One of the really cool things about Amazon Fire TV Cube is that it can control other devices that are connected to your television, thanks to a few of technical features.
First, there's always cloud-based control. You connect Alexa to some other device via an API, the two talk to each other over the internet, and they do their thing.
Then there's always CEC (Consumer Electronics Control), which works via the HDMI cable. It isn't exactly new to Fire TV either.
But new this time around in the Fire TV Cube is infrared support. And that's going to let it go a good bit further than what CEC was able to do, because the IR support basically lets it work as a universal remote control in conjunction with CEC. If you've got a cable or satellite TV box, it'll control those, too. (Probably.)
As for what cable and satellite boxes can be controlled by the Fire TV Cube, Amazon has a handy list, though it doesn't break things down by model number.
Here's what you can roughly expect, however.
- AT&T DIRECTV
- AT&T U-Verse
- DISH
- Comcast
- Xfinity by Comcast
- Charter Spectrum
- Verizon
- Cox
- Mediacom
- CenturyLink
- Altice
- Frontier
- TiVO (digital cable channel changing only)
Also of note: Amazon says you'll need to be sure to set up your TV, and an audio output like a sound bar or receiver, when you initially set up your Fire TV Cube. Everything else can be done afterwards by going into the Equipment Control section in the settings menu.
Or, ya know, you could get rid of cable like the rest of us.
