Amazon Fire TV

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:19 pm

Massive selection—Over 200,000 TV episodes and movies, millions of songs, and over a hundred games
Perfect with Prime—Unlimited access to thousands of popular movies and TV shows including exclusive titles like Downton Abbey and Under the Dome. Get a free 30-day trial
Voice search that actually works—Simply say the name of what you want to watch and start enjoying in seconds. Show me
Tiny box, huge specs—Fast quad-core processor, 2 GB of memory, dedicated GPU, plus 1080p HD video and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound
Easy to set up and use—Pre-registered to your Amazon account so you can enjoy favorite titles and personalized recommendations
Instant streaming—Exclusive new feature ASAP predicts what movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and buffers them for playback before you hit play
Perfect for parents—Amazon FreeTime lets you easily limit screen time and create personalized profiles just for kids (coming soon)
Great for gaming, too—Play blockbuster titles like Minecraft-Pocket Edition, The Walking Dead, and Monsters University, plus free games and Amazon exclusives. Paid games start from just 99 cents

I bought one. Currently I use a laptop for Plex and other streaming, and it can get a little finicky from time to time (Windows). Hopefully this makes life a little easier. Although, I didn't check out the remote to see if it was compatible with my Harmony.

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:27 pm

Review

Review 2

Review 3

Maybe I'll actually use my Amazon Prime Video now.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:35 pm

What will this box do that my Amazon Instant Video apps on my PS3s and TVs and Blu Ray players will not do?

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:47 pm

All the other services that your PS3, TVs and Blu Ray players do not.

This seems very much like the Roku which we like a lot. Took our Roku with us on our last vacation so we could stream shows on the road. So, that would be something else your PS3, TVs and Blu Rays can't. Be easily tucked into the pocket of your laptop bag.

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:04 pm

Yeah, it's more a Roku competitor. We had a Boxee, but it was old and started having issues, and didn't do Plex. So I replaced that with an old laptop, which works OK, but sometimes Windows gets in the way.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:05 pm

This thing won't do Vudu, according to the reviews. I have a lot of shit on Vudu. Also does not work as a media player. Also, I would bet a dollar this device does not have more services than does the BD player I have.

As of now, not worth the $100 price tag because it merely doubles up the tech I already have 4 times over. The voice activation is new, but I have never wished I had it.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:15 pm

Your BD has all these? And that's just movies and TV.

I bet in 6 months, the Fire has twice what it has now. And I didn't even look at it's content list.

Edited By Cakedaddy on 1396476973

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:22 pm

The Sony bluray player I have has something like 50 video apps, the great majority I have never heard of, and maybe 20 music apps, none of which I have ever used. It is in the bedroom so all we have used it for is Netflix, Vudu, and Amazon streaming, and for streaming porn off the home server. It also streams media from your LAN.

I am not saying that this Amazon Fire and Goku and stuff are not good products, I am just saying I already have the same stuff 4 times over on other hardware because I built my media center and LAN that way. I am not counting computers, I mean actual easy streaming to large TVs over the house.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:41 pm

You asked what it would do that your current stuff doesn't do. I was trying to help with that question. Not talk you into buying one. If you are happy with the 50 apps and slow performance of your old hardware, then that's awesome. So, yes, I am saying the stuff you use right now are not good products for streaming online content.

I've had TVs and BD players with those services all over the house for years as well. Then the wife bought one of these Roku devices and it was awesome and all the other tech seemed slow, cumbersome and stupid. We bought a second one for another room in the house.

So, having used these services for a number of years and in many different iterations, I was simply sharing my experiences and knowledge per your request. Sometimes upgrading an old 486 PC for a PC from today is worth $100.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:18 pm

Cakedaddy wrote:All the other services that your PS3, TVs and Blu Ray players do not.

I asked what it had, and you said that, which is a worthless answer. At that point I had to go into what my current hardware did so you would understand the question better and then could give a useful answer. I wasn't being defensive, I was just trying to get my question answered. My conclusion was then it sounds like a nice product, but it isn't bringing anything that is worth another hundred bucks, to me.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:12 pm

Ya. But if you put it in your butthole you would know.

Post by **TheCatt** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:30 pm

It's amazingly fast, and incredibly easy to setup. Plugged it in, and was watching Archer in less than a minute.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:13 am

This review says it kinda sucks.

http://readwrite.com/2014....lHyIXsR

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:29 am

Ummm. I was listening right up until he said he had an Apple TV. He never mentioned the Roku. And ended with "You should just buy an Apple TV".

Most of the stuff he said was wrong with Apple TV and/or all the other STBs out there. Cross service search? None of them have it. USB port? Apple doesn't have it. Only as fast as your Internet connection? No shit dip shit. Is your Apple TV somehow faster than your Internet connection?

Ya, he mentions Chromecast, but not Roku. Horrible article. But exactly what one would expect from someone who owns an Apple TV.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:21 am

So the main complaint I saw was: It tries to direct you to Amazon's ecosystem.

Which is an amazing complaint from someone with an AppleTV device.

Sure, I could register with a service like Plex, load all of my media onto that app and stream those films to my TV over my local network; I could also send my laundry to New Zealand instead of using the washing machine in my basement. Plus, if I wanted to use Plex, I might as well buy a Chromecast for one-third the price.

That's just blatant distortion and lies. As someone who uses Plex (oh no, it cost an entire $1! Which was free cuz Amazon gave me app credits), It has nothing to do with going to New Zealand. It doesn't even have an accent.

And to use a Chromecast with Plex, you have to PAY for Plex's premium monthly service, you cannot just get an app.

How do I know? I HAVE a Chromecast.

Worst article ever.

Post by **Vince** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 7:19 pm

GORDON wrote:The Sony bluray player I have has something like 50 video apps, the great majority I have never heard of, and maybe 20 music apps, none of which I have ever used.

And it probably download a rootkit hack to all your PC's.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:08 pm

Yeah, I remember you hate Sony...

The root-kitting never bothered me because the first thing I always did with a new PC was to disable autoloading on the CD drive in the registry, which means I was never vulnerable to it.

If I recall that situation correctly.

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Post by **Vince** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:51 pm

And yet... your Blue ray autoloads...

Post by **TheCatt** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:11 pm

Still like the Fire TV. Going to buy a 2nd for our other TV.

The voice search works well, very well. Better than Google Voice stuff, and much, much better than Apple's. I wanted to load Pandora onto the device, and instead of looking for the app, I just pressed the voice button, and said "pandora." Boom, there's the app. Click to select, click to install, click to open.

So far it's great.

Post by **GORDON** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:59 pm

Vince wrote:And yet... your Blue ray autoloads...

Eh. There's got to be a point where I "let it go." The NSA is probably watching me anyway, so I don't care if Sony is datamining me to see what I am watching.

Sony invented the BD standard, so their updates to the format are always quick. My Samsung BD player was always slow to upgrade and sometimes I couldn't even play new releases. That really pissed me off.

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