It’d be pretty sweet if everyone’s telly could play Quake, like.
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Until Apple went and deleted the Rosetta framework, I loved playing Ghost Recon 1 at 1080p. I don’t think it was quite as graphically sophisticated as “Call of Duty” either. A fun game, especially with the mods.
1080p is a resolution./ Nothing more.
Is WDTV really good for playing movies and shows stored on a networked hard drive (like Time Capsule)? That’s the one thing I can’t believe roku and atv don’t really offer, and the only reason I haven’t bought one of them. Plex looks supremely annoying and I don’t want to have to run an always-on PC just to watch movies stored on my Time Capsule.
I love my WDTV Live+, plays just about every codec that you throw at it and can handle some pretty high bitrates over wired ethernet. You can also play video from a USB-connected drive as well. Lack of Amazon support is the only reason I broke down and bought a Roku…
Plus the WDTV has a very active homebrew/custom firmware scene to make the box do even more, but stock was sufficient for my needs…
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Agreed. I’ve got a Raspberry Pi running XBMC which works pretty well playing content from my NAS (though I haven’t tried HD yet) but I don’t think it can do Netflix or other streaming services. Google Chromecast looked pretty good until I realised it couldn’t play local network content.
I think the only real option is a small, low power PC which is likely to be three times the price, but I guess at least then there’s the option of using it as a DVR.
Ultimately though I get the impression most manufacturers want to discourage people from playing their own media, because piracy (presumably).
I might be interested if it allows sideloading. Otherwise, not having access to the Google Play Store rather restricts the app availability, and I’ll wait for a comparable Google-universe offering.
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I’ll be the contrarian, I guess: it looks good to me. Not mind-blowingly awesome, but good.
And the exclusive title sounds intriguing; Sev Zero is supposedly a cross between FPS and tower defense. OK, not the most creative thing ever, but it looks kinda neat.
Basically, this seems to combine every silly living-room Android device and put it together in a package that’s actually a little compelling (IMHO). If it’s a low-power box, then yes I’d love to have one.
I won’t be running out and buying one right away–too broke for that right now–but hopefully people will figure out how to do things like sideloading. If someone gets XBMC working on the thing, or if it at least plays local files, I’m there. And if they get some more kids games on Freetime, I’m also there.
The only thing I’m not crazy about so far is that clunky-looking controller.
I think I’m one of the few Android converts who doesn’t actually mind all that much that Fire OS is a wildly different OS, and this is coming from someone who hates what Samsung has done to Android. I’m not crazy about the carousel, but honestly Google could learn a thing or two from Amazon.
And for the person who made the Angry Birds comment…
http://www.touchgen.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/nova-3-review-4.jpg
Netflix will continue to benefit from developments in the category of internet TV from tech companies such as Amazon, because growth in the overall category will eventually support Netflix’s growth and http://goo.gl/ik8jUi
yes, but there is a huge difference between rendering/decoding at true 1080p resolution and upscaling to 1080p, that is the distinction people are referring to, not merely outputting/displaying at that resolution.
for example a gameboy with tv out can be displayed at 1080p, doesn’t mean that it is outputting in a true 1080p resolution, which is why it looks like total crap. 
Call of Duty 2 is a pretty old, even creaky game, but it could be rendered as DirectX 7 or DirectX 9. And either of those can be rendered to a 1080p framebuffer. It’s just that the DX9 variant required a bit more graphics firepower.
(Nowadays, any graphics card can render the second version with aplomb, but I bring it up because the differences are quite a bit more obvious than the difference between a playstation 3 and a playstation 4).
Yes I understand what you are saying but your video example makes my point for me. Both examples are grossly upscaled. As you noted, both DX7 and DX9 render output to a 1080p framebuffer, it it was just a matter of output resolution they would look the same, but notice how drastically different their output looks? That is the difference we are discussing. The jump to true 1080p content output is just as drastic a jump from the DX9 example as the DX9 example was to the DX7 example. So while it is true that 1080p does refer to an output resolution, outputting true 1080p content that isn’t upscaled is night and day different.
so again, output resolution isn’t what is being discussed, the true resolution of the content being outputted is. there is a huge difference between rendering/decoding at true 1080p
resolution and upscaling to 1080p, that is the distinction people are
referring to, not merely outputting/displaying at that resolution.
while it is true that 1080p does refer to an output resolution, outputting true 1080p content that isn’t upscaled is night and day different.
Real gamers render at 4320p and downscale.
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The other factor is that this particular quad-core is identical, or very, very, close to it, to the one in the ‘Kindle Fire HDX’, which allows Amazon and their development and content partners to, presumably, save money on software development.
The tablets are actually higher resolution (1920 × 1200 in the 7in, 2560 × 1600 in the 8.9) than the expected ‘HD’ TV use case, so there should be basically no circumstance where anything that runs on a Kindle Fire can’t be dropped onto the TV box and run as well or better(excepting, obviously, control-scheme mismatches).
With suitably tight coding (ie. probably not Android) everyone except Cable TV STB manufacturers can usually squeak by with a very weedy CPU so long as the GPU/decode blocks are good enough; but the difference between ‘can render menu in under 3 seconds’ and ‘Plays games’ is pretty gigantic.
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Now, where’s the profit in that ??? Amazon has one thing the other boxes don’t: market penetration. It’s why the Kindle rules e-books. and this, within a few years, will crowd the other boxes out of the market. Just like they did with e-readers: Nook is dying, Kobo is niche… . .and Kindle runs on every other platform. . .
I’m curious if there’s going to be any retail presence for this box/accessories. I’d really like to get my hands on the controller and judge it myself.
I want Apple to introduce something that can genuinely compete with this and soon. I’m already invested in the iOS ecosystem - give me a compelling way to play those games on the TV, because this platform is going to make AirPlay look even more mediocre.
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