4K streaming stick

[fatandwheezing]

My emergency lockdown purchase LG TV is starting to get a bit flaky with internet connection. I use a Roku in the other room, but is a Fire stick significantly better in any way? Not interested in loading a dodgy app, which seems to be the usual reason touted for the Fire Stick.

[Ed Boon II]

I’ve got 2x Firestick Max’s, lounge and bedroom and use them for everything from watching freeview, YouTube, Netflix , Discovery, TNT and you can even game on them too with the Luna app.

I can control my TV and speaker thing all from the same remote and when we’re away in the caravan or Motorhome we take one with us and hotspot from my phone.

There’s the Fire Cube too, but not too sure what benefits it gives you over the stick, I’d have a hdmi cable on show if I used the cube whereas the stick is all tucked away with no cables showing.

[fatandwheezing]

Ed Boon II said:

I can control my TV and speaker thing all from the same remote and when we re away in the caravan or Motorhome we take one with us and hotspot from my phone.

Now that is very good to know. Not needing 2 remotes is very attractive, and the icons have all rubbed off the TV remote.

[Tye Green]

we have 3 firesticks and they work fine except the commercials are a serious PITA.

whenever they're switched on they give really loud adverts - much louder than your preffered volume that you've set on your TV.

suppose you have your TV volume setting at (say) 20, when you turn the FS on it will deliver adverts at volume 40. if you use it to listen to Amazon music the problem is even worse than You Tube adverts as the advert volume destroys any possible music enjoyment you would hope to achieve - it's prob 3 x as loud and an advert every 2 - 3 tracks!. of course, they are tring to get you to pay for the service!

any TV channel apart from BBC will serve adverts before the TV program runs so if you want to watch a news channel at 6pm tune it at 5.58.

it's about as annoying as click bait that you can't avoid...

[butchstewie]

These things are very personal but if you want a nice clean interface and sensible multi-tasking you'd do worse than look at an Apple TV 4K.

[Legmaster]

Tye Green said:

we have 3 firesticks and they work fine except the commercials are a serious PITA.

whenever they're switched on they give really loud adverts - much louder than your preffered volume that you've set on your TV.

suppose you have your TV volume setting at (say) 20, when you turn the FS on it will deliver adverts at volume 40. if you use it to listen to Amazon music the problem is even worse than You Tube adverts as the advert volume destroys any possible music enjoyment you would hope to achieve - it's prob 3 x as loud and an advert every 2 - 3 tracks!. of course, they are tring to get you to pay for the service!

any TV channel apart from BBC will serve adverts before the TV program runs so if you want to watch a news channel at 6pm tune it at 5.58.

it's about as annoying as click bait that you can't avoid...

Settings / Preferences / Featured Content / then disable video & audio autoplay.

[RotorRambler]

These are £33.99 at the moment.
Looks a good deal, if you need the power adapter..
“ Fire TV Stick 4K Select (newest gen) + Mission USB Power Cable for Amazon Fire TV”

Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 16th November 12:11

[Tye Green]

Legmaster said:

Tye Green said:

we have 3 firesticks and they work fine except the commercials are a serious PITA.

whenever they're switched on they give really loud adverts - much louder than your preffered volume that you've set on your TV.

suppose you have your TV volume setting at (say) 20, when you turn the FS on it will deliver adverts at volume 40. if you use it to listen to Amazon music the problem is even worse than You Tube adverts as the advert volume destroys any possible music enjoyment you would hope to achieve - it's prob 3 x as loud and an advert every 2 - 3 tracks!. of course, they are tring to get you to pay for the service!

any TV channel apart from BBC will serve adverts before the TV program runs so if you want to watch a news channel at 6pm tune it at 5.58.

it's about as annoying as click bait that you can't avoid...

Settings / Preferences / Featured Content / then disable video & audio autoplay.

thanks - i did that and it stops autoplay but the adverts between music tracks are still at 4 x music volume and make the thing un-useable without Amazon Prime subscription

[ozzuk]

RotorRambler said:

These are £33.99 at the moment.
Looks a good deal, if you need the power adapter..
Fire TV Stick 4K Select (newest gen) + Mission USB Power Cable for Amazon Fire TV

Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 16th November 12:11

Black Friday deals start in 3 days. I seem to pick another up every year, I've three now and I'm sure I pay around £20-25 this time of year and will be picking up another for my dad!

[RotorRambler]

ozzuk said:

RotorRambler said:

These are £33.99 at the moment.
Looks a good deal, if you need the power adapter..
Fire TV Stick 4K Select (newest gen) + Mission USB Power Cable for Amazon Fire TV

Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 16th November 12:11

Black Friday deals start in 3 days. I seem to pick another up every year, I've three now and I'm sure I pay around £20-25 this time of year and will be picking up another for my dad!

Good point
A few more days..
Also the one I mentioned has terrible reviews!

[Gary29]

Tye Green said:

thanks - i did that and it stops autoplay but the adverts between music tracks are still at 4 x music volume and make the thing un-useable without Amazon Prime subscription

Have a look at your sound settings, I've had firesticks for years, but only just found the sound settings the other day, noise levelling, and speech priority etc, there are quite a few to have a mess with.

I finally fixed the Netflix issue of the speech being whisper quiet and the effects being foundation rattling.

[phil-sti]

RotorRambler said:

ozzuk said:

RotorRambler said:

These are £33.99 at the moment.
Looks a good deal, if you need the power adapter..
Fire TV Stick 4K Select (newest gen) + Mission USB Power Cable for Amazon Fire TV

Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 16th November 12:11

Black Friday deals start in 3 days. I seem to pick another up every year, I've three now and I'm sure I pay around £20-25 this time of year and will be picking up another for my dad!

Good point
A few more days..
Also the one I mentioned has terrible reviews!

Just a word of warning, Firestick select doesn't allow sideloading of apps as it isn't an android stick like the others.

[stevoknevo]

phil-sti said:

RotorRambler said:

ozzuk said:

RotorRambler said:

These are £33.99 at the moment.
Looks a good deal, if you need the power adapter..
Fire TV Stick 4K Select (newest gen) + Mission USB Power Cable for Amazon Fire TV

Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 16th November 12:11

Black Friday deals start in 3 days. I seem to pick another up every year, I've three now and I'm sure I pay around £20-25 this time of year and will be picking up another for my dad!

Good point
A few more days..
Also the one I mentioned has terrible reviews!

Just a word of warning, Firestick select doesn't allow sideloading of apps as it isn't an android stick like the others.

I tried to post saying the same yesterday and kept getting a forbidden error - the newest 4k Max has twice the RAM/ROM Dolby Vision and Atmos, WiFi 6, and will be £40 on BF (it's the same price on Prime days - I bought one last BF and another on the last Prime day, other retailers match the price because I got both from Argos)