We already know Amazon is working on a new Fire TV capable of 4K and HDR, thanks to a leaked benchmark from earlier this year, but it now seems the unreleased device has moved on from development to quality assurance testing. My scripts, which crawl for new Fire TV apps for my weekly app roundup, occasionally pick up apps created by Amazon employees to test certain aspects of the Fire TV. These test apps are usually uninteresting and are commonly deleted within a day, but a new test app just appeared that is clearly meant to test HDR support on a Fire TV.
The test app (screenshot) in question is credited to Lab126.com, which is Amazon’s research and hardware division. The app is listed as a Fire TV app with a description that just says “HDR Videos,” despite there currently not being an HDR capable Fire TV available. The screenshots of the app reveal that it simply streams a 4K HDR10 video from YouTube.
Searching YouTube brings up the video (screenshot) being used in the test app. It appears to have been uploaded by Jonathan Fisher, a Quality Assurance manager at Amazon’s Lab126. The video title indicates it’s a 4K HDR10 clip with a bitrate of 4,000 Kbps. Embedded in the video is a counter that counts each video frame.
With Android TV and Roku devices already supporting HDR video, and Apple rumored to be releasing an HDR capable Apple TV soon, it’s no surprise that the next Fire TV will also support HDR video. The fact that it seems like the new Fire TV is in its QA testing phase is a good indicator the new model will be released soon.
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Sounds good. Hope they graduate to HD audio formats also.
Any thoughts on if the new model will have a coax input? I’d love to be able to run my OTA antenna through the fireTV.
I highly doubt it will. If OTA capabilities become available, it would likely be through an external device.
Dang. . . a part of me was hoping since they went through the trouble for their integrated TVs that it might be coming to the set top box as well in the future.
I’m wondering if Amazon wants to beat Apple to the punch and release this new Fire TV before the new Apple TV. Either way, both should be out relatively soon. I’m unsure if I’ll upgrade my current Apple TV or purchase the new Fire TV.
Hi Elias, what are the chances of Amazon releasing the new Fire TV with both HDR10 and Dolby Vision HDR? Looking to purchase a 4k TV with capabilities for both versions but without the hardware that can provide both, it would be pointless. If I’m not mistaken, both Netflix, and more importantly Amazon Prime Video, offer both versions. Your thoughts?
Sorry to say, but I have a feeling they’re only going to support HDR10 with the new Fire TV due to licensing fees with Dolby Vision HDR. Amazon’s business model with their hardware lately has been to offer the essentials while making the device as inexpensive as possible. Not including Dolby Vision seems like an easy way to cut costs while not really losing important capabilities.
Do you think this will be the 3rd generation box or the first generation of a mid range device?
4000 kbps – kind of a low bitrate for 4k video, especially for testing, don’t you think?
Hello Elias,
Any chance this new Fire TV device will be able to act as a genuine IPTV STB?… (i.e. Won’t require the installation of a junky STB emulator app in Kodi to do so?)
I would think Dolby Vision would be included since Amazon already provides DV streaming – just makes sense that their device could display the content they provide.
Hoping.