Amazon Debuts New Fire TV with 4K Video & Alexa Voice Assistant

[kds1]

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.

The future of TV is really already here, in any of these boxes in general. The future of TV is streaming over the net and on demand, watching on your TV, your iPhone, you iPad, your iMac, your MacBook. TV everywhere and anywhere there is WiFi, or you can receive cellular service. The past is cable, and linear channels (except for News, and even then, it should be accompanied by on demand stories).

 

[newdeal]

By the time I own a 4K TV (at least a year or two off), I'm sure Apple will have a 4K version of their new Apple TV. I have no problem buying a 1080p Apple TV when it's release in October.

By the time I get a 4K TV I will still have 5Mbps internet that is the max I can get in my area and will have no 4K content to watch anyway

 

[blackcrayon]

I did. I'm an apple fan but remain unconvinced.

Was being partially sarcastic, but I wondered how you can say the Fire TV can do everything better when the ATV hasn't shipped yet or started receiving 3rd party support (which is most of the point).

4K is the biggest over-hype I've ever seen.

I haven't seen any 4k streaming yet that wasn't so heavily compressed as to be no better than 1080p, really. I have a 4k TV but it looks like it'll be a while before the resolution is truly utilized. As they say, 4k is mainly so you can make your screen bigger (or sit closer 🙂.

 

[Crosscreek]

IMHO 4K is overrated and mostly a gimmick but all tv s will get this resolution. Don't get me wrong, my picture quality is flawless but if you don't need a new tv it's not worth spending a thousand or 2 for it.

My 10 year old 42"Panasonic plasma needed to become a second tv and the 60" Vizio I hope will last just as long. These old eyes appreciate the big screen.

BlueRay 1080p upscaling to 4K looks just as good as 4K streaming.

 

[2010mini]

It's funny how some posters here are already predicting this as winning the set top box war. Based solely on hardware specs and not an actual real world test.

On paper a lot of android phones beat the iPhone. But sales tell a different story. 99% of consumers don't know what hardware specs really mean on their device. If it has a great user experience, that will matter most.

Learn from history: Sega Dreamcast had better specs than the PS1. PS1had better games and better support. And even though the Dreamcast was a newer model, PS1 was still way better.

 

[oneMadRssn]

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.

ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020 describes the standard for UHD. UHD is either 4K or 8K, includes HDR, and includes support for 120 frames per second (and lower). For example, a TV which is 2160p but only supports a maximum of 30fps is not UHD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-definition_television ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._2020 .

"4K" alone is not a standard, it's shorthand. But most people in the industry use 4K as shorthand for 4K implementation of UHD as described in Rec. 2020. Thus, if you're using 4K with the word compatibility, implying it complies with some standard, you're talking about UHD. The FireTV is not truly UHD compatible.

 

[tonyr6]

Looks great but I am not upgrading my 2 Fire TV's unless they have a great deal like they did last year during the holidays. My current Fire TV's work great but lag a bit on certain apps but when Fire OS 5 comes out on them which is basically Lollipop then they will run much better even the 1st Gen Fire TV will run great and since it is Lollipop it will support many more apps.

As for the Apple TV it is a major disappointment. I might not care about 4K now but if my TV goes I am surly going to get a 4K set anyway and right there the Apple TV is already outdated. Also the new remote for the Apple TV is horrible. No navigation buttons just swipes which I already hate doing on a touch screen. Forget about older people trying to use it. The 2nd Gen Fire TV is already future proof and they did not even foul up the remote. The Fire TV remote is great to use and easy to navigate even my Grandmother can use it.

 

[JackANSI]

....BlueRay 1080p upscaling to 4K looks just as good as 4K streaming.

I can't fully disagree with that statement, but you have to double check that the content was actually shot in 4K and not upscaled from 1080p before streaming... but it would be nice to watch 4K video shot on a 6S at full res if I have a 4K TV... without needing a third party device or an actual Mac hooked up to the TV.

 

[nebo1ss]

I'm not apologizing for anyone; I have nothing to apologize for.

There is more to 4K than just 2160p resolution. Had Amazon released a device that supported full HDMI 2.0 spec, with 2160p at 60fps, and one or more of the several competing HDR standards, then that would be a truly 4K-ready streaming device. It isn't though because it doesn't have those things.

I choose to spend my money at the company that releases complete products at the right time, rather than half-baked products just to brag about a lone spec number.

I see so many on here obsessing about HDMI 2 and 60 FPS.
HDMI 1.4 and 24 or 30 FPS is perfectly capable of producting amazing pictures for Movies and in fact most of the existing stuff around adhers to this standard. HDMI 2 and 60 FPS is much more important for gaming and will have little to no effect on movies.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I wonder if a new AppleTV teardown reveals its hardware does support 4K video.

Not sure if 4K 60fps would be possible unless there's a better internet service for the users.

 

[Chris Meyers]

ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020 describes the standard for UHD. UHD is either 4K or 8K, includes HDR, and includes support for 120 frames per second (and lower). For example, a TV which is 2160p but only supports a maximum of 30fps is not UHD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-definition_television ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._2020 .

"4K" alone is not a standard, it's shorthand. But most people in the industry use 4K as shorthand for 4K implementation of UHD as described in Rec. 2020. Thus, if you're using 4K with the word compatibility, implying it complies with some standard, you're talking about UHD. The FireTV is not truly UHD compatible.

Wrong wrong wrong. Across the board wrong. First of all 4K is not he same as UHD, UHD is a video format, 4K is a RESOLUTION. This is absolutely 4K. And secondly frame rate is 100% dependant on the soirce. How many different ways can I put this for you to understand it? There would be no 4K picture for FILMS better than what this produces.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I see so many on here obsessing about HDMI 2 and 60 FPS.
HDMI 1.4 and 24 or 30 FPS is perfectly capable of producting amazing pictures for Movies and in fact most of the existing stuff around adhers to this standard. HDMI 2 and 60 FPS is much more important for gaming and will have little to no effect on movies.

Considering people want large TVs that resemble a theater screen (hence the name: Home Theater), and movies are played at 24fps at Theaters....

 

[Amazing Iceman]

HD or 4K make not much difference if you watch TV from far away... Except for those with eagle eyes.

 

[Pagemakers]

Was being partially sarcastic, but I wondered how you can say the Fire TV can do everything better when the ATV hasn't shipped yet or started receiving 3rd party support (which is most of the point).


I haven't seen any 4k streaming yet that wasn't so heavily compressed as to be no better than 1080p, really. I have a 4k TV but it looks like it'll be a while before the resolution is truly utilized. As they say, 4k is mainly so you can make your screen bigger (or sit closer 🙂.

I was referring to the current models.

 

[Pagemakers]

I wonder if a new AppleTV teardown reveals its hardware does support 4K video.

Not sure if 4K 60fps would be possible unless there's a better internet service for the users.

That will be in the "S" version!!

 

[Chris Meyers]

Heh I am starting to think these people are dumbfounded that Blu Rays are encoded at 1080p 24. Why? When we can code them at 60 or 120? Heh. Its the source silly.

 

[usarioclave]

4k is for spec boners. IRL nobody cares.

 

[fieldsphotos]

I preordered one. I will be buying the new Apple TV as well, but I am way more excited about this Fire TV.

We recently upgraded the whole living room home theater system to go to the new formats from 1080 (we skipped 3D). So we now have a 4K UHD TV, and a HDMI 2/HDCP 2.2 compliant AVR to keep the copyright handshakes all golden. So I was completely stoked to see this announcement today, as currently our only 4K source is the built in apps on our TV and the Samsung UHD hard drive thing that lets you download 4K stuff from M-Go. The problem with the built in stuff is we are having difficulties getting the Samsung to output the full audio formats to our receiver, which I found to be completely stupid. Why would I want to only WATCH 4k and not listen to 7.1 audio? Ugh. Who invests in a 4K TV, but only uses the TV speakers?

So I am glad to see HDCP 2.2 compliance on this FireTV. That means we should be able to get the full up surround formats straight to our receiver, giving us the best possible sound.

Now we are just waiting for the release of the new native UHD blu ray format players that will come next year.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Wrong wrong wrong. Across the board wrong. First of all 4K is not he same as UHD, UHD is a video format, 4K is a RESOLUTION. This is absolutely 4K. And secondly frame rate is 100% dependant on the soirce. How many different ways can I put this for you to understand it? There would be no 4K picture for FILMS better than what this produces.

2160p resolution is one part of UHD. That is what you call 4k. 4K is part of UHD. UHD is bigger than just 4k. When people go into a best buy and say "I want a 4k tv" they don't care about the exact pixel numbers, other than knowing the buzzword "4k", they care about adherence to the standard. Adherence to standards is important to people so they can be confident that their new BR discs will be compatible, and their new consoles will be compatible, etc.

Adherence to the resolution alone is stupid at best, and deceitful at worst. Pardon the pun, resolution alone isn't the whole picture.

I know that frame-rate is dependent on source. I'm not saying everything HAS TO play at that higher frame rate, but it must be supported. Plus there is plenty of source material that has higher frame-rates that 24fps. Some new blockbusters are higher than 24fps, games, sports.

I'm saying, to be "UHD compliant", which is what the FireTV claims to be, it must support up to 120fps. Again, I'm not saying it HAS TO show everything in 120fps (which seems to be how you're reading it), but it has to support it.

 

[hkenneth]

The spec just got finalized in May. Players are now being announced.

And probably only the newly released films (after 2010) worth the treatment of 4K resolution. Of course, the master copy would always have the maximum possible picture quality but the losses of quality for films before 2000 when transcoded into 1080p Blu-ray are negligible. That being said, I do hope we will see more 4K releases in the future. And general acceptance of HEVC as well.

 

[fieldsphotos]

4k is for spec boners. IRL nobody cares.

Which is a slightly ironic post on a forum dedicated to Apple devices where 20 page threads go on about whether the new phones will or will not have 2GB RAM or if an A8 chip will be slow compared to an A8X chip. Guess what! in IRL no one cares about that either.

 

[hkenneth]

Since Amazon already streams 4K it's no surprise. It's great that's it should have HDMI 2.0. I been streaming some 4K from Amazon on my Vizio from a smart app. This might add more 4K options.

Resolution doesn't matter much when bit rate sucks. 30mbps 1080p encodes can bit any 15mbps 4k stream. Unless you have access to Google Fiber then ignore my comment.

 

[jettredmont]

This is what the new Apple TV should have been. At the price it should have been.

Really? Because when the AppleTV was announced there was no end of bitching about 4k@60Hz support, Gigabit ethernet, and TOSLink audio all missing. They are all missing here too.

The price is indeed nicer, but from a tech perspective all this adds over the AppleTV is low-framerate* 4k support.

* I'm a bit hesitant to label 30 frmes per second low-framerate, but that is what the "cool kids" are terming it these days. Apparently the higher the resolution the paradoxically higher the framerate needs to be to support it. IMHO, I'm more concerned about the bit depth Amazon is going to support, which they are completely mum about, but given the bit depth or lack thereof of a lot of their streaming content I'm really not excited.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Before all the new ATV haters get too excited: It doesn't mention specific HDMI version support, and specifically says it's limited to "2160p up to 30fps."

So, no 4K at 60fps, and no HDR - both features of HMDI 2.0.

No 4K content has 60 fps.

 

[HenryDJP]

This is why I don't immediately jump off the Apple bandwagon like some others here appear to be doing. Over the years of using Windows machines I've learned that specs never tell the story and only are posted to spark the interest of the usual spec-jockeys.

Sure, the new FireTV has voice assistant, but doesn't it offer all the good functionality as Siri does on the new TV? That's yet to be seen.
Sure, the new FireTV has a UI, but it as intuitive, beautifully detailed, laid out nicely and simple to use as the new TV? That's yet to be seen.

Sure, the new FireTV has 4K (and it would've been nice for Apple to include this FFS) but let's just see how much use will it give people with the very limited amount of content available. It's not like you can pick your favorite movie and it's in 4K.

Sure the new FireTV is lower in price than the TV but until I see an overall review of this machine I hold my judgement if I think Apple is charging too much.