Amazon Releases New Fire TV (2015)
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 17, 2015 9:25 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Amazon
- Fire TV
| Fire TV (2014) | Fire TV (2015) | |
| SoC | Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon 600 4x Krait 300 @ 1.7GHz Adreno 320 @ 400MHz |
MediaTek MT8173C 2x Cortex A72 @ 1989MHz 2x Cortex A53 @ 1573MHz Power VR GX6250 600MHz |
| RAM | 2GB | |
| Storage | 8GB | 8GB + microSD |
| Connectivity | 5.5 mm DC Jack Type A HDMI 1.4b output, w/HDCP Optical Audio (TOSLINK) 10/100 Ethernet USB 2.0 Type A 802.11a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO |
5.5 mm DC Jack Type A HDMI 2.0 output, w/HDCP 2.2 microSD 10/100 Ethernet USB 2.0 Type A 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO |
| Launch OS | Fire OS 3.0 | Fire OS 5.0 |
The new SoC is a 2x2 big.LITTLE configuration with 2 A72 cores clocked in at 1989MHz and 2 A53 cores at 1573MHz. The new CPUs should give a significant performance boost over the Krait 300 found in the 2014 variant.
The new SoC also allows for hardware HEVC decoding and Amazon is touting this as the main feature of the new SKU as it allows for halving of the required bandwidth to stream 1080p content or allows for 4Kp30 content playback. Alas it seems 4Kp60 decoding is not supported and thus makes new Fire TV not quite as future proof as one would have hoped. The new unit comes with a new HDMI 2.0 port sporting HDCP 2.2 compatibility and allows connecting a TV or monitor at up to 2160p at 24/25/30/50/60Hz.
An important change in the connectivity is the dropping of the TOSLINK optical audio out connector in favour of a microSD slot. Also added is 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity, still sporting a 2x2 MIMO antenna configuration.
As an accessory to the Fire TV, Amazon also released a new gaming controller, aptly named the Amazon Fire Game Controller. The controller is equipped with the same voice-control functionality that the Fire Voice Remote comes with, thus being able to use replace it as the main controller/remote.
The new Fire TV starts shipping on the 5th of October for $99.99 without the controller or $139.99 for the Gaming Edition which contains both the media play and the controller. Amazon also now releases the original Fire TV Stick with the Voice Remote for $59.99.
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Nehemoth - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
Hate the missing Optical Audio (TOSLINK), but overall I hate the lack of DTS support.Flunk - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
You can't expect high end features on low end devices.Sivar - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
I've used a FireTV since release. I don't like it.- Amazon makes it intentionally difficult to install and even to run Kodi, whereas it's on nVidia's app store, though It's still slightly tricky to install on Shield.
- The remote control's buttons wear out quickly. I need to press down the right-arrow part of the circle very hard in order to get it to register.
- In the FireTV's UI, it is difficult to tell prima facie whether you can watch something as part of your Amazon subscription or whether you have to pay additional money for it.
- The storage is quite limited, though this is hopefully resolved with the MicroSD card. I had to set up a MySQL database server for Kodi because the FireTV kept running out of space storing media info.
I don't plan to buy the new version because of most of the above and because it lacks the opticla audio cable. I frequently start music using HDMI and switch to optical for music. If I were to stay on HDMI, I'd have to keep the projector on. If I turn it off, my preamp thinks the HDMI port is no longer in use and stops audio, not just video. This is not Amazon's fault, of course, but it still affects me.
The FireTV is a nice device for its price with some reasonable trade-offs, but it has too many limitations, some intentional, for my vote.
Impulses - Monday, September 21, 2015 - link
No issues with my FireTV Stick remote, and from what I've seen all Prime content has a clearly visible banner on the corner... Half the time I just navigate Amazon content from my TiVo tho, but the Fire Stick is snappier if I'll be watching a few shows off Amazon.roadapathy - Friday, September 18, 2015 - link
The Fire TV was disappointing when I learned it could not find media on DLNA network. You have to add a stupid app, with a terrible interface, in order for it to work supposedly. I tried several apps to do this and none of them worked. I hope in OS 5 that was all fixed. Otherwise, I love the media player. Super fast menu and everything happens very fast.lagittaja - Saturday, September 19, 2015 - link
Now we're talking! Good to finally see a HDMI 2.0 equipped media player/console thingydoodler. Personally I was seriously waiting for the 4th gen. Apple TV to have HDMI 2.0, sadly it didn't.Now I'll sit back and look forward to Google's announcement, hopefully we'll see the 2nd gen Chromecast. Hoping it to have 802.11ac aswell as HDMI 2.0.
archer75 - Thursday, September 24, 2015 - link
All I care about is passthrough of DTS-MA HD and Dolby True HD. Decoding H.265 is also nice.Sankar789 - Monday, December 28, 2015 - link
Amazon India offering this gaming device at the best price.