
Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition - skrowl
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XNQECFM/ref=ods_fs_ftvge
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dheera
I thought for a moment they were giving away a 4K display for $140 ...
(knowing Amazon they could have probably done it using some nasty proprietary
connectors and software so that you couldn't use it with anything but their
services)

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grandalf
considering that a 55" 4K television is the same price as an iPhone 6+, it
would make sense for content providers to create financing bundles in the same
way mobile carriers do...

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cwyers
I have a Fire TV Stick and it's fine except the wifi reception is awful
(laptops and smartphones and tablets work just fine in the same room, while
the Fire TV Stick buffers like crazy half the time). Which means it isn't
really all that fine.

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drakenot
When the first Amazon Fire TV was launched one of the big features was the
voice search. It was originally stated that Netflix voice search would be
coming by the end of 2014:

“We expect to support [Fire TV] voice search later this year.” -Reed Hastings,
Netflix CEO

That time came and went and the Fire TV never had its voice search expanded to
include Netflix. I wonder if this was due to Amazon and Netflix not being able
to come to terms over this feature? It seems that the new Apple TV allows you
to voice search Netflix. I'd really like to be able to voice search Amazon and
Netflix's catalog at the same time.

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electriclove
Good on Amazon for continuing to improve! FireTV launched April 2014 New
FireTV to ship October 2015

versus Google Chromecast which was amazing when launched in July 2013. But
absolutely ZERO improvements in OVER 2 years. :(

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dragonwriter
> Good on Amazon for continuing to improve! FireTV launched April 2014 New
> FireTV to ship October 2015 Sure, a year and a half later they release a
> more featureful, more expensive, variant on the product they initially
> released. Good for them, but...

> versus Google Chromecast which was amazing when launched in July 2013. But
> absolutely ZERO improvements in OVER 2 years. :(

Chromecast launched July 2013, true; it was (and is) a ~$35 media stick. And
November 2014 -- a little under a year and a half later -- Google released a
more featureful product that subsumed the basic functions of the Chromecast,
had more onboard capability for apps, etc., and included a game controller,
the $99 (now $79), Android TV based Nexus Player.

So, I don't think its really fair to say Google hasn't done anything here.
Amazon's path isn't all that different from Google's.

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m_st
Sounds great. Exactly what I hoped the new Apple TV would be... Does anyone
know whether Fire TV has a VPN client build in?

Edit:

Found this with a quick search [https://vpntips.com/fire-tv-vpn-
install](https://vpntips.com/fire-tv-vpn-install). To bad it's so complicated
given that Fire TV runs Android. But this little device looks very promising.
I enjoy 4K TV a lot through the Netflix app on my Sony TV.

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misnome
Serious question: What does this have that the new Apple TV doesn't? Other
than coming with a games controller by default, rather than having to buy one
separately.

Also, assuming that amazon will make an app for the new Apple TV (which they
seem to have done for all iOS so far) the new apple tv will play EVERYTHING -
Plex, Amazon, Netflix etc, and iTunes content.

I know it's apples fault for not making iTunes-playing apps for other devices,
but that doesn't change the fact that with AppleTV I only need one device,
versus every other solution. It's just plain more convenient. Of course, this
only applies if you are in the apple ecosystem to begin with, which is maybe
not who these are aimed at...

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m_st
I'm all in the Apple ecosystem. But:

\- No 4K

\- No VPN

\- No default game controller (so you never know whether games support it or
not)

No thanks for me and my requirements.

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nilkn
I believe that Apple also _requires_ tvOS games to be operable with the remote
in order to be published. In other words, one can't make a tvOS game that
requires an actual game controller to play. Most likely this will severely
hinder the platform in terms of gaming support because that remote is way too
simple to support games of any real complexity.

~~~
misnome
Operable. Nowhere have I seen that it requires it to be pleasant.

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azatris
4K TV without the 4K TV

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lloydde
I was also expecting a display from the headline, but not the price.

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joesmo
Why can't I get Amazon and Netflix in 4k on my more than capable laptop? Until
that situation changes, investing in such boxes just supports the idea that
customers cannot be trusted with high-definition streams or any content, an
idea the MPAA (and RIAA etc.) has been pushing now for many decades despite it
continuously being proven wrong. No, I don't want to support the MPAA by
bowing down to their demands that I use a stupid, crippled box to view movies.
Once again, they've failed to provide an alternative to things like Popcorn
time and they deserve to suffer for it.

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georgeott
Keep in mind, this is the Gaming Bundle. It does not come with the standard
remote, just the game controller.

They also sell the Fire TV, with the normal voice remote for $99.

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seivan
Does the Game Controller support
[http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/InputDev...](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/InputDevice.html)
?

Could be cool as a dev platform for games. I take it all you do is compile to
Android and it should work out of the box? Granted, resolution issues are
dealt with.

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dragonwriter
If you want a TV-connected console for testing in-development Android games,
Google's Nexus Player is already available, cheaper, and probably a more
typical Android experience.

~~~
seivan
Thanks!

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davidcuddeback
The tech specs say that it's compatible with TVs "capable of 2160p at
24/25/30/50/60 Hz." I hope that means it can output a native 24p signal for
movies filmed at 24 fps. That would make it a serious contender for being the
media center in my living room, because 24p seems to be neglected by all the
major manufacturers.

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mobiuscog
It certainly can't output a quality signal 2160p@60Hz as that's out of
specification for HDMI1.

~~~
davidcuddeback
I would actually prefer 1080p@24Hz over 2160p@60Hz. 4K (2160p) is beyond human
visual acuity at regular viewing distances, and 60Hz requires 3:2 pullup on
the video signal that I find distracting at times.

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Pxtl
Dear Google: catch up. No, Android TV doesn't count - just put a thin layer on
stock Android and throw it onto a stick.

Also, give up on the voice-control thing, everybody's accepted that all your
apps are touch-based so make a pointing-device that can simulate swipes for
scrolling like everybody else.

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btbuildem
Title is misleading, please fix it.

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swalsh
Curious, i have an echo which is in my kitchen... but i can control it from my
living room, which is also where my tv is. When there are two of these devices
close together how well does it handle responding to the instruction?

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devit
Does the gaming version really have much of a market, considering that the
PlayStation 4, XBox One and PC have far better hardware and game library, and
that one can already run Android games on their tables/smartphone?

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kenrikm
The original Wii shows that yes, they do. The Wii was SD when HD was the hot
thing and yet still sold like hotcakes (at the time) because it was casual
(non gamer) friendly.

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devit
The Wii had an innovative controller and an exclusive game library, though.

The Fire TV instead copies the controller from the XBox and the game library
from Android devices.

It seems far more similar to the Ouya console that recently got discontinued.

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hbogert
You just got to love this sentence: "Watch high-definition 1080p streams on
Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu and more, even without a 4K TV."

OMG, this is so great!

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mobiuscog
If only they had included HDMI2 or Displayport...

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thedaemon
Looks like competition for the Nvidia Shield TV.

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kabdib
Cell phone class hardware. Probably an ARM SOC with very little I/O bandwidth.
The SD card as a main store . . .

Ugh.

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TruthSHIFT
"More Games than Apple TV."

That claim will probably need to be removed in 2 months.

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mpg33
So Android TV...

