Steve Weagant

I am exploring options for personal entertainment on the cheap. There is a kindle fire had for 139 with 8 gb of storage. I would like to store several movies and a season of law and order on it to watch on the plane. What are your experiences with kindle hdx products in this situation?

Rampo

Just to note, the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX are two different animals, the latter being the latest and more expensive model. I've read that some people have experienced problems playing mp4 files on their Kindle HDs. For $139 or less you should be able to find a 1st generation 32gb Nexus 7. I have one and it has no problem playing stored videos.

Steve Weagant

Thank you.

chollie

I've got an HDX. Download movies to watch on longhaul UA flights with overhead monitors. I chose it specifically for screen/image quality and viewing movies/TV shows and I couldn't be happier.

It's fine for the relatively limited amount of browsing and reading I do. I understand the app store isn't as large as on some other devices. I've never even looked at the apps, so that's not an issue for me.

h15t0r1an

I have exactly this Nexus 7 and it has no problems whatsoever playing stored videos. As I tend to buy box sets on DVD rather than just download, for speed I tend to rip DVD's using my computer. Then I connect the Nexus using USB cable and the computer sees it as an extra storage device. Then just drag and drop your media file from computer to Nexus.

To increase storage further you can also use a USB stick with OTC cable with the Nexus.

pseudoswede

For around the same price, you can get a Sero 7 Pro (same specs as 1st-gen Nexus 7) and bring multiple microSD cards full of movies/videos.

Oreto

I used my HDX on my recent trip abroad. I downloaded 5 movies from Prime but if your flight is sufficiently long, you may need to recharge before the end of it. Lowering the brightness to stretch the battery is counterintuitive for me as that's one of the reasons why I purchased this device in the first place.

As mentioned by others, for the offline viewing for Prime content, you'll need the HDX and not the HD. Personally, I don't think that 8GB will be enough for your ambitions except at maybe the lowest quality but I could be wrong on that.

I haven't checked to see if Prime offers "Law and Order" but if you already had the content that you wish to store, the Nexus 7 is probably a better fit for you as Amazon locks down their devices from accessing things like the Google play store unless you root the device and that chaps my rear more than any other shortcoming that I've found.

Steve Weagant

I just upgraded our iPhones to 5s 64 gb. That should solve it.

joshwex90

Couple questions about the Kindle Fire HDX and international travel:

I know that officially, I need to be physically in the US to access Amazon Prime Instant Video. Is there a way of streaming Prime while abroad though?
Is Mayday available regardless of country I'm in, or only certain countries?

bbbjorkman

You should be able to watch anything you downloaded to your HDX while in the US (subject to Amazon's viewing period rules -- 15-30 days to start watching, 48 hours to finish), but to actually stream Amazon Prime you'll need to use a VPN on your laptop.

Mayday is available to US customers while they travel overseas.

joshwex90

Are there decent VPNs for free available for tablets?

And why the specification that Mayday is only available to US customers? Is the Fire sold in other countries where Mayday isn't available to those customers?

bbbjorkman

Yes, the HDX is sold in other countries but Mayday is only available for customers in the US and UK -- I assume it's mainly an English language issue, but I don't know that for sure.

I know that you can side-load this VPN onto the Kindle Fire, but then you'd have to pay about $40/year to use it.