TV "Firesticks", etc., Any good.?
Tried to upgrade TalkTalk this week for an entertainment boost, not for me. After going through all the rigamarole and then trying to install - no result. My wife phoned TT and after 30 mins we learned that we could not have the boost as we do not have access to fibre.. She is now doing her nut because she has no access to such "rubbish"
I used to buy ComputerActivey,, and the mag.did a review of various such sticks. Ar such things any good, useful, and how much do they cost ?
Recommendations awaited.
I used to buy ComputerActivey,, and the mag.did a review of various such sticks. Ar such things any good, useful, and how much do they cost ?
Recommendations awaited.
I don't use mine. My smart TV connects to Amazon Prime anyway - it even has a dedicated button for it.
But tbh there's little on AP which interests me. I mostly use the TV to watch YouTube and DVDs.
But tbh there's little on AP which interests me. I mostly use the TV to watch YouTube and DVDs.
We have a connected TV, but the sticks are great for the TV's in the grandsons' bedrooms.
I used to get Netflix for the Jan/Mar quarter and watch what we wanted when the weather was bad, turning it off the rest of the time.
Now we have Neflix (inc in our Virgin package) and AP.
The nice thing about streaming services is you can suspend them for periods when you're not using them.
I used to get Netflix for the Jan/Mar quarter and watch what we wanted when the weather was bad, turning it off the rest of the time.
Now we have Neflix (inc in our Virgin package) and AP.
The nice thing about streaming services is you can suspend them for periods when you're not using them.
I use Amazon fire stick great for connecting TVs in rooms without cable, also a Amazon prime user which allows unlimited cloud photo storage, access to music, films, boxsets, also as an avid reader I have a Kindle and you get use of their lending library. You need reasonable internet connectivity though. It also has apps for Netflix, iPlayer type services and Now TV which I sometimes I purchase a thee month entertainment pass and blitz their boxsets and programs like Game of thrones.
Simple answer - yes the Amazon Fire stick is great for streaming... BUT you will need a decently fast internet connection.
If you can stream say Netflix on your computer, you can probably do it OK on the Fire stick.
I use mine for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, Now TV, BBC iPlayer and the equivalents from ITV, C4 and 5. You can also get FreeVee, YouTube and a whole bunch of other stuff.
The Fire TV Stick is £40, but I got both of mine on Prime Day or Black Friday, when they are half price.
Once again though, if you want Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ or NowTV (Sky) you have the cost of subscription on top.
Fire sticks just work off your wifi, add this to it and I can speed thing up a far bit.
ethenet adapter
ethenet adapter
Quote:Fire sticks just work off your wifi, add this to it and I can speed thing up a far bit.
ethenet adapter
Most wifi should be faster than your internet connection, so it shouldn't really make a difference.
I have a Fire TV Box as well as the sticks (which they don't appear to make any more) and they were larger and had an ethernet connection. Unfortunately, it seems the development team assumed everyone would use wifi and didn't fix problems with the ethernet, so we always found it worked better with wifi. Admittedly, it was about a foot away from the router....
I found the Fire Stick a bit clunky and slow to respond. I gave up on it, finally binning it when I got the Internet-connected TV.
Many thanks for your replies and suggestions. I am still pondering about this subject, and also trying to find articles in ComputerActive magazine where they compared and recommended various such sticks.
Quote:
Quote:Fire sticks just work off your wifi, add this to it and I can speed thing up a far bit.
ethenet adapter
Most wifi should be faster than your internet connection, so it shouldn't really make a difference.
I have a Fire TV Box as well as the sticks (which they don't appear to make any more) and they were larger and had an ethernet connection. Unfortunately, it seems the development team assumed everyone would use wifi and didn't fix problems with the ethernet, so we always found it worked better with wifi. Admittedly, it was about a foot away from the router....
I`m still on copper wire with fiber to the cabinet, none of that high speed stuff for me where I am, so I probably get a bit more out of a wired connection.
I have a smart tv in my front room these days, fire sticks are no longer needed in there, I still have one connected to the TV in the dinning room, though we don`t use that one a lot.
Guess this is about my average speed.
I am giving up on firesticks - just received our fuel bill today, and it has increased by 50%, one hell of a jump as we do not use much gas, but a bit more electricity.
Thats a big jump at a time when your usage ought to be lower than normal, have you had fans running or aircon etc ?
I've not had our July / Aug bill in yet, due in another couple of weeks, but I expect it to be lower than last month as I've turned my computer off completely which should save iro £6 per month.
Our average bill at the mo is £70 per month
I've not had our July / Aug bill in yet, due in another couple of weeks, but I expect it to be lower than last month as I've turned my computer off completely which should save iro £6 per month.
Our average bill at the mo is £70 per month
Quote:I found the Fire Stick a bit clunky and slow to respond. I gave up on it, finally binning it when I got the Internet-connected TV.
did you see my previous post.
Quote:I've not had our July / Aug bill in yet, due in another couple of weeks, but I expect it to be lower than last month as I've turned my computer off completely which should save iro £6 per month.
Good luck with that. I just looked at switching suppliers and the best deal on offer was a fixed rate of £6800 / year.
