Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

[jeremymc7]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

If you have an iPhone or iPad, Apple TV should be your first consideration without question, simply because of the integration. Chromecast would be next, and then a toss-up between Roku and FireTV (or insert streaming box here), depending on your needs.

I have two iPhones, three iPads, Mac Mini, MacBook Air and I still use my Apple about 1% as much as I use my Roku's, but more than I use my ChomeCast.

It's much cheaper to add movies (and music) to a non Apple product and their is simply way more content available for non Apple devices. Likewise non Apple devices are typically more cutting edge hardware based. For my phone, tablet, and computer the trade off is worth it for what Apple does offer. For a streaming like Apple TV it's just too many years behind the curve. I still hold out hope I can have an Apple stream and be 100% Apple again, and Disney Movies Anyware was a nice step. Not quite there yet.

[jeremymc7]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I also received mine today after selecting 2-day shipping, but overall it's a disappointment when it comes to watching UV content... Flixster is the only choice, took forever to display my library and despite showing HD badges on those titles, throws up a warning when playback begins that HD is NOT available for every title I've tried so far (including those from parent company Warner Bros.).

Help us, Obi-VUDU... you're our only hope! LOL

I thought the Flixster problem looked really basic, but then appreciated the difference. My large library actually loaded quite quick. The first movie I tried loaded in HD and looked GREAT. Every subsequent, and I mean EVERY subsequent movie gave me that same warning that HD was not available; like when you try and play back certain movies on the web through Vudu.

That really KILLED Fire TV for me. For now anyway. Update flixster, add M-Go, or better yet add Vudu and I'll try it again.

[RBBrittain]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I thought the Flixster problem looked really basic, but then appreciated the difference. My large library actually loaded quite quick. The first movie I tried loaded in HD and looked GREAT. Every subsequent, and I mean EVERY subsequent movie gave me that same warning that HD was not available; like when you try and play back certain movies on the web through Vudu.

That really KILLED Fire TV for me. For now anyway. Update flixster, add M-Go, or better yet add Vudu and I'll try it again.

The regular Vudu app for Android is SD-only, though it's better quality than other UV providers' SD (and IMO pretty close to Flixster's HD). The only Vudu Android app I'm aware of in HD is the one that came with my Vizio Co-Star (Google TV).

[E55KEV]

FaTV

Funny - Amazon picked the wrong spokesman for their FireTV spots. Gary Busey can't pronouce the word "fire". If I had not already know about Amazon's FireTV beforehand I would have no idea what he was saying. Sounds like FaTV.

[intel352]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I thought the Flixster problem looked really basic, but then appreciated the difference. My large library actually loaded quite quick. The first movie I tried loaded in HD and looked GREAT. Every subsequent, and I mean EVERY subsequent movie gave me that same warning that HD was not available; like when you try and play back certain movies on the web through Vudu.

That really KILLED Fire TV for me. For now anyway. Update flixster, add M-Go, or better yet add Vudu and I'll try it again.

Sideloading the Vudu apk onto Kindle Fire HD[X] and Fire TV is an option, app works fine. I use sideloading to transfer apps that aren't fully up-to-date in Amazon market, or are simply unavailable (or that I've already paid for in Play Store).

[BlakkMajik3000]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

Sideloading the Vudu apk onto Kindle Fire HD[X] and Fire TV is an option, app works fine. I use sideloading to transfer apps that aren't fully up-to-date in Amazon market, or are simply unavailable (or that I've already paid for in Play Store).

The problem with this approach is support. If you sideload an apk, neither Amazon nor Vudu is going to help you with issues. They will both say "That app is not supported on this device".

Sideloading also requires disabling certain security settings, and this is definitely not something the average user should do, especially considering they may forget to turn it back on after they've downloaded what they need.

[Neillithan]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I think Vudu on a Fire TV would be a great thing. I was looking into getting a Fire TV but not seeing Vudu is making me want to look for another device.

[echopulse]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I have a Roku 3, and it's great. Does everything I would want a streaming device to do, including native DLNA streaming, The Blaze, Netflix, Amazon Prime, TT, Youtube, and many religious channels. Don't know why anyone would want a FireTV??

[MaxH]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I have a Roku 3, and it's great. Does everything I would want a streaming device to do, including native DLNA streaming, The Blaze, Netflix, Amazon Prime, TT, Youtube, and many religious channels. Don't know why anyone would want a FireTV??

Well, as I said before, the FireTV has a much faster CPU, and also 4x the memory. However, that doesn't mean much to me if it doesn't play what I want it to play. If it ever gets a Vudu app, though, I'll probably buy one, as I currently only have one Roku and it's too old to run the Vudu app.

[MaxH]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

Well, I emailed Amazon customer support to ask about a Vudu app, because I really would buy at least one or two as soon as they have a Vudu app. This was the response I received:

Hello,

Thank you for writing back to us.

I understand your concern regarding the "Vudu" App on Amazon Fire TV.

I've researched "Vudu" App and found it isn't available on Amazon Fire TV at this time and there is no specific expected date available about when the app may be made available on Amazon Fire TV. Please be assured that we're constantly adding apps to our selection for Fire TV, and apps unavailable now may become available in the future.

Please understand that our goal is for Amazon Fire TV customers to have a great experience with every app that is made available. As a result, we test all apps prior to making them available in our store to verify that each app works as intended, doesn?t impair the functionality of the Amazon Fire TV device, and does not put customer data at risk once installed.

Further, I have taken this mail as feedback and forwarded it to our Fire TV technical team for consideration to try get the app on the Fire TV as soon as possible.

Customer feedback like yours really helps us continue to improve our products and provide better service to our customers.

I'm sorry I don't have better news. We look forward to seeing you again.

Best regards,
(rep name redacted)

Oh well. Very noncommittal, but maybe if more people expressed an interest, they'd actually do it.

[jeremymc7]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I have a Roku 3, and it's great. Does everything I would want a streaming device to do, including native DLNA streaming, The Blaze, Netflix, Amazon Prime, TT, Youtube, and many religious channels. Don't know why anyone would want a FireTV??

I have Roku 3 as well, several actually. Along with AppleTV, ChomeCast, etc. I did just return my Fire TV simply due to lack of reasonable UV support (Flixster was very lacking).

That said Roku 3 has get content, the most of all the (major) streamers. But the interface is still a bit rudimentary and unpolished, though functional and easy. The Roku 3 is slow, especially in comparison to Fire TV. It's a great mainstream market but I'd just like to see something up market and the Fire TV is the closest thing to that, however, the apps / channels are just not there yet. Not to mention lack of official 3D support.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I have Roku 3 as well, several actually. Along with AppleTV, ChomeCast, etc. I did just return my Fire TV simply due to lack of reasonable UV support (Flixster was very lacking).

That said Roku 3 has get content, the most of all the (major) streamers. But the interface is still a bit rudimentary and unpolished, though functional and easy. The Roku 3 is slow, especially in comparison to Fire TV. It's a great mainstream market but I'd just like to see something up market and the Fire TV is the closest thing to that, however, the apps / channels are just not there yet. Not to mention lack of official 3D support.

There is a Roku TV, if you want to by-pass the set-top totally. It is like the Vizio, but with the Roku brand and their app built in instead.

BTW, Roku just added Qello. I got an annual package for $44.99. It is like a cross between Pandora and Netflix. I can vouch it is well worth the price.

[echopulse]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I don't have a FireTV, so can't compare, but I don't find the Roku 3 to be slow at all. The interface is very user friendly, fast, and has all the channels I could want except for Disney Movies Anywhere. It's quite a bit faster than the Roku XD I had before, which wasn't even slow itself. I don't know why you even need a fast processor in a streaming box, it doesn't have to do that much. Maybe the Fire is faster in a benchmark, but in the real world there is no tangible benefit.

[BlakkMajik3000]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

I don't have a FireTV, so can't compare, but I don't find the Roku 3 to be slow at all. The interface is very user friendly, fast, and has all the channels I could want except for Disney Movies Anywhere. It's quite a bit faster than the Roku XD I had before, which wasn't even slow itself. I don't know why you even need a fast processor in a streaming box, it doesn't have to do that much. Maybe the Fire is faster in a benchmark, but in the real world there is no tangible benefit.

The hardware in the FireTV is supposedly there to facilitate a better/faster gaming experience. I'll believe it when I see it.

Gaming on "mobile" hardware just isn't there yet, and it's because the money isn't there. People that are used to paying $5 - 10 for even the most "premium" experiences on mobile aren't going to shell out $60/per on a game like console gamers will. Until then, mobile gaming will always be something studios do "on the side" while the big games get released on console/PC only.

If Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. can prove to Rockstar they can make a billion dollars in one week, I guarantee GTA V would be on the iPad, Galaxy Tab, FireTV, etc. Even the NVidia shield, which is a far superior gaming device to anything out there running Android, can only play the big games (COD, Battlefield, etc.) via streaming from a decently equipped PC rig. The PS Vita, a powerful piece of gaming hardware in it's own right, still won't be playing games like the new Tomb Raider unless you stream it from your PS4.

As I have said before, at the moment, the FireTV is really only useful if you are already heavily invested in Amazon's video/audio digital offerings. And even then, it's only a "must-buy" if you don't already have a device with the Amazon Video app on it, or you have a device with AIV, but it's very old and slow.

With the content currently available, the FireTV just doesn't offer anything that puts it above devices already out.

[Walter-S_North_Carolina]

Re: Amazon FireTv Announced Will there be a Vudu App?

The hardware in the FireTV is supposedly there to facilitate a better/faster gaming experience. I'll believe it when I see it.

Gaming on "mobile" hardware just isn't there yet, and it's because the money isn't there. People that are used to paying $5 - 10 for even the most "premium" experiences on mobile aren't going to shell out $60/per on a game like console gamers will. Until then, mobile gaming will always be something studios do "on the side" while the big games get released on console/PC only.

If Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. can prove to Rockstar they can make a billion dollars in one week, I guarantee GTA V would be on the iPad, Galaxy Tab, FireTV, etc. Even the NVidia shield, which is a far superior gaming device to anything out there running Android, can only play the big games (COD, Battlefield, etc.) via streaming from a decently equipped PC rig. The PS Vita, a powerful piece of gaming hardware in it's own right, still won't be playing games like the new Tomb Raider unless you stream it from your PS4.

As I have said before, at the moment, the FireTV is really only useful if you are already heavily invested in Amazon's video/audio digital offerings. And even then, it's only a "must-buy" if you don't already have a device with the Amazon Video app on it, or you have a device with AIV, but it's very old and slow.

With the content currently available, the FireTV just doesn't offer anything that puts it above devices already out.

I think there is a much greater threat to replacing the PC. Throw some productivity apps on a FireTV and add a bluetooth keyboard and it is hard to come up with a reason to purchase a $500 computer that keeps breaking. At least for most people, I would imagine that is the case.

As you say, gamers are pretty demanding on their hardware platforms. A night-light grade set-top box is not likely to cut the mustard with them, no matter how shiny the games are.