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Amazon Targets Cord Cutters With First-Ever Integrated Fire TV Sets (variety.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon is going to start shipping TV sets powered by the company's own smart TV operating system soon: The company began listing Element's Fire TV Edition TV sets for pre-order Tuesday, and is expected to start shipping them next month, when the devices will also reach other retailers. Amazon and Element as well as Element's sister company Westinghouse first announced Fire TV-based TV sets at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year. Now, the companies shared a number of additional details, including pricing. Element's 43-inch Fire TV Edition will retail for $449. A 50-inch model and a 55-inch model will cost $549 and $649, respectively, and a $65-inch model will retail for $899. Each of these devices support 4K video, and pack a quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage for apps -- beefed-up specs that won't just guarantee smooth app performance and streaming, according to Amazon's VP of Smart TVs Sandeep Gupta, but are also meant to future-proof the device. "It will have a longer life cycle than a regular smart TV," he told Variety during a recent interview. The interface of the TV is virtually identical to that of a Fire TV box or stick, save for a few differences. There are extra tiles that let users switch their input devices to access game consoles, Blu-ray players and cable boxes.
$65 model, eh?
Pricing isn't terrible and I expect they'll sell. I like my loss-leader Fire 7 inch tablet, which I put the play store on with exactly two commands. I prefer dumb TVs with separate media player boxes (I have a Roku) but some people like one unit.
Amazon would be hard pressed to do a work job than many other 'smart TVs'.
Looks like now I'll have to become a TV WiFi chip cutter as well. Or will they make it more simple to disable?
because they're "confusing"
Curved, 3D, and Smart
Fortunately the the first two (which were only to justify keeping prices high) are already doomed on their own merits.
"Smart" though, is a cancer that's harder to get rid of, because manufacturers will even lower prices to sneak in the trojan horse that promises to track and force feed ads on you.
Sell your soul! FIRE TV will take you to the hot place, where IT'S HAPPENING!
Dumb as fuck.
Their job is to look pretty and let me plug all the important stuff into them.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
As a side note, does anybody have any Android TV (e.g. from Sony), Tizen TV (Samsung) or similar? I would like to know if you still use the Smart TV functions.
...it's probably not a bad idea. Most of the higher end TVs are smart TVs anyway and this might be more likely to received updates since Amazon has a vested interest in pushing video.
The only problem is if Amazon decides to block competitor services such as Netflix. It would echo the time they removed Chromecasts from their store.
Why us Amazon partnering with the manufacture of some of the worse TV I have ever seen or used.
I had (long ago) contemplated starting a sort of neo-luddite (minus the smashing things, unfortunately) campaign against unnecessarily internet-connected displays, but was too lazy. Is there anyone here that would have actually gone along with such a thing? These things are advertisers' and snoops' wet dream, incarnate.
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
The problem with Amazon tech products is that their primary purpose is not to make your life better, but to advertise products to you. Products that you don't need or want. And if you do need or want them, you can go directly to Amazon and search for them and probably find them.
I remember watching the presentation of the Fire Phone. I think that is what it was called. An Amazon phone a few years ago. I was thinking the tech looked good, but then it dawned on me. Every single thing they were touting was about some way to get the phone to try to sell you something. Newsflash: I buy a smartphone to improve my life, not to be an advertising platform for you.
Even evil Google is realizing that the Chrome browser in Android needs an ad blocker. Google gives me an overall superior internet experience in exchange for seeing some ads I might be interested in. But I don't have to see ads merely because I bought a smart phone.
Now why would I even want to consider a Fire Stick, let alone one built into a TV. No TV should be a "smart TV". The TV should be a dumb "monitor". That expensive TV will outlast several generations of "smart TV" boxes that will come and go over the life of the TV. It seems best to me that the "smart" part is a separate box I can discard or unplug when I wish. I'll take a dumb TV thank you, with multiple HDMI inputs.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
>" beefed-up specs that won't just guarantee smooth app performance and streaming, according to Amazon's VP of Smart TVs Sandeep Gupta, but are also meant to future-proof the device."
Yeah right. If you want a future-proof "TV", then what you want is just a "dumb" monitor/TV with EXTERNAL content supply devices. Things that can be easily replaced, updated, shipped, configured, or added. Is it really that big of a deal to plug in a Fire Stick, ChromeCast, Roku, TiVo, AppleTV, whatever? I mean, it is not like people don't understand the concept of having a cable box or DVD/BluRay player or game console. This "smart TV" concept is usually just a privacy and security disaster- stuff that is not kept updated, and often can't be disabled or controlled.
I think talking about "beefed up specs" kind of misses the real problem of a device like this. The problem with future proofing a device like this isn't about specs, it's about open source and open standards.
What I mean is, you buy a TV for Amazon's streaming, and then in a couple years, Amazon decides to kill their streaming service. Or their streaming service starts dropping in quality. Or they change the video format. Or they redesign their DRM. Or they just discontinue support for that product. Or whatever.
Suddenly, even if the TV isn't completely useless, a large percentage of the features stop working. It's not like you can just switch it to use Netflix or iTunes instead (unless Amazon builds it in). It's not like you can wipe the drive and install iOS or the Roku OS. You may not even be able to swap out the remote for a different model. Your stuck with whatever features and peripherals Amazon decides to support.
That's why, frankly, Smart TVs make no sense to me. The built-in features are always going to be poorly executed, and outdated after a year or two. I have a Sony SmartTV, and a lot of the built-in widgets and whatnot just don't work because Sony doesn't really update things. I don't care that much because I bought it more for the screen quality than the SmartTV features, and I basically use it as a dumb monitor for other devices. If we can't have openness in SmartTVs, then I think it's much better to get a dumb monitor, and then hook up whichever set-top device gives you the "smart" features you're looking for. That way, when that set-top device gets discontinued or it starts sucking, you can just get a new set-top device, instead of replacing your TV because the features are outdated.
And on a side note, why is 4GB of RAM and 16GB of storage considered "beefed up"? For the size and price of a a TV, you should be able to squeeze in more than that.
That said, I'm not necessarily bashing this product. Maybe it's a good TV for the price. I just wouldn't bet on the SmartTV features being particularly "future proof".
Because my TV set is NEVER going to be connected to the Internets. And I don't have cable.
Have gnu, will travel.
The interface of the TV is virtually identical to that of a Fire TV box or stick,
Well, the Fire TV stick's interface is hot garbage. I'm definitely not interested, now.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
To me Smart means that the tv detects which inputs have a signal and pushing the input button switches between only those devices. Smart means that if a new device starts a signal the tv prompts me if I wish to switch to that input (or show it in a small window). Smart would be having FM or Bluetooth audio as an option so I can listen with headphones. Smart would be having standard outputs that can connect to any audio receiver (optical, digital, analog).
But yes, please put in a scaled down computer to shovel more pay content at me that will be outdated and unsupported in 3 years because I never used it in the first place.
I'll take the one that is $100 cheaper and replaces the internal computer with a bunch of HDMI ports.
Integrating televisions with other technologies never seems to work out. TV with VCR combo... TV with DVD combo... TV with Fire Stick Combo... Just buy the TV you want and fork out the $40 for the Fire Stick.
This will go super handy along with my Fire Phone!
Of course, this is not going to fit Amazon's marketing model:
Just give me a plain TV with 5 HDMI ports w/HDMI-CEC support? I'll plug in what I want, and control the TV content from there, ok? No "features" in the TV itself.
Android devices don't last two years, who is going to spend 800$ every two years to replace their damn TV. A smartphone was at least justified in being replaced since they were rapidly changing, but TV? No, this is stupid.
Give me a "dumb" TV that has as single display port and put all this "smart" junk on it's own box.
there's no such thing as cord cutting. TV is alive and well, it's just changed into IPTV.
What, are the partnering with Samsung?
The fundamental problem with "smart televisions" is that people tend to keep their televisions for many years, but companies are not interested in supporting their already-sold software for anywhere near as long.
We bought an LG smart television about six years ago. The only software updates we've seen over the past three or four years have been to remove apps which are no longer supported.
In the end this was probably a good thing, though, since it motivated me to disable the network connection.
#DeleteChrome
my 2 cents:
i give zero shits about this device.
i care a little bit about watching live NFL games
that's about it.
zero shits about TV or movies.
The constant stream of Avderts on the TV screen stopped for an announcement.
"Hey Winston Smith, you have not been a good consumer this month. You haven't bought anything yet. Play your part in making America Great again. Buy, buy, buy."
At the time of the announcement, Winston was sleeping. His latest 16 hour shift at the burger joint has gone to 20 hours. Winston was happy that he'd earned enough to actually buy a new bed. The last one although only two years old had life expired and turned to dust in front of him. since then he'd been sleeping on the floor of his 2m x 3m pod in Amazon City.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
...in the end it is about what you will be able to buy, which most likely will be only 'smart' TVs.
That's my fear. For me, a TV has always been just a monitor. I don't even need the tuner, let alone any IoT crap. More and more, they're making devices that simply won't work at all without an internet connection. Electronic devices are becoming trojans for data collection.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
My TV is fine. I watch Netflix & Hulu on my Roku box. And I'm sure that I'll be using that TV for longer than I use the Roku.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Fire TV? As in, if you cut the cord, it will catch fire and burn your house down?
All these cable replacement services advertise with a super cheap rate...for a few channels more than what you'd get for free over the air. Often times it is not even live stream but only select shows. In the end you pay as much as for the cable package. May vary by region, but in my case I would have even paid more if I dropped TV and phone and only kept the Internet service, that then gets really expensive due to lack of combo discounts. Plus, I'd have to switch constantly between OTA, web, and app broadcast/streams, way inconvenient.