[Diplomat]

The AFTV wasn't even made primarily for Amazon's content. It was made to compete with devices like Roku. Both Roku and AFTV have a ton of content providers, including Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu. (I subscribe to the first 2 and Prime.) It also has several streaming TV services like Sling and Directv Now that can potentially replace your cable company. Unfortunately, the audio format for internet media streaming seems to have settled on EAC3. And like 99% of users don't care about DTS or HD audio. That's why Amazon doesn't invest in adding proper DTS support, etc. It doesn't help that the plan for the FTV didn't really include the ability to play people's personal media libraries.

Anyway, the Fire TV box is probably the next best thing after Nvidia Shield at this time. When I was shopping for a set top box in 2015, I did my research. My criteria was that it had to have Netflix (with HD and 5.1 audio) and be able to play my files over the network with proper audio to the receiver (I was using optical out at the time). I didn't care if it was Kodi or another media player, or whether Kodi was using a hack or not. The Fire TV box was about the only device that fit the bill. I would never have bought it if there was no option for DTS output. So my point is, if there is no way to get passthrough audio, there FTV box becomes kind of useless for me and I imagine for lots of others.

And if you think people are getting on your nerves now, fritsch, wait until the release. This is still the beta phase, and almost nobody knows about these changes yet.