What can i do with a fire tv box?

Search This thread

PHYSC-1

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2013
160
30
Samsung Galaxy S10+
I am looking for a replacement to the mad catz m.o.j.o console i had a refund on it but i want open android with superb graphics really,but the thing is i don't want anything too expensive or too cheap either,the problem is i don't know what models are best,or more importantly for this section of the forum what i can do in relation to getting a fire tv gaming and web browsing etc?Can i play games can more importantly can i sideload and also can i sideload downloaded stuff? Or possibly flash a rom on it? :eek:
 

byrdcfmma

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2012
504
184
Central FL
I am looking for a replacement to the mad catz m.o.j.o console i had a refund on it but i want open android with superb graphics really,but the thing is i don't want anything too expensive or too cheap either,the problem is i don't know what models are best,or more importantly for this section of the forum what i can do in relation to getting a fire tv gaming and web browsing etc?Can i play games can more importantly can i sideload and also can i sideload downloaded stuff? Or possibly flash a rom on it? :eek:

Dont take this the wrong way, but to get everythihg you want you will need to custom build a HTPC with a computer. These android boxes are good and most are cheap, but they do have limitations and will not meeet all your expectations.

IMO, the FTV is the best box on the market in the under $150 category. If you are willing to comprimise, it should meet most of you expectations. All you questions are answered in this forum, so read up or use search.
 

PHYSC-1

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2013
160
30
Samsung Galaxy S10+
Dont take this the wrong way, but to get everythihg you want you will need to custom build a HTPC with a computer. These android boxes are good and most are cheap, but they do have limitations and will not meeet all your expectations.

IMO, the FTV is the best box on the market in the under $150 category. If you are willing to comprimise, it should meet most of you expectations. All you questions are answered in this forum, so read up or use search.
Had enough of pc's i am a computer repair technician,i want it for the lower power consumption but with nearing or par with console level graphics.Pc's are too expensive to run they are rubbish in small form factors they tend to burn out on the bridge on the board, or they come with cheap sh@t psu's that cost a bomb for good one's in small form factor.If there's one thing i learned quickly it was never buy small form factor pc's if you want it to last or not to overheat.

But on the other hand android tv box's don't push the same high level temps because they are only passively cooled quite often as apposed to actively cooled,besides if i really want i'll cooling mod it like my k-r42 with 80mm fan and shimmed.

But basically i want an android unit that has gaming power beyond a mali400 and closing in on if not better than a snapdragon 8xx chip.I've looked at the huwaei tron but it's yet again a 4.2x android system with no guarentee my tv will be supported over hdmi properly i learned that from my mad catz m.o.j.o not outputting 1080p on my 1080p tv.So i may just hang on until k1 touches down in shops but it looks like they are not in a hurry although there is the mipad rumor,i think i'll be waiting until 2015 at this rate before a god unit comes out that has kitkat on it,i was wondering if any rockchip 8 core cpu's are out in tv box form yet,and if they have a heightened gpu to the mali 400? And was also wondering where they fit in terms of graphical power?
 
Last edited:

fredphoesh

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2009
1,062
86
Firetv is anything but open. IMO android boxes are all underpowered and frustratingly issue laden. Pity as I too am wanting to buy something good... I bought a s89 tronsmart and it's not as good as I'd hoped. I was interested in the MOJO... Why did you return it, it's a lot more open than Amazon firetv surely?

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

iRet

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2012
93
35
Krasnoyarsk
kaleda.ru
OnePlus 9 Pro
I've bought it as replacement for raspberry pi and was disappointed. Yes Fire TV build perfectly and has a good hardware. But software is a crap and no way for root by now, only hopes and blocking of update server. It's not clear for now what improvements OTA brings and if root will be issued. If you looking for a good device that works and not for fun reverse engineering hours. Try to find alternative.
May be once it will be a good choice but not now, unfortunately.

Sent from my LG-G2 using XDA Free mobile app
 

tarvoke

Senior Member
Mar 8, 2011
161
50
Slightly Outside America
I was 100% happy with my ouya, with stock OS, and then even better with CM11. performance was never a problem.

really the only reason I went for firetv was that I watch prime video A LOT. and between flash-plugin + pick-your-favorite-browser being way-EOL and a bit buggy, and the fact that it took literally 6-8 clicks/actions to go to the next episode of a show, vs 1 (or at most 2) clicks/actions on firetv (yeah first-world problems...)

ouya sales on amazon for $60 would still be worth it (esp they want like 50 bucks for just an extra controller) but at the 100 point might as well firetv or something else.

but honestly it all comes down to what do you want to do with it. oh wait I don't have to re-ramble all this...

http://www.xbmchub.com/forums/threads/21722-Fire-TV-vs-Ouya?p=185275&viewfull=1#post185275
 

Newcron

Senior Member
Sep 13, 2010
248
53
Anyone who bought Amazon-anything devices and expect openness is definitely going the wrong path. Amazon has some great devices but it has a pretty strict walled garden environment (which, granted, is kind of pretty) where they are expected to stay. Amazon is somewhat similar if not worse than Apple in this regard.

Amazon's latest devices such as the Fire HDX and the Fire TV are amazing devices on their own right, but if you are not getting them because of what they can do out of the box but instead of what they 'should be able to do' and expect to hack/mod them, you are in for a disappointment. This is what differentiate them to Google's devices, where it can be a gamble whether a product can be 10x better or 10x worse in the few months following its release (see: Google TV vs. Chromecast).

With Amazon devices it's extremely simple. You go to the product page and look at what it's offering. If you're wowed by those, then get it, if you think that 'it has potential', then don't get it.
 

roustabout

Senior Member
Feb 12, 2011
825
212
Anyone who bought Amazon-anything devices and expect openness is definitely going the wrong path. Amazon has some great devices but it has a pretty strict walled garden environment (which, granted, is kind of pretty) where they are expected to stay. Amazon is somewhat similar if not worse than Apple in this regard.

Yes and no - I bought this box because I wanted one device that did both amazon video and Netflix. Met expectations there.

But I also wanted to be able to use it as a front-end for music stored on my NAS. This is why I was never interested in Roku, might've been interested in the Apple product but don't remember it having Prime support, and kept using my Western Digital Live Plus for as long as I did - the access to files inside the walls is important to me.

By day 2, I had enabled ADB and sideloaded XBMC. Yes, I don't have root, but I have Amazon, Netflix and local files all in one place, which I like a lot.

From what I've seen, on the Fire tablets amazon doesn't block sideloaded apps, or I wouldn't have bought this device. It makes a decent HTPC device for my purposes, though, and is open enough for me. Of course I'd prefer root, but in this instance, not if having root broke the Amazon Video stuff.

My biggest complaint so far is that amazon doesn't give us a preference setting for how much bandwidth the box should allocate to itself. So I needed to do that with my firewall instead.

I'll be interested to see if Amazon makes Prime available for the rumored Google TV box. My guess is they will not. But if they do, and I'm within my return window when the device is fully announced...
 
Last edited: