Good news everyone, the new Fire TV will afterall support external storage through its USB port. A couple days ago I reported that Amazon had “Accessories Only” listed in their developer specs for the new Fire TV, implying that you could not mount a USB drive connected to the USB port on the back of the new Fire TV. Amazon has reached out to me, saying that that was an error, and that the USB port on the new Fire TV can be used with USB drives for external storage. Amazon has since updated their specifications page to now say the 2nd Generation Fire TV’s USB port is for “Accessories and media storage.” It’s unclear at this time if users will be able to move apps onto USB drives, like they currently can with the 1st generation Fire TV, or if a connected USB drive can only be used for media storage.
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Great news. A few more questions:
1. Is it really not GB Ethernet?
2. Is it really only USB2?
3. Have they ironed out any of the numerous bugs in OS 5, most importantly the issues with ADB that affect FireStarter and LLama?
4. Do they have their big developers on board for the launch, namely the BBC iPlayer (catchup TV service) that was broken by the Dev preview? This would be the most popular app in the UK. It will hurt them bad if it’s not working on launch day.
Is the WiFi module still connected to the USB line?
Is the WiFi module still connected to the USB line?
“Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that!”
Yes, yes I have. About a different model. Thanks.
“1. Is it really not GB Ethernet?”
Yeah, I hope that’s a typo… It seems strange that version 2 would still only support 10/100Mbps Ethernet.
I guess they’re figuring that 100Mbps is good enough, even if you’re streaming Ultra HD 4K…
What is the difference between storage and media storage?
In the specs it says “USB storage” for Gen 1, but “USB media storage” for Gen 2. Does that mean it’s only for storing files, not an actual installable location for use with the system?
would it support NTFS?
This is the question of the month…for me and several others who have large collections of files >4GB on hard drives. Luckily for me I have the option to connect to my NAS, which works flawlessly, but when I take my AFTV on the road with me, MOST of my movies are not portable, given their size. If NTFS was supported, I would consider overlooking all other shortcomings (e.g. loss of optical audio out)
awesommee! hopefully media storage means media storage and not just fat32..
Okay. I feel better about this new release now. I have no intention to upgrade anytime soon, but at least I know for future reference that Amazon is dedicated to keeping the external USB storage option open for those of us who want it. Now, they just need to give us NTFS instead of just FAT32, and this device would be darn near perfect for me.
I absolutely agree. The only reason I am not even considering buying the new AFTV is the lack of NTFS support over USB. I would rather use my external HDDs for video playback directly from the Fire TV instead of connecting them to my not powerful enough Samsung TV which starts lagging over a certain video bitrate. Also, streaming to the Fire TV from my computer, which is 2 meters away, makes no sense.
I’m already paying for Amazon Prime, just as many of the persons buying the Fire TV do, so adding NTFS support does not actually mean that Amazon will stop gaining from Prime media streaming. I don’t see NTFS support as a privilege that I hope to get, but rather as a normal option that is being taken away from me, and they cannot play the OS incompatibility card on this.
i agree !!!
Awesome!! First three words of article.. “Good news everyone” I instantly switched to Professor Farnsworth voice lol
Awesome and Great News!!
Now I feel much better about this new FireTV2 release.
Although I was considering not to buy this New FireTV2, I am going to get one now !
I believe that although this new FireTV not offer so much as everyone would have liked, it is also true that in every aspect looks much better than before and also has some new things…
But above all Amazon will continue to offer this great product for the same price of $ 99.99 !!
As many have already mentioned, the only thing we need now is NTFS support over USB !
I really hope that Amazon will offer this option soon.
Still missing Optical Audio… step backwards.
“Media storage” makes me think you can only access for video and audio files like for Kodi.
While I’d like them to have usb 3.0 if microsd is the default storage it makes some sense to stick with 2.0 if 3.0 would be more expensive.
So, Elias,
did you ask them about NTSF? And why the hell they wouldn’t support it?
off-topic but those asking if it’s a 1GB or 100Mbps reminds me of everyone wanting a higher megapixel camera not knowing why they need it and when it makes sense to have a higer megapixel capability.
100mbits is more than enough for any 4k streaming at the moment. Why would amazon stick in a more costly Ethernet chip in there if it isn’t required at this point.
1x Bluray is 36mb/s. Which is fine for 1080p. Even if 4k only takes 2 or 3 times the data rate, that’s 72mb/s or 108mb/s. And that’s pretending that theoretical throughput is equal to effective throughput and that the video stream is the only thing that network line is transmitting. Gb is not expensive to add as hardware, and it ensures enough throughput, with plenty of room for overhead and unoptimal circumstances.
4k using HVEC isn’t going to be anywhere near 100Mbit. I guess its fine for a play only device if there were multiple other devices connecting to it the bandwidth would get used fairly easily.
Well that sucks that they’re quadrupling the resolution and not using a proportional amount of bitrate to support it. Kinda defeats the purpose of using physical media instead of using a streaming service.
I have the second edition of the Fire TV. I tried getting it to recognize my WD Passport EHD by connecting it directly. Didn’t work. I can tell that the USB port current wasn’t enough. I used a powered USB hub and it still didn’t work. Now, I was checking for the HD through Kodi. Unless I am doing something wrong here, I don’t see how the AFTV can use an ext HD. Has anyone had success with this?
Same problem here, I tried even couple of USB sticks, none worked.
I would also like clarification on this. None of my fat32 hdd’s work, although when I connect the hard drive, I get a message prompt that it is checking my devices compatibility, then nothing happens after that. Kodi 16 does not show the hdd either.