Boxing clever? Amazon Fire TV is SO CLOSE to being excellent

There's no option to hide the paid for content in the amazon apps or on the website when you look through prime instant video. The instant video doesn't work on android tablets and doesn't work on blackberry handsets even through they are running the same .apk which works on native android phones. Amazon are messing their customers around and it annoys me.

"Fire TV can't stream soundtracks to Bluetooth headphones either"

They've missed a trick there. That's something I and I am sure many others would find useful.

Plex?

I see Plex is the screenshot, was it tested?

Minor corrections.

"Music is less well served. Fire TV connects to Amazon’s cloud music service, which means anything you bought from Amazon MP3, auto-rip CDs (you buy the CD and Amazon automatically adds the MP3s), and up to 250 other tracks manually uploaded"

1. It's not manually in the sense of copy / paste, you can choose a folder and synch it.

2. If you have the Cloud Player subscriptions you can have 250,000 songs.

Obsolete?

Samsung TV's have the Amazon Prime app, the Plex media player, BBC iPlayer plus all the other catch-ups and I'm sure their competitors do too. OK, not everyone has a fancy "smart" TV but even so, it must be a gamble in this day an age with margins so tight to be releasing a piece of hardware like this, especially one tied down to a particular service.

There's no subtitles

I can confirm Amazon doesn't support these at all, in the UK. Hard of hearing dad (aka DEAF GIT) loves Netflix but hates having to put cans on, just to watch something on Amazon Prime streaming (which we have free, until the next subscription they won't be getting).

If they sell the hardware for almost no profit, why not open up Prime to Chromecast? That's a device already available, with an already wide adoptance, which can be bought from Amazon (I assume Amazon gets a cut of the price), and would make Prime services attractive to those who have a Chromecast, but don't have Prime.

Amazon seem intent on constantly reinventing the wheel, and making it about as hard for themselves to get into the market as possible. Also see the Fire phone... available exclusively on O2 (no thanks).

Maybe it's me

but there's very little available for "free" on Prime. Considering it's costing me something, I don't like paying more.

There is a massive gap in the market for a business which takes a *single* payment, and then allows access to NetFlix, Prime, BlinkBox, Sky and all the other Johnny-come-lately "exclusive content" providers. Which I would pay.

Otherwise torrent are thataway ---->

Wii Console

It sounds like, at the moment, you are better off getting an old Nintendo Wii off eBay. They can be had for about £50 (or £70-ish with tons of games). They make better games players, you can download Netflix, iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video and plenty of other Apps plus, with a very simple update, they can be made into a brilliant XBMC style media player accessing all the video, music and photos from a NAS.

I suppose the real downside would be that you're limited to 480p but, given that it can do pretty much anything we've been more than happy with ours as the main media player for a few years now.

Cut-price console?

Not really. You can get a PS3 for the same price (from Amazon of course) which does every single thing this box does, plus a hell of a lot more - DVD, blu-ray, actual games that aren't crap, and so on. This isn't a cut-price console, it's just a shit one.

As for all the complaints about Prime, I really don't get it. No content provider offers everything you want at any time. Netflix or one of the others may happen to have a selection that more closely matches your taste and therefore be a better choice for you, but some people apparently want to be able to watch anything that has ever been made at any time without ever paying a penny, and that is simply never going to happen. Compared to "traditional" TV services like Sky and cable, Prime and all the similar services are so much better I'm constantly amazed that the old model still exists at all. No, you can't watch absolutely anything you want with no caveats, but compared to "pay significantly more per year in order to watch exactly what we want when we tell you you can, and incidentally most of it will be adverts" it really is a no-brainer.

So-so

Got one about a month ago, and ordered it when they sold it as introductory offer for 49 € here in Germany (which, incidentally, is the current one-year subscription price for Prime).

Yes, a games console can do anything that beast can do (and some things better), and we got two.

Yes, a smart TV can do all/most of what that beast can do, and ours could.

But: a (ok, our) one year old smart TV is hard pressed with video streaming, which more or less regularly leads to stopping the currently watched movie/episode. The fire TV just works.

I can't simply stick[1] a games console behind the flat screen (and the wife _will_ complain about any visible cables).

A full blown games console will use a lot more power and make a lot more noise.

So, for video streaming of Amazon Prime content (and at the introductory price), that box is ok. The improvements over the TV app are worth it for us. And for gaming, there's still the xbox 360. But I agree with the review: there could be more (much more) possible on the app side. There's neither an app for Watchever nor for Netflix available, so we still have to use the TVs apps if we want to watch any competing streaming service.

[1]3M dual lock is great for that ;-)

I have a Chromecast sitting in a drawer, as attempting to demo it to both my flatmates (non technical) highlighted the fact they would *never* use it. The phone remote control aspect was far too geeky.

The Fire tv on the other hand was received with joy. Pick up the simple remote, up down left right and select. Pick a film or tv episode, done. The BBC iPlayer app is great as our tv is not "smart", plus our signal reception is spotty, so no guarantee the dvr will work for a whole episode.

The cheap PS3 route was an option, (and still is, as I like the occasional game) but I wanted something with as few barriers as possible to content. The Fire tv does that just now.

What about advertising

The other month Amazon decided to send me an e-mail to promote Norton Antivirus despite the fact that I've been opted out of promotional e-mails with Amazon for years. When I questioned this they said it was because I'd spent over £30 with my last order. Since then, I've not purchased anything from Amazon that exceeds £29.99 and its' surprising what bargains you can find elsewhere. For example, I purchased a new TV in August from John Lewis for the same price as Amazon but with a free five year guarantee. Fair enough, I had to pay the postage but still, it's a far better deal.

My point being... I loath companies that think they have a God given right to promote their products and services to me and this is why I wouldn't consider Amazon Fire TV. If they're not already advertising on the TV then it can't be far off. You're much better off waiting until a product is released by a UK data controller so that you can opt out of all direct marketing - even marketing served to a TV.

Webmaster www.mindmydata.co.uk

I'd sooner buy the Google Play TV thing instead thanks.

Nexus Player.

WD TV Live, same price, probably better

I picked up a WD TV Live not so long ago for the same price. I was so impressed having a play with one at my brother's I went out to get one shortly after (I too also upgraded from Netgear ReadyNAS to a Synology). It also has WiFi, Ethernet, HDMI and optical, but will allow you to use the USB slot to pick up media. So far it's played everything I've thrown at it from NAS and Mac streaming via DLNA and NFS. It also has a few built-in apps like BBC iPlayer and YouTube, though I'm pretty sure Spotify requires you to have a subscription.

It's actually quite good

The interface is quite good looking - better than the Roku. You can play local content on the Fire TV using Plex, which somehow didn't get mentioned in the review. You can also sideload apps without rooting. Some will work and some won't, but XBMC can be sideloaded and works brilliantly - another way to play local content.

I don't expect my parents to sideload XBMC, but surely the Register's readership will grasp the concept?

Love it!

I'm a huge Prime delivery user (about 6 deliveries a week so it saves me a fortune) and I also used Lovefilm so the whole package is a no brainer for me.

I pre-ordered My Fire TV and I've been really impressed. I wanted something to replace the antique and noisy Xbox 360 that had done all the streaming duties for us. I have cancelled my Gold Subs too so wasnt sure if I could carry on using it for that either. I think they lifted streaming from Gold only but...I didn't care by then.

So now the Fire does all the streaming. All I use it for is Prime, Netflix and You Tube. The Gf has added on the pilates app.

Mine is setup with Ethernet and a Amazon Essentials Fast HDMI cable. I would like to see 1080i added to the options as my TV doesn't support 1080p (it's elderly you see) but it's running fine at 720p.

I would also like to see a better divide between Prime Free video and Prime Paid content as its a bit messy on that front. Oh and being able to delete stuff from the main menu I don't need to slim it down.

Other than that it's a great little box.

Meh

Since I'm not already locked into Amazon's walled back yard it sounds like my Chromecast is the better device. About the only thngs FireTV does that it doesn't are play crappy games and stream from Amazon Prime. I don't need the former and the later seem to charge a fortune for anything good so even though I am a Prime member I've never watched anything on it, Netflix is a much better deal.

Fail for me

I was planning on getting at least six of these for various family members and attaching hd's with family photo's and videos etc via usb since none of them have Nas or even wifi in a lot of cases. They would have made a very nice box for viewing those from, but of course Amazon have acted up with typical control freakery and screwed up root so they've lost these sales. Well done you plonkers.

The part I don't like is that it's a streaming box, but expects me to buy most things individually. I'm not interested in paying eight quid for a digital copy of a film unless it's high bitrate, DRM free, and not tied to a service. $8 gets me Netflix, which has tons of content and doesn't pretend like any of it belongs to me.

Fire TV stick remote

Just to clarify, the Fire TV stick does come with a basic remote (so you don't have to use your mobile to control it). The compatible extra is the full blown voice-search remote from the Fire TV box.

Install Media Browser

"Out of the box, the Fire TV lacks the ability to stream media from your own network, so if you've a NAS box crammed full of your music and video files then you'll be frustrated here."

You can always install Media Browser (www.mediabrowser.tv), or Plex, to play those movies and music you have stored on your NAS !!

Keep you eyes open. I just ordered a stick for $20. It was a prime customer price. I am not crazy about the price increase but It saves a lot of money compared to going out shopping and trying to find just what you want. Also in the states there is a free program for students with .edu accounts.

So so

I'm a big fan of Amazon, I have a Kindle and am a Prime customer and use both a few times a day. As for the customer service, again, excellent. As a company they're very good at knowing what customers want and the variances in how they want it, for example offering the same level of customer service via live chat, email and phone etc, and the same for their content, the experience is the same whether watching via my Playstation, iPad etc.

The main problem is content, I've had this rant before on here about media content and the way it is packaged up and sold. The only way you'll get true choice is to buy every device / service as they all have 99% of the same stuff and 1% of the things you want to watch. When they review this outdated model and make it more affordable and therefore commercially viable for resellers the industry will move forward as the technology (the how) is far outpacing the content (the what).

If the big content providers persist with the current model the pirates will win and the whole industry will decline. The same happened with music, and all the retailers went belly up, you can now buy almost any music in any format from any provider. The model is flexible and combined with good tech the music industry is starting to make money again. Movies and games will go the same way within the next year or so I think, but what do I know, it's not like I'm an analyst or anything who's been looking at this industry for years... :P

No web access, what's the point? It's like buying a car you can't use on the roads.

issues to note

hi,

agree with most of the review. my biggest current issue is the parental control PIN - its not fine-grained enough. Yes, I can use it to stop content being streamed or bought... but if I only stop it being used for purchase then ANYTHING can be streamed - not just eg 'U content' material - littleones are able to stream ANYTHING thats available on prime. thats quite sucky.

the other thing is lack of 'off' or power-down option. sorry....yes, it uses 'little' energy but I should still be able to turn the thing off or put it into low power standby

...PS it comes with amazon value AAA batteries... that seemed to last about 2 weeks. so yes, no 'batteries required' on box...but what a waste of materials to put 2 dead batteries in the bin(!) (why dont these things use inductive charging etc now...just leave remote ontop of the box to charge it.....especially as the box cannot be turned off (see above) without just hitting the mains power switch

Do people still pay for films?

Almost everything comes on free-to-air and repeats endlessly.

Surely a PVR/XBMC should do the trick? (MythTV for me).

Is it just me? I fail to feel the need to own it now on DVD (don't have blue ray), our local blockbuster closed so I almost never rent, and I probably only check the tv schedules once a month.

However cool the tech is, I feel a bit beyond the idea of a big-screen tv. A 27" screen on my PC and a comfy office chair or a 15" laptop sitting on the duvet gives me as much as I need.

How about developing plug-ins instead of HW?

Yes, this is all nice and good for those who do not have a HTPC. But some of us have one, AND a cable box (damn it). The last thing I want to to have to add yet another box for Amazon, and another for Netflix (it'll come), and another for Google, and yet another for the BBC, etc, etc... Nor do I want to install a multitude of separate applications/software where I have to quit out of (say) MP to fire up the specialised iPlayer software or the Amazon player or whatever-the-hell-is-next.

There is very good HTPC software out there already (XBMC, Media-Portal, etc...) How about writing plugins for them instead, huh? Shouldn't be much harder than writing your own dedicated players, surely? And by all means, slap all the login and DRM on your plugin as you like - I just want to be able to access your stuff in the same way as I access the rest of my DVD collection/Free-to-air TV, thank you very much. And as for *you* Foxtel... requiring me to use your official decoder cards to make sure I am an actual account holder is perfectly fine and understandable, but forcing me to use your STB to further decode the signal AGAIN... that's just being an <expletive deleted> It'd be so much easier if I could plug your cable into my HTPC, slide the (legal) decoder card in and (once again) have a consistent viewing experience.

So, again: less specialised hardware/software, more integration.

Thank you </rant>

No sub-titles discrimination Amazon doesn't care

Un-like Netflix, Amazons streaming service doesn't support closed caption subtitles. This is because Amazon doesn't want to bother with hearing impaired customers.

The issue existed because Love Film didn't bother with subtitles and now Amazon doesn't feel it needs to either.

"We don't care about the needs of disabled people and we would rather they went elsewhere" being Amazons response to the problem.

One 1 account

The only 1 account is hugely annoying from the Prime Instant Video and Prime Kindle Lending Library perspective too - Family accounts are linked to Prime membership - really, how hard can this be.

I own Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast. I have to say I use Amazon Fire TV most of the time and I hardly use Apple TV anymore. Fire TV has some amazing specs, Dolby Digital 7.1, more memory and faster CPU. But to get most out of it you need to root it. After you've rooted the Fire TV, you will be able to install all kinds of apps on it from Google Play store such as: Beats music, Spotify, online games etc.; and more important, you will be able to install and use VPN on it which allows you to access U.S. streaming services like Hulu plus, Pandora.