Sadly looks like it's only USA initially. No UK press release. Alexa (via the Echo) is only available in the USA at the moment.
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Amazon Debuts New Fire TV with 4K Video & Alexa Voice Assistant
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Finally someone who understands 24 fps.
You don't need 1M apps on the appstore. Nobody cares about all of the crappy ones.
You just need a few (2-3) dozen amazing apps. You could do it all in house, or you might pay other companies to bring their apps to your platform.
If Amazon wants to enter the gaming market, that's completely possible. There's no reason they couldn't enter it now just like Microsoft entered it in 2001.
If Apple wants to be a serious player in the gaming market, they need some real partners. Nobody is going to run out and buy the new Apple TV for Crossy Roads. They need some AAA games like Nintendo, Valve, or Blizzard produce.
A big difference is the paltry amount of storage on the new Fire TV. 8 gigs means most stuff will be stored on a cloud or on a separate micro sd card (max 128 gig) which costs about another $50+ for one with decent transfer speeds.
I wish they had admitted that the first generation wasn't good for gaming. I bought it so I could have an easy way to play GTA and other older games with a controller along with the television features. The games eat up a majority of the hard drive space to where you can only have a few on at a time. If you want to add another, you have to delete the other games. Even transferring the games to an external hard drive leaves gigs of data behind because the user data is apparently larger than what is seen as the game data. I was very disappointed with the Amazon Fire TV for this reason.
Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Roku are nowhere near to giving any real competition to the Xbox, Playstation, or the Wii, even the previous generations.
Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Roku are nowhere near to giving any real competition to the Xbox, Playstation, or the Wii, even the previous generations.
This is an easy decision for me. Versus AppleTV Id take this every time because it has both prime video and Netflix. I have both, so its no real contest. The 4K of course is awesome for the future when I get one. I have never used Apple video services so I see no benefit there for the Apple TV.
Ah. Just been added a few moments ago.
Question: is 4K material still limited to half a dozen programs?
Just noticed that Alexa is not mentioned on the UK Version.
Go to the USA site and there is a lot of blurb about Alexa.
Seems the 2 versions are massively different.
I honestly don't get the excitement over this or Apple TV. Video streaming and phone-quality apps on the "big screen", woo. Nothing new and I don't see anything revolutionary happening.
Oh BTW another interesting bit Im seeing while perusing their page is that its HEVC native, and they are converting their 1080p library to HEVC and adding a lot more HD content as a result.
1) 4K is a new standard which is about more than just resolution. 2160p is one part of it. It isn't all of it.
2) 24fps unconverted to 30fps looks like garbage too. However, 24fps, 30fps, and 60fps all can be converted quite nicely into 120fps because the math works and there are no dropped or doubled frames.
Most streaming options for 4K are 30 fps for viewing. My Vizio has 4 2.0 HDMI at 30 fps and 1 capable of 60 fps designated for gaming or true UHD 4K players so the player could be 2.0 HDMI at 30fps.
I'm getting one. Don't need it but getting one. Had the original but gave it away. This 2.0 version seems to be what they all should be. I've got 3 Chromecasts and a Roku. This will make a nice addition. Seems to be a better value than the ATV when compared at equal price points. The $139 Fire TV Gaming Edition vs the ATV at $149. Not that hard of a decision for me considering what you get for your $. I'm not exclusively in one ecosystem so there's no advantage for the ATV in that regard.
The conversion only matters at the playing device, the source material will have a certain frame rate and it is up to the TV to determine if it will display it natively or convert.
Actually no, 4K is the resolution and thats it. And frame rate absolutely is not a factor in designation, because as I said virtually every film released in the past 100 years will be released in 4K at 24P, their native resolution.
As to question #2, while I will grant that 120 is better than 60 as a multiple of both 24 and 30, I wouldnt want conversion at all on films from the source. Its created in 24P, output it the same.
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Apple has a new Apple TV coming out next month that will have software the Fire TV won't have.
(In case you didn't realize)
I did. I'm an apple fan but remain unconvinced.
Wait, are you saying Apple TV is the "future of TV"? Laughable.
If this isn't the future, then Apple TV most definitely won't be.