Review: Amazon FireTV

Amazon delivered my FireTV today, and I just have had a chance to hook it up and run through the welcome before watching a show I left off watching on my ROKU a few minutes ago.

The first thing you will notice when you inbox the unit is how basic it looks. Much like the other network streaming boxes on the market there is not much to connect. Since I am on a wireless network and not hooking up to surround sound on this TV it was two cables, power and HDMI.

Once connected to the wireless network the FireTV wanted to update it's software, which took 3 minutes and then the system restarted. Boot up was amazingly quick. It shows the benefits of the quad-core 1.7GHz processor right away.

Playback is smooth and quick, and the voice search which seemed to be just a gimmick actually works very well. The system just like all other Amazon electronic products shipped linked to my account, so there was no need to sign in to Amazon for access to Amazon instant video and Prime video content.

I'll have more after I try more apps and the interaction with the Fire HDX tablet as a second screen.

Verizon making a grab for online media content

An article on Bloomberg.com last night has the internet buzzing.  Reports from inside Verizon are quoted as saying that they are looking seriously at making a play for online video giant NetFlix, and are definately looking to move into the online video space quickly.

What does this mean for those of us who rely on content from NetFlix to replace cable in our homes?  It could mean nothing, but it could cause some issues.  Without net neutrality laws in place, Verizon could reduce the speed of connections from other carriers.  A Verizon buyout of NetFlix could also be the beginning of a major grab by internet service providers to gobble up even more online distribution players.  Hulu could be next, and making these mega content providers exclusive to broadband internet ownership could put an end to the "cord-cutter" movement that has been all the rage in recent months.

In our house, we cancelled Cable TV in December of 2009, and haven't looked back.  In another post I'll show you how we set things up here in our house, but the loss of NetFlix and Hulu would be a major blow.

Let's hope the FCC put restrictions on these types of transactions like they did when Comcast picked up NBC/Universal, or life could get a whole lot more expensive.