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The mere existence of Amazon's Fire TV Refast is a testament to the popularity of wire cutters.
The live DVR was once the domain of geeks whose show ran on Windows Media Center. But as more and more people have abandoned cable TV, we've seen more user-friendly approaches such as TiVo, Tablo, Plex, Channels and AirTV. These options have likely helped inspire Fire TV Recast, a $ 230 box that records free TV channels from an antenna and broadcasts the video on Amazon's popular Fire TV devices.
Fire TV Refast is the most popular attempt at digital video recording, and is illustrated in Amazon's simple and advanced software. The redesign is also cheaper than most other options due to the lack of subscription fees. Nevertheless, Amazon's DVR has several major limitations – including the need for a Fire TV device to watch TVs – that will make it a non-starter for many cord cutters. One thing has not changed over the years: the ideal DVR wire cutter still eludes us.
Simplified configuration
Unlike a traditional DVR, such as TiVo, the redesign system does not connect directly to your TV. You can place it anywhere in the house and broadcast channels on your Fire TV, Fire tablets, iOS devices, and Android mobile devices over Wi-Fi. (The redesign also has an Ethernet port for a wired connection to the router, but you will need to provide your own cable.) It is compatible with any antenna via its coaxial input.
Jared Newman / IDGThe Fire TV Recast works with any antenna and has an Ethernet jack if you do not want to use Wi-Fi. The USB port will support external hard drives in the future.
Amazon has clearly pondered the potential hassles of a networked DVR. Rather than forcing users to connect an external hard drive, Amazon included a 500GB drive in the $ 230 dual-tuner model, which is 75 hours of HD video. There is also a 1TB model – enough storage to record 150 hours of HD video – with four tuners for $ 280. Although the redesign has a USB port that will eventually support external storage, there is no need to record a lot of programming.
The Fire TV mobile app also performs a good job with the setup process, offering plenty of hints about where your antenna is before you connect the redesign to Wi-Fi and search for channels. He even suggests installing one side of the house, using your location and antenna reach to determine the direction exposed at most broadcast towers.
Jared Newman / IDGAmazon's Fire TV mobile app helps you find the best place to install the redesign.
You do not even need to install additional applications once the redesign is configured. Any Fire TV device on the same network will detect the DVR automatically and add a new "DVR" section to the top menu bar. You will use the same Fire TV application for mobile streaming that you used for installation.
Everything about this interface
The main disadvantage of the Fire TV Recast is that you need a Fire TV device to watch TV. The redesign is incompatible with non-Amazon media streaming devices such as Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, game consoles, and most smart TVs. You can flip the screen of an Android phone on Chromecast or the screen of an iOS device on Apple TV via AirPlay, but the screen needs to stay focused on the Fire TV app all the time. This is not a great workaround.
Jared Newman / IDGFire TV automatically adds a DVR menu when the redesign is on the same network.
On the other hand, if you are on Fire TV, the integration of Recast turns out to be its greatest strength. Instead of jumping into a separate application, you can access live channels, recordings, DVR settings, and grid-based channel guide directly from the Fire TV DVR menu.
Amazon also integrates live programs into other parts of the Fire TV interface. The "Recent" row on the Home screen includes your last watched channel, for example, while the "Now" row lists all channels. You can even use the Fire TV search feature to search for live programming by name, actor, director, or genre. The Amazon Network Guide also supports streaming sources such as certain Amazon Channels add-ons (including HBO and Showtime), Pluto TV, and PlayStation Vue. If more sources like Philo and Sling TV supported this guide, it could become a powerful way to get all your live TV in one place.
Jared Newman / IDGFire TV places live channels from Recast in the home screen.
Fire TV Recast also works with Alexa voice commands. So you can use the Fire TV voice remote control or an Amazon Echo speaker to launch live channels, play your recordings, open the channel guide, delete recordings, and check the storage space. If you have an Amazon Echo Show Smart Screen, you can also play live programming on this device.
Amazon has not ruled out the possibility of supporting other streaming devices. (The company simply says that it will not comment on future projects.) But even if the Fire TV Recast is running eventually with devices such as Roku and Apple TV, the experience will always be better on Fire TV thanks to its integration in the home screen and to voice commands.
Jared Newman / IDGYes, there is a grid guide.
DVR options galore
When it comes to recording live TV, Amazon understands what cord cutters might want.
Like most other digital recorders, Fire TV Refast supports serial recording and provides detailed control over what is backed up. You can add startup and shutdown times, protect records from deletion, keep only a certain number of recent episodes, record in HD or SD only and avoid reruns of any kind. 39; recording. You can also rearrange the priority of the records. Thus, in case of conflict, the redesign will propose to cancel the program the least priority of your list.
Jared Newman / IDGNo shortage of recording options here.
The Fire TV Refast also does a good job with live TV. Whenever you tune into a live channel, redesign will automatically start creating a buffer, allowing you to pause and rewind without having to create a recording first. Pressing the Fire TV remote control also gives you a mini-guide that lets you see current activities without closing or narrowing the current program.
Nevertheless, Amazon's registration options are not as rich as Plex, TiVo or Tablo. You can not program recordings manually, and the maximum one-hour buffering time for series recordings can be problematic for extra-baseball games. The redesign also does not support series passes for specific sports teams. You must therefore record each NFL broadcast instead of the matches of your home team.
Jared Newman / IDGAmazon's mini-guide does not interfere with live TV.
The biggest omission, however, is an easy way to avoid ads, like the TiVo SkipMode button and the automatic removal of Plex ads. The best that Fire TV Refast can do is to fast forward in 30-second increments.
Solve the problem of frequency of images
With all the other networked DVRs I've tested, there have been problems getting consistent frame rates across all channels.
Tablo, for example, exceeds 30 frames per second for 480i or 1080i channels. Plex only supports 60 fps video on these channels for certain devices, such as the $ 180 Nvidia Shield TV. Channels DVR can handle 60 frames per second on all channels, but Fire TV devices have trouble managing this, unless you disable transcoding, which uses less bandwidth. AirTV does not do any video at 60 frames per second. In practical terms, not having 60 frames per second support means that the video will be more hectic than cable for sports, news, and talk shows.
Fire TV Recast solves this problem with its powerful built-in transcoder, capable of converting interlaced channels to a maximum resolution of 720p at 60 frames per second. Each channel therefore looks as smooth as it would directly from an antenna. The redesign also supports 5.1 surround sound. Its use is therefore not a big compromise compared to non-networked DVRs.
The only drawback is that Fire TV Refast only supports two video streams at a time, even with the four-tuner model (which can still record four channels at a time) and with recordings that do not occupy any tuner. By comparison, Tablo can provide up to six simultaneous streams, provided you have the bandwidth of the network to manage it. (Amazon has indicated that it plans to offer 1080i raw video as an option, but that it was violated due to bandwidth issues.) Videophiles and users with a Wi-Fi connection Home fast may wish society to reverse its decision.)
Oddities and limitations
My move to the Fire TV Refast was not completely free of problems. At one point, it stopped broadcasting consistent videos at 60 frames per second until I restarted the tuner, and Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K has already lost its ability to move forward or back back in the recordings without getting stuck on a loading screen. (I've solved the last problem by resetting the Fire 4K TV stick at the factory.)
Even stranger, the 4K Fire TV Stick had an image rasterization that did not happen on Amazon's third-generation TV fire. This is apparently a bug that Amazon thinks she has identified, although there is still no official schedule for a fix.
Jared Newman / IDGThe rasterization on TV Stick 4K fire (left) compared to an optimal broadcast quality of DVC (DVR Channels) (right). Amazon says that this is being repaired.
Other limitations I have not mentioned yet are about out-of-home streaming. Currently, the redesign supports only remote viewing on iOS devices, Android mobile devices and Fire tablets. You can not watch local TV on a Fire TV key outside the city. You can not upload recordings to a mobile device for offline viewing, as you can with Plex and Channels recorders, and you can not extract records from the Fire TV Refast as you can with Tablo Ripper.
In light of all that Fire TV Refast does not do, I can not recommend it as the better DVR for most people. This honor always comes back to the Tablo Dual Lite DVR, which costs around US $ 100 by taking into account an external hard drive and the data of the life guide, but it supports a much larger number of television sets, including the famous Roku streamers.
If you do not mind locking yourself into the Fire TV and Alexa ecosystems for the foreseeable future, Fire TV Recast will provide you with a great interface for live digital video recorders, smooth videos, plenty of recording options, controls useful Alexa vocals, and freedom of subscription fees. For her first try on a cordless recorder, Amazon did her homework – and gave a lot of thought to the incumbents.
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