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AMAZON HAS REVEALED its Android-powered set-top box Amazon Fire TV today, which also doubles up as a gaming system.
The device, which will cost $99 and will ship in the US today, is powered by a quad-core processor, and has 2GB of RAM. Amazon claim it has three times as powerful as its competitors, Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast.
Announcing the device at an event in New York, the device will allow you to watch shows and videos from Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, ESPN, and other web apps and stations.
Some of the features include ASAP which predicts which shows you want to watch, and queues up episodes so they start instantly.
It’s also a gaming device, which can be played with your remote, an app or a specialised controller. The controller will cost $39.99 and will come with 1,000 Amazon coins to buy games through its service like Minecraft, The Walking Dead, and NBA14.
The company promises to have thousands of games on the service by next month, and has developers such as Disney, Gameloft, SEGA, EA and Double Fine on board.
The company is also developing its own games through Amazon Game Studios, and demoed a number such as first-person shooter and tower defense game, Sev Zero.
Other features that come with the service include X-ray, which provides details on actors and movies as you’re watching them and provides lyrics for music are included.
Amazon had been competing against similar services like Netflix by producing its own shows and securing the rights to shows. Yesterday, it the show 24 will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video.
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No more TV licence, yeeehaaa.
Sorry Coom. Anything that plays TV or movies even on a monitor requires a TV licence. Even if you don’t have a TV. I don’t agree with it but dems the rules.
It’s going to be called a multi media licence. No getting away from it I’m afraid
Plus, the chances of it working with all those channels in Ireland, if it ever comes here at all, are pretty slim.
I’ve currently a dual core Android box with the likes of XBMC, Show Box, Netflix etc on it. Deffo a great piece of kit. This sounds like a great piece of kit at Quadcore. Sure there will be many developers working on it to make the technology more consumer friendly ;). If obtainable at that price well worth getting. Lots of the legit US stuff can also be viewed with a simple VPN :)
Keith did that box come with XBMC installed on it or did you install it?
XBMC relies on hardware decoding, otherwise it will not work to full potential. If they manage to get that working they have my money.
Yay another netflix box!
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Anybody any reviews on the Minix Neo streaming box?
Great article. For those who live outside US like me, you can access Netflix, Hulu and similar media stations on your amazon fire tv by using UnoTelly or similar tools.
Does anyone know how to legally access good TV shows and movies? I have netflix but the range of shows is terrible. None of the HBO shows are on it and the movies are generally rubbish. I’m sure anything can be accessed illegally, but viruses generally come hand in hand with those sites. This box looks like a good idea, but if the quality of shows are in the same bracket as netflix, what’s the point?
Netflix is good if you use an American or Canadian VPN
Legally you can always call sky or UPC.
I have UPC and there’s nothing on it, bar the odd decent movie on film 4. Good for sport all right. Sky is supposed to be slightly better, but TV channel companies are falling behind internet entertainment. The vpn suggestion is good, thanks
Download the Firefox or chrome plugin at mediahint.com. No VPN’s required and you get US Netflix when you login.
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