Three new sets, built by Toshiba, are available this month
For a while now, Amazon’s been working with TV manufacturers to create 4K sets running Fire TV software. Now it’s announcing one that also includes Dolby Vision, while still keeping the price down.
The new set is built by Toshiba and is available right now in a 55-inch model for $449.99, with a $329.99 43-inch and a $379.99 50-inch model to be made available on 30 June.
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While you could pick up a £50 Fire TV Stick 4K to get a fix of Dolby Vision on your existing TV, this is the first time Amazon’s included it in one of its all-in-one sets. Dolby Vision gives you more colors and brighter ones too; Dolby Vision-capable TVs can adjust on the fly, scene-by-scene, to optimize the picture quality, whereas HDR10 can only set picture data more broadly across a movie or TV show.
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Amazon has a growing library of Dolby content on Prime that it wants to show off with these new sets, even if that library still trails behind iTunes right now. But its biggest competitor here is Roku, which already has a lineup of Dolby-packing TVs on the market, also at a comparatively low price.
Amazon’s other benefit is the addition of Alexa, which can be accessed on the new sets via the remote, much like it is on most other Fire TV devices. The company’s also given its Fire TV interface a bit of a tweak for these new sets, and you’ll of course still have access to major apps like Netflix, HBO and Showtime right from the home screen.
The new Fire TV sets are being made available through Amazon (natch) and Best Buy.
