Fire TV Cube drops to a new all-time low price of $119.99

Amazon has just put the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube on sale for $119.99, which is the new lowest price that it has ever been through a standard sale. The flagship Fire TV was briefly available to select customers for $99.99 during an introductory offer through a promocode that worked for a small selection of people, but the Cube has otherwise only dropped to $124.99 prior to the current sale. All of the Fire TV Sticks are also on sale, but none of those deals are any lower than we’ve seen in the past like the Fire TV Cube price. If you’ve been waiting for the Fire TV Cube price to drop further, now is the time to pick one up.

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Amazon expands Fire TV Hearing Aid support to include Cochlear and more Fire TV models

Nearly a year ago, the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube became the first streaming device to support streaming audio directly to hearing aids through the Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol. At the time it only supported one Fire TV model and Starkey hearing aids. Amazon has now announced a partnership with Cochlear that expands hearing aid streaming support to the Cochlear Nucleus 8, Nucleus 7, Nucleus Kanso 2, and Baha 6 Max sound processors. Additionally, ASHA-capable Fire TV models now also include the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube and Amazon’s own Fire TV Smart TV models, which are the Fire TV 4-Series, Fire TV Omni Series, and the recently released Fire TV Omni QLED Series.

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Fire TV Cube gains Improved Upscaling as well as DTS, DTS-HD, and Dolby True HD audio passthrough in latest software update

Amazon is pushing a new software update to the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube that should make video and audiophiles happy. Software version 7.6.1.3 (PS7613/3686) is currently rolling out to devices with improvements to the Super Resolution Upscaling feature that should make non-4K content look even sharper. The update is also adding a feature that has long been requested by surround sound enthusiasts, which is support for DTS, DTS-HD, and Dolby True HD audio passthrough. Read more ›

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USB port on the Fire TV Cube 3 has been updated to now remain powered while asleep

One issue with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube that was causing a bit of headache among enthusiasts was Amazon’s decision to cut power to the device’s USB port when the Cube went to sleep. Among other issues, this prevented the use of faster external Ethernet adapters to remain functional while the Fire TV Cube was not being used. Amazon has now informed me that this issue has been corrected through a recent software update. I tested it and, sure enough, the USB port on the Fire TV Cube 3 now remains powered while the device is asleep.

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HDMI IN on the Fire TV Cube 3 adds about 35 milliseconds of input lag

You can connect just about any HDMI device to the HDMI IN port on the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, as discussed here in my article all about how the new port works. While Amazon seems to expect cable and satellite TV set-top boxes to be the most common things connected, I expect game consoles will be commonly connected as well. Connecting a game console to the Fire TV Cube makes it very convenient to jump between gaming and streaming, however, be aware that the HDMI IN port adds some additional input latency and there’s an important setting you may need to adjust to reduce that latency. Read more ›

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Fire TV Cube 3 is the first Fire TV to support NTFS External USB Drives by default

In an unexpected move, Amazon has added support for NTFS USB drives to the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube. This is surprising because no Fire TV device in the past has ever supported NTFS formatted storage drives. Whether they were a Fire TV, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick, or Fire TV Smart TV, they all only supported FAT32 drives out of the box and required some complex manipulation to support any other drive format. Read more ›

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USB port on the Fire TV Cube 3 loses power when the device is alseep, causing issues with external Gigabit Ethernet adapters and more

One great change with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, compared to both previous models, is the inclusion of a full-sized USB-A port whereas the old models used a micro USB port. This eliminates the need to use an OTG cable for connecting the vast majority of USB drives and peripherals. The other change Amazon has done with the new Cube’s USB port, which is unlike the past models, is cutting off all power to the port when the Fire TV Cube goes to sleep, whereas the older Cube models kept the port powered all the time. This change can be beneficial to some for automatically turning off external devices when the Fire TV Cube isn’t being used, but it’s proving to be an annoyance for others, such as those using external Gigabit Ethernet adapters for additional wired network speed. Read more ›

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Everything there is to know about the HDMI IN port on the Fire TV Cube 3

One of the big changes on the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, compared to the last two models, is the addition of an HDMI IN port on the back that lets you connect any HDMI device to the new Cube. Amazon hasn’t said much about the new port, other than saying it’s for cable and satellite TV boxes. In reality, you can plug any HDMI device into it. Here is everything about how the port works with the Fire TV Cube and what you can do with a device connected to it. Read more ›

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Fire TV Cube 3 comes with a built-in media player for Videos, Photos, and Music stored on External USB Storage

The 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube is far from the first Fire TV model to officially supports external USB media, but it is the first to include a built-in media player app from Amazon that can display videos, photos, and play audio files. This is the same app found on nearly all Fire TV Smart TVs, but this is the first Amazon has included it on one of its stand-alone Fire TVs. While it’s certainly not going to replace full-fledged media players like Plex, MrMC, or even VLC, it’s definitely handy to have for quick and simple access to your media files. Read more ›

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Developer Options, Sideloading, Downloader, and Remote Button Remapping all work on the Fire TV Cube 3

With all new Fire TV models, there are always people wondering if anything has been done to thwart sideloading apps and, thankfully, it’s all business as usual with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube. Developer options are present and behave just as they do on other Fire TV models, although, as you’d expect, they follow the new behavior where developer options are initially hidden and must be revealed. My Downloader app works just fine and you can enable the option to allow it to install unknown apps just fine and use it to sideload APKs on the Fire TV Cube 3. My button remapping utility also works fine to remap the app shortcut buttons of the Fire TV Cube’s remote. However, everything isn’t perfect because there is one old sideloading issue that has resurfaced on the new Cube. Read more ›

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