After my trusty, lovingly hacked ATVv2 (Apple TV version 2) started showing signs of dying and obsolescence (slow, only 720p, and began glitching), the question became urgent — where to turn. Once it became clear there’s no point waiting for a jailbreak for ATVv3, I wanted to find an adequate replacement. Requirements were simple — must work with Netflix and XBMC, must work fast and reliably, play and stream 1080p, and all controlled conveniently with a remote.
During experiments that started with Raspberry Pi, moved on to Android sticks and reached Gbox MX2, I never achieved full satisfaction. Pi is somewhat sluggish as an XBMC player, problematic in terms of remote control (if TV lacks CEC), and doesn’t play nice with Netflix at all. Sticks are just horrible and nightmarish. GBox is much better in this regard and XBMC on it is quite adequate, but only 720p. Netflix is there too, but somewhat crooked and poorly adapted for remote control. Installing a newer one from Google Play is possible, but it doesn’t work at all. Besides, something strange happens with this Gbox from time to time — it forgets settings and loses installed programs. I had this happen twice in 2 months of use, which isn’t fatal, but the idea of reinstalling everything once a month doesn’t cheer me up at all. Additionally, Gbox has some problem understanding TV mode and often (frequently) after turning on the TV they can’t negotiate with each other and I have to reboot Gbox to fix it.
Nevertheless, GBox is a working solution and you can live with it and be happy. But with the release of Amazon FireTV, I wanted to look at this beast up close. Based on reviews, this box seemed interesting and suitable for my case. And the $99 price also felt adequate.
Won’t repeat standard reviews and from the general stuff will only say it’s very snappy compared to everything I’ve tried before. Remote is small but pleasant and quite grippable. Basic setup is practically reduced to zero and after turning on everything just works.
As you remember, the main question for me was Netflix and XBMC. With Netflix everything is about 8/10. Interface works quite successfully with the remote, playback quality is better than on ATV and much better than on GBox. Netflix version is relatively fresh (with profiles) and everything works. I deducted 2 points because there isn’t that polished interface like on ATV. In fairness, the first day I couldn’t launch Netflix at all, but it seems this was Netflix service’s problem, not Amazon’s. By the way, my first complaint here — this Fire tries to be a very simple device for very simple housewives. When everything’s fine, that’s exactly what it is. No arcane Android knowledge needed to navigate the menu with a remote. But when something unexpected happens (like with Netflix), you have to “geek out.” Had to find the place where I could clear cache and restart the program. Nothing complicated, of course, but somewhat below the declared level of simple TV set-top box.
XBMC installs easily if you’re a geek or understand what you’re doing. The process is described in detail and there’s even an instruction for simple people. For me, the entire installation process (I installed both versions — 13 and 12) took about 5 minutes. A few more minutes were spent installing Autopilot (automatic XBMC launch after power-on) and the ritual dance around llama (remapping Home button behavior). I think if someone’s more familiar with Android than me (I’m barely familiar), there won’t be any questions at all. I had completely trivial problems from general misunderstanding, like how to extract an apk from Google Play, what side-loading is, and other quite primitive stuff. All in all, for everything including Googling and customizations, I probably spent half an hour.
XBMC performance is flawless. Everything is very fast and everything works. 1080p plays without problems, no audio delay (people in forums complained about this) that I noticed, remote is perfectly compatible with XBMC — in short, pure pleasure and joy of use. One problem that seems unsolved for now (I tried the freshest builds of 13 too) — sound isn’t controlled from the Fire remote. Hope the problem is temporary and XBMC will fix it.
Unlike other Androids I tried for TV, Fire WiFi works really fast and N is supported without problems. The box doesn’t heat up and in all 4 days of use no glitches/reboots occurred. Actually, after initial setup I never rebooted it or went into its guts. From what I don’t particularly need but launched and tried — Plex works beautifully and fast. Playing movies and series from Prime also doesn’t cause complaints.
In addition to Fire itself, I ordered a game controller. Don’t even know what to say about it — it works. It was quite fun to race in Asphalt 8 on a big screen, though I’m not much of a gamer. This controller turned out quite heavy and large compared to what I had with PS3. By the way, rumor has it Fire works with other BT game controllers too.
From the exotic — AceStream works and TorrentTV against it also works, much better than on GBox (on Fire there are no problems with freezing on HD channels). From the strange — it’s Amazon and it has its own store which is completely not Google’s. It knows nothing about your Google purchases, of course, and sometimes you have to pay twice for what’s already been purchased for another Android. I bought Plex, but didn’t spend real money on it since with new Fire they give you $10 credit plus another $10 for the controller.
Now the bad — absence of NBA channel on Fire is outrageous, of course. Of everything I have under the TV, only ATV can do this, but does it poorly and glitchily, but Fire can’t even manage that :(
Too early to draw conclusions, but the overall impression is very, very positive. In my opinion, Fire TV is the best launcher for XBMC and Netflix I’ve tried. The speed of this box is also beyond praise. And Android on board is quite friendly for “non-standard uses” and there’s no trace of problems like with ATV jailbreak.
This post was translated from the Russian original with AI assistance and reviewed by a human.