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Amazon Fire TV

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Re: Amazon Fire TV

#391

Post by stormcrowsx »

jdminhbg wrote: post #312
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 aw…

> 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 settle for a non-braindead mobile or desktop client, I don't even need voice. I have a Sony Blu-Ray/Internet box whose remote app on iOS is literally the same up-down-left-right…

Try chromecast. Find a show on the apps mobile client, send it to your tv. Works pretty good with standard Chrome on a laptop as well.

It's cheap enough that even if you don't like it, your not out that much money.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#392

Post by officemonkey »

jadavis wrote: post #344
officemonkey wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

They have that box already, and it's called Roku.

I can't get iTunes movies on my Roku. If I could, that would be the holy grail.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#395

Post by declan »

alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #331
declan wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but I want to be able to view Amazon Prime without resorting to an Airplay workaround. For my living room use case Airplay isn't an option; I'm looking for an integrated unit.

I must plead ignorance: How is that a "workaround"? An iPad, iPad Mini, iPod, or iPhone is your remote - the AppleTV remote is horrible anyways and I've personally long ago tossed it. Fire up your new remote and play anything you like... it's incredibly simple.

First, it's not an all-in-one integrated unit, which I was talking about in my upthread discussion. Second, it's "simple" for you, but my use case is not yours: it involves very young children and very old adults who don't want to use or don't know how to use this interface. Third, it relies on a WiFi connection that isn't as reliable as the gigabit Ethernet connection that I wired my house with.

I'm sure your solution works fine for you. But be careful in projecting your use case to everyone's. :)

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#396

Post by bjeanes »

mrkd wrote: post #354
spinchange wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your Chromecast takes 30 seconds to load content? In our house someone pretty much always has either their phone, tablet, or laptop nearby and with the HDMI-CEC, you don't even have to find the TV remote to switch inputs, you just queue up want you to want to watch and it plays. And then people can take turns with their respective devices (if you're watching YouTube videos or playing music, etc.) We also have a Roku…

Has anyone confirmed if Fire TV has HDMI-CEC?

This is the thing I want to know the most. So I bought one and will probably return it if it doesn't.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#397

Post by bjeanes »

mrkd wrote: post #354
spinchange wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your Chromecast takes 30 seconds to load content? In our house someone pretty much always has either their phone, tablet, or laptop nearby and with the HDMI-CEC, you don't even have to find the TV remote to switch inputs, you just queue up want you to want to watch and it plays. And then people can take turns with their respective devices (if you're watching YouTube videos or playing music, etc.) We also have a Roku…

Has anyone confirmed if Fire TV has HDMI-CEC?

So I got my Fire TV. It has some CEC support because it shows up as a source to my TV and the TV and receiver correctly switch to it. My TV remote, however, does not control the Fire TV. Given that the HDMI hardware supports CEC, I think this was their choice and one that they hopefully will change with a software update.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#398

Post by fixedd »

officemonkey wrote: post #279
fixedd wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

We own a Roku 2 XD and a Roku LT, both about 2.5 years old. Both worked great for ~ 6 months and then... something changed and they haven't worked well since.

I used to have one of the originals, it was great.

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#399

Post by officemonkey »

fixedd wrote: post #398
officemonkey wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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...

We own a Roku 2 XD and a Roku LT, both about 2.5 years old. Both worked great for ~ 6 months and then... something changed and they haven't worked well since. I used to have one of the originals, it was great.

I did notice that the UI gets slower and less responsive, but I blame myself for being a cheapo and expecting a $70 box to last years.

I'm waiting a bit to see if the next RokuBox or AmazonBox ends up supporting iTunes videos (which is a nice to have, but not a must have.)

Re: Amazon Fire TV

#400

Post by lsaferite »

lsaferite wrote: post #299
mkempe wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have kids , you get some love in your parent role, too: limits to what kids see, and caps by content types and times of day -- no more negotiating! And they're launching an all-you-can-eat content subscription designed for kids under 9, including e-books.

This is the exact reason I just ordered one. I was on the fence about getting the HDX due to cost, but with this we can attach it to an old TV, get the subscription, and have a hopefully well thought out limit system built into the console.

I thought I'd follow up if anyone was watching. The Fire TV is blazingly fast. As in, it puts even my PS3 running Netflix to shame.

But, and it's a big one, any video service other than Amazon is treated as a second class citizen. So, without the kids AYCE package out yet I'm a bit disappointed. I think Amazon would do well to follow the Roku style and have cross-provider search and navigation.

In any case, it will move to be the kids TV media device now as it still isn't ready to be my primary media device.

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