[opendtv] The Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Set-Top Box - NYTimes.com

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2014 08:11:55 -0400

Bert should have fun with this review...

Regards
Craig

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/technology/personaltech/the-amazon-fire-tv-streaming-media-set-top-box.html?ref=technology&_r=0

The Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Set-Top Box

OSTENSIBLY, the new Amazon Fire TV is a streaming media set-top box — an 
Internet-connected device that lets you watch video from Amazon Instant Video, 
Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Crackle or a few other outlets and play games with or 
without a controller, which is sold separately.

In reality, the Fire TV is a small, flat, matte black Trojan horse intended to 
sell you even more Amazon goods than you already buy. I prefer streaming that 
is content-neutral, or that at least allows me to find the best deal. This is 
not that box.

That’s not to say the Fire TV isn’t likable. The packaging and the hardware are 
tidy, premium and elegant. With its design and $99 price, the device pretty 
clearly targets the Apple TV as its primary competition. The two streaming 
devices have similar designs — and designs on your regular purchasing.

The setup for the Fire TV is remarkably simple, although the package does not 
include an HDMI cable, which I find annoying, although not uncommon. The 
Bluetooth remote pairs relatively easily; mine was a little slow to respond 
until I walked around the backside of the box. It’s still a smoother Bluetooth 
setup than most. There is no clunky entering of a code or anything like that; 
just hold down the “home” button on the remote or controller for a few seconds, 
and you’re off.

PhotoAmazon is promoting its voice integration, which allows searches for 
content by speaking aloud. I like that the remote uses a microphone button to 
start voice commands, rather than just passively listening all the time. But 
that button has to be held down while you’re speaking, which is unintuitive and 
easy to forget.
That’s the least of what is wrong with the voice search, or any search for that 
matter. Yes, you can use your voice to search for content on the Fire TV. But 
the box will return results only from the Amazon catalog, even if you have 
downloaded and signed into other apps, like Netflix’s.

You could argue that it makes (some) sense that Amazon would index only its own 
catalog. But the Fire TV does not search across platforms at all — or display 
other viewing options in its search results or show summaries. If a show is 
available to stream free via Netflix, you would never know it.

For example, when I searched for “House of Cards,” all I saw were options to 
rent episodes for $2.99. Even though I had downloaded and signed into Netflix 
on the Fire TV, there was no mention of Netflix availability on the show 
summary, even under the tantalizingly named “More ways to watch” menu.

The same happened with the documentary movie “The Summit.” It is a $4.99 rental 
on Amazon, but when I searched for it on Netflix, I found that I could stream 
it free with my subscription.

Oddly, at least one Amazon search result noted that the title was also 
available on Hulu Plus; it’s possible a more universal search is in the works 
but just not yet in place. In the short term, though, if you already pay for 
Netflix or Hulu Plus and are tricked into paying again to rent a movie or show 
from Amazon, you will end up feeling like, well, a sucker.

By contrast, the Roku streaming media box (priced from $49 to $99) can search 
across multiple platforms, what it calls its “top channels.” So can TiVo, which 
is one of my favorite streaming media boxes because its integrated search 
includes live TV; on-demand sources like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon; and 
even, depending on cable or satellite provider, on-demand results.

Other Fire TV features feel less than baked as well. Parental settings are 
available that require a pass code to buy or download movies, shows or games; 
but no content rating restrictions are attached. When I searched for Pokemon, 
the box recognized the name and sent me through to search results, where the 
first one listed was the Walking Dead game series. That is not a child-friendly 
outcome.

As for content, the Fire TV has less than Roku or Apple TV; there are no HBO Go 
or Spotify, which are big misses. The Fire TV has 180 apps in total; Roku has 
some 1,200.

In addition to the need to hold down a button for voice search, other aspects 
of the interface are not entirely intuitive either, and they can be jarring. 
Title images are huge, and it is hard to see many listings on a page. Getting 
information like summaries or availability takes multiple clicks, and the 
visual highlights that signal navigation are overly subtle.

I also wish voice controls were better integrated throughout the interface, for 
data entry, searching other apps or even navigation.

The Fire TV tries to stand apart from the crush of streaming set-top boxes by 
offering games. Possibly Amazon is positioning it as an alternative to the much 
more expensive PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, which are able media-streaming 
devices that also, obviously, do gaming.

So far, though, the game selection is less than impressive: Deus Ex, Minecraft 
and Despicable Me are the titles I recognized. One exclusive game, Sev Zero, is 
included and Amazon promises more.

The $40 controller is fine, although compared with those of the new Xbox One 
and especially the PlayStation 4, it is less comfortable and polished. My son 
tried to play Minecraft using it, and found it highly frustrating; when I tried 
it, I agreed.

The Fire TV, over all, is a decent effort that suffers from entering a crowded 
field. Even if the market for streaming media boxes is currently small — just 8 
percent of consumers in the United States own one, according to Forrester 
Research — the competition is more mature, and not limited to boxes.

Internet-connected or “smart” TVs offer similar access to streaming media 
without taking up an HDMI port or room on a component shelf. Google’s $35 
Chromecast, the darkest and cheapest horse in the race, lets you stream 
supported content from a phone, computer or laptop with almost magical ease.

I find that combining my smart TV (a Panasonic Viera) with a Chromecast for 
easy streaming of Netflix or YouTube is right for me; I have Netflix, Amazon 
video, Pandora or Spotify, and that is just about all I need. I have not seen 
anything in the Fire TV that would persuade me to buy it.

Nevertheless, Amazon has a huge reach and is aggressively promoting the Fire 
TV; if the company continues to improve the content, games and interface, the 
Fire TV could be an accessible entry-level device. But if I had to buy just one 
gadget to introduce someone to streaming Internet video, I would get a 
Chromecast or a Roku until the Fire TV grows up a bit.

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