In the age of dwindling cable TV subscriptions companies are clamoring for control of your living room, and Amazon is no exception. Today we take a look at their entry into the media center circus with a review of the compact and powerful Amazon Fire TV.
在有线电视订阅日益减少的时代，公司争相控制您的客厅，亚马逊也不例外。 今天，我们通过对功能强大的紧凑型Amazon Fire TV的评论来看看他们进入媒体中心马戏团的过程。
什么是亚马逊消防电视？ (What Is The Amazon Fire TV?)
The Amazon Fire TV ($99) is, as the name certainly belies, Amazon’s foray into the streaming media center market intended to compete with the likes of the Apple TV, Roku 3, and Google’s Chromecast (as well as their recently announced Nexus Player).
亚马逊消防电视(99美元) ，顾名思义，是亚马逊进军流媒体中心市场，旨在与Apple TV，Roku 3和Google的Chromecast(以及最近宣布的Nexus Player)竞争。 。
The unit has a very slim profile (it’s roughly the size of two CD jewel cases stacked up) but packs some pretty robust hardware inside its tiny case including 2GB of RAM, a 1.7Ghz quad-core mobile processor, a dual MIMO 802.11bgn antenna, an optical audio out, and even an Ethernet jack for those of you that prefer wired connections over wireless.
该装置的外形非常纤薄(大约是两个CD光盘盒的大小)，但在其小巧的外壳内装有一些相当坚固的硬件，包括2GB RAM，1.7Ghz四核移动处理器，双MIMO 802.11bgn天线，光纤音频输出，甚至还有以太网插Kong，供那些喜欢有线连接而不是无线连接的人使用。
Strong on processing it’s a bit anemic on storage with only 8GB of non-expandable onboard storage. It ships with a simple Bluetooth remote and supports Amazon gaming controllers (as well as other Bluetooth controllers).
处理能力强，只有8GB的不可扩展板载存储，在存储上有点贫乏。 它附带一个简单的蓝牙遥控器，并支持Amazon游戏控制器(以及其他蓝牙控制器)。
The Fire TV, as you can imagine, is purpose built for and centered around the Amazon media ecosystem but, thanks to its Android-roots, can also run the apps for popular streaming services like YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu.
您可以想象，Fire TV专为Amazon媒体生态系统而构建，并以其为中心，但由于具有Android根源，Fire TV也可以运行YouTube，Netflix和Hulu等流行流服务的应用程序。
如何设置？ (How Do I Set It Up?)
A smooth user experience is definitely an area the Fire TV excels in and setup is no exception. Plug the device into your HDTV, plug the power cable in, and grab the remote.
流畅的用户体验绝对是Fire TV擅长的领域，设置也不例外。 将设备插入HDTV，插入电源线，然后抓住遥控器。
The Fire will perform some basic checks, download updates if available, and then (if you’re using Wi-Fi instead of Ethernet) prompt you to connect to your local Wi-Fi node.
Fire将执行一些基本检查，下载可用更新，然后(如果您使用的是Wi-Fi而不是以太网)提示您连接到本地Wi-Fi节点。
If you happen to have a USB-based keyboard handy, now would be a great time to take advantage of the USB port on the back of the Fire and plug it in.
如果您碰巧手握了基于USB的键盘，现在将是利用Fire背面的USB端口并插入电源的绝佳时机。
The on-screen keyboard is actually fairly remote friendly (and they made excellent use of the remote buttons as shortcuts for tasks like backspacing, shifting, and moving onto the next step) but it’s still clicking around a keyboard with a remote control and not much fun. Using the USB keyboard to avoid the tedium of typing in your lengthy Wi-Fi SSID and password is totally worth it.
屏幕上的键盘实际上是相当远程的(它们很好地利用了远程按钮作为退格，移动和移至下一步等任务的快捷方式)，但它仍然可以在带有遥控器的键盘上单击而不用好玩 使用USB键盘避免输入冗长的Wi-Fi SSID和密码的繁琐工作完全值得。
Once you finish connecting the device to the network and logging into your Amazon account, a tutorial video tutorial starts up.
将设备连接到网络并登录到您的Amazon帐户后，将启动教程视频教程。
One of the things we noted in our review of the Kindle Fire last year was how user friendly the Kindle Fire was (especially with the Mayday feature to help guide you through problems). The Fire TV continues with the trend of user friendliness as the brief tutorial video pretty much covers everything you need to immediately start using the device.
去年我们对Kindle Fire的评论中提到的一件事是Kindle Fire的用户友好性(尤其是Mayday功能可以帮助您解决问题)。 Fire TV继续保持用户友好的趋势，因为简短的教程视频几乎涵盖了立即开始使用该设备所需的所有内容。
Beyond plugging in your Wi-Fi information and plugging in your Amazon login and password, there’s very little to the setup process. The time from unboxing to enjoying the device is a few minutes (mostly consumed with unwrapping the thing and getting it plugged in).
除了插入您的Wi-Fi信息以及您的Amazon登录名和密码之外，设置过程几乎没有。 从拆箱到享用设备所需的时间是几分钟(大部分时间都用在拆开东西并将其插入后消耗)。
用户界面 (User Interface)
The user interface on the Amazon Fire is basic but effective (when it comes to streaming boxes basic and easy to navigate is just fine with us). Once you’ve finished the setup and watched the tutorial video you’re kicked over to the home screen.
Amazon Fire上的用户界面是基本但有效的(当涉及到基本且易于导航的流媒体箱时，对我们来说就很好了)。 完成设置并观看教程视频后，您将被踢到主屏幕。
The home screen serves as a dashboard with your recently accessed media displayed, media recommendations, featured apps, and other recommendations/advertisements for media in the Amazon ecosystem.
主屏幕充当仪表板，其中显示了您最近访问的媒体，媒体推荐，精选应用程序以及有关亚马逊生态系统中媒体的其他推荐/广告。
You can navigate down the sidebar to see Prime Video, Movies, TV, your saved media in the Watch List, the Video Library that houses all your Amazon purchases, FreeTime (Amazon’s kid-friendly walled garden), your Games, Apps, Music, Photos and, of course, the settings.
您可以在侧边栏上向下导航，以查看“主要视频”，“电影”，“电视”，“观看列表”中保存的媒体，存放所有亚马逊购买商品的视频库，FreeTime(亚马逊儿童友好的围墙花园)，游戏，应用，音乐，照片，当然还有设置。
As veteran media center users we had few complaints about the user interface. Overall the user interface is very snappy and navigating the main categories is painless. The games menu did leave a bit to be desired though as it was difficult to easily browse the greater games database beyond the curated suggestion lists first presented to to the user.
作为资深的媒体中心用户，我们对用户界面的抱怨很少。 总体而言，用户界面非常敏捷，浏览主要类别非常轻松。 游戏菜单确实有一些不足之处，因为很难轻松浏览更大的游戏数据库，而不是首先显示给用户的精选建议列表。
The user interface for selecting media from Amazon and browsing it was trouble free, however, and the in-media settings (as seen above) were easy to navigate and use. Playback for third party streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu were, likewise, trouble fee.
但是，用于从Amazon选择媒体并浏览媒体的用户界面没有问题，而且媒体内设置(如上所示)易于浏览和使用。 同样，像Netflix和Hulu这样的第三方流媒体应用程序的回放也是麻烦费。
硬件与性能 (Hardware and Performance)
The Fire TV’s hardware is clearly up to the task (and then some) when it comes to video playback. In fact the processor and RAM is overkill for 1080p playback (the humble Raspberry Pi does just fine playing back HD video with a fraction of the hardware power packed into the Fire TV).
当涉及到视频播放时，Fire TV的硬件显然可以胜任(然后是某些)任务。 实际上，处理器和RAM对于1080p回放来说是过大的(不起眼的Raspberry Pi可以很好地回放HD视频，而Fire TV却只有一部分硬件功能)。
The menus are silky smooth with no delay, video play starts almost immediately (thanks in part to Amazon’s aggressive precaching ASAP system that preemptively downloads the starting portion of media it expects you’ll watch), and in-video menus are just as responsive.
菜单如丝般流畅，没有延迟，视频播放几乎立即开始(部分原因是亚马逊积极的预缓存ASAP系统抢先下载了您希望观看的媒体的开始部分)，并且视频菜单的响应速度也一样。
In fact the Fire TV has more than enough power for even hardware-intensive mobile games. We had no problem playing Asphalt 8, Grand Theft Auto, or other games that would tax weaker Android devices.
实际上，Fire TV甚至足以用于硬件密集型手机游戏，也具有足够的功能。 我们在玩《 沥青8》 ， 《侠盗猎车手》或其他对较弱的Android设备造成负担的游戏时都没有问题。
特色功能 (Specialty Features)
The Fire TV sports a few features that either don’t exist on other streaming media center solutions or are poorly implemented. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
消防电视具有一些其他流媒体中心解决方案不具备的功能，或实施不力的功能。 让我们看看其中的一些。
声音搜索 (Voice Search)
We thought the voice search was sure to be a stupid gimmick but were pleasantly surprised to see that it actually works quite well. The application is simple: you press the voice command button on the remote and tell it what you want like “Alpha House” or “Minecraft” and if that item is anywhere in the Amazon ecosystem (whether you own it or not) it will dig it up for you.
我们以为语音搜索肯定是一个愚蠢的头，但看到它实际上效果很好，感到很惊讶。 该应用程序很简单：您按下遥控器上的语音命令按钮，然后说出想要的内容，例如“ Alpha House”或“ Minecraft”，并且如果该项目在亚马逊生态系统中的任何位置(无论您是否拥有)，它都会进行挖掘为你。
Outside of the Amazon ecosystem however? The search function is absolutely useless. It doesn’t matter if the TV show or movie you want to watch is free on Netflix, for example, the voice search will always default to the entry in the Amazon ecosystem. While that’s to be expected given that the Fire TV is designed to essentially promote Amazon-based sales it doesn’t make it less disappointing. We want our primary media center solution to serve us, not a company.
但是，在亚马逊生态系统之外？ 搜索功能绝对没有用。 例如，要观看的电视节目或电影是否可以在Netflix上免费观看都没关系，例如，语音搜索将始终默认为Amazon生态系统中的条目。 鉴于Fire TV旨在从根本上促进基于亚马逊的销售，这是可以预料的，但这并没有使它失望。 我们希望我们的主要媒体中心解决方案为我们服务，而不是为公司服务。
赌博 (Gaming)
Anything we have bad to say about gaming on the Fire TV isn’t so much a dig against the Fire TV or Amazon as much as it is a dig against the whole mobile-gaming-on-your-TV genre as a whole. There’s nothing wrong with the Amazon game marketplace. There are hundreds of titles (and more than a few good ones at that). The Amazon Fire game controller is serviceable (if certainly not a contender to dethrone beloved controllers like the Xbox 360 or PS DualShock controllers). The idea of using the remote itself as a tool for anything but the most simple of games, however, is pretty laughable and we weren’t particularly thrilled with our attempts to play anything using it.
关于Fire TV的游戏，我们没有什么不好说的，与其说是对Fire TV或亚马逊的不如说，不如说是对整个电视上移动游戏类型的一视同仁。 亚马逊游戏市场没有错。 有数百种标题(并且其中有很多不错的标题)。 Amazon Fire游戏控制器是可维修的(如果不能肯定，不能取代喜欢的Xbox 360或PS DualShock控制器之类的控制器)。 使用遥控器本身作为除最简单的游戏以外的任何工具的想法是可笑的，我们对使用它进行任何游戏的尝试并不感到特别兴奋。
The real problem with gaming on the Fire TV though isn’t any real shortcoming of the Fire TV itself though. There’s just this large and still present gap between the ease and fun of true mobile gaming (on your phone or tablet) and the depth and experience of sit-down gaming with a console or PC that this whole mobile-gaming-on-your-TV genre has failed to bridge properly. Even games that would be fun to play on your phone while waiting for the train or what not feel cheap and hollow when you’ve actually taken the time to sit down on your couch and invest some time in a game. Fingers crossed the mobile-to-TV crossover movement strengthens and some solid titles can take advantage of the Fire’s beefy processor.
但是，在Fire TV上进行游戏的真正问题并不是Fire TV本身的任何真正缺点。 真正的移动游戏(在手机或平板电脑上)的便捷性和乐趣与通过控制台或PC进行坐下游戏的深度和体验之间仍然存在着如此巨大的差距，而整个移动自定义游戏电视类型未能正确桥接。 甚至是那些在等待火车时可以在手机上玩的有趣的游戏，或者当您实际上花时间坐在沙发上并花一些时间玩游戏时，这些游戏都不会让您感到便宜和空心。 手指越过了移动到电视的交叉运动，而坚固的标题可以利用Fire强大的处理器。
One thing worth noting in the gaming section: although Amazon makes no effort to highlight this selling point you don’t have to use their game controllers. Instead of shelling out $40 a controller you can use most Bluetooth controllers on the market.
在游戏部分值得一提的是：尽管亚马逊不努力强调这一卖点，但您不必使用他们的游戏控制器。 不用花40美元购买一个控制器，您就可以使用市场上大多数的蓝牙控制器。
业余时间和家长控制 (FreeTime and Parental Controls)
When we reviewed the Kindle Fire tablets we were blown away by how great the parental controls and the FreeTime system were. Amazon absolutely nailed the whole kid-friendly angle with FreeTime on the Fire tablets and the application and delivery of it on the Fire TV is just as spot on.
当我们回顾Kindle Fire平板电脑时，我们被父母控制和FreeTime系统的出色表现震撼了。 亚马逊在Fire平板电脑上通过FreeTime绝对固定了整个儿童友好的角度，并且在Fire TV上的应用和交付也就在现场。
It’s incredibly easy to restrict access to the device, set screen time limits, set bedtime shut off, restrict content, and otherwise lock the device down and make it kid-friendly. Combine the Fire TV with FreeTime Unlimited ($2.99 a month for Prime subscribers) and you have yourself a media rich and kid-safe media box.
限制对设备的访问，设置屏幕时间限制，关闭就寝时间，限制内容以及以其他方式将设备锁定并使其对儿童友好非常容易。 将Fire TV与FreeTime Unlimited结合使用(Prime订阅者每月需支付2.99美元)，您便拥有了一个内容丰富且儿童安全的媒体盒。
好的，坏的和判决 (The Good, The Bad, and The Verdict)
After playing around with the FireTV for the last week and putting it through the paces, what do we have to say about it? Let’s run through some bullet points in The Good and The Bad, and then issue a Verdict.
在上周玩完FireTV并逐步掌握之后，我们要说些什么？ 让我们看一下“好与坏”中的一些要点，然后发布一个判决。
善良 (The Good)
- The unit is port rich an includes an optical audio out, Ethernet port, and USB port. 该设备具有丰富的端口，包括光纤音频输出，以太网端口和USB端口。
- Hardware is blazing fast; the quad-core processor coupled with 2GB of RAM ensures a silky smooth menu and video playback experience. 硬件发展Swift； 四核处理器和2GB RAM保证了流畅的菜单和视频播放体验。
- The Bluetooth remote doesn’t need line of sight (so you can hide the actual Fire box itself out of sight). 蓝牙遥控器不需要视线(因此您可以将实际的Fire box自身隐藏在视线之外)。
- Voice support isn’t a gimmick and actually works surprisingly well. 语音支持不是a头，实际上效果出奇。
- Search function, within the context of Amazon’s media, is great. 在亚马逊媒体的背景下，搜索功能很棒。
- Can add third-party Bluetooth controllers (instead of buying lots of Amazon’s game controllers). 可以添加第三方蓝牙控制器(而不是购买大量的亚马逊游戏控制器)。
- FreeTime and the accompanying parental controls make the Fire TV the best kid-friendly solution around. FreeTime和随附的家长控制使Fire TV成为最佳的儿童友好解决方案。
坏人 (The Bad)
- Lacks any sort of mechanism (without 3rd party apps) for playing local content like home movies stored on a network share. 缺乏播放本地内容(如存储在网络共享中的家庭电影)的任何类型的机制(没有第三方应用程序)。
- Gaming is still pretty limited and lackluster across the entire media center market, and the Fire TV is no exception. 在整个媒体中心市场上，游戏仍然相当有限且乏善可陈，Fire TV也不例外。
- Difficult to easily browse free-for-Prime members library. 难以轻松浏览免费会员库。
- User interface and search features prioritize Amazon results; search function only searches Amazon media. 用户界面和搜索功能会优先处理Amazon结果； 搜索功能仅搜索亚马逊媒体。
- No support for local streaming or content. 不支持本地流或内容。
- Can’t mount external media via USB drive. 无法通过USB驱动器挂载外部媒体。
- Internal memory is, at present, not expandable. 内部存储器目前无法扩展。
判决 (The Verdict)
As of this review the Amazon Fire TV is the fastest streaming box on the market and definitely runs circles around units like the Apple TV and Roku 3. If you’re firmly entrenched in the Amazon ecosystem and you’re looking for a way to easily get your Amazon content to your television (as well as continue to use services like Netflix and Hulu) the Fire TV is a perfect fit. If you have kids, it’s an even better fit as you get all your Amazon content plus the best kid-friendly platform around.
截至本评论为止， Amazon Fire TV是市场上最快的流媒体盒，肯定围绕Apple TV和Roku 3等设备运行。如果您坚定地扎根于Amazon生态系统，并且正在寻找一种轻松实现的方式将您的Amazon内容带到电视上(以及继续使用Netflix和Hulu等服务)，Fire TV非常适合。 如果您有孩子，那将是一个更好的选择，因为您可以获得所有Amazon内容以及周围最好的儿童友好平台。
If you’re a DIY-type geek, however, and the majority of your media is ripped and stored locally on a portable HDD or a storage server, there’s no native support for any kind of local or attached-storage streaming. Although you can install third-party applications to attempt a work around there’s no good way (as it’s presently impossible to jailbreak your Fire TV and override the default home screen) to prioritize that local content.
但是，如果您是DIY类型的怪胎，并且大部分媒体都被翻录并存储在便携式HDD或存储服务器上，则本地不支持任何类型的本地或附加存储流。 尽管您可以安装第三方应用程序来尝试解决问题，但是没有一种好的方法(因为目前不可能越狱Fire TV并覆盖默认主屏幕)来优先处理本地内容。
So if you’re willing to buy into Amazon’s ecosystem and you’re somebody who just wants a snappy working solution that fits both their needs and the needs of their kids, snatch one up. If you’re somebody who wants to get their hands dirty and roll their own media center system, we’d encourage you to check out some of our great tutorials on the matter like How to Build a $35 Media Center with Rasbmc and Raspberry Pi.
因此，如果您愿意购买亚马逊的生态系统，而您只是想要一个既能满足他们的需求又能满足他们孩子的需求的快速可行的解决方案的人，那就抢购一下。 如果您想弄脏自己的手并滚动自己的媒体中心系统，我们鼓励您阅读一些有关此问题的出色教程，例如如何使用Rasbmc和Raspberry Pi构建价格为35美元的媒体中心 。
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