Amazon’s Fire TV Blaster lets your Echo control your TV

Amazon has announced a new accessory called the Fire TV Blaster, which basically allows Fire TV users to have greater levels of voice control over their TV.

For it to work, you’ll already need to have a Fire TV device and an Echo. If you do, you’ll already be able to use voice commands in concert with an Echo, asking Alexa for things like playing certain shows. The new Fire TV Blaster uses infrared (IR) signals to expand on that functionality, interacting with your setup to control additional things like power or volume.

It means that you’ll be able to ask Alexa to turn off your TV, or adjust the soundbar volume and switch viewing inputs. The rather pricey Fire TV Cube can do these things, seeing as it’s equipped with its own IR blaster. This latest box is a way of giving other Fire TV devices that ability, all for the cheaper price of £34.99.

The Fire TV Blaster is available for pre-order now, and Amazon will begin shipping them out on 11 December. The retailer is also offering a bundle consisting of a Fire TV Stick 4K, Echo Dot and Fire TV Blaster for just £86.98 instead of the £134.97 recommended retail price.

The box itself is made up of a Wi-Fi-enabled IR blaster, with an extra port for an IR extender to be added should you need one. There’s nothing in the way of a microphone or a speaker, which you’ll find on the Fire TV Cube, because all the voice communication is being taken care of by your Echo. It’s very much an additional accessory, then, for stitching Amazon’s voice control a few threads further across your everyday life.