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Tips for getting started with Amazon Fire TV

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Here's a look at some Fire TV features that you might not know about
You can delete your voice search history
You can mirror your Kindle Fire HDX screen on Fire TV
Sending a movie from a Kindle Fire tablet to Fire TV
Second Screen is enable in Fire TV Settings
Parental controls require entering in a PIN to access Amazon videos or games
Remove items from the Recent section on the home screen
Upload photos to Amazon Cloud Drive
You can display your photos from Amazon Cloud Drive
Clear Amazon video data and cache
Stream YouTube for iOS or Android to Fire TV
Here's a look at some Fire TV features that you might not know about
The second screen on the Kindle Fire HDX while a movie is playing
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Amazon recently released its streaming set-top box, Fire TV, that competes with Apple TV and Roku. Using it is straight-forward for basic tasks, but there are other features you can use to get more from the experience. Here's a look at some Fire TV features that aren't immediately apparent.

Use a kindle Fire HDX for a second screen experience

If you have a Kindle Fire HD or HDX, you can use it for a second screen experience. What that means is, while you're watching Amazon content on the TV, your tablet can be used for checking out profiles of characters and actors in a certain scene on your tablet. The information comes from IMDB and also includes some trivia. Another thing you can do is control playback from the Kindle Fire.To set it up, on the Fire TV go to Settings > Second Screen and switch it to ON.

Second Screen is enable in Fire TV Settings

The shot below is an example of the second screen experience. You can find actors in current scenes and the entire movie, and there's plenty of trivia to boot.

The second screen on the Kindle Fire HDX while a movie is playing

Mirror the Kindle Fire HDX to Fire TV

When we took a look at streaming video from the Kindle Fire HDX to the big screen, we mentioned that it will stream to select Smart TVs and devices by default. The good news is the Fire TV is one of them. To Mirror your screen go to Settings > Display & Sounds and tap Display Mirroring. The Kindle Fire HDX will find the Fire TV (provided they're both on the same network), and you just tap it to start the mirroring. Similar to AirPlay, it displays exactly what you're doing on the tablet and includes the audio, too. This is useful for presentation, games, or anything else you want to be on the big screen.

You can mirror your Kindle Fire HDX screen on Fire TV

Send video from the Kindle Fire HDX to the big screen

While watching movies and TV from Amazon on the Kindle Fire HDX, you can send the video to the big screen by tapping the AirPlay-like icon at the bottom of the screen (or cast icon in other apps). Then select the Fire TV or other device you want it to go to. Not all of the apps support streaming to Fire TV though. In the Netflix app, I am able to send video to my Roku box. And in Hulu plus, I can send video to my Google Chromecast.

Sending a movie from a Kindle Fire tablet to Fire TV

Send YouTube videos to Fire TV

While Amazon's Fire TV includes a YouTube app, you can also stream YouTube videos from your Android or iOS device. Just launch the YouTube app on your device, then tap the "cast" icon. When experimenting with this, I had to first pair the Fire TV with my computer, and it works fine. I was also successful with iOS 7 and the Google Nexus 7 shown below. For those two devices, I didn't have to pair them and enter in a code, it just worked out of the box.

Stream YouTube for iOS or Android to Fire TV

Delete voice search cache from Amazon servers

While the voice search feature via the remote is one of the Fire TV's selling points, it does save your search information on Amazon servers. According to the company: "When you use voice search on this Amazon Fire TV, we keep the voice recordings associated with your account to learn your voice and how you speak to improve the accuracy of the results provided to you and to improve our services."If you're privacy conscious and would rather the voice searches not be saved, it is possible to delete them. Log in to your Amazon account and go to Your Account > Manage Your Content and Devices. That will give you a list of each Amazon device you own. Select your Fire TV and then click Manage Voice Recordings listed underneath it. Then confirm the action when the dialog box comes up.

You can delete your voice search history

Delete ASAP cache

The ASAP feature on Fire TV buffers TV and movies you're about to watch, so they play back instantly. Depending on how much you watch, that can take up space on the internal 8GB drive. I've had the Fire TV for a couple of weeks now and haven't seen too much space being used, but knowing how to clear up that space might come in handy one day – especially if your drive is full of games and other apps. To delete it and other app cache, go to Settings > Applications > Amazon Video and in the resulting menu clear the data and clear cache. You can go through your other apps and clear their cache too.

Clear Amazon video data and cache

Use Parental Controls

If you have kids, parental controls are important on any piece of technology. Parental controls on Fire TV allow you to set up a PIN to block certain types of Amazon video and game content and prevent purchases. With parental controls on, you need to enter your PIN to essentially watch any videos or play games. This gives you control over Amazon content, but not apps like Netflix or Hulu Plus. To protect that content, you need to go in those apps and set up its parental control feature.

Parental controls require entering in a PIN to access Amazon videos or games

Stream your photos and set a screen saver

Apple TV users are familiar with sending photos from their iOS devices to the big screen. Now, with the Fire TV, you can do the same. The photos will need to be stored on Amazon Cloud Drive – which gives you 5GB of free storage. You can add pictures from your computer using a browser and then drag the files into the Cloud Drive window, or you can add photos from you Android, iOS, or Kindle Fire devices by downloading the Cloud Drive mobile app.

Upload photos to Amazon Cloud Drive

Then to display your photos on your Fire TV, go to Photos on the main menu. Then select Albums or All to find the ones you want. There you can start a slide show or set a photo album as your screen saver.

You can display your photos from Amazon Cloud Drive

Remove recent items from home screen

Just like on a Kindle Fire tablet, the Fire TV has a carousel at the top that shows recent items. If you don't want certain items showing up, they can be removed. From the main menu, under recent, select the item you want gone and select the Remove from Recent button underneath it.

Remove items from the Recent section on the home screen

More features on the way

There are a few popular music apps included like Pandora, but the company says its Amazon Music Cloud player will be available soon. Currently you can't access your local video or music collection from an external drive, even though there's a USB 2.0 port. Company execs say the port is meant for accessories as well as developer support. But once the Amazon Cloud Player is ready, you can upload your songs to it and play them.FreeTime for kids is another feature that works with parental controls and limits the amount of time your kid can watch videos and play games. It also lets you create personalized profiles for each of your children. The FreeTime service is a subscription that will cost US$2.99 per month, and is said to be arriving in the coming weeks.

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3 comments
Daishi
I am a little bummed to see that it lacks external video streaming. I used to use a PS3 for streaming back when everyone was still encoding in DivX but now that everyone is mostly using H.264 my PS3 seems to choke on them so I need another box that will steam video off my NAS and don't feel like using a PC for it.
Byron Guernsey
Could you elaborate (or better yet refer us to instructions) on how you pair your computer with firetv to get youtube casting working? I've had firetv show up in Chrome on my Mac for a while as a destination for casting but it never works. I've searched for "firetv youtube pair with computer" and found nothing relevant. There doesn't seem to be any documentation on youtube casting from the browser to FireTV. I'd love to get this working so I could move the Google Chromecast to a different TV.
Matt Fyoesk
All I need is a hassle free browser or desktop streaming however FireTV failed miserably.Streaming requires going through menus and it does not work most of the time.
Chromecast is the only option who wants to stream browser tab or desktop within seconds. Only 2 Clicks..Less than 1 seconds since it can also turn the TV on if powered from an external source.