This would be horrible for people who enjoy sideloading APKs.
May i recommend just buying a small form factor pc and hooking it up to your tv instead?
Smart tvs and things like this suck anyways. Super slow and bloated with crap i dont need or want.
I gave up on HTPCs after a decade or more of trying because I never found a good way to control it that was practical for everyone in the house. I ended up with a Roku Ultra (even though my feelings toward Roku are lukewarm) because it has a simple remote, or can be controlled/automated by home assistant, or can be controlled from Alexa (via a custom skill I wrote), or it can be screen casted to, or it could be controlled by a Harmony Hub (RIP Harmony).
But separate smart box together with a dumb TV is the the way to go.
I put Kodi on a raspberry pi, and my TV supported CEC, so I was able to use the TV remote to seamlessly control Kodi. It was as close to a native interface as I could wish for. And that was all the way back in 2016
CEC is such a nightmare of a technology though. I have problems with it constantly to the point where it’s just expected it won’t work 50% of the time, and it’s impossible to troubleshoot
I have to unplug my docked Steamdeck anytime I want to watch any other input because screws with the CEC functionality so much. It’s a hot mess.
Yeah, Kodi was slick when I had it first on my HTPC, then on the OG Kodi Box. That was about 40% of what I used the HTPC for at the time, though.
Never knew about CEC, learn something new everyday! Thats pretty neat.
Harmony was how I controlled my HTPCs. But once I moved from MythTV to Plex, I just started using Roku or Google TV frontends. They just worked so much more reliably and were super cheap.
I tried to get the the HTPC working with Harmony. Even got a flirc to extend it’s capabilities, but never found a decent way to get good mouse control with it.
Oh I never tried using the mouse with Harmony. I’m not even sure I knew that was possible.
Amazon’s lowest-end “smart” TV is $119. It’s really hard to compete with that. They aren’t making money on the hardware, they’re making it on the advertising.
You can find small form factor used office pcs for around that price rn.
There is something to be said about being plug and play though. I understand the appeal.
Yes, but you would also have to buy the TV. So it’s still more expensive.
My bad i misread your comment. You’re correct it would be less expensive to buy a smart tv only.
Yeah, but if you hook up a refurbished laptop that costs like $100, you could still use that via the HDMI rather than the Fire TV “part”.
Take their cheap hardware and then not use what they hope you’ll use it for.
Amazon TV - $119.
Your solution - $100 plus the cost of the TV.
Do you see the issue?
It’s still cheaper than a “normal” TV + Roku or whatever.
I mean, the goal here is to stop being so inundated with ads. There is a cost associated. The cost can be in a more expensive TV, privacy nightmares, or a cheap TV with a cheap setup.
A $200 setup sounds ace to me and perfectly feasible. You could probably lower than by using a Raspberry Pi setup instead. A “decent” TV is going to run into the $400 range once you get 55” or larger, and your laptop/Pi setup can be used on any TV for as long as you want.
Heck, it doesn’t even need to be a new-to-you laptop. I’ve repurposed my last 3 computers to do just this; I was buying a new desktop or laptop anyway, so the old one became my streaming device.
You really expect some 60-year-old plumber who just wants to watch Netflix to figure all that out just to watch it?
Idk…my mother’s in her 60s and she can figure out this stuff. And plumbers have a fair amount of general know-how. 🤷♀️
Obviously, the TV-to-laptop option isn’t for the general masses, which is why these devices exist. I’m just offering that there are alternatives available to those who are willing.
You would have problems with widevine and other similar DRM sh!t
Im not familiar with issues like that. Ive been using my pc to stream things an watch tv shows without issue. I am using windows atm though so that may be why. Not sure if this is an issue on Linux or if you’re refering to a different OS.
The main problem is most streaming services will only allow 1080p in browser, some even only allowing 1080p in Edge and will downgrade the resolution in other browsers. You basically have to use a smart TV app to get 4k… So you’re basically down to physical media or sailing the high seas if you want to be able to take full advantage of your TV.
Piracy thrives when they make it harder to get the same thing legally.
Fuck their bullshit :)
Netflix is 720p if running completely without widewine AFAIK. Netflix 4k needs a special hardware certification
I supoose that is a drawback if you want to view content in 4k. 1080p still being the standard is good enough for me but i do see your point.
Nah, sticking my GTV into my big ass cheap dumb TV I got on sale at a Fry’s while they were going out of business. Im even considering buying another big ass dumb TV soon from my local big box store.
Pros: remote that functions with the TV, ability to side load forever (Google aint gonna kill android on their sticks), pretty much plug and play, is way cheaper than a small streaming box, works natively with my NAS library
Never had an issue with it being slow other than Peacocks absolutely dog shit app, which also doesn’t work right on my phone so I’m guessing the issue isn’t the TV.
Smartification devices rule on dumb TVs, Amazons has always been bottom tier one though
I do understand the appeal but as a power user i just like having control. Last i used a fire stick it was slow and annoying to use but things may have changed since then.
Me personally i find a pc for streaming and whatever else i wanna do just makes more sense but to each thier own.
Waiting for the tutorial then… So my parents and grand parents can use it with a remote…
I just hooked up my desktop PC which is on another floor to the TV, 30 mt HDMI cable, shielded. I control it via Unified Remote on my Android phone. It’s perfect.
Believe it or not they still make dumb tvs too. Just not in stores.
the overkill that comes from running a full smartphone operating system on a product as simple as a smart display, has inspired Amazon to move to an in-house OS called “Vega.”
The Linux-based, web-forward operating system would replace Android on Amazon’s TVs and rely on React Native to develop apps in Javascript
So they’re trading Google’s locked down Linux distro for their own locked down Linux distro, but with JavaScript.
I thought android was already linux, but with javascript
No, it’s got Java in between.
I mean, on some level it’s accurate, but only as accurate as saying any Linux distribution running a web browser with JavaScript-support is Linux but with JavaScript.
Android apps in themselves are not based on JavaScript - some of them bundle a JavaScript runtime, but it’s by no means required.
Wait, really? I thought android apps could be written in java and in fact alot of them are. I know that you can use c# and c++ or some others, (python?) but i thought navascript was the majority of the apps.
Although i suppose it doesnt make your statement untrue, if java is not the only language but only the primary language then it wouldnt be accurate to call android linux with java.
I would say though its likely that this statement would be more true several years back.
Java has been the primary language for Android for much of its life.
There’s an important distinction to be made here - Java and JavaScript are not the same, and in fact really have nothing to do with each other.
Fair enough. Im not a coder or programmer so im not too clued in.
It is, anyone surprised by the comment above doesn’t understand that
I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Hey Amazon, I was a HUGE advocate for you. I help setup countless older family/friends devices for them. I told them that FireTVs were the devices to have.
I have moved 100% to roku. The reason for this that you’re UI is ads 1st and apps 2nd. If you’re redesigning I beg and plead that you take a good look at what Roku is going right. You could do it better and fully whip them out (I hope not because competition is good).
I’ve used an adblocker to block the ad that takes up 1/3 of the homescreen on Roku, but even then, it turns into a huge empty frame. ⍨
Plus, Plex on Roku transcodes audio and subtitles no matter what I do. It’s so annoying.
Pihole?
Pi-hole, NextDNS, a variety of things over the years.
I’m with you Tandy. The ads on Roku are very reasonable. The question is then, how long before it goes to sh*t?
Roku devices are packed with ads, too.
I acknowledge that these devices are subsidized by ads. However, roku shows you ads but they are off to the side and don’t impact the experience of using the device.
FireTV devices are so aggressive with their ads and terrible UI that I’m fully off them (I actually still have 1).
webOS was so far ahead of its time.
yay, an OS in JavaScript, how neat /s
Fire TV has been a horrible experience for a while and is only getting worse with them adding more and more apps. I have yet to use a Fire TV that is not a laggy piece of garbage. Honestly, whenever someone I know is looking for a TV I urge them to stay away from Fire TV at all costs.
bloat isn’t the only problem, this is my pi-hole’s statistics on the fire tv stick
and keep in mind it clears the log every day, so this is about 4 hours of usage and 15 of “sleep”
Perhaps but since it’s Linux based I wonder if there will be a way to hack in Flatpak support
This is what I care about. I use a fire TV stick because it’s android. I have needed to side load apps several times (HBO dispute)
It would be funny if they made it to stop sideloading just for the community to make a dedicated user repository.
Android is Linux-based.
Only on paper, in reality it holds very little in common with Linux
It literally uses the Linux kernel.
A heavily modified version that’s proprietary, maybe I would understand AOSP being Linux based but Android just uses Linux code
Open-source.
Most of Android is proprietary
All of AOSP is open-source. It stands for Android Open-Source Project.
Most applications and services are not, including Google’s. Those aren’t the OS, though.
Much of chip vendors’ BSPs are proprietary as well, but that’s not Android, that’s just the bits that go with the chips they sell.
Tried this multiple ways over time and it’s a crap shoot. Started with mythTV box. Worked for a while but was clunky and remote was always a problem. Migrated to a dvr called moxie which was a early days dvr product from aaris. After moxie finally gave in and picked up a Tivo 4k setup and one mini 1080. Now days use plex server htpc and a pi with a couple chromecasts. Pros and cons with all. Nothing does everything perfectly.
This sounds fishy. Very fishy. The Chrome team making another OS kind of fishy.
I’m pretty happy with my Nvidia Shield. Costs more, but works great.
Welp. When my current Kindle Fire dies, I will not be replacing it if I can’t get Play Books and Nook Books on it as well.
Phew, I almost bought one of these because the price was tempting.
Walmart has a $20 Android TV streaming device that makes a good substitute. The Verge gave it an 8/10. Works great for Stremio and other Android TV apps.
Oh no! How will I get a cheap media adapter to sideload plex into!
Well that’s the death of Android TV then. With Nvidia killing future Shields and now Amazon. There is no more big names making Android TV devices other than the built in Android TV in actual TVs which is a bummer because that shit gets outdated faster than the TV dies.
Nvidia killing future Shields
What are you talking about? Shield is still getting better support than most older Android devices.
And a lot of TVs have Android built in, not to mention plenty of third party devices like Xiaomi TV Stick.
Google still sell their own Android TV dongles (Chromecast), and big TV manufacturers still sell it as a smart TV OS (notably Sony).
Fire OS isn’t Android TV anyway; as the article says, it’s built out of an old fork of AOSP, and has no tie in to Google’s services. I don’t see that Amazon moving Fire products to a different base makes the slightest difference to the rival Android TV.
Ignore me I got confused.
It does because people won’t be able to install Android apps by side loading.That seems like a bigger problem for Fire than it does Android TV. Android TV will continue to benefit from the smartphone and tablet ecosystem (which isn’t going anywhere). If Fire breaks compatibility then it’ll mean a worse experience for Fire users, but it’s not going to affect Android TV users.
Although in practice I’d be surprised if Fire didn’t continue to ship with an Android compatibility layer for exactly that reason.
Sorry I got confused. I was talking about the worse experience of the Fire TV.
Ah, fair enough then!
Really wish smart TV’s running AndroidTV/GoogleTV could do framerate matching like external devices can, though.
It’s not an “old fork;” it’s regularly upleveled.
It’s currently on Android 11, which is 3 major versions (and 3 years) behind mainline Android.
Well, it’s been a while since I worked with them on that, so maybe they’re not bothering while they prep for the final push to Vega … or perhaps they finally stopped giving a shit and canned the rest of the architecture team. We used to uplevel every two major versions.
What do the TV devices that Google sells run on?
Google’s not a big name /s
