First experience with a fireTV stick

[Radioguy41]

I've had Amazon Prime for quite a while now and have always accessed it using the built-in app on the living room Vizio TV. Last week my son came up to help me shred and chip a huge pile of cuttings and he brought along a fireTV stick he got a couple of years ago (date on the manual is 2015) but never used. So I popped it onto the bedroom TV figuring at least I could use it to watch Thursday night football from the comfort of my bed. Other than it didn't seem to want to maintain a connection to Wi-Fi 5G of my dual band router it was easy to install and seems to work fine. Since the TV is a 32", 720p unit I don't see any advantage to upgrading the stick but ? (Not the least bit interested in voice remote )

 

[babnmn]

You might not have that well of an experience with the older models of firesticks. Some apps will not even upgrade on the older units. I would think it might be a gen 2 that you have. Other problem is 5ghz on wifi has a shorter range then 2.4ghz. Websites to help you out : hXXps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Fire_TV , and hxxps://troypoint.com/ . Change the XX to TT.

 

[Radioguy41]

I know 5G has less range but we're only talking 15 feet and devices 35-40 feet away work fine on 5G.

Update: Aha, I just noticed the copyright date on the bottom edge of the box is 2014. I Googled the UPC code and it pops up as a 1st gen. Hmmm, collectors item.

 

[lparsons21]

I know 5G has less range but we're only talking 15 feet and devices 35-40 feet away work fine on 5G.

Update: Aha, I just noticed the copyright date on the bottom edge of the box is 2014. I Googled the UPC code and it pops up as a 1st gen. Hmmm, collectors item.

Yeah, pretty much a closet dweller at the very most! . Even if it would work, it would be slow and irritating.

 

[Bobby]

You could upgrade that bedroom TV to something smart. Then you could probably go a bit bigger and with 4K. That would make your bedroom watching a bit more pleasant.

 

[Radioguy41]

and it would fall of the table it sits on cause the legs wouldn't fit. Nah, for the little it gets used it's not cost effective to replace.

 

[TheKrell]

Other than it didn't seem to want to maintain a connection to Wi-Fi 5G of my dual band router

I couldn't use 2 or even 3 of my FireTV sticks on 5GHz because of crappy reception. I upgraded to the Orbi mesh router, put a satellite in my middle bedroom, and voila. All fixed.

I know 5G has less range but we're only talking 15 feet and devices 35-40 feet away work fine on 5G.

Update: Aha, I just noticed the copyright date on the bottom edge of the box is 2014. I Googled the UPC code and it pops up as a 1st gen. Hmmm, collectors item.

Oh. Yeah, 15' isn't much. I Googled mine and I claim they are all 2nd gen and able to take a voice remote. The 1st gen could not. Who on the web told you it was 1st gen?

 

[Radioguy41]

First, it does not have a voice remote second, the date on the box is 2014 and third, if you Google the UPC code the UPC database will tell you what gen it is.

 

[HobbyTalk]

Just connect to the 2.4G side of the WiFi. You have no need to the extra bandwidth that 5G offers using 720p

 

[Radioguy41]

First, it does not have a voice remote second, the date on the box is 2014 and third, if you Google the UPC code the UPC database will tell you what gen it is.

Too late to edit the post so I'll add some info here in case someone stumbles onto it in the future. In addition to the info I already posted there are two other criteria for determining a 1st gen; first, the body is 3 inches long (3.3 if you count the HDMI connector) and second, if you look close on the side with the FEC code, just beneath in fine print it says "Model No. W87CUN".

 

[wormil]

Twice this year they put the 4k on sale for $30. Doesn't matter if you have 4k or not.

 

[ncted]

Amazon Devices on sale today:

Device Deals on Kindle, Fire TV, Ring Doorbell & More | Amazon

Shop now for deals on the Echo Dot, tablets, Kindle e-readers, streaming devices, smart home security devices like Ring doorbells and Blink cameras, and more.

smile.amazon.com

Firestick 4K: $29.99
FireTV Cube: $79.99

I ordered a Cube. I am tempted to get 3 more for the other TVs in the house as I am sick of running out of space on my Firesticks and finding less used apps uninstalled.

 

[Lehman bud farm]

Amazon Devices on sale today:

Firestick 4K: $29.99
FireTV Cube: $79.99

I ordered a Cube. I am tempted to get 3 more for the other TVs in the house as I am sick of running out of space on my Firesticks and finding less used apps uninstalled.

You won't be sorry, we did the same thing and partially for the same reasons.
There is also a bit more ram in the cube than the firestick.

Nice price on the cube you found there!

 

[ncted]

You won't be sorry, we did the same thing and partially for the same reasons.
There is also a bit more ram in the cube than the firestick.

Nice price on the cube you found there!

I went ahead and ordered a second one for the TV in the Kitchen, which we use second most.

 

[wormil]

Amazon is blowing out Recast, which probably means a new model coming. Can't decide whether to buy or wait.

 

[lparsons21]

Amazon is blowing out Recast, which probably means a new model coming. Can't decide whether to buy or wait.

I don’t know if they are bringing out a new one or not, but the current price is very good. You should note that it only works with FireTV devices. That’s not a bad thing, but it does lock you in to the FireTV and going forward it may be worth considering an alternative.

Like the AirTV Anywhere 4-tuner, 1TB OTA DVR. Uses the SlingTV app which is pretty much available on everything out there. It is $199 retail. But SlingTV had an offer for $99 if you sign up for Sling Blue or Gold for 3 months and prepay. Total $189.

I’ve got both for who knows what reason. The guide width is the only thing that is much different. On the Recast it is 2 weeks, on the AirTV it is one week.

 

[Radioguy41]

OK, ok, you guys twisted my arm (ouch), I ordered a 4K stick. It's Alexa's birthday sale and they're marked down from $49.99 to $29.99 so what the heck.

 

[ncted]

FYI: returning both Cubes. I couldn't get one of them to work with my Samsung LN32A450 in the kitchen, which admittedly is an old TV, but the Firestick 4K works fine on it. The other one I got for the living room had issues with maintaining UHD picture quality on Amazon Prime Video content, and, when I tried to use my BT headphones, playback would jump to ~2x with no audio. A reboot of the device would fix it temporarily, but it would come back the next time I connected the headphones. Also, no similar issues with the Firestick 4K in the same location.

 

[Radioguy41]

The 4K came yesterday and got installed today. It took quite a while to update itself but other then length of time all went well. I'll have to run it through the mill over the next couple of days and see how it goes. More to follow.

 

[Yespage]

Like the Firestick, got it for the 4K initially. It is pretty good stuff for its size. The only thing I don't like is needing to sideload Vudu or competing apps. My TV has a Vudu App, so I don't bother.

One issue I have had is with Plex seemingly incapable of decoding H.264 streaming files. Roku doesn't suffer from this.