Fire Stick, or something else?

[Dibble]

I’ve got a non-smart Sony Bravia TV that’s at least ten years old, but perfectly fine for my needs (and only 32”). I’m not bothered about HD/4K or any of that gubbins. I’ve got an old Fire Stick, but it is painfully slow (WiFi speed is fine for streaming on my bedroom smart TV (a paltry 20”)/iPad/phone/laptop etc. I’m currently off work after yet more surgery on my leg and will be watching more TV than is good for me, so is it worth getting a newer Fire stick, newer Apple TV or something else?

I’m not bothered about being able to record TV as anything I watch is usually via Netflix/Prime/YouTube/iPlayer or C4 app. I don’t really watch live TV at all, apart from sticking the BBC News on first thing in the morning. I’ve now got the luxury of actual aerials in my house, so I can get all the Freeview options.

Or is the £50 or so on a new stick a waste of money and should I just buy a £200 or so bog standard smart TV of a similar size, to replace the Sony? If so, any suggestions? The old Fire Stick is up to date software wise, but is probably 7 years old.

I’m not interested in spending hundreds and hundreds of pounds for a massive TV, or having the latest and greatest must-have tech, I just want something I can stream the usual stuff on, relatively faff-free. I’m not going down the route of Sky or any other supplier as I don’t watch any sport and it just seems like a complete waste of money for what I’m after.

[Shuff4]

Even with smart tv’s I opt to use the fire stick, often easier to use and quicker.

upgrade to a later stick and carry on with what you know.

[NMNeil]

ROKU and KODI. Everything you need, and it's free.
Add a Raspberry Pi Hole and no more ads ever

[deckster]

Roku and Kodi if you want to keep messing about with stuff that oh-so-nearly works perfectly but just falls short. And of course if you want to watch dodgy streams that also don't work very well.

Fire Stick if you just want something that works.

I have six Fire devices at last count and am a bit of fanboy if I'm honest. I also install Kodi on them mainly so I can access all my ripped DVDs but almost never use it.

[bigandclever]

Dibble said:

Or is the £50 or so on a new stick a waste of money

They'll be half that in a couple of weeks, if you can wait.

[Hanslow]

We switched from an old firestick to a Roku stick and found it much snappier and responsive. To be fair, a newer firestick might have been as snappy too but we've been happy with the Roku. We only have standard catchup apps/channels on it, along with Amazon prime which works flawlessly. We've not ventured down the Kodi route but for standard app usage it works great. As suggested though, there'll be deals all over the shop in a couple of weeks time so get researching now ready to pounce.

[Dibble]

deckster said:

Roku and Kodi if you want to keep messing about with stuff that oh-so-nearly works perfectly but just falls short. And of course if you want to watch dodgy streams that also don't work very well.

Fire Stick if you just want something that works.

I have six Fire devices at last count and am a bit of fanboy if I'm honest. I also install Kodi on them mainly so I can access all my ripped DVDs but almost never use it.

Yeah… nah. I want plug and play and no faff. Acceptable faff is inputting the WiFi password, once, at set up. So all this fruit hole/Quorn/RoRo nonsense is a no from me. I’ll just make a brew while the adverts are on.

I’m all packed and waiting for my transport home from hospital. Although I’m a parsimonious northerner, I don’t really want to wait another two weeks before I’m up and running, so I might just have to constantly chunder about spending the extra money.

[Dibble]

Hanslow said:

We switched from an old firestick to a Roku stick and found it much snappier and responsive. To be fair, a newer firestick might have been as snappy too but we've been happy with the Roku. We only have standard catchup apps/channels on it, along with Amazon prime which works flawlessly. We've not ventured down the Kodi route but for standard app usage it works great. As suggested though, there'll be deals all over the shop in a couple of weeks time so get researching now ready to pounce.

This thread IS my research. Not only am I a fat knacker, I’m fking lazy as well!

[nebpor]

Fire Stick - have 5 of them in here. They just work.

As said, the big sale approaches so if you can hold out a few weeks and persist with the slower one for now, then you'll save 20 quid

[Murph7355]

Another vote Firesticks (we have 4 of the 4k ones. The Ultras look good too).

We run Kodi on ours to view our DVD collection and play music etc (As well as HD Homerun for live TV, Disney+, Netflix, Prime and the other usuals).

[paulrockliffe]

I think the Google Chromecast with Google TV (Stupid name!) is better than the Firestick, but you can't really go wrong with either.

[Shuff4]

Sure if you’re savvy,

You could buy now £50, from Amazon then in a few weeks buy again at £20/£25 and return ‘the’ £50 one….

[cobra kid]

We bought two of the basic ones on the last Prime day thingy for about £15 a piece.

[the-norseman]

paulrockliffe said:

I think the Google Chromecast with Google TV (Stupid name!) is better than the Firestick, but you can't really go wrong with either.

I agree, I've got the latest Firestick and Google TV (Chromecast) and prefer the Google option.

Only downside at the moment is UKTV Play doesn't support Google TV.

[JimbobVFR]

Hanslow said:

We switched from an old firestick to a Roku stick and found it much snappier and responsive. To be fair, a newer firestick might have been as snappy too but we've been happy with the Roku.

The newer ones are so much better. When I bought the original 4k fire stick it was worth it for the more powerful hardware even if connected to a 1080P TV. I've got 2 of them now.

[Digger]

the-norseman said:

paulrockliffe said:

I think the Google Chromecast with Google TV (Stupid name!) is better than the Firestick, but you can't really go wrong with either.

I agree, I've got the latest Firestick and Google TV (Chromecast) and prefer the Google option.

Only downside at the moment is UKTV Play doesn't support Google TV.

What do you prefer, the interface?

I have a recent 4K Fire which works well but every now & again it falls asleep & stays asleep! So I have to disconnect & reconnect it occasionally.

[heisthegaffer]

I've always been a big fan of roku devices as at the time I bought the first one, I think it was the only device to have all the streaming options I wanted although that's moved on now.

I have 3 x HD expresses, one of which will just lose WiFi and there's nothing I can do about it except turn off for ages. I wonder if it gets too warm and warps something? The other 2 are fine

I also have a 4k stick. That freezes weekly which is annoying. The other day the roku app on my phone could control it but the actual remote wouldn't. Also, I use the roku remote to turn my telly on and operate the volume which is handy. Except when it goes haywire and tries to the volume all the way up or all the way down....

[anonymoususer]

Murph7355 said:

Another vote Firesticks (we have 4 of the 4k ones. The Ultras look good too).

We run Kodi on ours to view our DVD collection and play music etc (As well as HD Homerun for live TV, Disney+, Netflix, Prime and the other usuals).

Yes to Kodi for that use - much overlooked.

Its really great that just about anything (as in not had anything yet that can't) will actually play from a network drive via Kodi
Different TV's will play some stuff and others they won't
Kodi just plays and it also seems to remember at which point we stopped watching something and allows us to resume later.

Just on Saturday I bought a s/h firecube off someone selling because his TV "has all the apps". It's the third firecube we have and was setup in the daughters room to replace a Fire TV 2nd gen box. Its massively faster.

[Zoon]

I used to have firesticks but now have moved to Apple TV which doesn't seem to slow down.
The Up Now section tracks all your series from all streaming platforms and works brilliantly.
Upfront cost is higher, but worth it in my opinion for a superior experience.

[eein]

Another vote for the google chromecast with google tv. I've had it and firesticks, the google is just more 'universal' in what it supports. And if you want to do geeky things you generally can (eg side loading non supported apps). I've found the firesticks seem to get slow quickly and need replacing, so don't end up as cheap as originally thought.