back to article Entertaining prospect: Amazon Fire TV Stick

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick may well be late to the streaming HDMI dongle party but, as is the company’s wont, it’s even later when it comes to turning up in European markets. Still, it’s here now and keenly priced too at just £35. OK, so Google’s Chromecast is only £30 but at least Amazon supplies a remote control. Amazon Fire TV …

  1. K

    Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

    I brought a Chromecast a few months ago, plugged into my TV, thought it was quite cool... but never used it again! Save your money..

    These type of products always make me thing of Impossible Mission on the C64

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

      Depends on what get them for. I've just moved house and currently have nothing feeding me a TV signal. One Roku streaming stick later I have great quality iPlayer and Game of Thrones from sky with a free 3 month Now TV trial that will keep me tided over til I install the freesat Satellite dish and kit. Then it will probably go into the office as a backup TV source for those rooms without a satellite feed.

      Bit of a bargain really.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

        My friend's Chromecast gets quite a bit of use. Multiple people in the room can use their iOS/Android phones and tablets to queue, for example, YouTube videos to the big TV. He also uses it to display streaming web video being played on his girlfriend's iMac from the next room.

        Whether or not it is worth it depend upon your existing kit and your viewing habits. Much of the above functionality he already had, by controlling a PlayStation 3 YouTube app with an iPad. Occasionally his housemate connects a laptop to the same TV to watch football.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          (Shiny and Pointless)

          'He also uses it to display streaming web video being played on his girlfriend's iMac from the next room'

          Phwoar!

      2. K

        Re: Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

        I never mentioned Roku :) Nothing against such a box that will allow you to stream from a local NAS or streaming server. Used to use one myself til I put a gaming PC in the lounge.

        I also know people who love things like the Amazon stick for their simplicity and convenience, but its a niche product. Also if you've got the time and know how, then a Raspberry Pie or Intel Stick will give nearly everything the Amazon stick does, and a whole lot more besides and your not tied to Amazon with it...

        1. Andy Nugent

          Re: Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

          A niche product?

          I think you've got it the wrong way around. Lots of people find a £30-40 simple to install stick that gives access to Netflix, iPlayer, YouTube, etc. useful.

          "a box that will allow you to stream from a local NAS or streaming server" is a niche product (and yes, I have a streaming server, I just accept the fact that the majority of people have no desire to set up a home server & rip their DVD collection)

    2. DrXym

      Re: Its all about the SP Factor (Shiny and Pointless)

      I find the Chromecast quite useful for travelling. It's small and I can plug it into the hotel / rented property's TV and get streaming video. When I'm not travelling it gets hooked up to a TV in a spare room. Last night I was streaming from a DLNA server to it via the BubbleUPnP app.

      I think I would prefer it if it came with a remote, and persistent apps but it's fine for the purpose I use it for.

  2. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Meh

    Not the solution for me

    Like all of these kinds of product, they're interesting but quickly lead to the conclusion that at least two dongles and associated paraphernalia are required as supplements to, say, a Freeview enabled TV. The simple integrated pick and mix eludes me, unless you count a top-wack package from Virgin or Sky.

    Pedant point: Can writers generally stop referring to "the cloud" which is a meaningless, ill (un-!) defined concept. If you mean "stored on Google's servers", or "stored on Amazon's servers", please say so.

  3. Adam JC

    Kodi/XMBC

    Can I just point out, that I've ordered one of these to play with and managed to get Kodi (Formerly XBMC) working on it *reliably* - Transforms this into an *extremely* tempting little gadget......

    1. Zot

      Re: Kodi/XMBC

      Did you get the remote to work with it as well?

      1. Efros

        Re: Kodi/XMBC

        The remote works fine within XBMC.

      2. Adam JC

        Re: Kodi/XMBC

        Yes mate, works natively with the build I grabbed! :-)

      3. Adam JC

        Re: Kodi/XMBC

        Sorry for the late reply Zot - I actually use an App on my Galaxy S6 Edge Plus for it, called 'Kore':

        Works extremely well! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore&hl=en_GB

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Paul

      Re: Kodi/XMBC

      I use my fire tv stick instead my Chromecast now, much easier to control Netflix with a simple remote control.

      That and kodi are its main purpose

    4. Monkeyman

      Re: Kodi/XMBC

      A major reason why these are flying off the shelves is because they are now the Kodi device of choice... i find it a little strange that a tech review didn't even mention this.

  4. gerryg

    one feature omitted and a user comparison

    I got a Chromecast on special offer (£15 with about that on credit with Google play) I was offered a Fire Stick for £18 so I thought I'd give it a go.

    Both have their plus points

    The Firestick has 8 (5 free?) GB of memory which enables buffering and makes HD watchable on my 19Mb/s broadband - it's more like a DVD experience

    Using your phone or table with Chromecast is OK but still gives a clunky UI, I prefer the Firestick remote control, clunky UI, but easier to use.

    Use case: I don't have TV and find it neither shiny nor pointless

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: one feature omitted and a user comparison

      'Using your phone or table with Chromecast is OK'

      Table wtf?

  5. Jim McDonald
    Thumb Up

    Thumbs up from me.

    Got mine for £19, so worth a punt. They had a special on a week or two ago dropping it from £35 to £25 but that only lasted a day or so. However they may repeat it so keep an eye out.

    I second the reviewer about a strong WiFi signal, buffering can occur in weak signal areas. It does have b/g/n 2x2 MIMO so worth putting it on the 5GHz rather than 2.4GHz if, like me, you're airwaves are swamped by the neighbours ISP issued vanilla Routers.

    I've side loaded Kodi for DLNA streaming, and use the Miracast feature too from my phone. Took it to France & Spain recently, very useful indeed!

    Well worth the money (assuming you don't put it in a poor WiFi spot on 2.4GHz).

  6. Third Man

    Buy on offer 19 or 20 quid - side-load kodi and point it at your media server, and deals with Samsung compatibility/upgrade issues pretty cheaply ;-)

  7. Dr_N

    I got one...

    It's good for the price. Especially if you already have Prime.

    Have to be careful if your Amazon account is in multiple countries: best to set up a new virgin account in the country you want it to log into. Otherwise it gets confused and then won't let you stream any video content due to region restrictions.

    Remote interface is just right.

    Also has Miracast support.

    What's not to like?

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: I got one...

      Watch out with Amazon. They'll try to sting you UK VAT even if you are physically outside the EU and not liable for UK VAT If you use your UK Amazon Account

      1. e^iπ+1=0

        UK VAT

        Obviously they're attempting to comply with all these terrible aspersions about not paying tax in certain jurisdictions.

  8. Jason Hindle

    Not for me, but anything that makes a dumb old telly smarter.....

    The Smart TV, and Playstation 4, already have the Amazon Prime Streaming app. If you're getting enough free deliveries to justify Prime, then the streaming service is a nice bonus*. I do have Chromecast, but that's because I have quite a bit of purchased content from Goolge Play (that I paid very little for). Both the Chromecast and Firestick are a more convenient way to access Netflix and iPlayer (just control through the corresponding phone or tablet app), so no complaints there.

    * Hey, I though Extant was alright!

  9. Efros

    Installing AGK Fire on your phone, enabling ADB on the stick, finding the stick's IP address will allow you to install any app that your phone has on your Fire Stick, your mileage may vary as to their usability but it does widen the apps available to the Fire Stick. I managed to get a Twitch client installed which keeps my grandsons relatively happy when their visits become a bit too boring.

  10. Picky
    Happy

    Plex on a NOW TV box third the price

    Sideload Plex onto a NOW TV Roku box (£10) and Bobs a male relative

    1. Sgt_Oddball

      Re: Plex on a NOW TV box third the price

      There's only two things I can fault the now TV box for and that's only being 720p (though our TV is first gen lcd hd and only goes to 1080i anyways so no great loss) and you can't get Netflix on it (again not much of about issue since I've never bothered with Netflix anyway)

    2. TonyJ

      Re: Plex on a NOW TV box third the price

      Plex on a NOW TV box third the price

      Sideload Plex onto a NOW TV Roku box (£10) and Bobs a male relative

      I have a few NowTV boxes and they have a mix of Plex (moved away from) and Emby (what was MediaBrowser 3 which I can seriously recommend trying out). But as I understand it, it is now much more difficult to sideload other applications onto them?

      If only the NowTV boxes would do Amazon Prime streaming, it'd be perfect for my uses.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I found the UI to be terrible, and the WiFi to be even worse, so unfortunately I sold mine within a few weeks of getting it. Just found it not to be an attractive or useful product - the UI really is horrible and clunky to use. (As is normal for Amazon)

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    not so useful abroad

    Amazon video is geofenced. Maybe it works with purchased content, but not inclusive content.

  13. Frenchie Lad

    Typo Error! Shame on you!

    The very last phrase should have read:

    "and we can plug, power and pay all over again."

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've been disappointed with my Chromecast, the juddery picture I found very annoying. I like the sound of this from Amazon in particular the set up for when using in a hotel etc. I recently tried to use my Chromecast but because the WiFi needed a log in page filling out as well as the password the Chromecast couldn't get to this so was useless.

    I have Amazon Prime and Netflix subscriptions and being able to access both from this is appealing. My Samsung smart tv seems to have lost the Netflix app and I can't get it back so watching everything through the PS3 at the mo. Seems a waste to have to have the PS3 on for hours though and the controller is effectively connected and in use all the time so is hitting the battery life.

    I'm glad Amazon have opened this up a bit so can access other apps too rather than just their own.

  15. Peshman

    I have mine loaded with plex and Kodi and use it for nothing else. The Mrs uses the Prime Vid service via the app built into our telly. The native plex client on the Fire stick is much better than the one for Sammy telly but at least I have a choice. I could, if I could be bothered, install PleXBMC on the firestick to consolidate things but the native plex client is a much nicer interface according to YouTube so I won't bother.

  16. Scuby

    Flixster

    I bought one of these for the bedroom telly when it was £19 (Amazon Prime Offer), just because it has a flixster app for my Ultraviolet collection where the AppleTV doesn't (come on Apple, it's about freaking time already!)

    Works fantastically well, so now I stream Amazon Prime and Flixster. Works amazingly well, even when it's not plugged into a mains outlet (I power it from one my TV's USB ports)

  17. Kubla Cant

    How does the remote communicate?

    To judge from the pictures, this thing will be dangling just below an HDMI port. On all the TVs I've seen (not, admittedly, a large number), the HDMI ports are at the back, so the dongle will be out of sight. All the remote controls I've used communicate by infra-red, and so need line-of-sight to the receiver. Does the Amazon dongle use RF or something?

    1. Cameron Colley

      Re: How does the remote communicate?

      Yes, it's RF, makes one wonder why anyone would use annoying line-of-site bollocks nowadays. (Sorry just a bee in my bonnet.)

  18. David Nash Silver badge

    iplayer

    I got one of these (£19 offer as a Prime member) just for the iplayer, since the BBC broke it on my Sony Blu-Ray.

    It's the same iplayer app as on my son's PS3, which we were using, but seems to work much more smoothly and reliably and without messing around with PS Network subscriptions, logging in, updating firmware, etc.

    We also use it for Prime Video, good for watching old episodes of Bottom and so on.

    Yes the remote is RF. Not sure what flavour, but the Amazon and iPhone apps work fine over wifi too.

  19. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    Sad me

    I lost a bit of love for Amazon at Christmas. They gave me a month's trial of Prime, just as I was buying Christmas prezzies, so I took them up on their kind offer. Thinking that it was about time I got myself some of this streaming video malarkey. I also happened to have bought a Google Chromecast stick, because someone was coming over to watch an American football match at mine, and it was so cheap I decided it was easier than moving the PC to the sitting room for streaming purposes. Easy access to iPlayer and a cheap toy.

    I was a bit disappointed that Amazon didn't have an app on the Chromecast. Particularly given their attitude to Kindle, where they had apps on almost everyone's systems - so you could know there'd be a good chance to access books you'd bought in many years time. Not that I did, but that's a promise I would severely doubt now.

    But OK, Amazon have got their Fire TV, and stick in the US, so maybe they couldn't be bothered to write an app. So off I toddled to the PC, open the Chrome browser, and then if you launch the video player in its own window you can cast to Chromecast. Ah, nope. Amazon have deliberately blocked this. So now I'm intrigued, and do a bit of research online. Amazon have also blocked Apple AirPlay, so I can have their app and watch stuff on my iPad, but not cast to the big screen.

    Now I'm a bit annoyed. Then I look for some content to watch. I think I searched for about 15 different things. Series or films. Some quite old too. They're all on there. Hooray! Oh no, hang on, there's no button to watch them. But I can buy them? Huh? Oh, I see. They're not actually available on Amazon Prime Instant Irritating Video - there's no way to just filter for stuff you've actually paid to watch, you can't use other devices to watch it, and basically you're paying them £5 a month for them to advertise stuff at you that they would sell to you anyway.

    So I cancelled my Prime membership that evening, in case I forgot later. The Chromecast does the NFL app and iPlayer, plus Youtube. So far, that's enough. Apple TV is tempting, but quite restrictive, and I guess the real answer is a mini-PC or maybe a Roku. But everything out there seems to be limited in one petty way or another.

    Amazon have disappointed me though. They used to be all about the content. But now they've gone into making mediocre tablets and phones, that seems to be changing.

  20. FlossyThePig

    Catchup TV

    Which streaming devices give direct access to the 4 main catchup/on demand services, i.e BBC iPlayer ITV Player, all4 (nee 4OD) and Demand 5?

    Roku devices do but not Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV stick, Apple TV...

    My 4OD app has automatically updated to all4.

  21. Deltics

    Everything in the cloud ?

    "the approach that Amazon and Google take"

    I'm, guessing this "comparative review" was written by someone who hadn't actually used the things they opted to compare with then.

    Hint: Plex can Chromecast even when viewing content from your home Plex media server.

  22. Famousgrouse666

    How do you register an amazon fire stick! It keeps telling me to create an account but when I do it just keeps going back to the original screen like I've entered fake details or something! They tell you to go to amazon/account but that just brings up my normal app account nothing to register the fire stick!! Have I just wasted my money!!!!!

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