Amazon announces Fire TV

[The Franchise]

http://sourcefed.com/amazon-announces-fire-tv/

Amazon has dove in head first into video hardware, announcing it’s new set-top device: Amazon Fire TV.

Clearly a competitor for Apple TV and Roku, the $99 device is an internet-connected set-top box which uses voice commands that you speak into its remote control. It will also serve as a gaming console, and consumers have the option to purchase a separate $39 controller that is paired with the box.

Amazon has claimed the device is 3 times more powerful than Apple TV and is based on Android and HTML 5, which means it should be easy for companies to bring their apps over to the platform. It supports Hulu Plus, Netflix, Pandora, Youtube, Crackle, iHeartRadio and Vevo. Sadly, HBO Go and Vudu are not supported.

Fire TV also has a predictive engine called “ASAP,” which pre-loads content it thinks you are going to watch, so it can start without any buffering or load time. This feature learns over time and gets better at suggesting content you like.

In a prior announcement made this weekend, Amazon said it will be turning six shows from its Amazon Originals program into a full series. The shows, which were selected after viewer feedback from the pilot episodes, include ’The After’, ‘Bosch, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street’, ‘Mozart in the Jungle’, ‘Transparent’ and ’Wishenpoof’. Amazon also renewed ’Alpha House’ — starring John Goodman — for a second season.

As far as gaming is concerned, the console will offer titles such as “Minecraft” and “The Walking Dead”. Many of the titles will be free or cost a little as $1.85 to play.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Rausch

When I first got my Roku I thought how cool it was to have the media options and all those cool games.

They didn't have any cool games. They had a great idea with the remote and gaming options and it just never went anywhere. A real shame.

Perhaps this will pull in people who don't have a Roku/AppleTV but I see no reason to upgrade from what I've got. Other than the gaming problems mentioned above I love my almost invisible, reliable, and versatile Roku...

This is how I feel. We have two Roku boxes, and I'm on the verge of getting on of their new streaming sticks for another TV. Its a simple product that works really well. I will need to upgrade our Netflix account though. Right now I can only stream to two devices at a time.

[ragedogg69]

I ordered this for my dad's birthday. With XBMC, I feel this is the best balance between the ease of use of a roku or apple tv and the amazing free content and customization of XBMC.

[Fish]

Within a matter of weeks/months they'll have revamped customized Amazon dashboards that have XBMC available as a dashboard item. You can have different profiles too, to restrict/simplify things for kids and old people.

[DaFace]

I don't have any room in my media repertoire for yet another toy. Sounds fun though.

I do hope that there will be some convergence of all these devices as time goes on. I've got 2 smart TV's (one LG and one Vizio), one Roku box, and a Chromecast. They all work great, but it's a bit odd getting used to all of them having slightly different interfaces for Netflix, YouTube, etc.

[007]

Originally Posted by Fish

Within a matter of weeks/months they'll have revamped customized Amazon dashboards that have XBMC available as a dashboard item. You can have different profiles too, to restrict/simplify things for kids and old people.

I don't see Amazon ever embracing XBMC. Would be kind of counterproductive to their bottom line.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I don't have any room in my media repertoire for yet another toy. Sounds fun though.

I do hope that there will be some convergence of all these devices as time goes on. I've got 2 smart TV's (one LG and one Vizio), one Roku box, and a Chromecast. They all work great, but it's a bit odd getting used to all of them having slightly different interfaces for Netflix, YouTube, etc.

We won a Sony Blu Ray player a while back at a charity auction. When the family room DVD player burnt up, we shopped around on Amazon and got a good deal on another one.

They both run XMB so they function, for all intents and purposes, exactly like my PS3. I admit, it's kind of nice having pretty much the same interface in every room.

[ragedogg69]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

We won a Sony Blu Ray player a while back at a charity auction. When the family room DVD player burnt up, we shopped around on Amazon and got a good deal on another one.

They both run XMB so they function, for all intents and purposes, exactly like my PS3. I admit, it's kind of nice having pretty much the same interface in every room.

One question about sony. my inlaws picked up a sony br player, subscribed to netflix and such. Of course had me set it all up for them. Netflix had to be setup through Sony's ecosystem requiring codes and a sony account to throw on top of the netflix account.

To say the least, it was a convoluted mess and a good example why I swear off Sony. Is that every bluray player from them now?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Guru

I don't see Amazon ever embracing XBMC. Would be kind of counterproductive to their bottom line.

Amazon doesn't have to embrace XBMC. In any way at all. They released the source code. Which means they basically give the user the choice to run the device native and legally which still is very impressive, or open it to the world via open source and let users do what ever the **** they want with the device. It's not counterproductive at all, it actually opens up the device to more demographics.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Guru

You might be surprised. Its one of the things I really appreciate about Netflix. The ability to choose when I watch in HD.

Guru has a point. Especially when time warner and comcast join. They will start to put out more data limits. Allows them to charge more. People will want lower quality to battle it.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by ragedogg69

One question about sony. my inlaws picked up a sony br player, subscribed to netflix and such. Of course had me set it all up for them. Netflix had to be setup through Sony's ecosystem requiring codes and a sony account to throw on top of the netflix account.

To say the least, it was a convoluted mess and a good example why I swear off Sony. Is that every bluray player from them now?

Yeah, you have to have a Sony Essentials account to use any of the advanced features. It really isn't a bid deal though, it doesn't cost anything.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Fish

OK.... this thing is really gaining momentum already. It's already been rooted(giggle). It's now got XBMC support, and it can be easily installed without even needing a computer. That's HUGE. It's already being hailed by some XBMC developers as the new best XBMC device. And this is just the very tip of the iceberg.

• Size 4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7" (115 mm x 115 mm x 17.5 mm)
• Weight 9.9 oz (281 grams)
• SOC Platform Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064
• Processor Qualcomm Krait 300, quad-core to 1.7 Ghz
• GPU Qualcomm Adreno 320
• Storage 8 GB internal
• Memory 2 GB LPDDR2 @ 533 MHZ
• Wi-Fi Connectivity Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO) for faster streaming and fewer dropped connections than standard Wi-Fi. 802.11a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 with support for the following profiles: HID, HFP 1.6, SPP
• Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content
• Ports 5.5 mm DC Jack, Type A HDMI 1.4b output, w/HDCP, Optical Audio (TOSLINK), 10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0 Type A
• Audio Support for Dolby Digital Plus, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch Stereo and HDMI audio pass through up to 7.1
• Content Formats Supported Video: H.263, H.264, MPEG4-SP, VC1
• Audio AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3, HE-A, PCM, MP3
• Photo JPG, PNG
• Output Resolution Supported 720p and 1080p up to 60fps

I might make a purchase soon......

Didn't know they were supporting XBMC. Kinda makes this a no-brainer, even without support (yet) for external storage.

Prolly going to pull the trigger on this instead of a Celeron NUC. With an mSata and RAM, it'd be twice as much.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Fish

Yeah... we'll see who comes begging for help from this dork when someone else buys one and bricks it.....

Remember this thing is only a week old. It's going to get much much much better still. There's a $40 game controller available. They've hacked a Ouya controller to work with it, and will likely have a PS3 controller working on it before long. And it has the juice to play some decent games.

Putting the source code out there for any nerd developer to play with? This has the potential to explode, and overtake AppleTV/Roku/Ouya in a landslide. It's already taken huge leaps in it's first week of release.

It'll definitely finish off the Ouya, even at a higher price point (with controller).

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

It'll definitely finish off the Ouya, even at a higher price point (with controller).

Yeah, I would call the Ouya a failure but that's probably giving it too much credit.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yeah, I would call the Ouya a failure but that's probably giving it too much credit.

I liked it well enough, but they were never going to get enough of a customer base to have a robust game lineup. And the wifi was abysmal.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

I liked it well enough, but they were never going to get enough of a customer base to have a robust game lineup. And the wifi was abysmal.

Yeah, it was an uphill battle all the way.

It has all of the drawbacks of a traditional console without the actual gaming power. It also has none of the convenience of a traditional handheld/tablet/smartphone.

It's kind of like the worst of both worlds.