Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick Updated With Slew Of New Features

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Man, I have been looking at a few media streamers recently, including the Roku 3500R Streaming Stick, Crhomecast, and the Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick looks more responsive in the videos I've seen. I know the Roku has a lot more channels to choose from. I've also seen where a new Roku, possibly Roku 4K, is due out soon. However, I am more interested right now in these smaller streaming sticks.

Do any of you who own either one of these devices see ads before videos? Do you have to wait for ads to finish playing before watching videos on youtube? If so, is there a way to block them.

Also, would you guys recommend the device you own?

Thanks!
 

dave_trimble

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DookieDraws - Go with the Roku. I don't have a Roku Stick, but I have a Roku 3, 2 Roku 2XDs, and a Kindle Fire TV.

My wife and I watch Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix almost equally, and the Roku is by far the better device for this because it's service-agnostic. It treats all "channels" or apps equally without favoritism. The Fire TV serves Amazon first and foremost, and the others are simply more complicated and difficult to use. Roku also allows you to search for a program, and it gives you results across all streaming services. This is an extremely useful feature to have, and as far as I know, only Roku does it.

As far as ads, you will find them on any streaming services that are ad-supported. Hulu, Youtube, and Crackle come to mind. The vast majority of Youtube ads can be skipped after 4 or 5 seconds, and I don't think there's an adblock option.
 

achoo2

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Amazon also has a history of holding features back, eg being able to use the USB port on this device or the microphone on the first-gen Kindle Fire HD. If Google TV ever becomes a draw, you can bank on it being present on Roku but not on Amazon.

Chances are, any device that can run Plex, Amazon, and Netflix is going to be fine. But, Amazon products feel more locked down. It's also a lot more disturbing that they phone home with your viewing habits.
 


Thanks, Dave. I am leaning towards the Roku and may wait and see what they're going to release here, soon.
 

ebpollock

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I have an AppleTV, ChromeCast, and a FireStick. AppleTV gets used most often. I has adds. Next is the FireStick mostly for the Prime Music, only buy if you have an Amazon Prime account. The ChromeCast gets used the least but if casting a tab from your computer you can use AdBlock. Each has a place and I think it depends who is providing your content. We buy movies from iTunes so AppleTV get my vote. The price just drop to under 70$ so I ordered a second one today.
 

MKBL

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I have Fire TV Stick and Prime membership, and I would recommend it. Recently I've been watching NOVA from PBS like crazy with my K-1,2 kids, and we love the experience. Not a huge movie fan, so the limited selection on Amazon Prime is not a big issue for me. Moreover, Amazon originals are really cool, comparable, sometimes even better than Netflix originals. I have Netflix as well, and watching its program on Fire TV Stick is not a problem. Yes, the search function is cumbersome, but if you have android phone, it's a moot point. Frankly, I don't like Netflix UI eve on PC-based web, so it's not totally Fire TV's fault.

The only fit I have with the device, which is really annoying sometimes, is the remote control's finicky response. At one point, it doesn't respond at all, then all of a sudden one touch on forward button it skips 10 pages or clicks.

I used to own a Chromcast, which is comparable to Fire TV stick, but I think Fire has slightly upper hand overall, weighing pros and cons. It has better connectivity - not just on spec sheet, but in real experience - and faster operation. Not sure how much the bigger storage capacity contribute, not definitely not a minus.

Man, I have been looking at a few media streamers recently, including the Roku 3500R Streaming Stick, Crhomecast, and the Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick looks more responsive in the videos I've seen. I know the Roku has a lot more channels to choose from. I've also seen where a new Roku, possibly Roku 4K, is due out soon. However, I am more interested right now in these smaller streaming sticks.

Do any of you who own either one of these devices see ads before videos? Do you have to wait for ads to finish playing before watching videos on youtube? If so, is there a way to block them.

Also, would you guys recommend the device you own?

Thanks!
Man, I have been looking at a few media streamers recently, including the Roku 3500R Streaming Stick, Crhomecast, and the Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick looks more responsive in the videos I've seen. I know the Roku has a lot more channels to choose from. I've also seen where a new Roku, possibly Roku 4K, is due out soon. However, I am more interested right now in these smaller streaming sticks.

Do any of you who own either one of these devices see ads before videos? Do you have to wait for ads to finish playing before watching videos on youtube? If so, is there a way to block them.

Also, would you guys recommend the device you own?

Thanks!
Man, I have been looking at a few media streamers recently, including the Roku 3500R Streaming Stick, Crhomecast, and the Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick looks more responsive in the videos I've seen. I know the Roku has a lot more channels to choose from. I've also seen where a new Roku, possibly Roku 4K, is due out soon. However, I am more interested right now in these smaller streaming sticks.

Do any of you who own either one of these devices see ads before videos? Do you have to wait for ads to finish playing before watching videos on youtube? If so, is there a way to block them.

Also, would you guys recommend the device you own?

Thanks!
 

ddpruitt

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Jun 4, 2012
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I don't care for Amazon's policy of adding new features without fixing bugs first.

I've owned most and at this point I would have to tell everyone I know,

DON'T BUY A FIRETV!!!

If you're lucky if it works. Half the time I get HDCP unauthorized errors. I also have trouble installing apps and the menu is a bit clunky. Since I've used it Amazon has released several updates adding new broken features, but they've yet to fix the problems. The Roku's and Chromecasts have fewer problems and the bugs are fixed quickly.
 

Zaranthos

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As far as I can tell there is still no Fox News on Amazon Fire TV Stick. I just updated it and tried it this week and nothing Fox News related on it so I unplugged it and packed it up. I'm still using my old Roku 2 which has been rock solid reliable. The only thing I don't like about the Roku 2 is it's showing its age and YouTube is slow as hell on it. The Roku 3 is faster but still behind other device specs so I'm waiting for a Roku 4.
 

dstarr3

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You make it sound like the lack of Fox News is a bad thing.
 
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