While parts of the Cube feel close to offering a rich, voice-activated experience, the end product is too underbaked to recommend. If you're looking for a high-end Amazon streaming device, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max works just as well at half the cost. Some of its key features are incompatible with a recent and popular TV set, while its new cable box connection is too buggy to use. The 2022 Amazon Cube may have lofty intentions, but I found it just didn't deliver on its promise of a full-featured smart home connection. Most of the issues I was having with Alexa related to navigating the Cube's connections between devices on the TV, which I'm not able to replicate on the Echo. The main difference is that the Cube tries to find answers in relevant TV shows if you're not extremely specific. I issued the same command to each in turn while muting the other. To find out if the problems I'd had were with the Cube or the Alexa assistant itself, I set up the Cube side-by-side with an Amazon Echo Dot. She would perk up every time I said her name, but no matter how many times I pleaded and begged, I couldn't find a way to manipulate the settings so that she could actually understand my commands. Saying "Alexa" triggered the Cube to listen, but also activated the TV's volume mute and unmute features in a way that made it impossible for Alexa to hear my query. Sarah Lord/CNETīut, sadly, it all went out the window the second I tried to get Alexa to change the channel and was met with silence. Sometimes, Alexa just didn't work as advertised. I was finally starting to experience Amazon's vision for the Cube, and it felt pretty cool. At last, I could finally skip easily around cable, multiple streaming devices and gaming consoles all with a few simple commands to Alexa. My TV went from the Fire TV home screen directly to ESPN on my cable box. To my genuine surprise and delight, it worked. Amazon claims cable boxes from Spectrum, my provider, along with a string of others, work in conjunction with the Cube to allow Alexa to control your cable.Īfter I added the cable box to my list of connected devices, I said aloud "Alexa, tune to ESPN on cable," and held my breath. I then hooked up my cable box directly to the Cube through the HDMI input. To my surprise, it automatically recognized the model and connected easily. 1,050 Fireplace video loop videos are available under a royalty. By this point in the process, I was just happy that Alexa worked at all.įinally, I connected the Cube to an LG TV circa 2011 to see how it worked with older devices. Download videos of Fireplace video loop on Depositphotos. Unfortunately, I was unable to get Alexa to launch my Xbox games, despite spending hours checking all my settings on both devices and using the prompts listed on the Xbox site. The Cube recognized the TV immediately, and Alexa was able to switch back and forth between my Xbox and my Roku with ease. Next, I tried the exact same setup on a 2020 Samsung TV, which, to my relief, worked much better. The Cube just doesn't want to work with this TCL TV. They sent me a brand new Cube to see if that would help. Its screensaver design is relaxing to watch and it comes with a nice and soothing sound effect of fire crackling and woods burning that will perfectly give you a cozy feeling. This app allows you to have a warm virtual fireplace experience. I contacted Amazon and had a meeting with its technicians to try to fix the issue. Fireplace is a free entertainment application developed by Skielex for PC. I spent way too many hours trying any conceivable combination to get it working consistently. Even if it made the correct guess one time, it would switch to the wrong input the next. As a backup measure, I tried to teach it the infrared signals my remote uses when switching to each device, but that also failed to work. Eventually, the Cube was able to turn my TV on and off using Alexa, but it remained incapable of adequately reading which device was plugged in, and to which HDMI. Instead, I needed to manually find and click on my TV manufacturer. I first tried to add a Roku and an Xbox Series X to a Cube plugged into a 2021 TCL 6 Series Google TV, but the Cube failed to automatically recognize the television. In order to set up this feature, you first need to head to Equipment Control in the settings menu to add each extra piece of equipment you want to connect. Fireplace 4K is one of the most innovative and insanely beautiful Wallpaper applications ever conceived, featuring more than 12 stunning themes, each featuring breathtaking 4K video and audio, plus the most cutting-edge and beautiful "Desklets" supporting customizable position, size, font, foreground color, and background color, and you can even load your own Quicktime videos.Amazon touts that you'll be able to connect many of your TV-related devices to your Cube so it can seamlessly switch between streaming, a game console or even a cable box.
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