Just got the new Amazon Fire TV box

[JohnnyHopkins]

Good topic! With the new generation of boxes coming out, I was hopeful that some of the people in the know could offer some advice:

- Are the Apple TV and Fire TVs still going to pimp their own stuff first over other offerings? The thing I love most about Roku to this point is that their search feature is unbiased whereas the others completely push their products over others.

- Any specs on gaming? We are passive gamers, at least for a few more years until our kids get older, but the initial specs on the new Apple TV look like it could be promising while Roku just doesn't seem to care much to this point. Not sure about Fire TV, but I did see that they offer what looks like it could be a decent package.

I have no real allegiance, so I am looking for what is best for my house. Roku won out easily last time out, but the new Apple TV has the interest of my wife and kids since they are I-pad/phone/Mac users. I lean towards Roku because they offer Sunday Ticket and don't try to force their own services on me over better options. Sunday Ticket normally breaks the tie.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Should have gotten a Roku. Roku own the streaming market. They are so much better than any other offering it's ridiculous. They just released the Roku 4 too.

Return it and order a Roku. Then you can just order an Echo for the goofiness stuff you want.

Uh no.

Roku looks better on the surface but it really isnt. They offer a whole bunch of crap you'll never use (over another box) and their devices are pieces of crap.

On my 4th roku and it'll be my last because its the 4th in a row to overheat and have random reboots.

 

[maxdallasfan]

Roku 4 now has optical audio. I look forward to smashing my AppleTV into little pieces once R4 comes.

I don't think Fire TV has optical. I may be mistaken though.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Roku 4 now has optical audio. I look forward to smashing my AppleTV into little pieces once R4 comes.

I don't think Fire TV has optical. I may be mistaken though.

who is all excited about 1999 audio connections? lol

 

[morasp]

Good topic! With the new generation of boxes coming out, I was hopeful that some of the people in the know could offer some advice:

- Are the Apple TV and Fire TVs still going to pimp their own stuff first over other offerings? The thing I love most about Roku to this point is that their search feature is unbiased whereas the others completely push their products over others.

- Any specs on gaming? We are passive gamers, at least for a few more years until our kids get older, but the initial specs on the new Apple TV look like it could be promising while Roku just doesn't seem to care much to this point. Not sure about Fire TV, but I did see that they offer what looks like it could be a decent package.

I have no real allegiance, so I am looking for what is best for my house. Roku won out easily last time out, but the new Apple TV has the interest of my wife and kids since they are I-pad/phone/Mac users. I lean towards Roku because they offer Sunday Ticket and don't try to force their own services on me over better options. Sunday Ticket normally breaks the tie.

I bought the first Fire because Amazon offered it for $50 if you tried Sling for three months and it was one of the few devices Sling supported. The NFL draft was coming up and I wanted to watch in on ESPN. I haven't tried Roku but have tried a number of others. My take is that the Fire does feature the prime content on the home page but I kind of like that. The Sling, Netflix, and Hulu apps that I also use are readily available and load quicker than they did on my other platforms. Hulu and Pandora are included with the universal search and they have said that they will continue to add more. I also have universal search with my Tivo and it's nice but I wouldn't buy the product because of it. The reason I like the prime content is that it loads so quickly almost instantaneously. Also, Amazon has done a really good job of picking up programs the other guys don't have. One thing I haven't seen on netflix and Hulu is for a lot of the movies you can go in and play the theatrical trailer to see if it's something you're interested in. It sounds minor but it really saves time if your not sure which one to watch. I used to do the surround sound stuff but haven't really messed with it lately but a lot of people are complaining that the fire doesn't have 5.1 audio on apps other than prime and Amazon came out and said they will release the SW patch to fix it by 10/22. As far as how many apps are available I honestly don't have time to watch everything I want to now so at least for me that isn't a big concern.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Uh no.

Roku looks better on the surface but it really isnt. They offer a whole bunch of crap you'll never use (over another box) and their devices are pieces of crap.

On my 4th roku and it'll be my last because its the 4th in a row to overheat and have random reboots.

I've noticed that with Roku as well and that never happens on my Apple TV.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Uh no.

Roku looks better on the surface but it really isnt. They offer a whole bunch of crap you'll never use (over another box) and their devices are pieces of crap.

On my 4th roku and it'll be my last because its the 4th in a row to overheat and have random reboots.

I have two. The only two I've ever bought and neither overheat or have any problems at all. (one of them has to be at least 5 years old) Not sure what you do to yours to make it do that. Installing the "hidden" (or illegal) channels most likely.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I have two. The only two I've ever bought and neither overheat or have any problems at all. (one of them has to be at least 5 years old) Not sure what you do to yours to make it do that. Installing the "hidden" (or illegal) channels most likely.

mine only have stock apps installed and only ever run netflix, hulu, youtube or pandora.

 

[YosemiteSam]

mine only have stock apps installed and only ever run netflix, hulu, youtube or pandora.

I just Googled around, it appears only the Roku 3 (and only some of them) had issues with overheating. I have the Roku 1 and Roku 2 I believe. I bought the Roku 2 when the Roku 3 was out because I didn't see the need for the features it came with. (headphones on the remote, etc)

You should get Amazon Prime. 2 day free shipping, deliveries even on Sunday, and they have a ton of free streaming content for Prime members. It's definitely worth it. Netflix and Prime are my primary non-sports related streaming.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I just Googled around, it appears only the Roku 3 (and only some of them) had issues with overheating. I have the Roku 1 and Roku 2 I believe. I bought the Roku 2 when the Roku 3 was out because I didn't see the need for the features it came with. (headphones on the remote, etc)

You should get Amazon Prime. 2 day free shipping, deliveries even on Sunday, and they have a ton of free streaming content for Prime members. It's definitely worth it. Netflix and Prime are my primary non-sports related streaming.

Ive had 3 roku 2's (XS, HD, etc.) and 1 Roku 3. All had the issue.

And I have prime...their streaming included for free is less than what netflix and hulu offers. We never use it.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

My next boxes will be android tv's, like: http://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv

 

[YosemiteSam]

Ive had 3 roku 2's (XS, HD, etc.) and 1 Roku 3. All had the issue.

And I have prime...their streaming included for free is less than what netflix and hulu offers. We never use it.

Primes movies are way way way better than Hulu and Netflix. Not to mention, a lot of time they offer streaming of series that Hulu and Netflix do not.

Where are you keeping your Roku's, the oven? If you've had that much trouble with all of them, I'm betting it's you that is the problem haha

 

[YosemiteSam]

My next boxes will be android tv's, like: http://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv

I have a 55" Sony 4k Android TV. It's great, but I still have a Roku connected to it because the Roku still has offering that Google TV doesn't yet offer.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Primes movies are way way way better than Hulu and Netflix. Not to mention, a lot of time they offer streaming of series that Hulu and Netflix do not.

Where are you keeping your Roku's, the oven? If you've had that much trouble with all of them, I'm betting it's you that is the problem haha

it doesnt matter...some were out chilling in the open by themselves, some were on a shelf, others were in a media cabinet.

Passive cooling in their almost completely enclosed box just isnt enough.

 

[maxdallasfan]

who is all excited about 1999 audio connections? lol

Hey, the past rules man.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Hey, the past rules man.

You need a set of red/white analogs? I'd be glad to mail you a 6' length set.

 

[speedkilz88]

With a fire tv you might want to look into porting Kodi onto it.

 

[CyberB0b]

With a fire tv you might want to look into porting Kodi onto it.

And the Genesis add-on.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I've had my Fire TV for a day now so I'm still figuring things out. I got the gaming edition (TV console, one new gen gaming controller, 32 GB micro SD). The gaming edition didn't come with a regular remote so I got the regular remote and a second gaming controller.

Here are some random observations with mixed pros and cons:

ALEXA

* It has voice search capability. You just press the microphone on the remote (also on the new gen gaming controller) and speak.
* You can ask it facts, questions about the weather, traffic, etc. It gets some things right, which is pretty cool, like "Who won the Super Bowl in 1996?"
* It also gets a lot of fairly basic things wrong. Well, it says "I don't think I understood you." But the text appears correctly on the screen. I'm not sure if it's just a limited version of the full Alexa but it should be a lot better.
* It doesn't let you navigate with your voice. For example, from the home screen, if I say "go to Settings" it'll respond with "You can get to settings by clicking the Settings option in the Alexa app."
* (I expected this since I read about it before I purchased it but) Alexa is very geared toward Amazon products. You can pretty much say the name of a song or a movie/show and it'll show you the Amazon Video or Amazon Music result. Even if, for example, the show is free on Netflix, it'll still show you the paid version on Amazon.
* In the search menu, you are able to just say the name of an app and it brings you to it. This is somewhat convenient instead of clicking to find the app. But once in the app, you have to type everything with the remote if it's not an Amazon app.

GAMES

* I'm not a gamer at all, but even I could tell that the games in the Amazon store aren't that great. The options are even more limited than the games you could play on your cell phone.
* Speaking of phone, there are a lot of games that are not available but you can "side load" them from your phone. Unfortunately, I tried this with a few games and the game didn't work on my Fire TV.
* Even some games that say on Amazon that they work with the Fire TV were not compatible with the Fire TV.
* The games that do work have pretty great graphics and the game controllers are very good.
* I'm hoping I can find a way to side load good games and I hope they're compatible with the Fire TV and the game controllers.

APPS

* I don't seem to be able to search for apps in the Amazon store. It gives you a list of recommend apps from the Amazon store, but you can actually search for any in particular. I read that you have to search for them on Amazon.com on your laptop and download them to your Amazon account. Not only is this inconvenient, but there are also a lot of games that say they're compatible with the Fire TV but are not.
* An example is Spotify. I read that Spotify was available on the previous generation Fire TV but is not on this one. There's an app in the Amazon store called Spotify Connect that says it's strictly designed to play Spotify on a Fire TV, but when you go to download it it says it's not compatible.