*Amazon FireTV

Yes hugely embarrassing. I think I'll trade my Xbox One/PS4 for a box that plays crap iPhone games because netflix access
no need with the ps4, if you follow the link
ps4-dig-at-xbox-one.jpg
 
If netflix is the big concern (doubtful) you can watch netflix on quite a few bluray players. Even the Wii.
Bottom line though is if someone can afford to pay for highspeed internet whats 5 more dollars a month for Xbox live. I dont think any home console that only offers android games is ever going to be a hit. Your gonna wear out the A button on the controler playing Flappy Bird.
 
Oh yeah I forgot my unused Blu Ray player (which I got a few years ago and still sits new in box in my closet :) ) as another netflix compatible device I have.

I should try to ebay that thing for a few bucks :) Once I get my One, even that very rare possibility of needing a physical Blu Ray player will be taken care of.

Here's a more "natural" vid of the Fire TV in the wild, including playing a couple gamesi ncluding Minecraft. I like this guy because he's not a big polished corporate channel, and thus you get a more real feel for things


I guess they are already sold out? I read that on GAF I think.
 
The point is though that you are effectively paying twice to see the same content if you use your XB1 to watch streamed media like Netflix.

The fact the you can do so on multiple devices is irrelevant. The XBox is still the odd one out.

Another example is the Doom 4 Beta. You need Live to take part. So you are effectively paying for an unfinished demo. Many people questioned paying for MGS as it was only a 'demo'. But it seems to be OK if you're paying MS!?
 
I'll get it once someone figures a way to run a custom rom that will let me stream media from my local network. I figure it will be done in a couple of weeks max.

First thing I'm going to load is XBMC...everything else is just gravy.
 
I'll get it once someone figures a way to run a custom rom that will let me stream media from my local network. I figure it will be done in a couple of weeks max.

First thing I'm going to load is XBMC...everything else is just gravy.

I have XBMC running on a Pi. It's great but it doesn't have quite the range of popular media that a licensed box has access to.
 
Amazon Fire TV is definitely an OUYA killer. lol. Amazon has a huge ecosystem and it has a full support from many major game/app developers like Gameloft, Madfinger Games, etc. Ouya used to be great, but not so much right now. They should wait until Tegra K1 gets released. Tegra 3 is so outdated!! On the other hand with Amazon Fire TV, Amazon is more prepared than OUYA because, besides the fact that it already has a huge ecosystem, Amazon is also well-prepared to compete in console gaming industry with its own game studio.
 
They played around with the Fire TV on Giant Bomb's subscriber show today. According to those guys the controller is really bad and the game performance is not good. Jeff Gerstmann played through a level of Sev Zero and the framerate was bad, the graphics looked incredibly simple and it seemed to play like a poor man's Sanctum. They also booted up a couple of other compatible games including a skating game and Riptide GP2 and the framerate in both of those was pretty awful as well.

It does not feel like this device can realistically be the target hardware for the Amazon Games Studio they are building. I'm of the opinion the long term goal is an Onlive/PS Now style cloud streaming service to be delivered to the Fire TV.
 
They played around with the Fire TV on Giant Bomb's subscriber show today. According to those guys the controller is really bad and the game performance is not good. Jeff Gerstmann played through a level of Sev Zero and the framerate was bad, the graphics looked incredibly simple and it seemed to play like a poor man's Sanctum. They also booted up a couple of other compatible games including a skating game and Riptide GP2 and the framerate in both of those was pretty awful as well.

It does not feel like this device can realistically be the target hardware for the Amazon Games Studio they are building. I'm of the opinion the long term goal is an Onlive/PS Now style cloud streaming service to be delivered to the Fire TV.

Its only a matter of time till we have a Google version, IMO Google has figured out that Chromecast is closer to what consumers want than their initial take due mainly to cost and unnecessary functionality. Hopefully we see more Android based set top boxes that support apps, web access but primarily are streaming media players with a somewhat stronger processing power so they can play decent games.
 
Google will keep plugging away at some kind of a TV box/service, even though their efforts have failed.

There were rumors of them negotiating for an NFL package.

TV is one of the few unexploited spaces left, along with wearables. So they're all looking at a way to crack it.
 
Google will keep plugging away at some kind of a TV box/service, even though their efforts have failed.

There were rumors of them negotiating for an NFL package.

TV is one of the few unexploited spaces left, along with wearables. So they're all looking at a way to crack it.

This being a World Cup year, why not release a smaller box with an ESPN app (already available for Android) and spend a smaller amount of money to get a license to stream all games? There are many people who would pay ~100 bucks for a device to catch all the games along with a smaller fee for the subscription and like I said the app is already there....
 
Google will keep plugging away at some kind of a TV box/service, even though their efforts have failed.

There were rumors of them negotiating for an NFL package.

TV is one of the few unexploited spaces left, along with wearables. So they're all looking at a way to crack it.

Did you guys see the Android TV stuff that leaked on Verge? Google's take looks basically like what you'd expect: something like Fire TV with Google Now style notification cards and a universal search function. The services are all getting so good about supporting all devices it's hard for any of these to really stand out from the pack. My old Roku 2 is still fairly serviceable, but if I upgrade I think I'd be happy with any of the Fire TV, the Roku 3 or this rumored Android TV. Oddly, it's really the AppleTV that feels like a suckers's choice.
 
Did you guys see the Android TV stuff that leaked on Verge? Google's take looks basically like what you'd expect: something like Fire TV with Google Now style notification cards and a universal search function. The services are all getting so good about supporting all devices it's hard for any of these to really stand out from the pack. My old Roku 2 is still fairly serviceable, but if I upgrade I think I'd be happy with any of the Fire TV, the Roku 3 or this rumored Android TV. Oddly, it's really the AppleTV that feels like a suckers's choice.

interesting.... here is the link:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/5/5584604/this-is-android-tv

I'd like to know about the actual specs. Interestingly enough apparently it is going to support voice commands. Also I don't see any reference to HDMI in, it seems they are going to simply it to get the cost down.

Edit:

Article mentioned Google Hangouts... sounds like there will be a mic at least for voice recognition as well as possibly a camera or perhaps a peripheral offer one or both.
 
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Did you guys see the Android TV stuff that leaked on Verge? Google's take looks basically like what you'd expect: something like Fire TV with Google Now style notification cards and a universal search function. The services are all getting so good about supporting all devices it's hard for any of these to really stand out from the pack. My old Roku 2 is still fairly serviceable, but if I upgrade I think I'd be happy with any of the Fire TV, the Roku 3 or this rumored Android TV. Oddly, it's really the AppleTV that feels like a suckers's choice.



Make it a box with TK1 or Snapdragon 805 and the FireTV gets DOA, IMO.
 
I guess they are already sold out? I read that on GAF I think.

That means the shipment volume is tiny. We know based off of public Apple TV/Roku shipments that these things sell like smart watches or windows 8 tablets. These things have trouble competing w/ a gaming console/PC for usage. That's extremely sad at such cheap prices and given what they're specifically intended for.
 
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