Amazon updates Fire tablets & TV products, introduces $50 tablet & $100 4K Fire TV

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  • Reply 61 of 212
    Amazon is doing a great job IMO. They are offering good products and fair prices. No they are not as mint as Apple products but overall I am impressed with what they are doing.

    I have been hearing a lot of comments about 4K and Apple TV not able to stream 4K. Apple TV can stream 4K it is choosing not to. It is really not that important to the masses anyway. How many programs are you watching per week in 4K for those that own 4K televisions? With the limited amount of content it is just not that big of a deal.
  • Reply 62 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

     

    So actually you are saying they could improve 1080p streaming ...


    They have, it's called 4K.

  • Reply 63 of 212
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,310member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    1) So Apple isn't supporting 4K because 8K is "launching next month"? Seriously?! image



    2) You may want to look up the definition of "prime time" since 4K isn't only ready in terms of HW and content, it's also available on a shitload of Apple devices.

    4K isn't even a settled standard yet, at least in the sense of feature set. There aren't even codecs that are commercialized at this point, albeit h.265 will eventually get its licensing together.

     

    Truth is, for most people with working 1080p televisions, there isn't going to be an upgrade until that set fails, and so the industry is going to be completely driven by bleeding edge buyers, lots of bleeding, and that isn't going to be a great driver for 4k content from studios and television production.

  • Reply 64 of 212
    A high percentage of TVs for sale at Costco are 4K and they aren't exactly a retailer of cutting edge consumer electronics. Apple should be leading, not following with Apple TV.

    Nonsense. Apple does things when the timing is right. And apparently that time is not here. Period.
  • Reply 65 of 212
    sog35 wrote: »
    techlover wrote: »
     
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">A 6-pack of 7 inch tablets for $250 is basically a stocking stuffer for kids that will do light gaming, reading/browsing, maybe watch some YouTube.</span>

    And a sure fire way to have a house full of tears.

    Trust me.  Even little kids know the difference between a POS Kindle and the iPad.  

    Those same kids know the difference between playing a mobile game, and playing one on a console.
  • Reply 66 of 212
    tmay wrote: »
    4K isn't even a settled standard yet,

    You didn't just write that, did you?
    there aren't even codecs that are commercialized at this point, albeit h.265 will eventually get its licensing together.

    And you willing wrote that, too?
    Truth is, for most people with working 1080p televisions, there isn't going to be an upgrade until that set fails, and so the industry is going to be completely driven by bleeding edge buyers, lots of bleeding, and that isn't going to be a great driver for 4k content from studios and television production.

    So you're saying 4K video on an iPhone is stupid. Got it!
  • Reply 67 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Apple was the first (!) out the gate with their Retina displays. Have you forgotten this? That bleeding edge display tech and philosophy needs to be consistent.



    No they weren't. Apple is never first. They are not about specs or the race to be first. They are about user experience. That's why no one knew the resolution of Retina but everyone knew it was called Retina.

  • Reply 68 of 212
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    except they don't make profit on purchased made in the store either.  Amazon makes ZERO profit.


    Guess they're not very good at that slight of hand trick.

  • Reply 69 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

     

    please update us when you buy these and what the kids reaction was.  If they are the avearge kids they will be dissappointed.




    Kids don't understand build quality. But they do know when their tablet breaks or just sucks and they are even more sensitive to what their friends are using. iPad has replaced "tablet" as the standard. Kids might not know the difference in technology but they definitely know the difference in brand.

  • Reply 70 of 212
    Pretty nice lineup from Amazon. I <3 my iPad, but it's nice to see competition in the TV Set Top Box area.
  • Reply 71 of 212
    sog35 wrote: »
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Those same kids know the difference between playing a mobile game, and playing one on a console.

    And those same kids love to play both.

    Dont get your point at all.

    Your ridiculous claims that the ATV would hurt/kill console gaming.
  • Reply 72 of 212
    sog35 wrote: »
    So you are comparing the iPhone which sells for an average price of over $700 in the USA to a $149 AppleTV?

    of course the iPhone will have features the AppleTV won't.

    Where you dissapointed that the AppleTV didn't have ForceTouch also?  

    You're claiming the price difference of a device with a display and battery that is purposely engineered to be as small as possible costs so much more more than the Apple TV because of the Sony camera module? :rolleyes: You warp reality to fit your narrative a lot, but that's just going too far for even you. Check out other media streamers. supporting 2160p streams is possible with today's technology and it doesn't cost $700 to do it.
  • Reply 73 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    AmazonTV is okay.  But they will look like 2nd tier products in a few months compared to the AppleTV.

     

    Comes down to one word:  ECOSYSTEM

     

     

    For $49 more I'd rather get the AppleTV which has 4 times the storage ( 32 vs 8), much faster CPU, much better navigation (with touch screen and Siri), and no doubt much better Apps/Services.  I'll sacrifice 4k for now.  I have 3 TV's and none have 4k.  


    I have a Fire TV, and I like it a lot. The main reason I bought one is for the Plex App. Since the new Apple TV will have Plex, I have no use for the Fire TV. The new Fire TV I'm sure is nice with 4k, but there just isn't enough content out there right now. I have a 4k TV and the only content I'm able to see is the 4k blu ray's I have and the Directv 4k channel. 

  • Reply 74 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JBDragon View Post

     

     

    Well I assume Amazon will start dishing out 4K content.   Netflix has some 4K content, at least for their own newer programs.  but really, are you actually streaming 4K content, or really highly compressed, but lower quality B.S. 4K.  You're not even streaming 1080P Blu-Ray Quality, 4K content can't be much better then the so called 1080P streaming content.

     

    If you actually want 4K, need to wait for Ultra Blu-Ray to be released.


     

    UHD has higher resolution video, an improved color spectrum and better dynamic range vs HD.

     

    The comparison isn't BluRay, the comparison is H.265 encoded UHD at a higher bitrate vs H.264 encoded HD.

  • Reply 75 of 212

    I'm amazed by the tablet lineup. We've gone from fairly nice tablets to a pathetic range of low-end crap. 1024x600 at the low end (a resolution not even adequate for a decent smartphone), and 1280x800 on a 10" screen at the "high end" -- what happened to the HDX line? This looks like Amazon is giving up on the tablet market and refocusing on beefing up its TV offering in preparation for the AppleTV fight... Notice the FireTV stick has gone up steadily from its $20 introductory price to $35, $39 and now $50?

  • Reply 76 of 212
    freerange wrote: »
    Nonsense. Apple does things when the timing is right. And apparently that time is not here. Period.

    Why was the timing "right" for their Retina displays when there was little to no content at the time, compared to now with the Apple TV and 4K? Your argument is completely shallow at best.
  • Reply 77 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 View Post

     

    I have a Fire TV, and I like it a lot. The main reason I bought one is for the Plex App. Since the new Apple TV will have Plex, I have no use for the Fire TV. The new Fire TV I'm sure is nice with 4k, but there just isn't enough content out there right now. I have a 4k TV and the only content I'm able to see is the 4k blu ray's I have and the Directv 4k channel. 




    I'm with you.  The only reason I got a FireTV was Plex.

  • Reply 78 of 212
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,310member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    You didn't just write that, did you?

    And you willing wrote that, too?

    So you're saying 4K video on an iPhone is stupid. Got it!

    Oh, you mean like 4k vs UltraHD as in who will win in the marketplace, and why will early buyers of 4K be sad?

     

    Yeah 4k is a standard, but it doesn't necessarily describe what the market is going to end up with, which was also Sog's 8K point; the market hasn't settled on what it wants.

     

     

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/new-patent-group-threatens-to-derail-4k-hevc-video-streaming/

     

    It isn't all settled; hence why wise buyers are waiting.

  • Reply 79 of 212
    If Apple does decide to add 4K capabilities to AppleTV, will that require a hardware solution or could it be done with a software tweak?

    As I understand it, it would be a simple Software/Firmware update.


    In re 4K content:  As I understand it, Apple could do this:
    1. Where 4k source is available -- encode it using h.265 instead of h.264
    2. Add h.265 decoding to the New AppleTV

    Encoding h.265 is time-consuming and difficult on a desktop or server -- but it only needs to be done once.

    Decoding h.265 is somewhat more difficult than h.264 but could be done on an A8 and added to the New AppleTV with a Software/Firmware update.

    As the New AppleTV doesn't require battery, Apple could crank up the clocking on the A8 APU/GPU -- making the decoding difference minimal.


    The big advantage, is that h.265 delivers the same or better quality in half the file size and bandwidth of h.264.


    Also, H.265 is used by the new iPhone 6S.
  • Reply 80 of 212

    Are we seriously going to have this 4K argument again, over and over? Sigh.

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