[Closed] Amazon Firestick or Fire Tv

Got the firestick and has worked flawlessly for nearly a year so far.

Only use the lite (pulse) build versions on Kodi as I believe some of the full builds can slow the firestick down.

I also heard that from another chap hence I was looking at the Fire Tv too.

I also think the older box has an audio output which would plug directly into the Sonos playbar Im looking at getting too.

Morning Bump !!

We have both, although neither with Kodi installed, The FireTV seems to run a little faster and more stable than the stick does.

The stick works for us as we have it in a wall mounted TV in our bedroom, proper fire TVs in the front room and back lounge downstairs where small form isn't so important.

We have the Fire TV running Kodi Red or Black build package and it's been faultless in performance and picture quality.

[b]Edit.[/b] This is run from a powerline wired network.

Can it plug directly into a router?

Yes, so long as you have a spare network socket on it.

If running kodi, it would be the fire TV every time. More powerful and a wired Ethernet port. Plus you can add a USB disk also I think.

Fire TV box has more power, 4K support (no content and you need a 4K telly), expandable storage, Ethernet socket, supports "high performance games" (whatever that means. It's Android so it's phone optimized games at best I guess).

£80 though. Was £60 in the recent sale. Almost bought one but then I keep thinking I don't really need it. I have everything I want in my Samsung Smart TV, especially Plex which I use the most, and the only thing that makes me consider an Amazon box is the Amazon TV app on Smart TV is a bit rubbish and stutters (unlike other apps. I'm sure Amazon have crippled it deliberately).

The Fire stick still needs a power socket by the way. That also puts me off either option as I'm running out of sockets, even with two power strips, and want less cables not more.

Interested in this. Sorry to distract but...

I bargained our Sky down to £60 per month, but am out of contract so what would an £35 fire stick give us / replace like for like and is it a viable replacement?

Does the Fire have 4od/all4/whatever the Channel 4 app is called this week yet?

I also have both, running kodi. Get the full fire tv if you want to run HD content (less stuttering, bigger buffer, etc) - its also noticably quicker for the menus etc, and the voice remote (which doesn't come with the stick by default) is a nice bonus. I'd also consider wired connection to your storage device a requirement for running high quality downloads (1080p with dts for example). I found a couple of kodi settings needed tweaking to get the best performance (particularly the buffer), and also run a remote mysql instance on my nas drive which syncs the playback status across kodi devices (ie allows you to pause a show downstairs, continue it upstairs from the same place).

All that said, the stick is fine for our bedroom tv, where I generally just watch sd quality tv shows

Does the Fire have 4od/all4/whatever the Channel 4 app is called this week yet?

My Fire Stick does.

Kryton57 - Member
would an £35 fire stick give us / replace like for like and is it a viable replacement?

You won't get any broadcast channels. You can get terrestrial channel content via on demand (iPlayer etc).

If you don't watch live TV you can get a reasonable replacement depending what you want to watch and the apps you install.

For Amazon Prime content you need an Amazon Prime subscription at £70 a year. Worth more if you value the next day shipping. Otherwise you have to pay per view.

Netflix is another option of such content, works out similar price. Slightly different selection to Amazon. Neither give you everything you want.

If you are just going to run Kodi, I'd probably get a NVidia Shield TV, or one of the well supported android boxes (Wetek etc), or even a Raspberry Pi 3. Some of them it's possible to add the Android amazon prime app to keep access to the amazon stuff.

The FireTV (stick or box) don't support TV refresh rate switching - so for some content (eg. 24p films / TV) or US shows (60p) things like panning may be juddery.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916 is a good starting point and go's through pros and cons of each...

I've not tried on android, but on PC based hardware you can play Amazon Prime Video direct from within Kodi with the latest betas, so the best of both worlds...

Thanks very much for the info.

We are looking at it as we have cancelled sky as we just cant jusify the cost per month just for the ability to pause and record tv.

I have a pretty old Panasonic high end plasma on which the smart features are rubbish so instead of taking out a new sky/by/talk talk etc contract I was looking at the fire TV as I know someone that can add Kodi to it for me.

I have also bought a Wifi hardrive to store music and movies etc on which will also be connected to a router as well as the fire tv.

Will i be able to stream music and movies etc to the TV via fire box?

I have also bought a Wifi hardrive to store music and movies etc on which will also be connected to a router as well as the fire tv.

Will i be able to stream music and movies etc to the TV via fire box?

Yes, you should be able to if you have Kodi installed. One thing to be aware of is that Kodi and Amazon have a bit of a rocky relationship - Amazon allow sideloading of it at the moment, but could block it at any time. They haven't yet, but they have blocked some of the tools that would launch kodi automatically when the box starts. If you would be gutted and felt like you have wasted your money if Kodi stopped working then maybe look at another option...

There is an official Plex app for the Fire TV would that be able to access a NAS device?

I've got plex running well with a NAS on a fireTv. I've got a stick as well but it's nowhere near as quick as the fireTv.

We've got 2 Fire Sticks (kitchen & a spare the kids fight over) uses the house WiFi plus a bigger Fire Box in the main room connected straight to the router)

Great invention. Best if you have an Amazon Prime a/c & Netflix mind you.

I have a horrendously slow internet at home and my FireStick stick keeps buffering or even dropping connection during peak periods, would a FireTV by more reliable with a weak connection? larger buffer maybe? Both would be connected to the router via Wifi (which is reliable-ish, just not the internet itself).

Thanks.

Well Ive gone ahead and ordered the Fire TV, can get the VAT back on it as Im down the Falklands currently so it comes in around 64 quid.

jon_n - Member
The FireTV (stick or box) don't support TV refresh rate switching - so for some content (eg. 24p films / TV) or US shows (60p) things like panning may be juddery.

Interesting. Does that mean it just outputs as is? So 24p for a film, 60 for TV (UK shows in 50?). i.e. are you saying it won't convert everything to 1080/50 UK TV etc?

In which case that's fine as my TV handles all of that and I prefer films to be 24p if that's how they're shot.