party apps not built by the provider of the platform (as a note, my company just finished building Starz/Encore/Movieplex Play for Xbox 360). The important thing is that Amazon provides an Ecosystem,it just needs some time for all the other off…

The SDK is a big deal. According to the page, existing Android code should just work. Some tweaking may be necessary to properly support the controller(s) and fitting to a 1080p screen. I'm looking forward to XBMC or other local streaming software coming to the platform. If that happens, this will literally be the ultimate set top box for me.

It looks like Plex is available at launch, so my local media library should be playable (with transcoding) on day one.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#274

Post by drzaiusapelord »

alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #129
declan wrote: post #96

This is a reasonable answer to Apple TV. If you have videos on or subscriptions to iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime (as I do), there's no box I'm aware of that will let you watch all three. So you end up using your Apple TV and then Roku or another box -- the Playstation 3 in my living room takes a long time to boot, and a long time to load the Netflix app, draws quite a bit of power, and is overkill for merely watc…

Apple TV lets you watch all three (iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime). Airplay is a thing.

So, the solution to the shortcomings of Apple devices is yet more Apple devices? Oh, ok.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#275

Post by ycaspirant »

Why is this priced on par with Apple TV? That's like pricing a Kindle on par with an iPad. I always thought that unlike Apple, Amazon's strategy was to sell really cheap hardware so that you can consume more content.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#277

Post by sanderjd »

eclipxe wrote: post #230
laxatives wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I've never understood the purpose of ChromeCast. The lag makes it completely unusable for video (I'm getting ~1 frame / 3 seconds), making it a glorified radio with cellphone/laptop remotes.

I think people confuse the ChromeCast tab/screen mirroring (which is slow and laggy) and ChromeCast DIAL/casting from apps like Netflix which actually just sends a URL to the Chromecast to stream

Yeah, ChromeCast is a great product and a major marketing failure. Hardly anybody (even techies!!) understands that it is about competing with Apple TV (and now Amazon Fire TV) in the streaming market, not sending arbitrary stuff from the browser to your TV. Honestly, they should have launched without any of the confusing and crappy tab-casting functionality at all and probably called it something different than ChromeCast. The thing has (ridiculously cheaply) solved my entire internet-television-entertainment problem but I've literally never once used it for a browser tab.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#278

Post by officemonkey »

eddieroger wrote: post #190
Touche wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect the main buyers will be those who simply have bought into Amazon Instant Video as opposed to iTunes in the past. But that includes anyone with Amazon Prime. > Let's see what Apple's next revision of Apple TV offers. Is Apple's next revision of Apple TV going to let me watch iTunes content from non-Apple devices? You're glossing over this as insignificant when, for lots of us, it's a deal-breaker.

For me, it's not. But that's just me. Besides, what happens when Amazon decides that it wants to focus on it's ecosystem and pulls their app from other devices?

Then they will fail.

People want one box that does it all. Not a GoogleBox, AppleBox, and an AmazonBox. That's madness.

They want one box, preferrable for less than 100 bucks, that will play Hulu, Netflix, Prime, Vudu, Youtube, GooglePlay, iTunes, Plex, etc.

Right now, the _only_ way to do this with one box is to build your own NUC HTPC for a couple hundred dollars.

Amazon offers Amazon devices because they think you will be a better customer if they control the complete experience. However I can't imagine they would stop supporting Prime Video and Kindle on Android and iPad just to pump up their own device market. That's putting the cart before the horse.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#279

Post by officemonkey »

fixedd wrote: post #163
dublinben wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty funny, as a long-time Roku user. The search couldn't be easier, whether you're inside a specific app, or using the cross platform search feature. Performance is snappier than these services on a desktop browser, and the ecosystem is as open as anyone could want.

As a long-time Roku user I curse ours almost every day. Performance is slower than every other device we own (except the Chromecast). They constantly "reset" themselves while trying to navigate through the Netflix and Amazon listings. Videos will just sporadically stop playing or run into constant buffering issues. There are no parental controls. They didn't support DLNA until a few months ago.

"long-time Roku user."

How old is your box? I'm still happy with mine, despite it being a couple of years old. I was thinking of getting a new one, but if the new ones are of poorer quality...

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#280

Post by jasonmccay »

ambler0 wrote: post #181
downandout wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With screen mirroring, Apple TV offers the ability to play any game in the App Store on a TV wirelessly without having to buy a controller. That game library will likely always be larger than this one. Granted, you must have an iPhone or iPad, but I am surprised that Apple does not tout this feature more. I use it daily and it is pretty awesome.

The lag is terrible with mirroring. Apple TV won't be viable for gaming until the game is played on the box itself and there is a low-latency controller.

Yes, this. It is really stretching it to say that you can effectively "game" on your TV when airshare'ing from your iPad /iPhone to your Apple TV. It sucks.
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