firestick , how is it

I have had 2 different friends recommed it so I ordered one, soon I will be able to give a 1st person review
 
I've got an android alternative to the Amazon stick. It's outstanding. Two tips - 1.) make sure you have great wifi signal and internet bandwidth and 2.) get a mini wireless keyboard for max convenience.
 
I like the fire stick, got one last year and used it through the season. Didn't want to spring for satellite TV so I found this to be a cost effective alternative. It's also nice to have my music library using the stick.

Cheryl
 
So I've used most of these plug-in devices. Fire Stick, Roku and Chromecast. They basically all have the same functionality. It's going to come down to which UI suits you.

Main differences:
- roku and firestick come with remotes. Chromecast requires a phone
- Firestick respons to voice commands
- Roku remote has a dedicated headphone jack for discrete listening
- Chromecast does not allow native access to Amazon Prime video (this is a big deal for me)
- Roku has more apps available. Not sure if you use Plex, but that's free on Roku, costs money on the others.
- Chromecast only communicates over 802.11 a/c. The other two can talk over a/b/g/n
- Chomecast is best at screen mirroring from tablet/phone/computer


Anyway, my choice has been Roku for years. Easy to use, slightly better remote, huge app catalog.
 
I'm thinking of giving an Apple TV device a shot on the boat for more flexibility.
I'm a big fan of Roku. Been using their devices on older flat panel dumber TV's in the house for a number of years and never had a problem with them.
I don't have wifi at my dock or anywhere nearby so I'm thinking of downloading content from my Amazon Prime and Netflix accounts while on my home wifi network to my iPad, then using Apple TV to stream it to TV on the boat from my iPad using Bluetooth.
As much as I love my Roku devices, I don't think they, or a fire stick, would offer that same fairly seamless ability to watch stored content when out of wifi range.
Overall, I think doing it that way may be better than depending on trying to get a good wifi signal on the water in order to watch things.
 
I download movies on Amazon Prime to my iPad and use an adaptor to plug in a HDMI cable to the TV. I find it has a better data transfer than my Apple TV. My stepson gave us a "jailbreak" version of the fire stick that allows free access to all movies and sporting events. Before I tried it, the Admiral threw it away!
 
I have the Firestick and the new Apple TV. I like them both and they're more or less identical in terms of functionality but there are a couple of notable differences. We usually rent movies on the Apple TV vs. pay per view on Direct TV. The Apple TV has all of the same movies for rent as you would find anywhere else and the streaming quality is excellent. We only use the Firestick for watching original content from Amazon.

Differences:
- Apple TV plays movies and music from iTunes. Firestick can't play you're iTunes content
- Streaming quality is excellent on Apple TV. Apple has their own CDN to deliver movies, music and apps. A CDN is basically a system of servers dedicated to delivering media. The Firestick is good but movies start out pixelated and eventually buffer and look good.
- Firestick can play original movies and TV shows from Amazon. Apple TV can't play Amazon content. Amazon has a ton of excellent original content.
 
I download movies on Amazon Prime to my iPad and use an adaptor to plug in a HDMI cable to the TV. I find it has a better data transfer than my Apple TV. My stepson gave us a "jailbreak" version of the fire stick that allows free access to all movies and sporting events. Before I tried it, the Admiral threw it away!
What adapter do you use?
 

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