flameboy Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 Turns out to be nothing more than a slightly more powerful android box....disappointing....Think I'll stick with my ouya for my tv streaming needs. Amazon has at last announced Amazon Fire TV, its set-top box for streaming media content and games - including a version of Minecraft. 1 The online retail giant has just finished a press conference revealing the design and inner workings of Fire TV, which will include a quad-core CPU with 2GB of RAM. It's able to fit in the palm of your hand and includes HDMI, optical audio and ethernet ports. Word of a Fire TV version of Minecraft is a huge coup for the platform - especially after creator Notch recently canned support for a planned free Oculus Rift build. Amazon also recently bought Killer Instinct developer Double Helix and has been poaching executives from other gaming companies. But a leaked version of the system's controller, images of which appeared online last month, was less impressive. While still early, an image from Gizmodo of the controller in use today confirms the leak as being representative of the current model. It costs $39.99. Built to run a version of Android, the device can stream movies and TV content from Amazon Instant Video (formerly LoveFilm), Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, and in the US at least, Hulu, MLB.tv, and the NBA. In North America the Amazon Fire TV costs $99 or $139 with a controller. Both are available to buy from Amazon now.
Daft Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 This will be big. Apple will release their reworked Apple TV soon. And Sony should bring the Vita TV over when they are ready.
MoogleViper Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 Is that seriously the controller? When that was leaked I thought it was a hoax. Looks like the most uncomfortable controller I've ever seen.
Retro_Link Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 Ooh comes with a free piece of popcorn if you pre-order!
Cube Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 I can't see this doing well. Chromecast is much cheaper and will sort out video streaming for most people, which is the main point of this device. It may be OK for emulation if sideloading is easy, which is the most gaming I can see being done on this.
Cube Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 Amathis? Chromewhat? Someone explain this to me. Chromecast is a small USB-dongle-sized device that plugs into a HDMI slot. You can send streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc) from your Android or iOS phone to the device to stream to your TV. It's €35 in Norway.
Ashley Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 It's not entirely related, but is there a reason a company named after a rainforest keeps naming its products after things that would cause deforestation?
flameboy Posted April 2, 2014 Author Posted April 2, 2014 This will be big. Apple will release their reworked Apple TV soon. And Sony should bring the Vita TV over when they are ready. See Vita TV is exciting purely because the content is there already....but yes it will be big. I can't see this doing well. Chromecast is much cheaper and will sort out video streaming for most people, which is the main point of this device. It may be OK for emulation if sideloading is easy, which is the most gaming I can see being done on this. I'm not sure this is fair to Amazon, it's intended as more than just that....this comparison chart proves.... It's pretty clear to me that the Amazon outspecs these machines for reasons other than just streaming videos. The Chromecast seems way more limited might be great at what it's doing but overall is not gonna deliver the same quality of experience that would be hoped from the Fire. It's not entirely related, but is there a reason a company named after a rainforest keeps naming its products after things that would cause deforestation? I wonder if this isn't some crazy meta way of them showing them as disruptors to the regular ways.
Ike Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 I'd say Amazon comparing the Fire TV and Chromecast is a bit silly, they are intended to do different (although similar) things (Or do the same thing in a different way, maybe?). I still don't get why anyone would want to play mobile games on a TV, but whatever. If emulators works, I may be interested however... Annoying everyone outside of the US got screwed over as usual. It's a good spec machine for the price, but it almost feels like Amazon are a bit late to the party to me, just like with the Kindle Fire. I wonder if this isn't some crazy meta way of them showing them as disruptors to the regular ways. I dunno, they hardly disrupted the tablet market.
ChloboShoka Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 This is all new to me, but I see myself probably enjoy it.
Charlie Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Is that seriously the controller? When that was leaked I thought it was a hoax. Looks like the most uncomfortable controller I've ever seen. It's obviously a cheap controller that you're meant to be play shitty Android games with, not a mega session of Call of Duty on. ' alt='>'> Do people really want to do anything with these devices other than stream videos from Netflix/Lovefilm/their computer? All I want from a device like this (if I had a TV with HDMI in my living room, which I don't as it's in my room)) is it to be 1080p, have Netflix and can stream AVIs from my computer.
Sheikah Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Don't a lot of people already have various apps like iPlayer built into a lot of popular boxes as well as TVs out there?
MoogleViper Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 It's not entirely related, but is there a reason a company named after a rainforest keeps naming its products after things that would cause deforestation? Optimus Prime caused deforestation? It's obviously a cheap controller that you're meant to be play shitty Android games with, not a mega session of Call of Duty on. Cheap? It's an extra $40 for the controller. Don't a lot of people already have various apps like iPlayer built into a lot of popular boxes as well as TVs out there? But a lot of people don't. This way you can get that functionality without buying a smart TV. Plus it will (most likely) be better for browsing the web, and you can play games on it.
Sheikah Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) Yeah, I meant more that these iPlayer and Netflix apps were also built into Youview/skybox/TiVo/BT Box/digital boxes/ PS3s too. I was just surprised that there would be people who really want that functionality who hadn't already got one of the available boxes. I know it lets you do more than just run those apps, but that would probably be their main function. Edited April 3, 2014 by Sheikah
Charlie Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Cheap? It's an extra $40 for the controller. In comparison to Xbox One and PS4 controllers which are around $60 on Amazon.
dazzybee Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 I personally love these devices. I have Apple TV and being able to watch any film, listen to any music from my computer is brilliant. Plus the stuff you can do with your phone and computer is great too. Add in games and it's a decent package for £70-£80.
Cube Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 In comparison to Xbox One and PS4 controllers which are around $60 on Amazon. Also, unless Amazon have purposely blocked it, Android has support for USB controllers, including the Xbox 360 controller.
MoogleViper Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 In comparison to Xbox One and PS4 controllers which are around $60 on Amazon. But a wireless 360 controller could be picked up for less than £25, and that's still a great controller. I'm not saying the controller is overly expensive, but it's certainly not cheap. So there's no excuse for how crap it looks. They could have teamed up with a third party controller manufacturer. Also, unless Amazon have purposely blocked it, Android has support for USB controllers, including the Xbox 360 controller. That would be much better, in my opinion. I think it would be a stupid move to block it.
Jimbob Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Ooh comes with a free piece of popcorn if you pre-order! I don't like popcorn Seriously, that's it. That controller is butt ugly. Whomever let that design out for manufacturing needs shooting, because that clearly needs more refining. I'll be sticking to my PS4/WiiU combo for media streaming i think.
Shorty Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 This is getting some great feedback, especially stating that it's very fast. The folks on the XBMC forum are waiting to get their hands on it to see if they can install the android XBMC app. If they can, I'd be much more interested (since my media is mostly on a NAS). On the other hand I already have enough controllers littering my living room...
flameboy Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 This is getting some great feedback, especially stating that it's very fast. The folks on the XBMC forum are waiting to get their hands on it to see if they can install the android XBMC app. If they can, I'd be much more interested (since my media is mostly on a NAS). On the other hand I already have enough controllers littering my living room... Giantbomb had a quick play around towards the end of Unprofessional Friday's and the OS looked super nippy. They said the controller was garbage but not ouya bad. If my ouya ever gives up I may upgrade to this for it's superior OS.
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