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OtinG · 10-26-2022, 01:47 PM

So far it is a very impressive unit. It will become my primary streaming box for everything except Apple TV, but Apple TV has very little I care to watch.

One issue I encountered was with using the USB to ethernet adapter with the Cube 3 USB port. It always worked flawlessly with my Cube 2, but it started acting up last night. I switched from the adapter and just plugged the ethernet into the Cube 3 ethernet port and all the issues disappeared. I still get about 92 Mbps speed that way, and that is way more than enough to stream 4K HDR. I'm not sure if it is a firmware issue, a USB port issue, or an issue with my adapter. BTW, with Wi-Fi it got 340 Mbps (about the limit of my service), and if you have a 6E router Wi-Fi might be all you want or need. I prefer wired ethernet to prevent congestion with all the other devices, but with a good 6E router that might never be an issue anyway.

One thing that was rather odd was that every time I thought I had finished with FW updates I would get a notice that another one was available. So if you get the Cube 3 be prepared for a string of updates. Perhaps those piled up between initial boxing and getting the item delivered.

I could never get my Curiosity Stream app to accept my login credentials. All other apps were easy to sign in to, but I tried typing the email and password manually, scanning a QR code, and entering a one time code on a web page, but all three of those methods failed. I assume this is likely due to Curiosity Stream not updating their app for the latest Fire TV FW. Oops, my bad, I was using the wrong email address to sign in. The Curiosity Stream app works fine.

The menu system sucks as usual, but if you look long enough you can find quite a few useful options. Here are a few:

The ability to match the frame rate of the stream you view
The ability to force HDR or use the native dynamic range of the stream
The ability to toggle the super resolution option on or off. This upconverts even low resolution streams into an enhanced 4K format.

These are available on the Apple TV 4K boxes, so perhaps Amazon used that as a model.

The remote automatically set itself up to control my Sony Bravia TV and Sony sound system. That was very nice and fuss free!

During setup, I was asked if I wanted to reinstall all my apps from previous Fire TV models. I chose yes, it let me choose which older Fire TV models to use, then installed all of them. It takes a while but it beats having to search for each one and install it manually. You will have to login to each one though if it requires a login.

I have a Fire Recast DVR. It was a PITA to originally set up with my Cube 2, but to my surprise the Cube set it up without asking and it worked correctly from the start. It even restored all my scanned channels. I did lose my Favorite channels, but those are quick and easy to reassign.

It does appear that Amazon has made quite a lot of progress in getting the setup to work flawlessly. Except they should have noted that you need to install all the updates first. Otherwise it set up rather easily and quickly.

The new remote is a welcomed improvement over the one for the Cube 2 with a few more buttons and options, but not a huge update by any means.

So far I've streamed from Philo TV, Britbox, AcornTV, Youtube (fantastic looking 4K HDR BTW), Prime Video, Apple TV app, and some others. The video is impressive on all of those apps. I have my Cube 3 set to default which streams everything in DV (Dolby Vision). Unlike the Apple TV box which turns the screen dark for a second or two when it switches between DV and HDR10, the Cube 3 was seamless and flawless. The Cube 3 worked well with my 4K HDR TV and my sound system too.

The screen savers are visually stunning, though they come up with ads at first and you have to press the Right Arrow key to bypass those damn ads and get the screen savers started. But Amazon is likely always going to annoy us with ads! BTW, you can turn off suggestions, but I haven't seen a way to turn off ads. The menu system was organized by morons, so expect to do a lot of exploring to find where they put any setting you need to change. Apple is bad about that too.

10-26-2022, 01:47 PM	#2
OtinG Old Gadget Guy Posts: 1,913 Karma: 6854865 Join Date: Jun 2018 Device: Oasis 3, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad mini 6, iPad Air 2020, Alexa Devices	So far it is a very impressive unit. It will become my primary streaming box for everything except Apple TV, but Apple TV has very little I care to watch. One issue I encountered was with using the USB to ethernet adapter with the Cube 3 USB port. It always worked flawlessly with my Cube 2, but it started acting up last night. I switched from the adapter and just plugged the ethernet into the Cube 3 ethernet port and all the issues disappeared. I still get about 92 Mbps speed that way, and that is way more than enough to stream 4K HDR. I'm not sure if it is a firmware issue, a USB port issue, or an issue with my adapter. BTW, with Wi-Fi it got 340 Mbps (about the limit of my service), and if you have a 6E router Wi-Fi might be all you want or need. I prefer wired ethernet to prevent congestion with all the other devices, but with a good 6E router that might never be an issue anyway. One thing that was rather odd was that every time I thought I had finished with FW updates I would get a notice that another one was available. So if you get the Cube 3 be prepared for a string of updates. Perhaps those piled up between initial boxing and getting the item delivered. I could never get my Curiosity Stream app to accept my login credentials. All other apps were easy to sign in to, but I tried typing the email and password manually, scanning a QR code, and entering a one time code on a web page, but all three of those methods failed. I assume this is likely due to Curiosity Stream not updating their app for the latest Fire TV FW. Oops, my bad, I was using the wrong email address to sign in. The Curiosity Stream app works fine. The menu system sucks as usual, but if you look long enough you can find quite a few useful options. Here are a few: The ability to match the frame rate of the stream you view The ability to force HDR or use the native dynamic range of the stream The ability to toggle the super resolution option on or off. This upconverts even low resolution streams into an enhanced 4K format. These are available on the Apple TV 4K boxes, so perhaps Amazon used that as a model. The remote automatically set itself up to control my Sony Bravia TV and Sony sound system. That was very nice and fuss free! During setup, I was asked if I wanted to reinstall all my apps from previous Fire TV models. I chose yes, it let me choose which older Fire TV models to use, then installed all of them. It takes a while but it beats having to search for each one and install it manually. You will have to login to each one though if it requires a login. I have a Fire Recast DVR. It was a PITA to originally set up with my Cube 2, but to my surprise the Cube set it up without asking and it worked correctly from the start. It even restored all my scanned channels. I did lose my Favorite channels, but those are quick and easy to reassign. It does appear that Amazon has made quite a lot of progress in getting the setup to work flawlessly. Except they should have noted that you need to install all the updates first. Otherwise it set up rather easily and quickly. The new remote is a welcomed improvement over the one for the Cube 2 with a few more buttons and options, but not a huge update by any means. So far I've streamed from Philo TV, Britbox, AcornTV, Youtube (fantastic looking 4K HDR BTW), Prime Video, Apple TV app, and some others. The video is impressive on all of those apps. I have my Cube 3 set to default which streams everything in DV (Dolby Vision). Unlike the Apple TV box which turns the screen dark for a second or two when it switches between DV and HDR10, the Cube 3 was seamless and flawless. The Cube 3 worked well with my 4K HDR TV and my sound system too. The screen savers are visually stunning, though they come up with ads at first and you have to press the Right Arrow key to bypass those damn ads and get the screen savers started. But Amazon is likely always going to annoy us with ads! BTW, you can turn off suggestions, but I haven't seen a way to turn off ads. The menu system was organized by morons, so expect to do a lot of exploring to find where they put any setting you need to change. Apple is bad about that too. Last edited by OtinG; 10-26-2022 at 03:45 PM.