Amazon FireTV

[Ravynmagi]

Installing Asphalt 8 now. This 1.1GB game is making wish the Fire TV came with more storage or micro SD or something. Mine is almost full now.

 

[bearxor]

If anyone is interested, the OnLive APK installed fine. I was playing Arkham City with my X360 wireless controller just fine.

 

[blairharrington]

hmm... that may be a one time thing. Or maybe it's if you're not on the same network?

I don't know, I just started downloading a movie from my computer to my phone over my wifi, and it's converting it as we speak. No PIN necessary.

Just downloaded it. You need the Air Video Server to transfer the files, right?

Kinda confusing how to transfer. I figured it out but they could use a guide of some sort. Pretty slow too compared to Infuse and VLC. None of my files are more than a 1 GB too.

If it works I'll deal with it.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Just saw an Amazon Fire TV commercial...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHoNQrxG_8M

 

[openwheel]

Android TV leaked. Looks even more exciting.

 

[bearxor]

FireTV has the ability to act as a Chromecast receiver. Seems to be limited to YouTube for now but you can cast YouTube from a device to the FireTV.

At least now I can throw my Chromecast away. I had intended to keep it solely to cast YouTube videos to it.

 

[Kneedragger]

Looks like its getting interesting.. Root access apparently.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51688650&postcount=106

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, I think root was done day 1.

 

[Jillxz]

The "other" device is owned by 99 percent of people since its a personal computer, if you want to access all the features Chromecast does that others don't.

I guess you don't have a p.c. so for you Chromecast is not useful.

Unfortunately I still have Windows Vista and tried to set up Chromecast on my desktop computer , but it could not do so. It needed Windows 7 or higher. No laptop , so I had no alternative but to put it on my phone. I like having a remote control too . Not my phone and not a computer keyboard. So I am looking for a dedicated streaming device.

I am looking forward to getting the FireTV , but will wait as I don't like being an early adopter for any device.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I was pretty impressed with the Fire TV on day 1. I put Netflix, Plex, and YouTube on, there. Played some Android games like Asphalt 8 using my Xbox 360 controller, this thing seemed damn impressive for $99.

Now my thoughts after a week. I'm no longer impressed. First the minor problem. While it loads apps faster than the Roku 3, getting to those apps takes quite a bit more time navigating with the remote and it feels like it just ends up being a wash.

But my real complaint is how damn difficult Amazon has made finding Amazon Prime videos on the Amazon Fire TV. They have categories for Top and Recent Prime videos, but that's it. If I go into genres, I found 1 Prime movie listed out of about 150 movies in the Horror category. Comedies has 0 Prime movies listed. Trying to find Prime movies by genre is futile on the Fire TV. So you kinda need to know what you want to watch already or go browsing for it on the PC or another device and then add it to your watch list.

By contrast, Amazon Prime on the Roku 3 has a complete separate section for Prime Videos, which I can browse by genre. Without having to wade through purchase and rental only movies, which thankfully are in another segregated section of the app.

Since I'm not really that interested in a $99 Android gaming machine, nor do I rent/buy a lot of movies, the Fire TV ended up being a poor fit for me. I've gone back to the Roku 3. I'd much rather watch Amazon Prime videos from that device, along with my Netflix, Plex, YouTube and even HBO Go.

I'm undecided if I'll return it. I may keep it and see if Amazon ever decides to make it better for Prime subscribers. I'm sure the way it is now, was a very intentional decision to try driving people to buy more. But seems like a bad joke to jack up Amazon Prime by $20 and then release a device that makes it harder to find Amazon Prime content.

 

[cronos]

Wow that is terrible. One major thing that I am hoping to get with this device is a much improved user interface for Prime Instant Video. If they botched that, it's a really huge deterrent to get it.

 

[bearxor]

I think my biggest complaint may be that there's no way to filter just stuff available on Prime. I need a setting I can go and turn off stuff for purchase/rent because ill never do it. That option will also likely never happen.

Other than that, its basically completely replaced my Boxee Box, which is about the best compliment I can give it after having used and returned Roku's and Apple TV's. If I could get HBO Go on Roku, it would be in a lot better position for me but the Plex interface on FireTV is just leaps and bounds better.

 

[Kaido]

If anyone is interested, the OnLive APK installed fine. I was playing Arkham City with my X360 wireless controller just fine.

Is that with an Xbox USB wireless 360 controller receiver for Windows attached to the USB port on the Fire TV?

 

[bearxor]

Is that with an Xbox USB wireless 360 controller receiver for Windows attached to the USB port on the Fire TV?

Yes. And there's a OnLive APK with expanded controller support floating around somewhere you'd need to grab.

But yeah, played fine. Hopefully they release a FireTV specific version. I haven't been back to play outside of those few minutes. It's not that it didn't work well, it's just that you can put side-loaded apps on the menu screen.

 

[cronos]

Any more recent reviews about the Fire TV from people who've been using it a few weeks? I assume that Plex runs as an app that you install (and have to buy) from Amazon App Store?

Anyone using XBMC extensively on it?

Apparently Amazon Prime subscribers are offered the Fire TV for 5 monthly installments of $20 (i.e. no interest, just regular retail price divided by five), so that's around impulse buy territory for me, especially since it'll be replacing my old Roku (1st gen) that has been really slow lately and been made incompatible with a lot of recent apps (and annoying stuff like no subtitle for Netflix, etc.).

 

[cronos]

Any more recent reviews about the Fire TV from people who've been using it a few weeks? I assume that Plex runs as an app that you install (and have to buy) from Amazon App Store?

Anyone using XBMC extensively on it?

Apparently Amazon Prime subscribers are offered the Fire TV for 5 monthly installments of $20 (i.e. no interest, just regular retail price divided by five), so that's around impulse buy territory for me, especially since it'll be replacing my old Roku (1st gen) that has been really slow lately and been made incompatible with a lot of recent apps (and annoying stuff like no subtitle for Netflix, etc.).

Damn. Nobody?

Anyone knows where people are talking about this device? Apparently nobody here is interested in talking about this outside of the first week or so. I know some of you bought it, so did the novelty wear off quickly and it's now just another streamer box or what?

 

[bearxor]

I didn't respond because I don't use XBMC. That's not just a FireTV thing, I actually really dislike XBMC on just about any device or computer I've used it on. The default interface is terrible and the skins seem to be designed by 12-year-old kids. That along with ridiculous decisions by the XBMC dev team for settings (why do I have to edit advancedsettings.xml to make folders with my TV shows that are completely empty from showing up?).

So, anyways, I think they've rolled most of the changes for the FireTV in to the mainstream ARM beta. I might try it again at some point but, as I've said, I don't really feel very energetic about it.

You may want to try XDA-Dev's FTV forum and XBMC's.

As for the FTV itself, I still love it. Use it every day. I was finally able to completely disconnect my Boxee Box and not miss it. I even took it with me on my trip this week and am using Plex to watch stuff from my house in hotels. Great box. The new Apple TV could snag me back if it offers an App Store. I do miss AirPlay Mirroring.

 

[s44]

Anyone knows where people are talking about this device?

C'mon, you know the answer to this:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv

There's no root yet, though, so development is limited to sideloading.

 

[cronos]

C'mon, you know the answer to this:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv

There's no root yet, though, so development is limited to sideloading.

Doh. Of course.

And thanks bearxor for the response. The Plex app has to be bought from the Amazon App Store, correct? Is it the same one for Android or is it a specific Fire TV app? I bought my Plex on the Play Store and I don't subscribe to PlexPass so I'm going to have to buy the app again (which is no problem especially today with like 2000+ free coins from Amazon because of the offer).

 

[tential]

I didn't respond because I don't use XBMC. That's not just a FireTV thing, I actually really dislike XBMC on just about any device or computer I've used it on. The default interface is terrible and the skins seem to be designed by 12-year-old kids. That along with ridiculous decisions by the XBMC dev team for settings (why do I have to edit advancedsettings.xml to make folders with my TV shows that are completely empty from showing up?).

So, anyways, I think they've rolled most of the changes for the FireTV in to the mainstream ARM beta. I might try it again at some point but, as I've said, I don't really feel very energetic about it.

You may want to try XDA-Dev's FTV forum and XBMC's.

As for the FTV itself, I still love it. Use it every day. I was finally able to completely disconnect my Boxee Box and not miss it. I even took it with me on my trip this week and am using Plex to watch stuff from my house in hotels. Great box. The new Apple TV could snag me back if it offers an App Store. I do miss AirPlay Mirroring.

There are tons of skins you can pick from on XBMC so if you didn't like a skin, pick a new one. I've got about 5 or so devices running it and the users ranged from 4 year olds to adults. The children picked it up VERY fast and love it. Nephew used it on his tablet all day to the point where is mother had to take it away from him and my sister/brother use it constantly to watch TV/Movies and love the interface.

I can only guess that you used a skin that isn't that great or used an older version. When I first used XBMC it was horrible. It was only recently I came back and it works great but hey whatever floats your boat.

Edit: Also people are talking about it here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=191109
as well. 2617 posts in that one thread vs 1.3-1.4k on XDA total.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The Plex app has to be bought from the Amazon App Store, correct?

Yup.

 

[ponyo]

Does FireTV have a browser? If so, you don't even need the Plex app. You can do it from the website.

 

[poofyhairguy]

There are tons of skins you can pick from on XBMC so if you didn't like a skin, pick a new one. I've got about 5 or so devices running it and the users ranged from 4 year olds to adults. The children picked it up VERY fast and love it. Nephew used it on his tablet all day to the point where is mother had to take it away from him and my sister/brother use it constantly to watch TV/Movies and love the interface.

I can only guess that you used a skin that isn't that great or used an older version. When I first used XBMC it was horrible. It was only recently I came back and it works great but hey whatever floats your boat.

bearxor isn't big on the idea of sinking time into customization after install, which is the biggest strength of XBMC. I think that is a perfectly reasonable perspective he has, some people want turnkey which is Plex+something (Roku, FireTV, etc) currently.

I still say that nothing on the market beats XBMC + AEON for a 10 foot HTPC GUI, but seeing AEON in its full glory requires throwing a lot of hardware at XBMC- more hardware than the FireTV has. Probably the best light-weight skin that the FireTV could handle is Bello:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Add-on:Bello

Pretty much a ripoff of the PS3 GUI, it works pretty well on slower clients.

 

[ponyo]

I never really messed with XBMC skins til yesterday. I always just used default skin. I bought Asus chromebox yesterday and hacked it to dual boot ChromeOS and OpenXLEC XBMC. I installed Ace and Aeon skins and played around with it but it was pretty confusing navigating because I was so used to the default skin. Maybe it's me but I like the default skin.

 

[SAWYER]

Can anyone confirm if the video add ons like 1 channel work?