Amazon TV vs. TV with Fire Stick?
Discussion
Need a new telly for the bedroom. Currently a 15+ year old 42" panny plasma with a new firestick.
I'm looking around the 40" mark and just wondering if the Amazon tellys give any advantage over a TV and a stick or if (as I assume) the disadvantage is the fire hardware cant be upgraded in the same way you can buy a newer stick if you wanted.
I'm looking around the 40" mark and just wondering if the Amazon tellys give any advantage over a TV and a stick or if (as I assume) the disadvantage is the fire hardware cant be upgraded in the same way you can buy a newer stick if you wanted.
Since a Fire TV stick and a Fire TV offer pretty much the same features, then most of the advantages of a Fire TV will centre on convenience. It'll take a bit less time to set up. You won't sacrifice one of the TVs HDMI inputs, there's a little less cabling (USB power cable / USB power plug), and you can do it all from a single remote. If these things are major considerations for you then a Fire TV is where you're headed.
The flip side is anything integrated limits your future plans, which is something you've already realised. Also, your TV was (I'm guessing) towards the more high-end part of the spectrum. Now contrast that with the Fire TV sets. These are not at the equivalent level to your Panasonic.
The TVs with Fire TV integrated are budget sets. We're looking mostly at sets churned out by Vestel (Turkey), UMC (Slovakia) and a slew of faceless Chinese companies. They're all rolling out sets with a variety of badges such as Bush, Technica, Polaroid, JMB, Hitachi, Toshiba, JVC. Some are better known and slightly better made than others. It's all subject to the price profiles and where the sets are pitched in the market. One thing is for sure right now, and that's that you won't find a Fire TV version of an LG OLED, Samsung QNED, or Sony Bravia.
If you'd have been planning to replace the TV, would you have gone so low rent?
Unless you have a compelling reason to ditch the Panasonic then personally I would just buy a HD capable Fire TV stick. It doesn't even have to be new. You don't need 4K and HDR with the plasma, but having the TV power and volume buttons is (IMO) a must-have feature. In that case, skip the Lite version and go for the 4K job which is the middle-of-the-range model.
The flip side is anything integrated limits your future plans, which is something you've already realised. Also, your TV was (I'm guessing) towards the more high-end part of the spectrum. Now contrast that with the Fire TV sets. These are not at the equivalent level to your Panasonic.
The TVs with Fire TV integrated are budget sets. We're looking mostly at sets churned out by Vestel (Turkey), UMC (Slovakia) and a slew of faceless Chinese companies. They're all rolling out sets with a variety of badges such as Bush, Technica, Polaroid, JMB, Hitachi, Toshiba, JVC. Some are better known and slightly better made than others. It's all subject to the price profiles and where the sets are pitched in the market. One thing is for sure right now, and that's that you won't find a Fire TV version of an LG OLED, Samsung QNED, or Sony Bravia.
If you'd have been planning to replace the TV, would you have gone so low rent?
Unless you have a compelling reason to ditch the Panasonic then personally I would just buy a HD capable Fire TV stick. It doesn't even have to be new. You don't need 4K and HDR with the plasma, but having the TV power and volume buttons is (IMO) a must-have feature. In that case, skip the Lite version and go for the 4K job which is the middle-of-the-range model.
Thank you Lucid, confirms some of my thoughts.
Fortunately, the current panny works off the fire remote so all on one which is an advantage. Just need to make sure the replacement does the same.
I had sort of hoped the amazon TVs were a loss leader by them and they would be something special. Obviously not.
Fortunately, the current panny works off the fire remote so all on one which is an advantage. Just need to make sure the replacement does the same.
I had sort of hoped the amazon TVs were a loss leader by them and they would be something special. Obviously not.
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