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Review: The powerful streaming, gaming set-top Amazon Fire TV
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 6 April, 2014
Earlier this week, Amazon broke its silence on its long-awaited set-top box: the Fire TV.
The device, which rivals a growing amount of consumer set-tops and HDMI dongles including those from Apple, Roku, WD and Google, is another gateway to Amazon's ever growing ecosystem of applications, games, movies, TV and cloud storage.
In differentiating itself from other similar devices, Amazon ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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sikosrus
Newbie
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6. April 2014 @ 22:59 |
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After watching a couple of reviews on YouTube I say save your money. The only difference between this and Roku or Apple TV is voice command and some real cheesy game playing. The voice only works for searching movies on amazon search. If you go into Netflix or other apps like Hulu you have to use the remote like all other media streamers. I will stay with Roku and Playon.
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biglo30
Senior Member
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7. April 2014 @ 07:57 |
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I just want it cause it android based so Im hoping to see some future hacks for it. Just want to see one article saying Fire Tv Rooted! But the games look pretty neat to me. Once their fun and have a good concept I dont see the need for any explosive trilllion teraflops per second crap. So nice fun side scrolling games that you can actually play with multiple people in the same house is a win to me. I also notice that they have a usb port on the back so maybe its for expansion or use for future updates.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. April 2014 @ 08:02
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Bozobub
Senior Member
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7. April 2014 @ 08:05 |
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If you want an Android TV box, either wait for the upcoming Google Android TV device or buy an Android HDMI stick/dongle PC ($50-150). If you still want the Amazon ecosystem, you can then just install the Amazon Android app. Then you won't NEED a hack.
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gnovak1
Member
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7. April 2014 @ 17:16 |
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Originally posted by sikosrus:
After watching a couple of reviews on YouTube I say save your money. The only difference between this and Roku or Apple TV is voice command and some real cheesy game playing. The voice only works for searching movies on amazon search. If you go into Netflix or other apps like Hulu you have to use the remote like all other media streamers. I will stay with Roku and Playon.
I also use Roku and Playon. Unless there are big differences, i'll stick with my Roku.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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7. April 2014 @ 17:22 |
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It doesn't look too impressive right now...but if someone hacks the thing so you can install an ARM linux distro, it might be half-decent. Like...a USB TV tuner plus a 3TB drive plugged into your router and suddenly you have a DVR?
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Bozobub
Senior Member
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7. April 2014 @ 17:35 |
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Originally posted by KillerBug:
It doesn't look too impressive right now...but if someone hacks the thing so you can install an ARM linux distro, it might be half-decent. Like...a USB TV tuner plus a 3TB drive plugged into your router and suddenly you have a DVR?
I'd agree, but why? Linux HDMI stick PCs are cheaper, and don't need to be hacked to do the exact same thing, generally for a lower cost.
Once a hack comes out, sure, if you like the form factor and specs, go for it, assuming you like the price as well. But there's simply no compelling reason to do so, in my opinion.
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Bozobub
Senior Member
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7. April 2014 @ 17:36 |
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*Oops, double post*
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. April 2014 @ 17:54
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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7. April 2014 @ 18:47 |
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Originally posted by Bozobub:
Originally posted by KillerBug:
It doesn't look too impressive right now...but if someone hacks the thing so you can install an ARM linux distro, it might be half-decent. Like...a USB TV tuner plus a 3TB drive plugged into your router and suddenly you have a DVR?
I'd agree, but why? Linux HDMI stick PCs are cheaper, and don't need to be hacked to do the exact same thing, generally for a lower cost.
Once a hack comes out, sure, if you like the form factor and specs, go for it, assuming you like the price as well. But there's simply no compelling reason to do so, in my opinion.
Don't get me wrong...I wouldn't actually PAY for one, at least not anywhere near full price. It looks like this thing is going to have a lot of very unhappy customers...it may be available on craigslist very cheap very soon.
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Bozobub
Senior Member
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7. April 2014 @ 18:50 |
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OK, that does make sense - lol...
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rbi149
Newbie
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11. April 2014 @ 10:54 |
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Any crappy TV Stick from China allows you to play video from a USB flash drive or stream it from a networked central computer source. Why do developers handicap their hardware like this? The ability to stream any audio or video file I want from a central source is one of the main reasons to own such hardware.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. April 2014 @ 10:56
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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11. April 2014 @ 10:59 |
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Originally posted by rbi149:
Why do developers handicap their hardware like this?
Two reasons...the first is that if you support one format people expect support for other formats, and that involves a lot of programming, or opening it to aftermarket apps. The second (in the case of Amazon) is that this is meant to sell their services; they would happily lose money on it so long as they made lots of money on their services.
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sundance
Newbie
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11. April 2014 @ 12:38 |
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Like he said in the review ..not being able to view your own content make it useless for many of us.
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