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Amazon Fire TV (Regular & Stick)

Brock

VIP
Ultra-Premium
Surprised a bit. You know you can press the home button twice for a grid view of all apps? (On the old interface.)
I didn't and that's good to know. I mean it's difficult to find content to add to the watchlist. I do that in my computer mostly. Still, prime is a great deal and the shows are pretty good.
 

frank_c

lost in the jet stream
VIP
I still haven't used the voice function.

I'll have to bring the stick in from the garage and put it on one of the other TV's to update it.
 

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
Someone at Amazon is about to be fired or half of America is going to cancel their cable in the next couple of weeks.

Amazon just allowed in their official Fire TV app store, notoriously hard to get approval for, a new app called TV Kraken. They offer over 500 channels, both USA and UK based, including HBO and other premium channels, for $25 a month. This is live TV plus also 1500+ on demand titles. I would bet this is totally illegal, then again, somehow DroidTV still exists, albeit not on the app store anymore.

I guess time will tell if this was a screw up or a fundamental change in television.

They offer a free 3 day trial, no CC required... I would think twice about giving them your real info, but you need an email address to get the code to unlock the app after you download it.

They claim it takes up to 2 hours to get the code after applying for the free subscription.

 

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
And the app has now been deleted from the Amazon App Store. They take advantage of the holiday weekend?

Word is it was just a rebranded version of Home - The Best Premium IPTV Service SET TV that has been available for Android and other platforms for some time, just not via the official Amazon App store obviously. In fact Set TV is $5 cheaper a month.

TV Kraken never sent the the demo code. No idea if they ever intended to deliver or just hoping for people to give them credit card info right away rather than trying a demo.

Set TV is down forever as of June 2018
 
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Brock

VIP
Ultra-Premium
Droidtv gets the show from the distributor's online stream. Sometimes the show is offered in certain markets or countries and has a logo for that channel/market but they are not pulled from torrents like some dude here claims. How is that app legal when ESPN alone is $7-9 per household ?
 
Droidtv gets the show from the distributor's online stream. Sometimes the show is offered in certain markets or countries and has a logo for that channel/market but they are not pulled from torrents like some dude here claims. How is that app legal when ESPN alone is $7-9 per household ?
By "some dude" I'm guessing you mean me. :) I am 100% certain that early on some of their shows came from torrents - I say this because of 2 things. First, shortly after subscribing a show came through with a torrentz watermark. It was an "aha, I thought so!" moment for me. Second, they released the first 4 episodes of Game of Thrones season 5 before they were aired - torrents or other illegal streams were the only source. Short of being one of the few with a preview DVD (they are definitely not in that group) there was no legal way to obtain copies. I'll also point out that it was shortly after this when HBO went after them, got them temporarily pulled from google play, then DroidTV dropped all HBO shows.

That doesn't mean they still get shows from torrents or similar. They are big enough now that they should be able to capture online streams like they claim, but guaranteed at least some of their shows in the past came from unauthorized sources.
 

Brock

VIP
Ultra-Premium
By "some dude" I'm guessing you mean me. :) I am 100% certain that early on some of their shows came from torrents - I say this because of 2 things. First, shortly after subscribing a show came through with a torrentz watermark. It was an "aha, I thought so!" moment for me. Second, they released the first 4 episodes of Game of Thrones season 5 before they were aired - torrents or other illegal streams were the only source. Short of being one of the few with a preview DVD (they are definitely not in that group) there was no legal way to obtain copies. I'll also point out that it was shortly after this when HBO went after them, got them temporarily pulled from google play, then DroidTV dropped all HBO shows.

That doesn't mean they still get shows from torrents or similar. They are big enough now that they should be able to capture online streams like they claim, but guaranteed at least some of their shows in the past came from unauthorized sources.
I guess it was you. Don't remember. The got episodes were released early by a distributor in another country.
 
I guess it was you. Don't remember. The got episodes were released early by a distributor in another country.
Yes - released to torrent sites. It was simply not possible to watch and capture a legal stream. HBO did not authorize it, and have since changed their policy and no longer send out early preview DVDs.

Don't get me wrong, I bought a lifetime membership before the prices went up. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are now capturing personal legal streams and sharing those like they claim. Honestly, this is a legal gray area itself. I'm guessing if they ever found themselves in court they'd be shut down just like Aereo TV was - they were legal by the letter of the law but judged not legal by the spirit of the law.

I think of it kinda like buying something from a pawn shop - I don't know where they get their stuff, I know for certain they are not paying the manufacturer for it, but I don't know 100% where it comes from so I must assume it's legal until proven otherwise.
 

Brock

VIP
Ultra-Premium
Yes - released to torrent sites. It was simply not possible to watch and capture a legal stream. HBO did not authorize it, and have since changed their policy and no longer send out early preview DVDs.

Don't get me wrong, I bought a lifetime membership before the prices went up. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are now capturing personal legal streams and sharing those like they claim. Honestly, this is a legal gray area itself. I'm guessing if they ever found themselves in court they'd be shut down just like Aereo TV was - they were legal by the letter of the law but judged not legal by the spirit of the law.

I think of it kinda like buying something from a pawn shop - I don't know where they get their stuff, I know for certain they are not paying the manufacturer for it, but I don't know 100% where it comes from so I must assume it's legal until proven otherwise.
No. The got episodes we're published for media and critic reviews by accident by one of the international distributors, Not to torrents. It was in the news.

I'm not sure why you get so worked up over that. You even got blocked on the Facebook page for acting like a douchebag over it jjj
 
No. The got episodes we're published for media and critic reviews by accident by one of the international distributors, Not to torrents. It was in the news.
That's not what happened though. Preview DVDs with the first 4 episodes were sent out to journalists and such as normal, each with a watermark identifying the recipient. One set of those was re-encoded with the watermark/code/name blurred out and that's what hit torrents/pirate sites and that's what was on DroidTV.

Game Of Thrones Season 5 Leaked Online How Did 4 Episodes Hit The Web Early? HBO Releases Statement

I'm not sure why you get so worked up over that. You even got blocked on the Facebook page for acting like a douchebag over it jjj
Not worked up at all, just pointing out the facts. I'm not sure why you get all worked up over me mentioning a few known pirated videos being on DroidTV. The only real downside to it all is HBO scared them into dropping all HBO shows. As for being banned... I'm not the only one. If they were being 100% legit it would take more than pointing out the leaked GOT episodes to get banned. I knew bringing it up would put me on thin ice as I'd seen other people disappear and their posts deleted when questioning the legality of the app.
 
So you didn't get get banned for throwing a fit? jjj
:puzzled: I'm not sure why I'd throw a fit? The readers digest version of the conversation went like this, everything paraphrased from my memory of course:

random person: Does DroidTV make deals and pay content providers like Hulu/Netflix etc. do?
<various discussion>
Me: I can almost guarantee the answer is no.
DroidTV: I find that highly insulting.
<various discussion>
random person: Skeptic, why would you say that.
Me: Because early on at least one of the DroidTV episodes came through with a torrentz/warez watermark and because they pushed GOT season 5 first 4 episodes before they aired.
DroidTV: banned

I think I may also have typed in part of their "is it legal" stuff that explained how it watches and saves a private stream.

The thread was basically a discussion of how could DroidTV be legal, as cheap as it is, and not be infringing on content creators rights and giving content creators some form of payment. Not started by me, and I saw other people's posts being deleted.
 

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
The Set TV demo info came in and it is amazing. I don't intend to purchase it because I invested a good bit of money in my Tivo equipment and this doesn't immediately seem to have DVR abilities, though I see something called "catch up" I haven't explored.

I'm so happy to see H2 back. H2 USA is really H2 UK and History 2 from Canada.

There are also adult channels but the default Fire TV remote doesn't seem able to enter the PIN number needed to unlock them, I had to go to a true keyboard via bluetooth. Only looked for a few seconds but the Hustler feed seemed to be buffer a bit where the non-adult channels don't buffer at all on my connection.

If you don't have a real keyboard you kind of get stuck on the PIN number screen, could fiid no way to get back to the regular interface without the correct PIN. It is clear this was not designed with the Fire TV in mind but general Android TV boxes.
 

Brock

VIP
Ultra-Premium
:puzzled: I'm not sure why I'd throw a fit? The readers digest version of the conversation went like this, everything paraphrased from my memory of course:

random person: Does DroidTV make deals and pay content providers like Hulu/Netflix etc. do?
<various discussion>
Me: I can almost guarantee the answer is no.
DroidTV: I find that highly insulting.
<various discussion>
random person: Skeptic, why would you say that.
Me: Because early on at least one of the DroidTV episodes came through with a torrentz/warez watermark and because they pushed GOT season 5 first 4 episodes before they aired.
DroidTV: banned

I think I may also have typed in part of their "is it legal" stuff that explained how it watches and saves a private stream.

The thread was basically a discussion of how could DroidTV be legal, as cheap as it is, and not be infringing on content creators rights and giving content creators some form of payment. Not started by me, and I saw other people's posts being deleted.
:clapping: I ain't buying that bullshit
 
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