The next generation Fire TV is a week away from arriving. If you haven’t decided if it’s worth upgrading yet, here is a table comparing the different specifications of the new device with the existing first generation Fire TV to help you decide.
 1st Generation Amazon Fire TV |  2nd Generation Amazon Fire TV | |
| Price | $99.00 | $99.99 |
| Video Resolution | 1080p @ 60fps (1920x1080) 720p @ 60fps (1280x720) | 2160p 4K @ 30fps (3840x2160) 1080p @ 60fps (1920x1080) 720p @ 60fps (1280x720) |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064 Quad Core 4x @ 1.7Ghz | MediaTek 8173C Quad Core 2x @ 2GHz & 2x @ 1.6Ghz |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 320 | PowerVR Rogue GX6250 |
| Performance | - | 75% faster |
| Memory | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Internal Storage | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Included Remote Control | Yes Bluetooth Voice Remote | Yes Wifi Voice Remote |
| Game Controller Support | 3rd-Party Bluetooth Controllers 3rd-Party USB Controllers 1st-Gen Fire Game Controller 2nd-Gen Fire Game Controller (Private Audio not supported) | 3rd-Party Bluetooth Controllers 3rd-Party USB Controllers 1st-Gen Fire Game Controller 2nd-Gen Fire Game Controller |
| Ethernet | 10/100Mbs | 10/100Mbs |
| Wifi | MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n | MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.0 HID, SPP | Bluetooth 4.1 HID, SPP, HFP, BTLE, HOGP, GATT, A2DP, AVRCP |
| Optical Audio Out | Yes | No |
| USB | USB 2.0 Type A | USB 2.0 Type A |
| USB Usage | Accessories Media Storage App Storage | Accessories Media Storage |
| MicroSD | No | Yes, up to 128GB |
| MicroSD Usage | - | App Storage Media Storage |
| Video Formats | H.264, H.263 | HEVC H.265, H.264 |
| Audio Formats | AAC-LC, AC3, E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus), FLAC, MP3, PCM/Wave, Vorbis, HE-AAC | AAC-LC, AC3, E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus), FLAC, MP3, PCM/Wave, Vorbis, HE-AAC, EC3_JOC (Dolby Atmos) |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL ES 3.0 | OpenGL ES 3.1 with AEP |
| Max OpenGL Texture Size | 4096 | 8192 |
| Power Adapter | 16 Watt | 21 Watt |
| Private Listening | Via Bluetooth Headphones (3rd Party) | Via Bluetooth Headphones (3rd Party) Via Game Controller (Sold Separately) |
| Voice Assistant | Alexa, with Fire OS 5 Update | Alexa |
| Codename | Bueller | Sloane |
| Size | 4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7" (115 mm x 115 mm x 17.5 mm) | 4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7" (115 mm x 115 mm x 17.8 mm) |
| Weight | 9.9 oz (281 grams) | 9.5 oz (270 grams) |
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Different power adapter
One of the 1st things I looked for, also.
So it’s a bit more power hungry?
The new Fire TV uses the same power adapter used by the Amazon Echo. The new connector is slightly smaller than the old one.
I’m mostly worried about whether OS 5 has had any of the bugs ironed out, because if it’s anything like the Dev Preview it’s a distinct “do not upgrade” for Kodi. That goes for the BBC iViewer too, which is also incompatible with OS 5.
Question: Why it’s hot ?
Answer : 2160p 4K @ 30fps (3840×2160)
HEVC H.265
Sweet!
How will 1080p @ 24fps look on this? (through Kodi)
I always got the ‘judder’ affect on panning scenes on the AFTV1
Dolby Atmos support is sweet. I have an ATMOS AV receiver and speakers setup at home.
Would like to see benchmarks comparing 2nd fire tv to shield tv and new apple tv.
All that extra Va Va Vroom inside it…and it weighes less! How do they do it :-0
More seriously, will there be a way, when first setting it up, of transferring all your settings, content etc to the new box from the old box or will you have to set it up manually and download everything again.
Or are you already working on that Elias ;-)
I am now ;-)
not sure that bluetooth box is correct on a 1st Gen, otherwise my bt headphones wouldn’t work and they do work, if those were the starting specs at release, i can understand but think that’s changed over the release life of the 1st gen.
They updated later to support more of the stack, like audio devices.
We have a fire stick but can’t get very many channels! The apps don’t work unless you pay each company, like, HBO, Showtime, Reels, Stars! We bought antennas for 2 tv’s & put them on the ends of our house. We can’t get ABC at all! What are we doing wrong?
get kodi
There are plenty of options for live TV on a Android device however they mostly include pirated content and supplier kodi offers some great features but can be a bit of a learning curve. Anything worth having is going to have to be sideloaded Amazon really isn’t too supportive a third party apps
You have to ‘JAILBREAK’ the fire stick. Go to ‘YOUTUBE’ and type in, how to ‘JAILBREAK’ a ‘AMAZON FIRE STICK.’ There’s a lot of people there, to ‘SHOW YOU’ how to do it. You will be able to watch ‘EVER MOVIE’ or ever ‘TV SHOWS’ that has ever been made, ‘COMMERCIAL FREE.’ Also, you can ‘WATCH’ all the movies that’s playing at the ‘MOVIE THEATER’ today. Go to ‘GOOGLE’ and type in, ‘AMAZON JAILBREAK FIRESTICK.’ The price of a ‘FIRE STICK’ that has already been ’JAILBREAK’ is about $125.00. But, ‘LEARN’ how to do it yourself. ‘WALMART’ and ‘BEST BUY’ don’t sell ‘JAILBREAK FIRE STICK ,’ you have ‘BUY’ it on line.
There’s a lot to like about the Fire TV, and with the 2nd gen., even more. But, I’m also concerned about judder with Kodi. I’ve decided to hold off buying until I know that’s been corrected. When it arrives, I would appreciate comments here about that.
Nice player, especially for the AC wifi. Not sure it’s worth upgrading for people who already have a gen 1 Fire TV.
hey does Kodi work on the 2nd gen? no issues downloading and installing? did you use the same ES file explorer browser with the 2nd gen as well? I’m currently looking into getting one, but i don’t trust the 2nd gen yet because I don’t know if its possible to get kodi on it or not.
Yes kodi works great on 2nd generation. I dont have any problems jk
Still wondering if the USB will support NTFS instead of FAT for use with external HDDs. I would think it the SD slot is capable of 128GB then the USB would be NTSF supported as well. There may be no association between the two though.
any thoughts
Gutted there’s no optical audio out now.. I’ve got my first gen one directly connected to my soundbar.
No optical or coax a deal breaker for me on any streaming box.
I can understand, but you have to realize a fast majority of people hook these up with HDMI only, and Amazon was trying to stick to a price point.
Personally I find the sd card slot a great trade-off.
I capture my optical out from the TV, so HDMI to the TV is just fine for me, I agree this is a good trade-off
No optical/digital audio output means it’s a downgrade for me. Hope it comes back on 3rd gen box.
Agreed. Trading Optical Out for a MicroSD slot is useless. Especially seeing the MicroSD is pretty worthless when you can already attach External Storage.
I’ll also miss the optical out since I use it with an old receiver. I’ll upgrade in another year or much later after I upgrade to 4k hdtv, and maybe a dolby atmos receiver.
No mention of HDMI version?
It think the 802.11 AC might offer some real performance improvement. My disappointment would be the remote not offering private listening and some simple universal remote functions for TV.
Looks like I may get some use out of that AC WiFi router I got recently.
How does the new WiFi remote work? Do the remote & FTV box connect to my network as separate devices, or is there some peer-to-peer WiFi connection between the FTV and remote separate from the FTV’s network connection?
From what I remember of how the Roku one worked, was that the box connected however to your network, and the box made its own 5GHz WiFi strictly for use with the remote. I’m not sure though.
Again. You rule.
It’s like you’re psychic and post the things I’m wondering silently in my head during work hours.
Thanks dudes!
Will Logitech Harmony (hub version) work With 2nd gen?
2nd Gen works fine with Harmony Hub. Even a preset configuration that works though I am not sure why they power the FireTV up and down. You should be able to leave it on and count on the device power management
How does the wifi remote work in a hotel wifi situation where wifi uses login? How does the remote connect?
Remote connects via wifi direct to the FireTV.
Removing the optical audio out? Wtf Amazon? I’ll stick with my 1gen for now… :/
I’m shocked so many people here (who I assume are big into technology and gadgets) are still using old outdated receivers where the lack of an optical output is considered a “deal-breaker”.
I’ll take SD card expansion slot any day over optical output.
Are they using the HDMI port to connect to a monitor via DVI adapter? Even my XBR960 has HDMI with sound, and that thing is old.
I agree. My receiver doesn’t support HDMI, but my TV does and my TV has optical out. HDMI AV receivers can be had for less than $300 and include numerous new features.
You are joking, right?!
What DAC do you use to play the sound?
Those that care about sound quality use optical output.
Noobs that can spare to have only a TV use HDMI.
Awesome, a while back you heard optical was the best for audio and now you repeat that knowledge a decade later.
I think you are living in the past.
http://www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-vs-optical-which-digital-audio-connection-to-use/
http://www.techhive.com/article/215202/hdmi_vs_spdif.html
Bull. Show us any documentation that supports your weird, outdated premise.
Well, I for one have an older Sony flagship STR-DA777ES receiver/amp that absolutely rocks. This thing weighs almost 50 pounds and puts out the purest, sweetest sound. It does not have HDMI inputs, but does have optical and coaxial SPDIF. I use this in a media room with a home theater digital projector that does not have a digital audio output. In order to use digital audio, I would need to purchase an HDMI audio de-embedder.
This doesn’t kill the deal. The gen 1 has the digital audio output, but the specs of the new gen 2 are much better. I’d rather get a gen 2 with digital output as this would create one less point of failure, but since it’s not available, will go with the gen 2 and the work-around, but I will let Amazon know that I find this the less desirable approach.
EXACTLY!! you took the thought right from my head! optical out?? lol.. Hdmi guys!
Digging the SD Card. Tempted to pick up a 128 gig to have in hand when the new Fire TV arrives, but looking at the cost discrepancy between 64 and 128, I’m unsettled. What’s everyone else doing? Think there’s really a need for 128? Even if you’re a gamer, you probably aren’t playing that many games at any one time that you need that much storage space…
Wish the upgrade used a Qualcomm again, not fond of MediaTek silicon.
I agree that not having optical or digital out is short sighted as many people have great receivers without hdmi (my $2k denon will put to shame any 500 new receiver with hdmi because the amps). The being said, the Monoprice hdmi switch has an optical out that it pulls from the hdmi feed and then cm signal can be used for Dolby digital and dts.
I have a gen 1. I have HDMI going to TV and optical to my older Sony receiver. This setup allows me to listen to music with the TV turned off.
And how do you control the musik?
I prefer then the “video mute” on my TV
it doesn’t support wireless xbox controllers anymore via usb receiver, why do amazon always have to break soemthing thats really useful
Does the new Box support 5.1 passthrough HDMI?
My wife bought my Amazon fire TV for my last birthday the only problem I have is that I can’t hook it up to my surroundsound system..
Okay I’ll be the dummy lol. Do you have to have a box and a remote? Or can you just have the remote?
The new Fire TV uses 5.5mm DC JACK, isn’t it ?
We have I think a 2nd gen stick. (No optical for audio). We have a uhdtv Samsung curved screen. Problem we have is about every 5 second approx.the screen jumps a frame. Can’t watch programmes for it. Our nowtv box works great as does smart tv functions. Audio is good to. Any ideas before I take it back to Currys.
Can the new FireTv bluetooth connect to a sound bar?? Also, will it allow KODI to be installed? Heard it will not allow KODI to be installed. Can someone verify??
I have installed KODI on my Gen 2 works great.
Did you switch from the Gen 1 fire tv box? I have the Gen 1 and am considering upgrading to the Gen 2 if it’ll help my buffering issues in Kodi.
I just added a Netgear N300 WiFi Range Extender which is working great. My router has been providing 5 Ghz to my smart TV which is currently located where i start losing signal strength but it works fine. The extender is located roughly 2′ from my smart TV but closer to the router. My question, if I connect the fire tv to the extender I will have a great signal but will be at 2 Ghz instead of 5 Ghz. what do y’all recommend?