Quite true. Actually, A&E are already there (along with their Lifetime and History channels) and they work through OverPlay and Unblock-US already.

ITV will hopefully be a short step away since they have just announced support for the Amazon Fire Tablet.

ABC, NBC and FOX are there via Hulu Plus, but of course, any free service will be great. CBS is especially interesting, as they are not on Hulu, and they now have their own OTT service.

HBO will hopefully add their OTT app when it is finally launched, but no one knows how good that will be when compared to their cable-tied ones.

Exciting days ahead gother for the Amazon Fire TV box! This is already my favourite STB. Pity it is only set up on my test rig.

Regarding HBO i found this interesting article http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/23/hbo-go-amazon-fire-tv/

I agree the AFTV box certainly has exciting times ahead what is clear is Amazon certainly want to make it the one box does all your tv device.

Had a good play with it over the past week and have been succesful in sideloading hbogo, 4od and nowtv they all work fine.
I've sideloaded a couple more such as nbcsportsxtra etc but you would need a friend in the USA willing to give you a login for those to be of any benefit to you.

Does anyone else have issues with Overplay Smart DNS? If I put the DNS settings into Firetv I can't load any Amazon UK movies or tv programmes. It works fine when I take it overseas though.

Don't use overplay it's the worst one to use change to unblock-us or someone else.

Hi gother could you tell me how to side load now tv or point me to a guide that explains it .thanks

First of all go into firetv settings then enable developer debug mode, go into connection make a note of your firetv ip address.
Download ftv from this site http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2736774
Once installed in settings type in your amazon fire tv ip address then click normal debug mode, then click save and close, download the android apps you want they must be in apk form and copy them into your ftv folder, then you just go back onto ftv click on select find the andriod apk you wish to sideload double click it then just click on sideload third party application, the console will take a bit before telling you if it was succesful or not.
Then on your firetv go to applications - all applications and you'll see your succesful android app there.
Be very aware not all android files will work and you do risk bricking your firetv only do this if you are 100% confident about what you are doing.
Get nowtv from here http://www.mobogenie.com/search.html?q=now+tv

Thanks for that gother,will have a go this week.

The reason you are having an issue here is that OverPlay support Amazon Prime UK. This might sound a bit weird because you are having a problem, but it is the case.

The problem with supporting Amazon UK via Smart DNS is that it then has issues with Amazon DE - mainly because they both stemmed from LoveFilm.

Anyway, you will have to set your Netflix locale to the UK for Amazon UK to work. If anyone reading this has the German version of Amazon Prime, it has to be set to Germany to access that content. But American Amazon Prime is not affected as it is treated differently (doesn't have the LoveFilm connection).

Thanks gother, I'll look at unblock-us.

Thanks ovbg, but I'm even more confused now! I don't use Netflix or Amazon DE but want to be able to use XBMC (which I have sideloaded) to use various geo-restricted apps (iView, NZ OnDemand, NOS etc) which I can via Overplay but then can't use UK Amazon Prime. If I want to use UK Amazon Prime then I have to remove the Overplay DNS settiings - which stops me using the geo-restriced apps!!

Perhaps I need to try unblock-us as gother suggested, I didn't realise the Smart DNS services differed so much. Someone else suggested unotelly.

Unblock-US will probably work when you are in the UK, because they don't support Amazon UK. This basically means it bypasses the service entirely. However, for people outside the UK, Amazon Prime will not work with Unblock-US.

The problem you have with OverPlay is that it does support Amazon Prime UK, and if your region selector is not set to the UK, it will stop working. Even if you don't use Netflix, you must set what OverPlay call the "Netflix locale" to the United Kingdom. This will route Amazon UK traffic via Smart DNS and allow it to work.

It may sound odd (and it is), but this allows people outside the UK to access Amazon Prime UK (which is what Smart DNS is all about anyway).

Ah, I see - now I get it! I've not even looked at the Netflix locale as I don't use it - will check that out and see what happens.

If is it set as the US, will I then be able to download the Amazon US apps such as Hulu?

Thanks again ovbg, much appreciated.

You can download US apps such as Hulu for your Amazon Fire TV, but this is entirely separate to your Smart DNS service. This guide shows how to mix apps from different countries so you can have them all on your AFTV hub: link.

The Netflix locale selector in OverPlay is mainly used to set the Netflix library (and this works with most Netflix apps including the UK one installed on the Amazon Fire TV).

It also sets the Amazon Prime service to work between UK and DE (the American Amazon Prime is always working regardless of how the Netflix locale selector is switched).

So, if you had Amazon UK, Netflix and Hulu. Setting the Overplay locale selector to the UK will get UK Prime to work and Netflix to the UK library (no effect on Hulu).

Thanks again, ovbg. Very helpful information.

Anyone having trouble with the Flixter app, I put about 12 UV copies on to it yesterday, only to be told I had a slow network or they had problems. Tried it on the ipad and they play fine.

My 3rd FireTV arrived this morning! ... Only cost me £60! 👍 ... It'll make a lovely xmas present for my nephew! 👏 ... Best media machine on the market imo! 😎

Still missing essential apps i think such as itv,nowtv,4od but rumours are these are coming. Although you can sideload these.
Also it's been reported they are on target to have HBOGO on the firetv before the end of December 2014.
ABCWATCH , abcfamily, nbc,nbcsports,syfy,verizon,xfinity,fox,fx,hallmark,wuaki,picturebox all have apps planned for early 2015 too.
I really think the firetv will become the ultimate one stop media box.
One thing i've noticed from the rumours is Amazon don't seem too bothered by rival companies launching on their box, they seem quite happy to allow them onto the firetv which is a huge boost and got to give a lot of credit to Amazon for allowing this too.

^^ yep gotta agree, its the best way, and will encourage more and more people to buy it, plus with their Prime offering at the front, even if you don't have prime, more people will be able to see what they offer, so it's free advertising for them too.

I know it is OT so please forgive me. I was just wondering is the iTunes Store down at the moment as I am trying to watch stuff on my Apple TV and I can't I have tried rebooting the box but to no avail. All I am getting is a message that the iTunes Store is unavailable. Any would be much appreciated and sorry again for going OT.

Thanks a lot for your help guys. I sorted the problem myself actually without any help from you I will know where to go next time.

Considering you're a long term member you should of known it'd be better creating your own thread for the problem, no-one responded because no-one knew, for a start itunes isn't even on the firetv so chances are that no-one here uses itunes.
Edit this thread would of been better for you http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1993610

Thank you and I apologise.

No worries mate we all have bad days

Yep! ... It's missing some apps atm! .... we mainly use the FireTV for Amazon / hulu & the roku3 for everything else such as ITVplayer, playon etc etc

(It's gotta be said the voice controls are amazing .... Works perfectly everytime even with my accent!)