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Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer

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Posted on December 10, 2014 at 21:20:02
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46302
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 Just got my Fire TV Stick today which I paid a whopping $19.95 for on a special pre-order promo. This thing is awesome! In addition to a number of typical services like Pandora, Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, etc., as an Amazon Prime subscriber, I get a boat load of free Amazon Prime Movies & Amazon Prime Music... which also includes streaming of complete CD albums that I have previously purchased from Amazon.

The tiny 'stick' plugs into an HDMI port on the back of my wall mounted TV and connects to services via wifi. No clutter and no cables to deal with.... except for a small USB power module. Just plug in the stick, it pairs with the provided remote, quickly connects to my wifi, and I'm ready to go.

If you are already an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can hardly go wrong with the Fire TV Stick (or the more powerful Amazon Fire TV box).

Between my Apple TV box and the Fire TV stick, I have just about every streaming service covered... in addition to my own content residing on my Mac that I can stream to the family room setup.













 

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RE: Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer, posted on December 10, 2014 at 23:53:35
PaulN
Audiophile

Posts: 1412
Joined: January 13, 2000
 I don't see any benefit over the Sony Blueray player I already have connected. It covers the services I actually use like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. So, is this for people that don't have a connected device? I don't really get it. Do you have a blu-ray player?

 

Roku, posted on December 11, 2014 at 01:55:22
bullethead
 I have a Roku and it works as well?

 

RE: Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer, posted on December 11, 2014 at 07:54:54
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46302
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 blu-ray player?

I have two of them in the basement along with a couple boxes of Blu-Ray Discs, and they're so last decade. ;-)

This device takes zero shelf space as it plugs into the back of our TV and it has more built-in Apps and services, additional downloadable Apps (w/o doing firmware updates), personal streaming capability, and more content partners than what is available for our Blu-Ray players.

Being purpose-built like the AppleTV, Roku, and other similar small boxes and tiny HDMI 'sticks', the menus and navigation are a lot faster and better designed vs what I find on Blu-Ray players and smart TV's where these capabilities are secondary.

Being a tiny HDMI plug-in device only slightly larger than a USB thumb drive, it's also portable for travel. The remote is also small.

At $39.95 the Fire TV stick is cheap for what it does. At the promo price of $19.95 I had nothing to lose and we love it!


 

RE: Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer, posted on December 11, 2014 at 16:15:30
Tom
Audiophile

Posts: 2081
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 27, 2000
Contributor
  Since: March 16, 2002
 I was looking at the Amazon Fire TV box, since it comes with the voice-activated remote (which is cool) and more robust processor/memory for $99.

I'm already a Prime member, so the Amazon gizmo makes sense.

How does it interface/play/stream with the Apple stuff that I already have (iPhone 5 and iPad Air)?

Thanks Abe!

 

RE: Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer, posted on December 11, 2014 at 19:40:37
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46302
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 The Amazon Fire TV box would be an even better choice if you have shelf space near the TV.

I haven't tried Fire TV stick with streaming content from my Mac located in another room. I believe there's an App to make that work but from what I read, has fairly poor ratings. We still have the Apple TV so we use that for streaming from the Mac, or AirPlay streaming and mirroring from the iPhone / iPad to the Apple TV.

 

RE: Amazon Fire TV Stick - A Google Chromecast Killer, posted on December 18, 2014 at 15:03:56
Tom
Audiophile

Posts: 2081
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 27, 2000
Contributor
  Since: March 16, 2002
 I just installed the app, and it's "OK" for music. Haven't tried video yet. It does mirror my iPhone 5.

But aside from all of that -- where Fire TV box really comes into its own -- is on 1080p streaming content from the Amazon library. (And I suppose Netflix too.) Yikes! It is spectacular! I've been watching 1080i content from DirecTV since they started broadcasting it. But 1080p is a whole other level for PQ.

I guess DirecTV now offers 1080p on some of their PPV content, but I've never tried it. And I don't do Blu-ray.

 

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