The Amazon entered the media streaming player battle with the release of its Fire TV set top box.
The Amazon stands last in the line of releases in the media streaming player arena. However, this should not be taken as a drawback for the company. The Amazon Fire TV comes equipped with state of the art features and specs that would give other established devices a run for their money. The Fire TV set top box is readily available at a price of $99, which brings it in direct competition with Apple TV and Roku3 devices.
However, in case you are looking for a cheaper device, the Google’s Chromecast media streaming stick is readily available at $35. Using the Chromecast media streaming stick is an inexpensive method to turn your TV into a smart TV. The media-streaming adaptor turns any HDMI-incorporated TV into a smart TV running various applications. However, the device has to be paired with a PC, tablet, smartphone or your mobile handset. Google’s Chromecast is an apt answer to other media streaming devices such as Apple TV or Roku3. However, with the release of Fire TV from Amazon, let us compare the Google’s Chromecast in terms of design and hardware to that of the Fire TV.
Amazon Fire TV
The Fire TV gives an appearance of a small sized external hard drive. The set top box is no bigger than two CD cases placed on top of each other. The external design of the set top box is sleek in appearance. The device comes with a glossy black calligraphy placed on a matte black background. The device comes with a thickness of 0.7 inches. The device is tiny, almost insignificant in appearance. The back of the device comes equipped with necessary ports such as USB, Ethernet, optical audio, HDMI and power.
The Fire TV comes equipped with a powerful processor under the hood. The quad core processor and a dedicated graphic processor coupled with a RAM of 2GB powers the Fire TV set top box. The device also comes equipped with two dual band antennas with Wi-Fi features. The matte black finish remote of the Fire TV comes equipped with seven black buttons along with a directional selector. The device makes communication with the remote through Bluetooth, which successfully eliminates the line-of-sight problem that other devices face. The device can be comfortably placed behind the TV set or in a cabinet.
Google Chromecast
Chromecast is no bigger than an oversized thumb USB drive. However, the device comes with a little more weight added to it. Chromecast does not come with power cable as most other set top media streaming boxes do. A big HDMI plug can be easily plugged into the HDMI port of your TV. This black device would easily blend with the black color of your TV set. However, if the device sticks out of the TV set, the sight would be a little disturbing for most people. In case, the device does not fit into your TV’s HDMI port, you could make use of the HDMI extender cable to connect the device to your TV set.
The device comes with dimensions measuring at 72x35x12mm, making it an awkward fit for some TV sets. It would depend on the age of your television. Powering the device can cause an issue for some people. The device cannot run on HDMI port power only. However, a micro-USB port, placed at the back of the unit comes equipped with a micro USB to USB fitting cable measuring five-foot in length. The Chromecast box also has a power adapter, which can be plugged into the main ports of the TV. However, a USB port on the TV can be ideally used as a power source.
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