I received the Fire TV Stick 4K on launch day. I own the previous model and this is a much better experience. First off the remote is a huge improvement. The power button on the remote can turn on my tv, my receiver, fire stick, and switch the inputs automatically so the fire stick is on screen and ready to go with just one click of the power button. It's really nice. This is how it should have been all along. It gets even better though... lets say my TV is already on, and my receiver is set to a different input such as my FIOS tv box? All you do is click the home button on the remote and the remote switches the receiver to the correct hdmi input on the receiver for the fire stick! One remote to rule them all, and yes it controls volume on the receiver too! This is excellent. It's highly configurable. The setup is quite nice. You can define which inputs get picked when hitting the power and home button. You can define which device the volume buttons control. Amazon has done a great job with the Fire Stick 4K.
It's faster than previous fire sticks. No more menu lag. Things are smoother and faster overall. I've used Roku, Chromecast Ultra and Fire Stick... I like them all for different reasons. I also dislike chromecast because 5.1 audio will not work on my receiver because chromecast refuses to support Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1. Fire stick has no problem handling DD5.1. This makes my plex and netflix experience much more enjoyable. The remote is better than not having a remote (chromecast). Roku's are very nice as well. All 3 of these options are great in their own way and frankly I had thought fire stick was the least desirable but recently I've come to realize I prefer Fire stick so I pre-ordered the 4K fire stick and I could not be happier with it. Amazon needs to keep up the good work. The 4K stick is a solid product and an excellent upgrade from the previous model
Ok, so if your like me you wonder what exactly does Fire Stick do? Well 1st. saves you a lot of money Compared to having say, a Genie with 5 tv's hooked up. 2nd. gives you the option of more, lots more to watch, may even be overwhelming in choices. 3rd. Less HDMI cables to purchase. So lets get to what it really does, gives you apps like Prime video, Netflix, Hulu, and too many channels to list here. That's I think why they don't. Get every channel including many local channels that you can think of, like TNT,SYFY, PBS and so on. HBO, Starz, and those channels like Netflix are at a cost but add it up and you will probably, more then likely save a lot over cable or satellite. Sports are a little different as far as some places have, local sports channels you can get included in your cable package. This you will have to pay for unless your watching live on local channels.
Now what's different between Fire tv and Roku Ultra besides the price? No VUDU on Fire tv, which if you are like me I have movies on there for yrs. Anyway no HDMI cable is needed for Fire tv it plugs straight in to your TV, Receiver or equipment like an OPPO Blue-ray player and so on. The two are the same except those four things. VUDU, HDMI cables, and price. each have quad-core processors, 4k at 60fps. and Voice control. Fire stick seems to preform very well if you hook it up correctly. So in the short of it go with FireTV stick, if you want to spend far less depending on how many TV's you have, and you like ALexa voice control. If you don't mind paying more and want things like VUDU go with the other. You could do like I did because we have 4 people watching TV's to get both. Each give you two people at a time watching other channels or devices. I have two FIRETV Sticks and two ROKU's. 2 are straight into TV's for full 4k at 60fps, 1 straight through my receiver and another through my OPPO 105D which give me 4k at 30fps. True 4k at 60fps is very rare out there yet so most equipment that's just a few yrs. older will still give you 4k but at 30fps. I personally don't see a difference but it's hard to find a show that is recorded at a true 4k 60fps. as of NOV. 2018. Oh I missed something important to me but not others as much which is ROKU Ultra has a net cable connector and wi-fi which FIRETV does not. I like the fact that there is never a problem with connection or speed with a net cable versus wireless, plus you don't have to type in your security code with a net cable connection to setup.
I was looking for replacing my Roku LT streaming box which was released 100 years ago (in electronics years.) I couldn't resist when Amazon threw the trade-in offer at my face with $25 off for a Fire TV, and 2.99 cash value.
The new Fire TV retains the same form factor from the old Fire TV but has packed in some new features such as faster processor, power, volume, and mute buttons for TV, and support for newer 4K media standards such as Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos surround sound.
I was really surprised that how convenient the Alexa voice command feature is. Especially even with my thick accent, Alexa was able to understand what I was saying. Though apps have to support integration with Alexa (e.g. it couldn't open a website with voice command, maybe I was not giving a specific enough command) but all I need to play videos on Netflix or Amazon prime, and Alexa handles it beautifully.
Alexa voice commands work even if the TV is switched off. Though it takes a while for Alexa to switch the TV on but the fact that it works is simply amazing.
The User-interface is quite responsive. However, I found the user interface to be cluttered with information that I did not want on my home screen. The home screen can be improved a lot in order to present the content that I want and not what Amazon wants to advertise.
I also had issues with WiFi. During the setup process, the Fire TV prompted that it was not connected to WiFi. But on trying again it worked fine. Also, after some time the Fire TV could not reach the internet and displayed the message that "Home screen is currently unavailable." I had to power off the Fire TV and power it back up again to make it work.
All in all I love this new Fire TV. It is fast, responsive and has lots of features that I found useful in my daily operation.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE BUYING A FIRE TV
1. In order to be able to stream content at 4K, you would need to have a good broadband connection. Amazon recommends having a broadband connection of at least 15 Mbps. So if you have a dial-up or are on an economical internet plan, then you might not be able to stream in 4K.
2. As a result of an ongoing tussle between Amazon and Google, Google's apps are not available on Fire TV. Youtube app is not officially supported on Fire TV. There is a Youtube app for Fire TV but that simply opens Youtube in the web-browser. Google Play movies are also not supported on Fire TV as well.
3. The 4K content is limited and cost more e.g. Netflix charges more for their 4K subscription plan. Most of the movies that you can buy in 4K would be costlier than their SD/HD counterparts. As of writing this review the only Google Play movies and Apple iTunes would upgrade the purchased content to 4K for free. Neither of these two is available on Fire TV. I hope Amazon video follows the same suit and upgrades the purchased content to 4K for free.
4. Ethernet adapter has to be bought separately. Wi-fi is great but can be unreliable, especially if there are too many wi-fi devices causing interference. If you need wired ethernet then you would have to buy an ethernet adapter separately that plugs into the mini-USB port, unlike Fire TV cube that already comes with an ethernet port.
5. Fire TV stick does not support an external sd card. Though Fire TV stick has an internal memory of 8GB, it can fill up pretty quickly. It would have been nice to be able to connect an external storage media, but at this price, it would be asking too much. Although you can buy an OTG hub and use VLC to play the media from the USB drives (I have explained this further in the tips section below)
SOME TIPS FOR NEW FIRE TV USERS
1. If you hold down the home button, then a new menu pops up which gives you three options to go to apps directly, sleep the Fire TV, or go to setting. I find this shortcut really useful for navigating to apps directly.
2. When I setup the fire TV I realized that the picture was rather dull as compared to the picture in my Samsung Smart TV app (e.g. the same movie in Netflix app would seem more vibrant than on Fire TV.) I found that changing the "Dynamic Range Settings" to "Adaptive" made the picture look more vibrant. You can navigate to this setting by going to Settings > Display & Sounds > Dynamic Range Settings. My Fire TV was set to "Always HDR" and I changed it to "Adaptive"
3. If you have kids and prefer to listen to TV quietly then you should play with two audio settings "Volume Leveler" and "Dialogue Enhancer" (which are OFF by default.) These settings are found in Settings > Display & Sounds > Audio > Advanced Audio.
4. You can play external media (videos) from USB drive using an OTG (On-The-Go) hub which has USB drive support. I got an OTG hub Micro USB LAN Ethernet Adapter with RJ45 3 USB Hub Compatible TV Stick Streaming Device that has ethernet and USB ports. With this Hub, I can launch the VLC app VLC App for Fire TV and it can browse and play the media on the USB drives attached to the hub. You can also directly connect the Fire TV to the laptop and copy over the files to the Fire TV stick, but with 8Gb of storage space there might not be enough space on the Fire TV (since that space would be shared by the Fire TV OS, utilities and apps as well)
SPECS
1. Supports 60 Hz refresh rates for 4K at 60Hz, 1080p, and 720p
2. Internal storage : 8GB
3. RAM: 1.5GB DDR4
4. Processor: Quad Core 1.7GHz
5. OS: Fire OS 6, which is based on Android 7.1 (Nougat)
6. Wi-Fi: Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi supports 2x2 MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
7. Ethernet: 10/100Mbs (though the ethernet adapter needs to be purchased separately)
8. Bluetooth : 5.0
9. Ports: HDMI output, Micro USB 2.0 for power or optional Amazon Ethernet Adapter
SETUP
Upon plugging in the Fire TV for the first time the setup process will do the following:
1. Selecting the language
2. Configure Wireless internet's configuration.
3. Once that is done Fire TV installs and downloads the latest software. Software download did not take much time but the installation took 3 minutes.
4. Fire TV then sets up the remote to control the TV. It asks you to control the volume of TV using Fire TV's remote.
5. After that, you can connect the Fire TV to your account. If you purchased the Fire TV from Amazon, then it is already connected to your account.
6. You can set up parental controls after connecting the Fire TV to your account.
7. After this, a brief video of Fire TV's features is shown.
8. After the video interface of Fire TV is shown.
The next time I turned on the Fire TV, it straight away goes to Fire TV's interface
WHAT'S NEW IN THIS FIRE TV
This latest Fire TV model has added lots of new functionalities as compared to
1. The processor has been upgraded from 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz quad-core processor. This is better than Fire TV cube's processor as well, but Fire TV cube has 16 GB of internal memory while Fire TV stick has 8 GB only.
2. This new Fire TV supports streaming in 4K, Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos surround sound.
3. The remote has received a fair amount of new features such as IR transmitter that can be used to control other devices as well. The dedicated buttons for power, volume, and mute can be used to control the TV directly, instead of having to lug around the TV's remote separately.
4. Fire TV's remote also has the Alexa button using which you can give voice commands to the Fire TV.
WHAT IS DOLBY ATMOS
Dolby Atmos was is a technology that was introduced to provide a more immersive sound experience. This involved adding more speakers (up to 64) around and above the listener and using 128 audio channels. This sound format is usually best experienced in theatres, however, you could purchase sound systems that support Dolby ATMOS experience on 7 to 24 speakers (although more than 12 speakers might not provide any benefit.) So although the FIre TV will support transmitting the audio in Dolby ATMOS format, you would need receivers (probably 11.2 or 7.2 channel receivers) and speaker setup to be able to enjoy this feature.
There is Dolby content available on Netflix and iTunes. On Prime Video the Dolby ATMOS content limited to only some of their original content.
USER INTERFACE
The user interface of Fire TV is very similar to Prime video's interface with rows of tiles in various categories. This is basically Prie Video interface with an extra row for the apps and recently used apps. The home screen of Fire TV contains the "Your apps and channels" and below that there are rows of sponsored content and recommendations that you would see on prime video app.
I personally found the home screen of Fire TV to be cluttered with tiles and information that I did not want. If you are coming from Roku where you find your channels displayed prominently, you might feel a little disappointed. There is one row of my apps and channels, while there are rows after rows of recommended content that I did not pin on my home screen. I have not been able to customize the home screen as of yet.
I personally found searching for new apps on Fire TV to be really cumbersome as well. I have to navigate through several menus hoping to find a useful app. It would probably be easier to go to Amazon's website, search for an app there and install it from there.
USING TV CONTROLS FROM FIRE TV's REMOTE
Once the Fire TV's remote was set up to control the TV, I could easily control the volume of TV and turn the TV on or off. There was no lag and it works simply every time. I did not need a line of sight between the remote and the TV for it to work.
USING ALEXA
In order to use the Alexa commands you simply hold down the voice button on remote, say the command while holding down the button, and release the button. The even works when TV is switched.
WHY BUY A STREAMING STICK WHEN I HAVE A SMART TV
Even though I have a smart tv which in theory should provide mostly the same functionality as the streaming stick, I found my smart TV's experience to be extremely inferior to these streaming solution. The Samsung smart TV I have is plagued with slow and unresponsive apps. The apps crash often. Sometimes the TV itself freezes to the point that I cannot use the remote to turn the TV off. Often when I turn the TV on it would not launch any add until it loads up an advertisement.
It shouldn't be surprising that the overall user experience is not enjoyable on Smart TV mainly because the software is not the primary focus of TV manufacturers. However, the streaming sticks dedicate the hardware and software for a single purpose only and that is to provide a pleasant viewing experience for the user. Therefore they update their software more often and try to be on top of resolving issues in their product.
Also, the number of apps/channels for my Samsung TV are not as much as are available on the streaming devices.
FIRE TV VS ROKU TV/CHROMECAST
While looking for a replacing my ailing Roku LT for some time now. The Roku LT couldn't handle all weight of shiny new apps. I was looking for something around $50 and all the devices fit the bill we Roku Streaming stick+, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV.
Roku streaming stick+ does provide very similar functionality as Fire TV such as 4K support, UHD support, Voice controls on Remote. Both of them also lack some functionalities that would have wanted such as Micro SD card, ethernet port. Though Fire TV does have volume and power controls for TV on the remote, which is a big plus for me. However, considering the discount I was getting for trade-in, Fire TV stick was the obvious choice for me. In addition to that since Fire TV is based on Android, there are some apps available on Fire TV which are not available for Roku such as VLC, Kodi, VPN service.
Chromecast is also based on Android and you can install apps on it as well, but chromecast is for casting from another device. This means that I would always need a device (such as laptop, tablet or Mobile) to start the stream. This in itself was a deal breaker for me for buying chromecast.
WOULD THIS PLAY ALL MEDIA IN 4K
If you are playing HD content then the Fire TV will upscale the content to 4K (this means that it will try to fit the HD content to a 4K screen by trying to add the missing details.) Although if you have a 4K TV then most probably the TV is capable of doing that as well. You might want to disable the upscaling of Fire TV and see if your TV can do a better job at it.
DO I NEED TO HAVE A 4K TV TO USE THIS
You don't need to have a 4K TV to be able to use Fire TV. If you have an old TV/monitor which can display in HD only, even then you can play HD content simply fine on Fire TV. In fact as of now, 4K streaming content is relatively hard to come by, so it's very likely that you won't miss out on much.
SHOULD I BUY THE ETHERNET PORT ADAPTER FOR FIRE TV STICK
Generally, the word of wisdom is that ethernet is more reliable and faster than wi-fi. However, the ethernet adapter will connect to the micro-USB port and supports only 10/100 ethernet (which means that it supports working at 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps.) The Wifi can also provide bandwidth much more than this. If the ethernet on Fire TV had been 10/100/1000 which means it can go up to 1Gbps (making it Gigabit port) then ethernet would have been a much better option. Also, consider the internet plan you have. If you have an internet plan for say 40Mbps, so Fire TV stick will never reach 100Mbps anyways.
The only reason you would want to use an ethernet adapter is if your wifi router is far away from the Fire TV and there is interference in the WiFi signal. I would suggest to connect to WiFi test and perform a speed test using the browser on the Fire TV by going to any of the speed test websites. If the speed test reports good enough speed and you don't encounter bad wi-fi service then there is no need to have an ethernet adapter.
I pre-ordered this a few weeks ago, and it just arrived on 10/31.
Ok guys, real talk, I'm not 17 any more. What I care about now is function, design and efficiency. So the fact that this new edition of the Fire Stick can control the volume and the power to my TV... Umm, put me down for 200 please, and I'll throw them out to the parents as they slug along behind their sugar-fueled 5 year old trick or treaters tonight. And I will instantly become their hero. Well, second only to the guy pouring the witches brew cocktails later. But I digress.
Anyway! We all have had half a dozen Fire Sticks by now, and we can all agree- they're great. But at the end of the day, I still needed to fondle 3 remotes in the dark, steal half-alive batteries from 3 of my kids toys, and ask my 2 year old where he put the remotes, for all three devices... just so I can lock myself in my room for 9 totally unselfish hours just to watch the latest season of Stranger Things.
Because of my current setup, I had one remote to control the TV, one remote to control the Fire Stick, (and because my sound bar was connected to my TV via optical cable and therefore could not be controlled by the TV remote for some crazy reason) one remote to control the volume of the sound bar. BUT NOT ANY MORE BABY! This latest Fire Stick has added volume, mute and power buttons. And I'm pretty much invincible now.
Additionally, I think the Fire Stick knows how much of a bada$$ it is. I've caught the remote levitating on my night stand a handful of times. I think it's self aware.
Of course this does the usual blah blah blah, and yes it's 4k if you have it connected to a compatible TV. But all that is soo #yesterday. So what I'm really trying to say here guys- I ONLY NEED ONE REMOTE NOW!!!
Happy Halloween ;)
I found the new 4K (HDR) Firestick to function much better than the 2nd Gen Firestick. It downloads app pages much faster.
And with the added on/off function of the TV, and controlling my surround system volume/mute, awesome. There are no special settings to get through to use those functions! I was using the Ethernet adapter on the 2nd Gen Stick, but found it useless to use with this Stick. It only caused interference problems and appears to only see WiFi. So I unplugged the adapter and went with just using the WiFi. The interference stopped and now it works great! Now to only get a 4K TV!
Feature Product
- The most powerful 4K streaming media stick with a Wi-Fi antenna design optimized for 4K Ultra HD streaming.
- Launch and control content with the Alexa Voice Remote. Watch favorites from Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, STARZ, SHOWTIME, or CBS All Access, plus stream for free with Pluto TV, IMDb Freedive, and others.
- Enjoy brilliant picture with access to 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR10+. Experience immersive sound with Dolby Atmos on select Prime Video titles.
- Choose from 500,000 movies and TV episodes. Watch favorites from Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, STARZ, SHOWTIME, CBS All Access, and others.
- Fire TV Stick devices have more storage for apps and games than any other streaming media stick.
- Experience tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills, plus millions of websites like YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit.
- Alexa on Fire TV provides the most comprehensive voice experience of any streaming media player-view live camera feeds, check the weather, dim the lights, and stream music.
- Amazon Prime members get unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV episodes, plus ad-free listening to millions of songs with Prime Music.
Description
Stream from Thousands of Channels & Apps Dual-Band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Plays UHD 4K Video HDR10-Compatible Voice Control Android, iOS, and Fire App Control Voice Search All New Alexa Voice Remote
Reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 , cause few tiny details. Mirroring is not working on new device, its just not available like on previous model. Also remote control slightly lugging .Other way new device is Great. Very smooth operation, easy install and setup, Crystal clear view. Just hope Amazon Team include Mirroring with new software update.
The Fire TV Stick 4K works great. The most common problems people experience are:
1. HDMI Extender (Included) - Use this because it is also an antenna and helps with Wi-Fi reception. Wi-Fi 2G is stronger and 5G is faster. If you are having Wi-Fi problems use 2G.
2. Power Cord (Included) - The Fire TV Stick is designed to work with 110 wall outlet. If you try to power it from the TV's HDMI port and USB port it is like a power failure and reboots every time the TV is turned on. On a 110 wall outlet it goes to sleep and wakes up.
3. Go to Settings, Display and change to Original Frame Rate this decreases artifacts and HDR to Adaptive or the display is wrong sometimes
All HDMI ports are not the same. For example my Vizio TV has five (5) HDMI ports but they are different.
1. 4K at 30 FPS (Frames Per Second)
2. 4K at 30 FPS
3. 4K at 30 FPS
4. No HDCP (High Bandwidth Content Protection)
5. 4K at 60 FPS HDCP 2.2
Only HDMI port 5 has 4K at 60 FPS and HDCP 2.2
I see a lot of people are unable to change the HDMI input. Press the microphone button and and say "Change to HDMI 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5". This works on some TVs.
I have some concerns and problems with the design.
Plug
I have four TVs and two of the TVs are wall mounts. When the house was built there is a recessed outlet with two plugs inside the wall mount behind the TV. The Fire TV plug is to wide to fit in the outlet and the height is to tall and blocks the other outlet. Maybe its time to go to a box design and incorporate the antenna, power supply and the stick inside a box and use a regular HDMI cable and plug. The plug and stick are to big.
Remote
The ring on the remote to move top, bottom, left and right. Place an X on it to identify there are four areas to press. There should be lines in the ring at 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, and 10:30 on a clock face. This would make it easier to use.
The circle inside the ring should have Press OK or OK on it. This would make it easier to use.
Stick
The new stick is bigger and heavier. If you use the HDMI Extender (antenna) it adds more weight. On my Vizio TVs (4) the HDMI Ports are on the back and the side. On the back of the TV the Stick is to big and long to fit behind a wall mount. I have to use the HDMI Extender. My HDMIs point down. The weight of the HDMI extender, Stick, and gravity creates a loose connection. In some instances the weight of the TV is on the stick because the TV is at an angle. There is a big space at the top and a small space at the bottom. On the side of the TV the Stick extends beyond the TV.
I really like this new device as it packs a lot of power at a great price.
The new remote control is very handy as well. No more searching for the TV remote to adjust the volume or turn off power. The only thing I expected to have more memory not just 8GB other than that it's a great device I recommend it
If you get this new Fire Stick forget cable. I love this new Fire Stick. I need one for each room. It has more features and stations that are free and come with the First Stick.
I bought this primarily to compare to my 2017 Roku Ultra and to get Dolby Digital sound from Directv Now, which the ultra doesn't support for some reason.
Setup was easy, plugged it into an extra input on my Denon x6200w. After downloading a firmware update which took maybe ten minutes I was up and running.
Adjusted audio and video settings(hdr to adaptive), best audio settings and video as I'm sending it to a Sony x900e.
DtvNow is snappy and fast, and I'm now getting dd from most live channels. Sweet!
Hdr/uhd shows such as Jack Ryan on Prime look fantastic and atmos works as well.
I still prefer my ultra as it offers more apps such as Vudu, but the fire stick is also a great item.
To my eyes, DtvNow has a slightly better picture through the Roku but it is very close.
The Alexa voice control is cool and works fine.
So overall I'm happy with this purchase.
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