Amazon FireTV Stick announced

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by conan50

Amazon might be making these devices much more valuable to non-Prime customers
http://nypost.com/2014/11/21/amazon-...o-alternative/

They are most likely reading that backwards.

The idea isn't to use low price and ads to undercut Netflix.
(Which won't work for the same reasons Kindle won't be dethroned anytime soon: too many customers, too much content, ever more exclusive content.)
What a standalone Amazon video service would do is use low price (say $3.99 a month) and a decent but not great content library to sell targeted *ads*.
Amazon already makes about a billion a year off advertising on their devices and websites; getting a ton of FireTV sticks out there gives them a chance to double their ad sales. Maybe they do a subscription deal, $6-7 a month vs $50 a year. Or maybe signing up for a year at $7 gets you a "free" FireTV stick.

Netflix has a nice little business but Google has a nice *big* business. Taking even a small slice of Google's ad business is more profitable than taking even a big chunk of Netflix's video business.

If Amazon actually does an ad-supported service (audio and/or video) it will be for the ad money because that is where the big money is.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Best Buy & Staples to sell Fire TV Stick for $24 starting 11/23

Before I get my day-one pre-order?!?!?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Before I get my day-one pre-order?!?!?

That's just wrong.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They are most likely reading that backwards.

The idea isn't to use low price and ads to undercut Netflix.
(Which won't work for the same reasons Kindle won't be dethroned anytime soon: too many customers, too much content, ever more exclusive content.)
What a standalone Amazon video service would do is use low price (say $3.99 a month) and a decent but not great content library to sell targeted *ads*.
Amazon already makes about a billion a year off advertising on their devices and websites; getting a ton of FireTV sticks out there gives them a chance to double their ad sales. Maybe they do a subscription deal, $6-7 a month vs $50 a year. Or maybe signing up for a year at $7 gets you a "free" FireTV stick.

Netflix has a nice little business but Google has a nice *big* business. Taking even a small slice of Google's ad business is more profitable than taking even a big chunk of Netflix's video business.

If Amazon actually does an ad-supported service (audio and/or video) it will be for the ad money because that is where the big money is.

I could definitely see them giving away the Fire stick for a 1 year sub to their upcoming video streaming ad-based service.

[ApK]

Mine arrived yesterday and we played with it a bit last night.
It upgraded and worked well enough, but didn't impress me enough to keep it plugged in along side the Chromecast and Roku.
You Don't Know Jack works just as I'd hoped but there are surprisingly few episodes available for the money.
My family enjoyed playing Life.
I agree with DD, the interface is somewhat dense and cluttered for my taste.
Also, none of our main mobile devices work with the screen mirroring feature.

It might be fine as a Prime user's sole streaming device, but for me, if I had paid full price, I'd consider returning it.
As it is, it's back in the box waiting for either a YDKJ party or our next trip.

[Shane R]

So far, 219 reviews at Amazon, and 3.8 stars out of 5.

But pay attention to bad reviews. Some of them have a lot of experience with streaming media and add a lot of good context to the reviews.

My ship date in early January has not changed, so I may take the $5 penalty (plus taxes) and grab one from Staples.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

I agree with DD, the interface is somewhat dense and cluttered for my taste.

Glad it wasn't just me.
I find all that clutter and things zooming in at out at me a little unnerving (settings navigation is utterly unintuitive). Does anyone know if the Fire TV box has a similar interface? Don't get me wrong: for $20 I can deal with it, but I'm not certain I'd feel the same way if I'd sprung for the flagship box and was greeted with such a home-screen.

Also; on my small-ish bedroom TV, the movie/tv image thumbnails and the titles/descriptions of them are much smaller on the Fire TV stick than they are on my Roku 3 (hooked up to the same TV and comparing prime to prime, hulu to hulu, netflix to netflix, etc). Noticeably so. My old eyes struggle with it

All in all, it's going to work fine for taking my entertainment with me. But I've not seen anything that's going to entice me to permanently replace any of my Rokus with it just yet.

[twowheels]

Why does everybody (even Roku owners) keep talking about YDKJ as one of the benefits of the Amazon stick? I have the demo version of YDKJ installed on my Roku and have played it. I presume that the full version is also there if the demo is. How is it a benefit of the Fire if you already have a Roku?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Why does everybody (even Roku owners) keep talking about YDKJ as one of the benefits of the Amazon stick? I have the demo version of YDKJ installed on my Roku and have played it. I presume that the full version is also there if the demo is. How is it a benefit of the Fire if you already have a Roku?

YDKJ is not compatible with my Roku 2 player. Only with the Roku 3, and, I think, the Roku Stick, which costs a lot more than I paid for Amazon's stick.

One of the things I don't like about Roku is their tendency to treat owners of all but their current premier products as second class citizens.

And it is, as I understand it, a single player version of the game. If I wanted that, I have it for free on any android device.

The YDKJ Party game for Fire TV (and some other systems like Apple TV) lets multiple players use their mobile devices as fully functional personalized game buzzers. It's a lot of fun.

[bchaplin]

So, I jumped on the FireTV Stick because it was $19.

I already have a Roku and an Apple TV, both VERY old, but they work well enough. I watch Netflix on the Apple TV, because it handles it better, and Amazon stuff on the Roku. That's about it. No games, and I do not have any Fire tablets, only a Kindle eReader.

I am wondering if the FireTV Stick provides any added features for me -- I pretty much ordered it because I thought perhaps there was an advantage to getting something that was new and shiny. Mine doesn't ship until late December, so I guess it gives me time to read the reviews and make a decision. $19 is pretty cheap but not worth it if this doesn't offer any new functionality.

-----

EDIT: OTOH, it occurs to me that this would make a great stocking stuffer if I don't need it.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh, I understand the reasoning for storing media on flashdrives and usb sticks--and for wanting streaming devices to be able to access them. I just think it's a little unrealistic to expect to be able to plug a usb drive into a streaming stick that's not much bigger than a usb drive in the first place. The regular Fire TV unit and other "box"-type streamers... sure. But where space is at an all-time premium, it's not likely that i/o hardware for accessing peripheral media is going to happen.

And even the units that CAN access external drives are typically hamstrung by whatever audio/video codecs the hardware has chosen to support. Meaning people are constantly converting their libraries so the latest and greatest toys can natively play them. That's why media servers that can transcode on the fly and stream to an accompanying client app have become so popular.

True about size.
Maybe the remote could have a USB port.

I have a lot of stuff directly hooked to my Wi-Fi/ethernet including external drives that have USB ports on them for other external drives or flash drives and a printer. I would like to get to those storage places. I do concede there isn't a need to connect the Fire Stick to the priner(Printer) though. (Well, not yet, but I am thinking.)

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by frahse

I have a lot of stuff directly hooked to my Wi-Fi/ethernet including external drives that have USB ports on them for other external drives or flash drives and a printer. I would like to get to those storage places.

I have found that it's best to tackle something like this strategically. Consider installing Plex on a box that runs all day and hang those USB disks off that. Plex runs on most streamers, so you will get a lot of access to everything from everything.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Best Buy & Staples to sell Fire TV Stick for $24 starting 11/23

The sale has begun -- see this thread for links, prices and discussion.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by wizwor

I have found that it's best to tackle something like this strategically. Consider installing Plex on a box that runs all day and hang those USB disks off that. Plex runs on most streamers, so you will get a lot of access to everything from everything.

Good Lord! I am dwarfed and amazed!

[wizwor]

My wife and I split the savings after cancelling comcast. I don't know what she spends her half on...everyone knows what I spend my half on.

Two DVR+ dvrs will be added on Friday. Channel Master will sell them for $175 with free shipping on Friday and Monday. Two of my DTVPals gave up the fight this summer. Wife thinks I should get a spare -- won't pay for it.

Thanks for the K!