Amazon Fire TV a first look

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Allan
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Amazon Fire TV a first look

Post by Allan »

Amazon recently launched their Fire TV box in the UK, I took delivery of mine last week and after a few days I am seriously impressed.

The Fire TV is used for watching Internet TV, as a media player and as a games console.

Amazon has created an 'ecosystem' with a range of apps that are tested and customised for the Fire TV, a bit like Apple but with a lot more choice than the Apple TV.

I paired the Fire TV with Overplay SmartDNS and within a few minutes I had installed TV Player for live UK TV and BBC iPlayer and Demand 5 for catch-up services. Strangely ITV Player isn't yet available but STV player is, so most of the main ITV broadcasts are available just by claiming to be in Scotland. 4OD is not yet available.

I subscribe to Amazon Prime to provide free delivery to and for my family, the Amazon prime subscription includes access to a library of around 15,000 films and TV titles much the same as Netflix.

When I buy music, I usually download it from Amazon, when the box arrived it was ready configured with my Amazon account and all the music that I have ever bought was immediately available.

A small app installed on my iPhone synchronises my photos with Amazon Cloud and they can now be viewed with the Fire TV.

Underneath it all, the Fire TV runs Android but the user is shielded from this, the interface is elegant and there is no need for an Air-Mouse as all apps work perfectly with the remote control.

A neat touch is voice control, you press a button on the remote, say the name of an app, a film or a TV program and it normally jumps straight to it.

Of course you can run native Android apps by side-loading them in Developer mode, if you don't know what that means then you probably shouldn't do it. In any case, the controlled environment is a big strength of the Fire TV, you don't need to wear an anorak to use it

I am told that games are very good but they are not my thing so I won't pass comment.

To summarise, it offers the simplicity of an Apple TV without the need to combine it with another device.

As I said, I paired it with a SmartDNS at about €4 per month, I'm not sure how much use it would be without it.
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russell
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Post by russell »

It looks very good. How does it compare to your G-Box mx2? Is there a native Filmon app or does that have to be installed from an apk file? I like to use Filmon for the ease of recording programs. I haven't used TV Player for a while but I don't remember it having that facility. Oh yes, and Filmon has Dave which is great for repeats of QI and for Crackernory.

One downside I see is that there is no analogue audio output so it would need an extra box to connect to a traditional HiFi.

Russell.
Allan
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Post by Allan »

It is very different to a G-box, the controlled environment makes it much more of a consumer device. You could hand someone the remote control and they could use it straight away.

Whereas you can side-load Android apps, I think it is going against the concept of the device, and just because you can load them, it doesn't mean they will work.

I side-loaded, Filmon and ITV player, neither worked properly with the Fire TV's remote control.

If you want total flexibility and enjoy playing with multiple applications then it is probably not for you. If on the other hand you value simplicity of use then this is a very neat solution.

You are quite right, you cannot record programs with TVPlayer but obviously you can watch past programs on catch up TV.
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