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Amazon FireTV

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TheStu said:
AVIs, MP4s, MKVs, whatever I throw at it works just fine. No stuttering to speak of. Slight degradation in quality since you're transcoding, but certainly worth the convenience to me.
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What's up with needing a pin to transfer files onto your iOS device?
 
SAWYER said:
I will be curious to see what happens to this thing on xda
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This is basically part of the reason I wanted to get in early. I'm crossing my fingers that's it's the most hackable box ever.

Hook up a USB HDD and run SABNZBd/Sickbeard? I hope!
 
TiredEngineer said:
That exactly sums it up. Sad, considering these are probably my two favorite companies (most of my shopping is on Amazon and I own Nexus devices).

The funny thing about it, is the main one losing revenue has to be Amazon. I doubt many people bought a Kindle Fire because it had Amazon Instant Video. Most people buy it because they shop on Amazon and saw a tablet cheaper than the iPad with good reviews.
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That's actually exactly the point. Prime Instant Video has never been a product that they're selling. It's simply there as a bonus of being a subscriber to Amazon Prime. They're not going to lose Prime revenue because of Prime Instant Video being available on which tablet. In the meantime, it can be used to lure Prime subscribers to buy a Kindle Fire if they wanted a non-Apple device, so they decided to hold it back from other Android tablets. It actually makes perfect sense. Annoying to us, but it's makes sense for them.
 
bearxor said:
This is basically part of the reason I wanted to get in early. I'm crossing my fingers that's it's the most hackable box ever.

Hook up a USB HDD and run SABNZBd/Sickbeard? I hope!
Click to expand...

Yeah if I can get xbmc I can sell my jailbroke atv 2 for enough to buy this and have left over
 
cronos said:
That's actually exactly the point. Prime Instant Video has never been a product that they're selling. It's simply there as a bonus of being a subscriber to Amazon Prime. They're not going to lose Prime revenue because of Prime Instant Video being available on which tablet. In the meantime, it can be used to lure Prime subscribers to buy a Kindle Fire if they wanted a non-Apple device, so they decided to hold it back from other Android tablets. It actually makes perfect sense. Annoying to us, but it's makes sense for them.
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No Amazon Prime on Android is an annoyance (arguable loss of revenue with no video rental capabilities...even if it requires a mobile browser to purchase before you could view in the app).

No Amazon Instant on the Chromecast is a true loss of revenue. That is what I am saying makes no sense. People rent/buy digital movies all the time. Amazon is deliberately choosing to ignore the high market of Google products.

That is why I said the main one losing out on money is Amazon and they are annoying their Android user base. I doubt Google has lost anything. As a matter-of-fact they have probably gained revenue/users to their Google Play Movies due to lack of Amazon.
 
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bearxor said:
UNBOX!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk0aX3nR9Ho
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Yesterday some people were saying they'd get theirs today. Yet when I ordered mine, and I am a Prime subscriber, there was no option for Next Day Delivery and forced me to use 2 Day or Ground. So I have to wait another day.


PS. And what's the deal with an unboxing video and he doesn't even take the plastic off. He's trying to show the ports in a dark room with the plastic still on. Haha.
 
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TiredEngineer said:
No Amazon Prime on Android is an annoyance (arguable loss of revenue with no video rental capabilities...even if it requires a mobile browser to purchase before you could view in the app).

No Amazon Instant on the Chromecast is a true loss of revenue. That is what I am saying makes no sense. People rent/buy digital movies all the time. Amazon is deliberately choosing to ignore the high market of Google products.

That is why I said the main one losing out on money is Amazon and they are annoying their Android user base. I doubt Google has lost anything. As a matter-of-fact they have probably gained revenue/users to their Google Play Movies due to lack of Amazon.
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ChromeCast *is* Android (and iOS too, but if Prime Instant Video on iOS is ChromeCastable, that doesn't make any difference to our particular issue here), so if it's on ChromeCast then it's on Android. There's no way around that.

I utilize my Prime Instant Video like Netflix and only watched what's included in the monthly fee (or, in Prime case, my annual Amazon Prime subscription) and I never actually thought about the renting and buying point of view, so you got a point there.

Even that, I still think that Amazon doesn't mind those loss, as they never intended Prime Video to be a product they want people to specifically pay for. Now that they started having exclusive pilots (some are pretty good) and eventually series, maybe they'll change its direction and give it more attention, and when that happens maybe they'll throw Android people a bone. But I personally wouldn't hold my breath.
 
TiredEngineer said:
No Amazon Prime on Android is an annoyance (arguable loss of revenue with no video rental capabilities...even if it requires a mobile browser to purchase before you could view in the app).

No Amazon Instant on the Chromecast is a true loss of revenue. That is what I am saying makes no sense. People rent/buy digital movies all the time. Amazon is deliberately choosing to ignore the high market of Google products.

That is why I said the main one losing out on money is Amazon and they are annoying their Android user base. I doubt Google has lost anything. As a matter-of-fact they have probably gained revenue/users to their Google Play Movies due to lack of Amazon.
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Seems like nobody really had digital distribution of movies down yet. It's a mess and I still won't buy digital movies from anyone and Bluray feels obsolete... So I'll maybe rent a movie on occasion.

I won't buy movies from iTunes because that's too much of a closed garden. No thanks.

I won't buy movies from Amazon because I can't play them on my tablets, phone, and they do not support HD playback on PCs (Amazon seems more paranoid than most).

I won't buy movies from Google because they are no presence in my living room. Google TV was an epic flop and seems to be dead now. Chromecast is great for it's price, but isn't a stand alone box. But at least I believe they support HD playback on PCs.

It's a mess, nobody looks good.

I see nothing Apple will do to get me to buy from them, so I won't bother with suggestions.

Amazon needs to launch a player on Google Play and allow for HD playback on the PC. This should be very simple, they already have the Android app (Kindle being Android based and all).

Google needs to figure out Google TV or something. Chromecast is a neat toy, but I think people want a stand alone box. And this really isn't complicated. But Google seems to trying to make it complicated. What the hell was with that $350 Nexus Q? We didn't need a $350 Nexus Q, we needed a $100 Nexus TV. Do it Google. Do it quick, because Amazon and Apple are upping the ante and I'm guessing Roku isn't just doing nothing either.
 
blairharrington said:
What's up with needing a pin to transfer files onto your iOS device?
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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.
 
Ravynmagi said:
Yesterday some people were saying they'd get theirs today. Yet when I ordered mine, and I am a Prime subscriber, there was no option for Next Day Delivery and forced me to use 2 Day or Ground. So I have to wait another day.


PS. And what's the deal with an unboxing video and he doesn't even take the plastic off. He's trying to show the ports in a dark room with the plastic still on. Haha.
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Weird. I had the option for next day for $4. I didn't do it because I knew I wouldn't be able to even mess with it until Saturday anyways.
 
Ravynmagi said:
Yesterday some people were saying they'd get theirs today. Yet when I ordered mine, and I am a Prime subscriber, there was no option for Next Day Delivery and forced me to use 2 Day or Ground. So I have to wait another day.
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If they didn't have stock in a warehouse nearby the system could just "know" this and simply not have 1 day shipping as an option as it wouldnt get there in time.
 
I'm wondering how this is different from my smart t.v. with the Amazon app already on it? I probably won't be buying one, but it looks like a decent device for folks with older televisions.
 
accguy9009 said:
May I ask how you know this please?
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If they really wanted people to pay for Prime video, don't you think they'd have a cheap "Prime video only" subscription plan for those who aren't "normal" Prime subscribers? Even if they only charged $3 or $4 a month for it, you'd figure that would rake in millions of additional dollars in revenue for what amounts to no real additional cost on their end except possibly capital outlays should their network suffer as a result. And given how incredibly beefy and redundant Amazon's network already is, it is probably a good bet that capital outlays would be minimal.

Plus, you figure that the added subscription fees could be used to get more content and eventually allow them to become a more premium streaming service.
 
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I'm thinking of getting this as well. Been a Prime member for years and I don't have a Netflix / Hulu / Whatever else account. Cable is a bare minimum too. Been looking for a device that can stream Prime Video without having to purchase another console.

Still a bit annoyed that you can't stream HD via a browser on my HTPC, but searching for videos to watch on a browser was never ideal.

Was looking at the Roku3 also but this may be more what I'm looking for, once Amazon MP3 gets integrated.
 
Ravynmagi said:
iFixit tear down.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Fire+TV+Teardown/23856

Turns on a single system board in a plastic box with a big heatsink ontop only gets a 6 out of 10 in repairability score. If something happens on that system board, probably no sense in replacing it, but I guess if you wanted, that didn't look too hard to do.
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I know, right? This is a 6/10 repairability? Seems like a 1/10 to me.

"Oh, you chipped a corner off your FireTV? Here's a new case!"
"Oh, it won't power on? Buy a new one!"
 
bearxor said:
I know, right? This is a 6/10 repairability? Seems like a 1/10 to me.

"Oh, you chipped a corner off your FireTV? Here's a new case!"
"Oh, it won't power on? Buy a new one!"
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I mean, unless you count the external power brick in that 6/10... in which case... 2/10?
 
People have also side-loaded the HBO Go app and it supposedly works just fine. Will be great to test out Sunday.
 
bearxor said:
I understand that some of your advantages don't apply to me in particular, but know you're just playing devil's advocate.

The biggest disadvantage I have with Chromecast is that it requires another device to interact with it. So, essentially, your 1 - 4 advantages are worthless to me.
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Well.... technically you have to have a device with the fire to interact with it.... the controller.
 
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