If your Fire TV Edition comes via a device other than a Smart TV (such as a soundbar), connect the device to your existing TV’s HDMI port, which on most TVs is labeled HDMI. If your TV has multiple HDMI ports (as most modern TVs do), then the ports are usually labeled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and so on.
When you power up the Fire TV Edition Smart TV for the first time, or when you switch to the Fire TV Edition input if you’re using a device such as a soundbar, Fire TV Edition takes you through the following setup procedure:
1. Use the Alexa Voice Remote to choose the language you want to use.
You use the Alexa Voice Remote to “choose” something by using the navigation ring to press Down (the bottom part of the ring), Up (the top part of the ring), Left (the left part of the ring), or Right (the right part of the ring) to highlight the item you want; then press Select (the circular area in the middle of the navigation ring).
The TV should automatically pair with the Alexa Voice Remote. If nothing happens when you press the Alexa Voice Remote’s buttons, you can force the Alexa Voice Remote into pairing mode by pressing and holding the Home button for ten seconds, or until you see the Alexa Voice Remote’s LED rapidly flashing amber.
2. Choose Continue.After a short delay, Fire TV Edition displays a list of available Wi-Fi networks.
3. Choose your Wi-Fi network.Fire TV Edition prompts you to enter the network password.
4. Use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to enter each character in your network password, and then choose Connect.If your network password requires one or more uppercase letters, you can switch to uppercase characters by choosing the aA button or by pressing Menu on the Alexa Voice Remote.
Fire TV Edition connects to your network and then checks to see if there is an available update to Fire OS, the operating system that runs Fire TV Edition. If an update is available, Fire TV Edition downloads and installs the software, which can take a few minutes. Note that Fire TV Edition may restart during this process.
Eventually, Fire TV Edition asks which Fire TV experience you want to have.
5. Choose Full to get the most out of Fire TV.Fire TV Edition asks you to sign in to your Amazon account.
6. Choose I Already Have an Amazon Account.Fire TV Edition displays the Enter Your Amazon Login ID screen.
What if you don’t have an Amazon account? No problem. Choose I Am New to Amazon, and then use the Create Account screen to set up your account.
7. In the Email Address field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s email address, and then choose Next.Fire TV Edition displays the Enter Your Amazon Account Password screen.
8. In the Password field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s password, and then choose Sign In.By default, Fire TV Edition hides the password by displaying each character as a dot. If you want to make sure you entered the password correctly, choose the Show Password button.
If you’ve enabled two-factor authentication on your Amazon account, Fire TV Edition will prompt you to enter a code to verify the sign-in. Type the code that was sent to you, and then choose the Next button.
Fire TV Edition confirms your Amazon credentials, signs in to your account, and then registers your Fire TV Edition device.
Getting to Know the Alexa Voice Remote
One of the most important doodads that comes with your Fire TV device is the Alexa Voice Remote, which enables you to control Fire TV in two ways:- Manually: Press the remote’s buttons to navigate the Fire TV interface and control playback.
- By voice: Use the remote’s built-in Alexa voice assistant to issue verbal instructions for navigating the interface and controlling content.
Touring the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote
The Alexa Voice Remote will be your constant companion while you use Fire TV, so it pays to take a couple of minutes now to learn the lay of the remote land.First, the figure shows the version of the Alexa Voice Remote that ships with devices such as Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Cube.
Photograph courtesy of AmazonThe Alexa Voice Remote that ships with Fire TV devices.
Here’s a summary of what you see on the face of the Alexa Voice Remote:
- Power: Press this button to turn your TV on and off.
- Microphone: The internal device that picks up your voice requests when you press and hold the Voice button.
- LED: Lights up when the Alexa Voice Remote is performing certain operations, such as signaling the remote’s readiness to be paired with a Fire TV device.
- Voice: Press and hold this button to make a voice request.
- Navigation ring: Use this ring to navigate the Fire TV interface.
- Select: Press this button to choose the item that’s currently highlighted on the Fire TV screen.
- Back: Press this button to go back to the previous Fire TV screen.
- Home: Press this button to jump directly to the Fire TV Home screen.
- Menu: Press this button to see a menu of commands that are specific to the item that’s currently highlighted on the Fire TV screen.
- Rewind: During playback, use this button to rewind the content as follows:
- Press the button once to rewind by ten seconds.
- Press and hold the button for a few seconds, and then release the button to continuously rewind at low speed.
- While rewinding at low speed, press the button again to continuously rewind at medium speed.
- While rewinding at medium speed, press the button again to continuously rewind at high speed.
- While rewinding at high speed, press the button again to switch to the low-speed rewind.
- To stop rewinding, press the Play/Pause button.
- Play/Pause: During playback, press this button to pause the content; press the button again to restart the content.
- Fast Forward: During playback, use this button to fast-forward the content as follows:
- Press the button once to fast-forward by ten seconds.
- Press and hold the button for a few seconds, and then release the button to continuously fast-forward at low speed.
- While fast-forwarding at low speed, press the button again to continuously fast-forward at medium speed.
- While fast-forwarding at medium speed, press the button again to continuously fast-forward at high speed.
- While fast-forwarding at high speed, press the button again to switch to the low-speed fast-forward.
- To stop fast-forwarding, press the Play/Pause button.
- Volume Up: During playback, press this button to raise the volume; press and hold this button to raise the volume quickly.
- Volume Down: During playback, press this button to decrease the volume; press and hold this button to decrease the volume quickly.
- Mute: During playback, press this button to toggle the volume off and on.
Touring the Fire TV Edition Alexa Voice Remote
If you’re doing the Fire TV thing using a Fire TV Edition Smart TV or Fire TV Edition Soundbar, then you get a slightly different configuration for the Alexa Voice Remote, as shown in Figure 4-2. This configuration has the same buttons as the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote shown in Figure 4-1, but it also comes with the following extra buttons:- Guide: Press this button to display the live TV channel guide.
- Hot buttons: These four buttons take you directly to the app for whatever streaming service is named on the button. For example, pressing the Netflix button opens the Netflix app. As a bonus, pressing one of the hot buttons also turns on your TV if it’s currently off.
If you’re accessing Fire TV Edition in a country other than the United States, your Alexa Voice Remote will likely offer one or more hot buttons that are different from the ones shown here.
Photograph courtesy of AmazonAn example of an Alexa Voice Remote that ships with Fire TV Edition devices.