Firestick vs smart TV
Discussion
Hi all
I've read about buying a new TV and one problem that keeps getting mentioned is the poor performance of the 'smart bit' either it doesn't support enough apps or has bloatware and sluggish etc
Without being stupid if you had a Amazon 4k firestick plugged in the back of any TV would this not solve all the problems?
So as a real example I were to buy
1. https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl43wf663-l...
plus
2. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8914820?clickSR=sl...
Would this setup be decent, because the way I see it the Sony TV is good but not very smart as its a 2018 model yet the Firestick gives it the clever bit for £375 + £55; job done?
I've read about buying a new TV and one problem that keeps getting mentioned is the poor performance of the 'smart bit' either it doesn't support enough apps or has bloatware and sluggish etc
Without being stupid if you had a Amazon 4k firestick plugged in the back of any TV would this not solve all the problems?
So as a real example I were to buy
1. https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl43wf663-l...
plus
2. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8914820?clickSR=sl...
Would this setup be decent, because the way I see it the Sony TV is good but not very smart as its a 2018 model yet the Firestick gives it the clever bit for £375 + £55; job done?
Interesting - We have the opposite experience (although I had older firesticks).
We have Samsung smart TVs and the interface is pretty slick and fast - all the apps just work and we spend more time using the apps on the TV than anything else.
I wouldn't go back to a fire stick now as the built in experience is way superior in our house!
We have Samsung smart TVs and the interface is pretty slick and fast - all the apps just work and we spend more time using the apps on the TV than anything else.
I wouldn't go back to a fire stick now as the built in experience is way superior in our house!
I've had a fire stick for years as my old TV was slow with the smart stuff and support for updates only lasted a few years. Couple of years back I upgraded to a new generation Phillips, running Android TV. Was going to get a 4k stick but found the TV worked just fine and offered more services than my existing non-4k firestick. Performance wise it's been great so I've not seen the need.
Basically, unless you're considering getting a Firestick in the Black Friday sale (where it might be slightly cheaper than the other times it is reduced) then get the TV you want, see how it goes on the Smart side, and if not happy then get a fire stick.
My 2p part based on my experience.
Basically, unless you're considering getting a Firestick in the Black Friday sale (where it might be slightly cheaper than the other times it is reduced) then get the TV you want, see how it goes on the Smart side, and if not happy then get a fire stick.
My 2p part based on my experience.
dapprman said:
I've had a fire stick for years as my old TV was slow with the smart stuff and support for updates only lasted a few years. Couple of years back I upgraded to a new generation Phillips, running Android TV. Was going to get a 4k stick but found the TV worked just fine and offered more services than my existing non-4k firestick. Performance wise it's been great so I've not seen the need.
Basically, unless you're considering getting a Firestick in the Black Friday sale (where it might be slightly cheaper than the other times it is reduced) then get the TV you want, see how it goes on the Smart side, and if not happy then get a fire stick.
My 2p part based on my experience.
Yea, I should probably add that my smart TV is 4 years old, and I'm sure they have improved.Basically, unless you're considering getting a Firestick in the Black Friday sale (where it might be slightly cheaper than the other times it is reduced) then get the TV you want, see how it goes on the Smart side, and if not happy then get a fire stick.
My 2p part based on my experience.
..and the really fast fire stick is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/fire-tv-stick-4k-max-stre...
(and I don't have wi-fi 6)
Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 18th November 12:07
fat80b said:
Interesting - We have the opposite experience (although I had older firesticks).
We have Samsung smart TVs and the interface is pretty slick and fast - all the apps just work and we spend more time using the apps on the TV than anything else.
I wouldn't go back to a fire stick now as the built in experience is way superior in our house!
We have a ~5 y/o Samsung "Smart" (derisive snort) TV and it's a complete PoS. The interface is slow, clunky, crashes all the time (requiring a hard reboot of the telly), the apps are unreliable, crashy and all have different UIs. The iPlayer app stopped working and it took Samsung 3 months to fix it. It also loses touch with the Samsung sound bar regularly, requiring a reboot of the bar, TV or both. We've had the guts replaced twice and I've spent many hours on the 'phone to Samsung.We have Samsung smart TVs and the interface is pretty slick and fast - all the apps just work and we spend more time using the apps on the TV than anything else.
I wouldn't go back to a fire stick now as the built in experience is way superior in our house!
Then we bought a Roku, which completely blows away the "Smart" (derisive snort) bit of the telly. We only use the telly as a display panel now.
I've taken to referring to the company as "Samdung", and I will never ever buy another of their products.
Zumbruk said:
GetCarter said:
Zumbruk said:
SMART = "Surveillance Masquerading As Radical Technology"
..and you think Pistonheads isn't?Top tip... look at the ads.
("Whataboutery") :0)
Captain Answer said:
If its a TV with in-built Android they are usually flawless and work great, for anything else at home I've put in a Firestick
My experience with Android in a 2015 Bravia has not been great. It had all sorts of performance issues which affected even regular TV watching (the TV part is basically an Android app) which got slowly patched .. The base OS is still on the UI from several releases back and I'm not sure if it's even getting security patches any more. The hardware spec for running the OS is far from impressive too - even when the set was new it was underpowered.I basically use a Shield TV as it's way more powerful and better supported. Even a modern FireTV stick/Chromecast w/GoogleTV would be a better choice than relying on a built-in TV OS as it will typically be better supported and you can just upgrade it with a cheap new version if needed.
GetCarter said:
Zumbruk said:
GetCarter said:
Zumbruk said:
SMART = "Surveillance Masquerading As Radical Technology"
..and you think Pistonheads isn't?Top tip... look at the ads.
("Whataboutery") :0)
Lucas Ayde said:
Captain Answer said:
If its a TV with in-built Android they are usually flawless and work great, for anything else at home I've put in a Firestick
My experience with Android in a 2015 Bravia has not been great. It had all sorts of performance issues which affected even regular TV watching (the TV part is basically an Android app) which got slowly patched .. The base OS is still on the UI from several releases back and I'm not sure if it's even getting security patches any more. The hardware spec for running the OS is far from impressive too - even when the set was new it was underpowered.I basically use a Shield TV as it's way more powerful and better supported. Even a modern FireTV stick/Chromecast w/GoogleTV would be a better choice than relying on a built-in TV OS as it will typically be better supported and you can just upgrade it with a cheap new version if needed.
mgsontour said:
This is what I'm getting at, not everyone has problems but those who do they are the smart bit of the TV as I said initially. I'm edging towards a decent TV and a separate bit of smartness plugged in the back
Everyone I know has reached that conclusion. What you want is a high quality "dumb" panel with lots of HDMI inputs. They're hard to get, though.The apps/OS on most TV's rarely get updates so a device like Firestick/Roku/Google TV is best.
My main TV is a 2021 Hisense and has Google TV (called something else) installed on it, it works well, but I don't use it as I have Google Chromecast with Google TV plugged in instead,
Upstairs, the LG OS is old now so we have a 4K Firestick plugged in, I'm probably going to get a Google TV for that as well to keep it all uniform.
My main TV is a 2021 Hisense and has Google TV (called something else) installed on it, it works well, but I don't use it as I have Google Chromecast with Google TV plugged in instead,
Upstairs, the LG OS is old now so we have a 4K Firestick plugged in, I'm probably going to get a Google TV for that as well to keep it all uniform.
Zumbruk said:
Everyone I know has reached that conclusion. What you want is a high quality "dumb" panel with lots of HDMI inputs. They're hard to get, though.
Yes, yes, yes. . . . . but they must be on available because the mainstream doesn't think like us. . . . . . . . so does anyone know where I can get a decent deal on one between 43 to 50" but not as big as 55? CheersI have a Sony Android TV which is still holding its own against the Firestick equipped TVs we have....but I wouldn't bet against it being out of date before the Firesticks are, and it would definitively cost more to upgrade...
When that point comes, assuming the panel still works, it'll get a Firestick.
When that point comes, assuming the panel still works, it'll get a Firestick.
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