Amazon Fire TV & FTStick - It's like a modern Roku you can sideload apps on

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Amazon Fire TV & FTStick - It's like a modern Roku you can sideload apps on

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

madkapitolist posted:

Does anyone here use slingbox player on this? Is it possible to use a different channel guide like on the android/ios app? The "guide" selection just launches the channel guide on the actual cable box and there is too much lag to be able to use it that way.

I do. I don't think there's another way to access the guide, no.

Other than that though, I was actually quite impressed with the Slingplayer App on the FireTV. It's quick to connect and stream and has never given me issues.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2015 13:42

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 09:40

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Are you running through a receiver?

Most of these streamers don't maintain audio transport when idle so receivers tend to revert to their default state when no audio is being outputted. There's a lag associated with the receiver picking up the transport stream and switching to the correct mode. If that lag is long enough, it will miss outputting the click for the button press. If you do more subsequent button presses after that, you should hear them because the audio stream remains continuous. However, if pause long enough between presses, the receiver will revert back to its default mode again.

I see this all the time with my Roku. If I navigate slow enough, I don't hear any of the button presses because the receiver doesn't switch to the output format quick enough to play the "click."

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 16:37

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

suddenlyissoon posted:

New AFTV announcement must be right around the corner. Why would they promote the FireTV when it's not even available. Come on 4K support!

Actually, this was posted today.

http://www.aftvnews.com/amazons-next-generation-fire-tv-is-codenamed-sloane-new-fire-tv-stick-is-unlikely/

Looks like its codename is Sloane. Since it's Ferris Bueller reference, they seem to think it indicates it's a new full fireTV console rather than a stick as the stick's codename was a Princess Bride reference (Montoya).

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Sep 15, 2015

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 17:38

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

It really does seem like a no brainier to link the Echo with the FireTV line. What would be really amazing if they could work out something with logitech too. It would be incredible if I could come home and say "Alexa, watch <something>" and have it automatically fire up the right activity on my Harmony Smart hub and launch the programming on the FireTV.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 22:17

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Another thing to note is the new FireTV supports HEVC for 1080p content as well as 4k content. So, there should be an increase in video quality over the old FireTV streaming Prime video even if all you have is a 1080p set.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2015 17:43

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Hadlock posted:

Nice, yeah this is great. So like what, 15-20% improvement in resolution for 1080p displays?

Not resolution necessarily since that's sort of fixed, but fewer encoding artifacts at lower bitrates. HEVC is something insanely like 40%+ more efficient than h264.

I wonder if Netflix will start serving up HEVC streams for 1080p displays at some point too. It's in their best interest as it will cut bandwidth usage.

quote:

I wonder if Google is going to update their Chromecast at some point? Seems way overdue for an update.

There's been a few grainy leaks over the past few days of something new. I mean, it is overdue for an update, but it does what it does really well too.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2015 14:12

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I got mine. I'm at work though until this evening so I won't be able to play with it until later.

One thing I just discovered though. I just got a new TiVo Bolt which has Amazon support. To my delight, I noticed it will output native 24fps content from Amazon Instant. I just looked up that same info for the fireTV and it turns out that it currently can't support 24fps output (apparently it's an experimental feature in FireTV OS 5).

So, that kinda takes the wind out of my new FireTV delivery when a not-amazon device has better support of Amazon's own streaming service.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 20:34

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

shoplifter posted:

New FireTv currently priced at $80, so if you paid full price get your price adjustment ASAP.

Contacted and got the refund processed, I guess this is their response to the Roku 4.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2015 15:11

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Sperg Victorious posted:

Anyone having issues with their Gen 2 Fire TV freezing, random restarts, etc? Mine will do this while playing shovel knight, hbo go, sitting on the home screen, etc A few times I've had to simply unplug the power to it.

I wasn't sure if it was just 1st day bugs or if mine is just a lemon.

Reviews are hammering it pretty hard right now, so it may not just be you.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2015 01:04

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Well, I finally got around to hooking up my fireTV and I can't use it apparently.

I have an HDCP 2.2 compliant receiver, but I only have a 1080p TV (and thus, no HDCP 2.2 support). The thing won't even boot, it gives me an error screen about my TV not supporting HDCP 2.2. So, apparently the FireTV tries to use HDCP 2.2 if it detects something in the chain that supports it (whether or not content itself is HDCP 2.2) and since I have an HDCP 2.2 supporting receiver but not an HDCP 2.2 supporting TV, the FireTV refuses to work.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2015 03:02

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

The Gunslinger posted:

What receiver is it? Some of them only have specific HDCP 2.2 inputs, can't you just swap it something else? That seems bizarre you would be locked out, in theory it should only stop you from watching 4k content.

It's a 3 month old Denon X2200W. All ports are HDCP 2.2 compliant.

I have a Sony W900A TV, so only 1080p and no HDCP 2.2 compliance.

I can't even get to the setup, as soon as it boots I get this.

So, it apparently sees that the receiver is HDCP 2.2 compliant and goes "Oh, hey, something that's compliant, let's handshake away" and then it hits the TV and errors out. So, the FireTV must handshake HDCP 2.2 if the connection supports it regardless of what content it shows.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2015 03:24

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Ok, after completing the setup, updating, and then forcing the resolution to 1080p60 while connected directly to the TV, it seems I can have it connected to my receiver now without issues. Restarted the fireTV to be sure and it seems fine for the moment.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2015 03:44

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

You know, they should add the ability to pair a bluetooth speaker to the FireTV so you can use Alexa and the voice remote even if you aren't on the FireTV input for your TV/Receiver.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2015 21:50

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

IMO, Roku may as well not have Google Play movies since the audio is 2 channel PCM.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2015 06:24

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I still think it's hilarious that right now TiVo has a better amazon instant video client than their own hardware platform.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2015 18:35

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Lack of native 24fps output. TiVo can natively do that which results in smoother motion.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2015 19:47

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Yes, it's a very ill conceived service (and also apparently going to be the exclusive home of the new Star Trek series.)

# ¿ Nov 24, 2015 04:11

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 09:40

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

My Fire TV (2nd gen) killed its remote batteries within a week of me getting it.

After a few firmware updates it was a bit better, but it still feels like I go through them a lot.

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 13:53 on Jun 28, 2016

# ¿ Jun 27, 2016 17:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Amazon Fire TV & FTStick - It's like a modern Roku you can sideload apps on