Amazon Press Event - 02 Apr

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Katie1

THI WAS A REVIEW ON ONE ON THE ABOVE LIST! ONE I PURCHSED!! BTW STILL IS NOT WORKING & THIS IS APRIL!

I'M GUESSING THE SOFTWARE UPDATE WON'T BE PUSHED OUT TO EVERY SINGLE UNIT AT THE EXACT SAME TIME!! THAT WOULD BE NUTS! HAVE A LITTLE PATIENCE!

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'M GUESSING THE SOFTWARE UPDATE WON'T BE PUSHED OUT TO EVERY SINGLE UNIT AT THE EXACT SAME TIME!! THAT WOULD BE NUTS! HAVE A LITTLE PATIENCE!

I am GUESSING it wont happen at ALL since they can now push people into buying Their Streamer.. I mean why bother it would affect sales! I have 10 days left to decide to go with Amazon Prime for 1 yr at the Old rate of $79!! IF I cant find a BlueRay that streams amazon then why should I bother?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Katie1

I am GUESSING it wont happen at ALL since they can now push people into buying Their Streamer.. I mean why bother it would affect sales! I have 10 days left to decide to go with Amazon Prime for 1 yr at the Old rate of $79!! IF I cant find a BlueRay that streams amazon then why should I bother?

See ... now why ya wanna go all nonsensical conspiracy theory like that?

They're not going to "force" people to buy the Fire TV by "breaking" all the other devices that can be used to stream their service. That would be stupid of them... and they're not stupid. Just like their business practice has always been, they want you to be able to access their content on as many devices as humanly possible. The Fire TV is a one-time $99 purchase. Happy Prime customers will be paying (now) $99 per year.

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

See ... now why ya wanna go all nonsensical conspiracy theory like that?

They're not going to "force" people to buy the Fire TV by "breaking" all the other devices that can be used to stream their service. That would be stupid of them... and they're not stupid. Just like their business practice has always been, they want you to be able to access their content on as many devices as humanly possible. The Fire TV is a one-time $99 purchase. Happy Prime customers will be paying (now) $99 per year.

TRUE But my email gives me the $79 price IF I say YES before April 15th... after that its $99.

[Catlady]

I don't know about other devices, but I bought the Sony BDP-s5100 two months ago, and linked it to Amazon just last week. It's a two-step process, because first you need to enter a registration code at a Sony site, and only then do you get the code for the Amazon registration. I thought the first code was the one I needed for Amazon (both are 5 characters) and it was rejected, but once I realized my mistake, everything went smoothly and I can access Amazon video.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

I almost never buy hardware for the future capabilities. First, because there's no guarantee that those future capabilities will ever be realized. Though that's not a real issue with Amazon, they'll produce it. But second, because there's a premium to pay for the technology today.

I buy what works now (which is generally cheaper) and THEN when the higher end hardware can be used to it's capabilities, I'll buy the hardware (which will be cheaper than it is today).

That's totally reasonable, of course. In the case of Fire TV vs. Roku 3, we aren't faced with that decision. We just have two $99 devices with bare-bones processing hardware and limited functionality. There's nothing premium, here. The Fire TV barely even has enough power to do what it does.

Prediction time: Based on how the FTV is received, next gen's model will either have streamlined hardware limited to its video streaming features, or we'll see multiple models with more expensive, beefed up versions toting even more multimedia capability.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Katie1

I am GUESSING it wont happen at ALL since they can now push people into buying Their Streamer.. I mean why bother it would affect sales! I have 10 days left to decide to go with Amazon Prime for 1 yr at the Old rate of $79!! IF I cant find a BlueRay that streams amazon then why should I bother?

Since a Sony rep commented on the 1 star review for the BDP-S1200 that the update is available I'd guess it's happened.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Prediction time: Based on how the FTV is received, next gen's model will either have streamlined hardware limited to its video streaming features, or we'll see multiple models with more expensive, beefed up versions toting even more multimedia capability.

This is amazon. Specs for new models will address customer concerns and requests. I think a lot of this will be software and services rather than hardware unless this thing takes off as a game console. If Aereo survives their Supreme Court battle, I expect Amazon to partner with or outright acquire the company adding local content to their offering. Video chat/VOIP may well find its way to FTV.

Of course, integrating their stores into the product is probably on the radar. We've been talking about interactive tv for a long time and finally a company has both motive and means. Expect a shopping channel, ad supported programming, and direct buy programming. Imagine amazon video reviews that were as easy to compile as talking into your remote and looking at a set mounted camera?

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Warranty is ALWAYS a business decision. I asked why we do not increase the lease on computers from three years to four. The reason? MTBF is 2.65 years. On average, a leased computer will suffer a catastrophic failure within 2.65 years.

I worded that badly. I meant that the decision to provide a certain length term of support was not necessarily based on their prediction of reliability.

If Roku or Apple were confident their devices would last more than 90 days they would increase the warranty and put a big sticker on the box advertising that fact. Where do you think all those refurbs come from?

I didn't know those devices had a higher number of refurbs than other consumer electronics. Even if so, a refurb is both result of a product failed and a product replaced, which can be interpreted different ways. I kinda doubt either Apple or Roku would think it wise to sell a product they felt was likely to break in less than three months.

In addition to marketing psychology, a warranty is determined by them figuring the cost of providing support versus the cost of not providing it. The harm done to a product's reputation by having to replace it is less than the harm done by a customer feeling totally ripped off. It could just as easily be based on a company thinking a product is likely to require more support as less, depending on the cost:benefit ratio.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by wizwor

This is amazon. Specs for new models will address customer concerns and requests. I think a lot of this will be software and services rather than hardware unless this thing takes off as a game console. If Aereo survives their Supreme Court battle, I expect Amazon to partner with or outright acquire the company adding local content to their offering. Video chat/VOIP may well find its way to FTV.

Of course, integrating their stores into the product is probably on the radar. We've been talking about interactive tv for a long time and finally a company has both motive and means. Expect a shopping channel, ad supported programming, and direct buy programming. Imagine amazon video reviews that were as easy to compile as talking into your remote and looking at a set mounted camera?

Good points. I don't see it taking off as a game console, but I think the gaming aspect could turn out to be more successful than expected. I think Fire TV is going to be a more interesting product to watch develop than the Fire.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

I worded that badly. I meant that the decision to provide a certain length term of support was not necessarily based on their prediction of reliability.

Of course it is.

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

I didn't know those devices had a higher number of refurbs than other consumer electronics. Even if so, a refurb is both result of a product failed and a product replaced, which can be interpreted different ways. I kinda doubt either Apple or Roku would think it wise to sell a product they felt was likely to break in less than three months.

In addition to marketing psychology, a warranty is determined by them figuring the cost of providing support versus the cost of not providing it. The harm done to a product's reputation by having to replace it is less than the harm done by a customer feeling totally ripped off. It could just as easily be based on a company thinking a product is likely to require more support as less, depending on the cost:benefit ratio.

Search fatwallet.com, slickdeals.net, or ebay for Roku and you will get an idea of just how many refurbs are out there.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Good points. I don't see it taking off as a game console, but I think the gaming aspect could turn out to be more successful than expected. I think Fire TV is going to be a more interesting product to watch develop than the Fire.

It's not going to compete with the PS4 or the XboxOne, but Ouyas will get cheap. Casual gamers will get their fix with android games and retro gamers will side-load emulators.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Of course it is.

Yes, and sometimes it is inversely related to their prediction of reliability, or based on marketing. If the length of warranty always illustrated product reliability, nobody in their right mind would buy anything with a 90 day warranty. I'm not discounting this possibility. It's a mad world.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by wizwor

It's not going to compete with the PS4 or the XboxOne, but Ouyas will get cheap.

Ouyas will likely get nothing. edit: I shouldn't poke fun at Ouya. It seems to be making a solid effort.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

$99 devices with bare-bones processing hardware and limited functionality. There's nothing premium, here. The Fire TV barely even has enough power to do what it does.

Just out of curiosity: are you a representative for nvidia? These guys seem to roam around in tech forums predicting doom and gloom for anyone who don't buy their latest $1000+ cards (and a pc to run them of course)

This incredibly cheap Amazon device is running a beast of a mobile chip called Snapdragon, not the latest iteration but the previous one. To put it in perspective: it's the same hardware in my smartphone, which runs 1080p streams smoothly. My previous smartphone with quite less powerful hardware also ran it just fine.

As for games, nobody is expecting to run Crysis or PS4 games