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New TV vs New Amazon Fire TV
- Thread starter Daniva
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You guys are forgetting that thetv will finally get its own App Store. This is huge!!
Well let's see what they have to offer. Anything in particular you are hoping will make it to their store?
Wow. This seems by far the best of the new steaming boxes so far. 4K, SD Card slot, S/PDIF, and I assume all the major providers (except of course iTunes) will be on board again, presumably including 4K support for Netflix and Amazon. Will be interesting to see the price. If the user interface is reasonable, I guess I'll upgrade my Roku instead of my Apple TV.
Yea, it does look pretty interesting. I have four different units and all have worked perfectly. (For the record, I do have an ATV3 for my Apple units and I like it.) price has been quoted several times around $100.
Please give it a spin and let us know your take on your new device. Eager minds and potential purchasers await (g).
My only reason to consider Fire TV is Amazon Prime. But since the App is on my TV and I have a quick button on my remote to access it I will stay with only the Apple TV. But would be nice to have the App on the ATV for the integrated search option. Hopefully they will place nice with each other.
I have a few items at home that do Amazon Prime, Netflix and other services or a subset of all the services. The catch is some do a better job than others. So like some with time to kill late at night, I try to compare output. I find the TV does an okay job but my smart Blue Ray player was superior as does my TiVo. All these devices keep adding up.
At this point I'm much more interested in the Roku 4 than either the Fire TV or ATV. That being said, I wish all of these set top boxes would stop trying to accommodate games. Seems like a waste of time and resources that could be devoted to other features instead.
Sure thing. I'm not a video or audiophile. No 4k television here or fancy receiver but I'll post my impressions of the device.
They're definitely not my first gaming choice but I have had quite a bit of fun playing some mobile games on my TV. I do appreciate the ability to do a little gaming every now and then on these devices.
Thanks much. I like these devices for media experience as opposed to games but certainly the better a game box the device is, the more likely it will deliver on the media side in terms of video (settings put aside).
Blah, Staples fudged up my order. They cancelled it and didn't email me. After inquiring about it they told me it was cancelled because it went out of stock at the time of the (pre)order. I find that hard to believe as the site is showing in stock with an estimated delivery of 1 business day. Maybe they didn't like the $10 off coupon I used (from retail me not) or maybe there was a hiccup in the system. Anyway after chatting with support I was able to get a $10 dollar "courtesy" coupon since the one I used on the original order has since expired and placed the same order again. Expected delivery won't be until tomorrow though.
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Roku 4 has been officially announced:
https://www.roku.com/products/roku-4
The specs say it can do UHD at 60Hz. No word about UHD playback from Amazon, so it seems to be just Netflix, Youtube and your own local content at the moment. Price is $129. Shipping October 21.
https://www.roku.com/products/roku-4
The specs say it can do UHD at 60Hz. No word about UHD playback from Amazon, so it seems to be just Netflix, Youtube and your own local content at the moment. Price is $129. Shipping October 21.
IMO the Roku is the best of the lot. It does 4K at 60Hz, it does HEVC, it natively runs MKV. And it's platform agnostic, plus cheaper than the new Apple TV. Sold.
Give me the reason why Plex sucks. Oh and it can't be doesn't stream questionable legal streams
Got the new Fire TV and it's not detecting my 5ghz network on my Airport Time Capsule only detecting 2.4ghz network, looks like might have to exchange it for another one as the wifi appears to not be working properly as my other devices connect to my 5ghz network with no issues
Had to change wifi channel to manual and a lower channel on 5ghz for it to find it, had it on the lowest which picked up the fire tv fine, but my apple devices wouldn't then find it so had to put it on a higher channel on my airport time capsule
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We got our Fire TV on launch day and have finally gotten it hooked up to our home theater system. We do have a 4K TV and a fully HDCP 2.2 compliant home theater system
So far, the 4K on Amazon Prime looks great. Essentially the same as the 4K coming off my Samsung TV built in app, which was the only place we could get 4K before. The problem I am having right now is the Netflix app on the FireTV is only outputting stereo audio even for the 4K sources. The same Netflix 4K source on the TV (Daredevil) does output 7.1, so I am not sure what is going on with the Netflix app on the Fire.
As far as the interface, it is exactly the same as the prior generation Fire TV as far as I can tell. Voice search is still not universal, in that it only searches Amazon content, not Hulu, Netflix, etc. So no change there.
I hope I can fix the Netflix issue. I bought the FireTV to get away from using our TV apps and having to enable the control over HDMI to get it working, which has been buggy.
EDIT: Just checked the Amazon page for the FireTV, and apparently they are aware of the issue with no surround sound from apps and will be releasing a software fix October 22nd. Kind of a big thing to miss, really. Eh, I will keep a close eye on what Roku releases.
So far, the 4K on Amazon Prime looks great. Essentially the same as the 4K coming off my Samsung TV built in app, which was the only place we could get 4K before. The problem I am having right now is the Netflix app on the FireTV is only outputting stereo audio even for the 4K sources. The same Netflix 4K source on the TV (Daredevil) does output 7.1, so I am not sure what is going on with the Netflix app on the Fire.
As far as the interface, it is exactly the same as the prior generation Fire TV as far as I can tell. Voice search is still not universal, in that it only searches Amazon content, not Hulu, Netflix, etc. So no change there.
I hope I can fix the Netflix issue. I bought the FireTV to get away from using our TV apps and having to enable the control over HDMI to get it working, which has been buggy.
EDIT: Just checked the Amazon page for the FireTV, and apparently they are aware of the issue with no surround sound from apps and will be releasing a software fix October 22nd. Kind of a big thing to miss, really. Eh, I will keep a close eye on what Roku releases.
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I just shipped my FireTV back to Amazon.
The 4K content was soft and left and right motion caused picture judder. I then found out that the box is only 30 FPS which is why the judder issue.
I also learned that the box is only HDMI 1.4 and can not do HDR 4K not play videos from Youtube in 4K. The big issue with this is that all the new 4K that Amazon is putting online is only in HDR 4K. This means that all the 4K on your Fire TV from Amazon could be the only 4K you see from Amazon.
Netflix worked, but was in 2.0 stereo (a software update is coming to fix it) but other things that use 5.1 (such as Plex and HBO GO) were only in 2.0 stereo as well. There is no word if the Netflix Dolby Digital fix will fix the 5.1 on these other apps as well but again suffered the judder issue as well.
Like others I have had the unit display black screens, which required a reboot. The loss of the WIFI Network (requiring a reboot) and had a hard time taking the battery cover off the remote to put the batteries in.
The ratings for the Fire TV at Amazon are now 2.5 out of 5. I noticed today that a bunch of new reviews are coming in which are 5 stars yet only have one word in the reviews... such as great, awesome & amazing. I can only wonder if these people might be Amazon staff.
I was a huge fan of the origional Fire TV but I just can't recommend this one to anybody.
The 4K content was soft and left and right motion caused picture judder. I then found out that the box is only 30 FPS which is why the judder issue.
I also learned that the box is only HDMI 1.4 and can not do HDR 4K not play videos from Youtube in 4K. The big issue with this is that all the new 4K that Amazon is putting online is only in HDR 4K. This means that all the 4K on your Fire TV from Amazon could be the only 4K you see from Amazon.
Netflix worked, but was in 2.0 stereo (a software update is coming to fix it) but other things that use 5.1 (such as Plex and HBO GO) were only in 2.0 stereo as well. There is no word if the Netflix Dolby Digital fix will fix the 5.1 on these other apps as well but again suffered the judder issue as well.
Like others I have had the unit display black screens, which required a reboot. The loss of the WIFI Network (requiring a reboot) and had a hard time taking the battery cover off the remote to put the batteries in.
The ratings for the Fire TV at Amazon are now 2.5 out of 5. I noticed today that a bunch of new reviews are coming in which are 5 stars yet only have one word in the reviews... such as great, awesome & amazing. I can only wonder if these people might be Amazon staff.
I was a huge fan of the origional Fire TV but I just can't recommend this one to anybody.
So I got the new Fire TV Gaming Edition a few days ago! I'm not a video or audiophile (no 4K TV or fancy receiver here) so I can't comment on those features. From what I've read there is a problem with the device and Dolby Digital 5.1 however Amazon said they'll have a firmware update next week that'll remedy that problem. The UI is exactly the same as before and navigation hasn't changed much. What has changed is the addition of Alexa and (owning an Echo) I find it nifty to be able to use some of those features on the Fire TV. The microSD card slot is a very welcome addition as now I can expand the memory VIA microSD while connecting an additional accessory to the USB (right now I have a USB receiver for a mouse and keyboard). General performance is noticeably snappier; launching applications, loading inside applications, and streaming video/audio is definitely faster.
Gaming performance has increased significantly; benchmarks show about double the performance in this respect. A good example is GTA Vice City. On the old Fire TV I was only about to put the settings around medium and even then the FPS took noticeable dips. On the new Fire TV I'm able to max out everything and the FPS seems to stay consistently at 30 or above. In addition to the increased performance the gaming controller is also much improved. The old one wasn't amazing...but it wasn't bad either. The build of the new controller feels more solid, sticks feel a tad bit tighter, dpad seems to not have as much resistance, and the contour of it seems better fitted for the hand. The controller also adopts a Xbox One style battery compartment with it being flush with the back of the controller and the headset jack for private listening is a welcome addition!
ADB works exactly as it did with the old Fire and I was able to sideload Firestarter (new update works great with the new Fire TV) and Kodi easily. Speaking of Kodi, performance was great and launching, navigating, and streaming video/audio seems a bit snappier. The audio level is much lower though and I find myself maxing out my TV volume just to get to a comfortable listening level. This only happens with Kodi though and I don't encounter this low audio level when watching/listening in other apps.
There are a few quirks I've run into with the new Fire TV. Right now I'm using my old Fire TV remote and there's noticeable lag between the button presses and the action on the screen. I don't experience this lag when using the game controller and I actually had another old Fire TV remote that had an older firmware on it and it didn't experience this lag either. Another quirk is that when you plug and/or unplug a USB flash drive it seems to make the apps on your microSD card inaccessible. When this happens you have to remount your microSD card to get access to those apps again. The low audio level mentioned above is another quirk. Other than that though everything has been working fine.
So what's my verdict? If you're looking for a good media streamer then definitely consider the new Fire TV. There are some quirks but the device just launched and Amazon seems to be listening. The fact that they're releasing a new firmware to remedy the Dolby Digital issue shows that they're taking these issues seriously. If you're completely happy with your old Fire TV then there's not much new here...unless you absolutely have to have 4K and/or Alexa. If you do want those things though and also want increased gaming capabilities then definitely consider upgrading to the new Fire TV. There are many other options out there though (Apple TV, Roku, Shield TV, Nexus Player, Chromecast) and if you're not keen on the Amazon ecosystem then it's probably better to give more weight to these other options as the Fire TV is heavily geared towards Amazon content.
EDIT: Actually, reading on Reddit it seems some people are already getting the updated firmware with the Dolby fix.
EDIT 2: According to Amazon Support...
"Thank you for the feedback. By this coming Monday, October 12th, you will receive an automatic software update that enables Dolby Digital Plus for customers who have a Dolby Digital Plus system (including support for Netflix and Amazon Video). An update for older Dolby Digital systems (not Dolby Digital Plus) will be distributed on November 30th."
Gaming performance has increased significantly; benchmarks show about double the performance in this respect. A good example is GTA Vice City. On the old Fire TV I was only about to put the settings around medium and even then the FPS took noticeable dips. On the new Fire TV I'm able to max out everything and the FPS seems to stay consistently at 30 or above. In addition to the increased performance the gaming controller is also much improved. The old one wasn't amazing...but it wasn't bad either. The build of the new controller feels more solid, sticks feel a tad bit tighter, dpad seems to not have as much resistance, and the contour of it seems better fitted for the hand. The controller also adopts a Xbox One style battery compartment with it being flush with the back of the controller and the headset jack for private listening is a welcome addition!
ADB works exactly as it did with the old Fire and I was able to sideload Firestarter (new update works great with the new Fire TV) and Kodi easily. Speaking of Kodi, performance was great and launching, navigating, and streaming video/audio seems a bit snappier. The audio level is much lower though and I find myself maxing out my TV volume just to get to a comfortable listening level. This only happens with Kodi though and I don't encounter this low audio level when watching/listening in other apps.
There are a few quirks I've run into with the new Fire TV. Right now I'm using my old Fire TV remote and there's noticeable lag between the button presses and the action on the screen. I don't experience this lag when using the game controller and I actually had another old Fire TV remote that had an older firmware on it and it didn't experience this lag either. Another quirk is that when you plug and/or unplug a USB flash drive it seems to make the apps on your microSD card inaccessible. When this happens you have to remount your microSD card to get access to those apps again. The low audio level mentioned above is another quirk. Other than that though everything has been working fine.
So what's my verdict? If you're looking for a good media streamer then definitely consider the new Fire TV. There are some quirks but the device just launched and Amazon seems to be listening. The fact that they're releasing a new firmware to remedy the Dolby Digital issue shows that they're taking these issues seriously. If you're completely happy with your old Fire TV then there's not much new here...unless you absolutely have to have 4K and/or Alexa. If you do want those things though and also want increased gaming capabilities then definitely consider upgrading to the new Fire TV. There are many other options out there though (Apple TV, Roku, Shield TV, Nexus Player, Chromecast) and if you're not keen on the Amazon ecosystem then it's probably better to give more weight to these other options as the Fire TV is heavily geared towards Amazon content.
EDIT: Actually, reading on Reddit it seems some people are already getting the updated firmware with the Dolby fix.
EDIT 2: According to Amazon Support...
"Thank you for the feedback. By this coming Monday, October 12th, you will receive an automatic software update that enables Dolby Digital Plus for customers who have a Dolby Digital Plus system (including support for Netflix and Amazon Video). An update for older Dolby Digital systems (not Dolby Digital Plus) will be distributed on November 30th."
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