THE SMART STUFF: ‘FireConnect powered by Blackfire’, Chromecast and more...
Both Onkyo and Pioneer (same company) now include the third-party FireConnect wireless multiroom platform on a wide range of product, along with Google’s Chromecast built-in, AirPlay and Bluetooth. Both FireConnect and Chromecast came to the S30 as a firmware update, so there’s nothing in the manual about activating them. First make sure you’ve done a firmware update, then go to the ‘NET’ input and exit until you can see the screen on your TV (above right) which allows you to access music services old-style using the remote control and TV interface. Activating Chromecast required a few T&C acceptances, and then we were able to, say, stream YouTube audio from a tab on our Chromebook (not video, this is Chromecast audio only) or music from any of the many Chromecast-ready mobile apps.
Select Fireconnect on the TV menu and you’re instructed to download the ‘Pioneer Connect’ app, which we did — it ‘found’ the S30 the moment it launched, and with no set-up at all laid out all the input selection menus at our fingertips, while an upper layer oered multiroom grouping (we added a Pioneer MRX-3 wireless speaker to the group). It’s a simple and well laid-out app, showing first physical inputs, then under ‘Net’ all the network music options, which include music on your device (PushPlayer, shown below right), TuneIn internet radio, Pandora, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal, plus selections for Bluetooth, AirPlay, Chromecast and FireConnect, though those last three will likely self-activate if you ‘push’ something via those methods. EQ options are also available within the app, and volume on a slider.
For networked music you select Music Server, which accesses UPnP shares, which worked OK up to CD quality files (see main review), though without any queueing or playlist system. So you’re le selecting tracks or albums as you go, a little inconvenient.
Will one FireConnect product talk nice with other brands on the platform? Nobody’s yet sure: Watch our Fireconnect primer at avhub.com.au/fireconnect for the latest.