Advice on the Amazon Fire TV Stick please

[BBMmk2]

Just thinking about the amazon fire Fox thingey. Just thinking how it is. any problems with connectivity etc?

[johnb]

I've been wondering about the same thing. The Amazon Fire devices are pushed at you every time you visit Amazon, something I find irritating. From what I can gather it is also worth considering the Roku 3 (which I might well get).

Connectivity to the TV shouldn't be a problem as long as the TV has HDMI ports, but there seem to be no audio only outputs.

[Old Grumpy]

We have Amazon Fire Stick - very good. We don't take any of the paying channels - all free. Works well and very easy to install and use.

OG

[Anastasius]

We have Amazon Fire Stick - very good. We don't take any of the paying channels - all free. Works well and very easy to install and use.

OG

What channels do you watch that are free and not available on Freeview/FreeSat ? I'm guessing the BBc iPlayer and other catch-up channels from the commercials.

The one thing to watch out for is whether you will exceed your monthly bandwidth. It doesn't take long watching Game of Thrones to hit ones limit. I know that some people have an uncapped service but others may not.

[Old Grumpy]

Our local transmitter has limited output so Fire Stick allows us to view other Freeview channels. This includes NOW TV there are about 5 free channels, which I imagine are the same as the NOW TV channels on Freeview.

OG

[Dave2002]

Not quite sure about this thread. Is the discussion about getting TV via Internet? I believe that the Now TV packages are very good, though the cheapest ones from a few weeks ago (£15 with 2 months Sky films, for example) are now around £25.

There is also a Fire HD tablet - which is perhaps not what is being talked about, but which might be of interest to me as a cheap tablet, suitable for travel.

[BBMmk2]

Not quite sure about this thread. Is the discussion about getting TV via Internet? I believe that the Now TV packages are very good, though the cheapest ones from a few weeks ago (£15 with 2 months Sky films, for example) are now around £25.

There is also a Fire HD tablet - which is perhaps not what is being talked about, but which might be of interest to me as a cheap tablet, suitable for travel.

It's mainly about what Forum member's of the amazon product fire TV Stick, Dave.

[Dave2002]

It's mainly about what Forum member's of the amazon product fire TV Stick, Dave.

OK. Do you have one, or are you thinking of buying one? It's not something which I have personal experience of, but I do have experience of various alternative products which should do similar things. If you haven't committed yet there may be other devices which will "do the job" - though it does rather depend what it is you want to do. For example, we have found that Chromecast is quite good if the units are close to the TV and the router, but much less good if situated a long way away from the router. That might rule out watching TV in bed. On the other hand the Now TV boxes do seem to work quite well even if the router is some way away. Some devices "cast" programmes from another device - for example an iPad throwing to a TV via a Chromecast or Apple TV. However they may work in different ways. I have never succeeded in getting good performance with our Apple TV on any channels thrown from our computers which are not installed in the ATV itself, and as such I'd consider that poor. On the other hand, if one wants a unit like that to watch paid for films - as we did the other night - then the experience is perfectly reasonable, and the Apple TV works well enough with the inbuilt channels - but some services are just not included in the package. One such is medici.tv, which despite anouncements that it is going to be included in the ATV environment, as yet does not seem to work - very disappointing.

So if you've not got one yet, think what you want one for, and then others might be able to tell you whether it works well enough at that.

[Nick Armstrong]

It's mainly about what Forum members [think] of the amazon product fire TV Stick, Dave.

I'll amend the thread title then, Bbm!

[johnb]

I'm sure that the Amazon Fire Stick is a good solid choice but I finally opted for the Roku 3 (which Tesco are selling for £57) - partly as an ineffectual contribution towards slowing Amazon's world domination, partly because I wanted an option to use ethernet as an alternative to WiFi (so chose the Roku 3 rather than the Roku stick) and partly because the device is well regarded with a wide range of channels (the overwhelming bulk of which I will never use).

[BBMmk2]

I'll amend the thread title then, Bbm!

Thanks Cali! :)

Dave2002, I see from the majority of the reviews are quite favourable towards this product, but seeing the very few unfavourable reviews, always makes me think twice! So I thought I'd put a thread on here and see what the other forum members thoughts were.

[Dave2002]

I'm sure that the Amazon Fire Stick is a good solid choice but I finally opted for the Roku 3 (which Tesco are selling for £57) - partly as an ineffectual contribution towards slowing Amazon's world domination, partly because I wanted an option to use ethernet as an alternative to WiFi (so chose the Roku 3 rather than the Roku stick) and partly because the device is well regarded with a wide range of channels (the overwhelming bulk of which I will never use).

I have a much earlier Roku model - basic, which is fine. Also most of the Now TV range are based on Roku models - though later than mine and they do have 1080 HD. One model has WiFi only, another has ethernet as well. They are very cheap compared with other models, thought trying to hook one into Sky and Now TV services - so one needs to remember to cancel any subscriptions set up by credit cards.

Re Amazon world domination, I'm probably about to buy an Amazon Fire tablet. I already have a first gen Kindle which I hardly ever use, but it's good when I do, and it's the only thing I've found with a screen which is readable in sunlight.

For bbm my guess is that the Amazon TV gadget is good for most people. Re the negative comments some were about pushy promotion of Amazon products and services. I note also that one newish Amazon gadget seems particularly targeted at Amazon Prime customers - I think it's a very low priced tablet - but not quite so cheap if one has to factor in the Prime service as well.

I'll be interested to hear how bbm gets on with the main unit(s) under discussion, if he goes ahead.

e.g Fire stick - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-...FbSD7Qod6jgD0Q

or http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-...39072-pdt.html
(with voice remote)
Fire HD http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-...39066-pdt.html

Some people seem to think the voice remote is worth having for the extra tenner or so, and for 4k one has to pay more.

[Stunsworth]

I bought a Fire Stick a couple of weeks ago when they were on offer at Curry's for £24.

Overall it works well, connects to the Wifi easily and provides 5.1 sound through my AV amp when appropriate.

However, it doesn't really do anything that my Apple TV and LG 4k TV can't do other than load 3rd party apps that aren't in the relevant app store - I suspect one of those, Kodi, is the reason many people buy the item.

[Sir Velo]

It's mainly about what Forum member's of the amazon product fire TV Stick, Dave.

No, I give up! I've struggled to work out the meaning of this sentence, but I'm flummoxed!

[Stunsworth]

No, I give up! I've struggled to work out the meaning of this sentence, but I'm flummoxed!

Add the word "think" between "member's" and "of".