Amazon slipped in a sleeping new feature with the last Fire TV update that they just woke up today. The new feature adds their X-Ray capabilities, first introduced on their Fire tablets, to the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. X-Ray provides additional information about the actors, characters, and music in the movie or show that you’re currently watching through Amazon Instant Video. Here is an overview of the new X-Ray feature.

Interface & Use

One of the best things about the new X-Ray feature is how seamlessly it’s integrated into the Fire TV’s interface. While watching an Amazon Instant Video, you can simply press up or down on the Fire TV’s remote to display actor and music information about the scene you are currently watching. The video continues to play in the background while actor and music information is displayed in the foreground just above the progress bar. Pausing the video also displays the X-Ray information. Note that the image above shows a black screen due to Amazon’s DRM blocking screenshots of videos. On the Fire TV, the video you are watching remains on the screen.
Pressing up on the Fire TV remote while the overlay is present (or while paused) will pause the video if it’s still playing and open the full X-Ray interface.

Scenes

The first menu option in the X-Ray interface lists all the different scenes in the current movie/show. A screenshot and one like description of each scene is given, plus the time in the video the scene starts. You can jump directly to any scene by selecting it from this menu.

In Scene

The “In Scene” menu is the default screen shown when you first enter X-Ray. This screen shows you actor names, along with their character names, that are in the scene you are currently watching. You’ll also see song titles and artist names on this screen if there is music in the scene you are watching. Selecting an actor or song in this scene jumps into additional information about each item.

Actors

The “Actor” screen lists all actors and actresses in the movie/show you are watching. It also lists their characters name, as well as a short list of other movies or shows they’ve been in.
Selecting an actor jumps into that persons detail screen with additional information about each person. Here you will find a short biography about the actor, a list of all the movies and shows they’ve been in, as well as trivia and facts about the actor. You can select a movie/show from their list of work and jump directly into that video if it’s available on Amazon Instant Video.

Characters

The “Characters” screen, as you’d expect, lists all the characters, along with the actor’s name, in the movie/show you are watching. On this screen you’ll also find a short description about each character and their background information.

Music

The “Music” screen lists all the songs, along with their artists, that are in the movie/show you are watching. Also listed is the time in the video when the song starts to play. From this screen you can select to jump directly to that point in the video.

Trivia

Lastly is a “trivia” section where you will find interesting tidbits of information about the movie/show you are watching.