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[Raistlin]

http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/13/amazon-firetv-xray/

A really nice capability of Kindle Fire tablets is the X-Ray feature. On any scene you can bring up info for the music and actors that are currently playing. It taps into their IMDb data. Now you'll be able to utilize it directly on the Fire TV by either pausing a scene or pressing up. Pressing up a second time drops you into a full X-Ray mode with deeper access.

To activate it, viewers can either pause what they are watching or press up on the remote's directional button to see the names of the actors and music playing in the current scene. Pressing up a second time drops the viewer into the full X-Ray environment with access to to information about the actors, characters, music, and IMDb's user-submitted trivia.

The update should be available for Fire TV's and Fire TV sticks later today.

If Amazon finally pulls the trigger on UltraViolet matching and this feature works for said content, it could be a pretty nice differentiator versus the competition.

 

[HUELEN10]

Stick as well? Nice.

 

[LyleLanley]

This must be a gigantic pain in the ass to implement.

 

[Raistlin]

Stick as well? Nice.

Yup. Edited the OP.

 

[this_guy]

Amazon really needs to join Ultraviolet.

 

[Raistlin]

This must be a gigantic pain in the ass to implement.

Hulu and Google Play do have similar features, but you bring up a good point ... I'm curious how it is implemented?

At least with Hulu, it is using face recognition. I would assume all of them do? Basically it has a list of the actors for a given movie or TV episode, then runs a facial recognition processor to generate metadata for time ranges?

Manually doing it would certainly be untenable.

 

[Somnid]

Hulu and Google Play do have similar features, but you bring up a good point ... I'm curious how it is implemented?

At least with Hulu, it is using face recognition. I would assume all of them do? Basically it has a list of the actors for a given movie or TV episode, then runs a facial recognition processor to generate metadata for time ranges?

Manually doing it would certainly be untenable.

It has to be manual, Amazon has a huge database of meta data for all their media. You can't do face detection because actors do not look the same especially with makeup and effects. The studio might provide the said data or perhaps they buy from a 3rd party company.

 

[reKon]

Based Amazon providing tons of great updates to the Fire Stick. Having the ability to plug into a hotel room bypassing the login password is Godlike. Still have to side load a ton of apps too..

 

[Van Owen]

Kinda cool, though it's a feature I'll rarely if ever use.

 

[dLMN8R]

I mean, if it's anything like how Netflix categorizes everything, it's probably just a shitload of manual work.

Pay a lot of cheap contractors $10/hour to watch a movie and write down exactly who is in every scene and every other detail....a little more for data entry, can finish hundreds of movies per day/week.

 

[Raistlin]

I mean, if it's anything like how Netflix categorizes everything, it's probably just a shitload of manual work.

Pay a lot of cheap contractors $10/hour to watch a movie and write down exactly who is in every scene and every other detail....a little more for data entry, can finish hundreds of movies per day/week.

mechanical turk

 

[Ray Wonder]

Waiting on the Vav feature.

 

[vatstep]

Here's a guide/overview of the features offered: http://www.aftvnews.com/overview-of-the-new-x-ray-feature-on-the-amazon-fire-tv-fire-tv-stick/

This is a really awesome addition for people who don't have a tablet or smartphone by their side at all times while watching. Plus, the ability to jump to specific scenes, easily identify/play songs, and the quick access to trivia are nice touches.

With the recent updates, the Fire TV/Stick is significantly better than any other streaming device available.

 

[butalala]

I've used this through the Wii U Amazon video app. I don't think it uses face recognition because it knows who plays the characters on Batman the Animated Series.