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Amazon Launches The Fire TV Stick

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  • Amazon Launches The Fire TV Stick

    Phoronix: Amazon Launches The Fire TV Stick

    Just months after launching the Fire TV, Amazon today introduced the Fire TV Stick, which is like a mix of a Roku/Chromecast and the Fire TV...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    Nice. I hope they plan to support the same local content providers they support with Fire TV when they release this in my country.

    I don't need the quad core and gigs of RAM for gaming, so the Fire TV Stick should be enough for my use case. Having to use WiFi is a little sad since my router sits right next to my TV, but if I can save some 50/60 EUR?

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    • #3
      Well... I must confess I am much more interested by Mozilla's Matchstick :


      Go check it out, if you haven't heard of it. Their kickstarter campaign will end in approximately 67 hours

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      • #4
        Originally posted by M@yeulC View Post
        Well... I must confess I am much more interested by Mozilla's Matchstick :
        https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-on-firefox-os
        No DRM, so no Amazon Instant Video / Netflix.

        It's not Mozilla's fault, but that stick is pretty useless for me.

        It's probably nice if you pirate content on a regular basis, but I don't do that so I don't have a lot of local content to stream to that Matchstick. For watching DVD / Blu Ray, I use a DVD/Blu Ray player, so I don't rip optical media (I do rip music CDs though). For me, those media sticks are only useful to stream VoD services, so they must support all kinds of DRM.

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        • #5
          I bought a couple Amazon (Kindle Fire) tablets in the past. Big mistake. They run Android, but Amazon went out of their way to make the Fire a closed platform. You can't install Google Play, you basically can't do anything that doesn't mean gyrating around Amazons eCommerce. I won't be buying this crap. Even when I am a Prime member (and I actually love the Prime subscription). Amazon totally screwed me up with their hardware. Never again.

          With all due respect, fsck yourself, Amazon.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by M@yeulC View Post
            Well... I must confess I am much more interested by Mozilla's Matchstick :
            https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-on-firefox-os
            +1

            I have already backed this project. I think it's going to be a great device for the TV

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            • #7
              Originally posted by M@yeulC View Post
              Well... I must confess I am much more interested by Mozilla's Matchstick :


              Go check it out, if you haven't heard of it. Their kickstarter campaign will end in approximately 67 hours
              Rockchip, so... um... NO.
              Also, since firefoxos is pretty much a stripped down version of Android, and chromecast is an even MORE stripped down version of android, one can surmise that this is just a crappy chinese clone of a chromecast that lacks the DRM parts. Similarly, the amazon one will be chromecast with its drm replaced with amazon's drm. Not that lacking DRM is a bad thing, but the whole point of these kinds of devices is to deal with the DRM without driving yourself insane.
              Last edited by droidhacker; 28 October 2014, 09:21 AM.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by M@yeulC View Post
                Well... I must confess I am much more interested by Mozilla's Matchstick :


                Go check it out, if you haven't heard of it. Their kickstarter campaign will end in approximately 67 hours
                Sorry but no. The project is pathetic. Only 2.4 GHz wifi support and streaming. Does not support even playing from network shares nor has CEC support. So RPi + wifi dongle does a lot more.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Isedonde View Post
                  No DRM, so no Amazon Instant Video / Netflix.
                  1. - No DRM, yet. It's up to DRM provider to decide if they decide to port DRM modules or not
                  (but as the current provider of DRM module for Firefox is Adobe, I won't be holding my breath waiting for them to make a FirefoxOS port :-( )

                  2. - The matchstick's main functionnality is working as an extra screen. So one could still stream to it video handled by a separate device.
                  Your tablet, or you laptop plays netflix, but the image is wirelessly sent to the screen.
                  (Again it depends on the architecture of the DRM. Official HTML5 EME has several mode, and only one forces the DRM module to handle the display itself. with the other modes, encrypted stream goes in, decrypted stream goes out, and it's up to the browser to composite it on the screen - or telecast it to a networked TV).
                  If you have a handy cable (a nice long HDMI cable between your TV set and the sopha, or a MHL "microUSB-to-HDMI" cable), it's useless. But if you want to be able to do it over Wifi, that's definitely a solution.
                  (Think of these sticks as "AirPlay" alternatives, not "Settop box shrinked to the size of a stick")


                  3. - Here around in europe (Switzerland, Germany, etc.) IPTV with Multicast is gaining traction. All the "free" channels are available on the nationnal broadband networks.
                  But that requires either a settop box or a modern "smart" TV. Devices like any of the Chromecast/FireTV Stick/Matchstick will be able to bring support for it to "dumb" TVs (that have only DVD-T/C tunners and no networking capabilities). Matchstick is more likely to get it (it's opensource), than Chromecast or FireTVStick (they're targeted at markets, like US, where Multicast IPTV with free channels isn't as popular)
                  (i.e.: there's ton of streaming content available without DVB. Just not in the country where you happen to live).

                  Originally posted by caligula View Post
                  Only 2.4 GHz wifi support and streaming.
                  So enough bandwith for most H264 1080P streams, although maybe not for 4k 3D 60Hz.
                  Useful to bring some streaming capabilities to a lot of "dumb TV". On the other hand, most 4k TV with 3D tend to be of the "smart" type, with full network

                  Originally posted by caligula View Post
                  Does not support even playing from network shares
                  Yet. It's an opensource project. Feel free to implement it.

                  Originally posted by caligula View Post
                  So RPi + wifi dongle does a lot more.
                  Yup, matchstick isn't targeted as a RPi replacement. But as a cheaper and more open alternative to chromecast.
                  (Note: networking is bandwidth limited on RPi. The ethernet port internally isn't connected straight to the CPU. And the USB throughput is limited so don't expect to get crazy GiB/sec if you plug an "ac/n" Wifi USB into a RPi).

                  Originally posted by droidhacker View Post
                  Also, since firefoxos is pretty much a stripped down version of Android,
                  Technically, firefoxos has as much to do with android as android has to do with a full blown GBU/Linux distro: shares the same kernel, but the userland is different.

                  Originally posted by droidhacker View Post
                  Similarly, the amazon one will be chromecast with its drm replaced with amazon's drm. Not that lacking DRM is a bad thing, but the whole point of these kinds of devices is to deal with the DRM without driving yourself insane.
                  So basically Amazon do the "repackage Android with our stuff" routine with Chromecast's chromeos too.



                  So, to summarize my opinion:
                  - the main advantage of Mozilla's Matchstick is that its more open. Thus several of the things currently lacking could be added a bit later.
                  - all sticks (Amazon's FireTV Stick, Google's Chromecast, Mozilla's Matchstick) are a nice way to add extra functionnality to a non-smart TV

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by DrYak View Post
                    So enough bandwith for most H264 1080P streams, although maybe not for 4k 3D 60Hz.
                    Useful to bring some streaming capabilities to a lot of "dumb TV". On the other hand, most 4k TV with 3D tend to be of the "smart" type, with full network
                    Unfortunately no. I have 10 metres between the AP and HTPC and 2.4 GHz won't cut it. Even with low bitrate streams. YMMV though, but it's not really that fast.

                    Yup, matchstick isn't targeted as a RPi replacement. But as a cheaper and more open alternative to chromecast.
                    (Note: networking is bandwidth limited on RPi. The ethernet port internally isn't connected straight to the CPU. And the USB throughput is limited so don't expect to get crazy GiB/sec if you plug an "ac/n" Wifi USB into a RPi).
                    RPi's USB powered wifi or the ethernet port supports far more than 802.11n can deliver. These small dongles with builtin antennas might really disappoint you. I've seen that a 802.11n laptop can reach 10 MB/s in some cases, but it's pretty much the optimum. RPi has no issues handling that speed. The only way I see you can nearly saturate RPi's bus is to have a 802.11ac AP with 3+ antennas working as a bridge and connected with ethernet. That or some 802.11ac dongle and < 1m distance to the AP.


                    - all sticks (Amazon's FireTV Stick, Google's Chromecast, Mozilla's Matchstick) are a nice way to add extra functionnality to a non-smart TV
                    I'd really prefer if people started writing better builtin software for the smart tv. My Sony is Linux based. Shouldn't be too hard.
                    Last edited by caligula; 28 October 2014, 06:00 PM.

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