- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
an amazon Fire TV.. i know what you are thinking... thats crazy, but il explain in a few.
for the last couple weeks ive been using a fire tv stick made me want a full fire tv which will be here today because im so impressed by the stick .
the main reason i wanted a full fire tv is usb input for my xbox 360 controller, and wired ethernet connection as i have a few movies on my server that are too high bitrate for wireless bgn 2x2(mimo) to handle well. (60mb/s+)
i will be keeping the stick to put in my bedroom on the tv.
some pros / cons.
pros:
-super simple operation even my kids can use it can do every single thing needed with the included remote, comes with everything you need to get started.
-runs spmc a version of xbmc designed just for the fire tv and sideloading android apps is very simple
-thing runs spmc extremely well i am able to play high bitrate movies fine barely uses 50% of the cpu.(tv stick)
-ability to stream games from your pc and play them on the tv with a wireless xbox 360 controller with the wireless usb adapter using limelite app
-super low power 2w idle 5w gaming so depending on your htpc setup this thing could pay for itself in a year with power alone
-powered from usb on back of tv or using included power adapter
-very small the tv stick is 1" x 3.3" x 0.5", the fire TV is 4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7"
-$80 for the tv(refurb) $100 (new) new one is often on sale for $85 or $80 and $40 for the tv stick
cons:
-no 4k support as far as i know, not sure if they can do it with an update or if the hardware is even capable, if someone wants to tune in lemme know.
-search function only searches a few video apps, eg: amazon instant video, hulu, and sho time for some reason it wont search netflix
-fire tv stick comes with a cheaper remote that doesn't have voice search you need to pay $30 for one which isn't worth it imo,but i have yet to try the voice searchvoice search is awesome though i wish it would search netflix, it searches hulu and amazon videos dont have any other streaming apps to try it out on.
-if you have prime they try and bait you into buying shows by giving the first couple episodes free, on the other hand if you were wanting to try the show already that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
-no usb storage devices, so you cannot play movies from a flash drive. non issue for me as i stream everything from my server over LAN.
-some of them with updated firmware cannot be rooted, which for me isnt really a con but for some it is. you dont need a rooted firetv to sideload any apps, it just gives you storage through usb.
this is all i can come up with at the moment i will be updating the thread as i go through the experience with my other fire tv over the next week or two.
so far i have been running my tv stick for the last ~two weeks with out any need for my htpc.
for the last couple weeks ive been using a fire tv stick made me want a full fire tv which will be here today because im so impressed by the stick .
the main reason i wanted a full fire tv is usb input for my xbox 360 controller, and wired ethernet connection as i have a few movies on my server that are too high bitrate for wireless bgn 2x2(mimo) to handle well. (60mb/s+)
i will be keeping the stick to put in my bedroom on the tv.
some pros / cons.
pros:
-super simple operation even my kids can use it can do every single thing needed with the included remote, comes with everything you need to get started.
-runs spmc a version of xbmc designed just for the fire tv and sideloading android apps is very simple
-thing runs spmc extremely well i am able to play high bitrate movies fine barely uses 50% of the cpu.(tv stick)
-ability to stream games from your pc and play them on the tv with a wireless xbox 360 controller with the wireless usb adapter using limelite app
-super low power 2w idle 5w gaming so depending on your htpc setup this thing could pay for itself in a year with power alone
-powered from usb on back of tv or using included power adapter
-very small the tv stick is 1" x 3.3" x 0.5", the fire TV is 4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7"
-$80 for the tv(refurb) $100 (new) new one is often on sale for $85 or $80 and $40 for the tv stick
cons:
-no 4k support as far as i know, not sure if they can do it with an update or if the hardware is even capable, if someone wants to tune in lemme know.
-search function only searches a few video apps, eg: amazon instant video, hulu, and sho time for some reason it wont search netflix
-fire tv stick comes with a cheaper remote that doesn't have voice search you need to pay $30 for one which isn't worth it imo,
-if you have prime they try and bait you into buying shows by giving the first couple episodes free, on the other hand if you were wanting to try the show already that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
-no usb storage devices, so you cannot play movies from a flash drive. non issue for me as i stream everything from my server over LAN.
-some of them with updated firmware cannot be rooted, which for me isnt really a con but for some it is. you dont need a rooted firetv to sideload any apps, it just gives you storage through usb.
this is all i can come up with at the moment i will be updating the thread as i go through the experience with my other fire tv over the next week or two.
so far i have been running my tv stick for the last ~two weeks with out any need for my htpc.
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