Poll: Fire Stick or Roku?

[ncted]

Btw I have the nvidia shield and that thing is a beast!

I tried the Shield in the past and really liked it. It is nice to see AppleTV+ coming to Android which is a current drawback. The new remote is better than the old one, but still an odd shape for certain circumstances. The Amazon Firestick 4k remote is perfect for those single-finger play/pause and mute situations while cooking or doing something else messy, even if it feels a bit flimsy otherwise.

 

[Bobby]

I use RF Harmony remotes, not Hub based, and they will not work with Shield. So, for me, Shield is not part of my mix.

 

[Ronnie-]

Btw I have the nvidia shield and that thing is a beast!

As do I, and I concur. It is probably the best all around device on the market, at least imo.

However, I find myself using the Google TV more these days. It doesnt have the phenomenal AI upscaling that the shield does, but I really like the Google TV interface over the standard Android TV UI.

Hopefully Google releases that to other Android based streamers in the short term.

 

[Cypresstree]

I like the upscaling in the shield. But hands down - Apple TV 4K is the closest to the perfect solution - even with the remote that so many people despise.

For me - my family loves the apple remote.

Hoping for a generational shift with a new Apple TV so that we can decommission all the damned fire sticks in the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lparsons21]

Tonight I am back to trying the FS4K in the living room, but I was reminded that the CBS AA app on FireTV has an issue where ff/rw are way too fast when doing something like trying to skip the titles on ST: Disco.

In CBS:AA app, instead of ff/REW just tap the right/left buttons on the d-pad. Works fine!

 

[HipKat]

So I did this two ways. The way in the picture which works for internet. The other way was plugging the ethernet adapter into the USB adapter and that did not work. I had no connectivity. But this configuration does work for connectivity. However now the USB adapter with the thumb drive on it does not show up. So it looks like using both, cascading them is a no-go

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[ncted]

The New Fire TV Finally Offers a Decent Streaming Experience

Alexa enthusiasts and streamers looking for a device on the cheap will not be disappointed.

gizmodo.com

 

[ncted]

The New Fire TV Finally Offers a Decent Streaming Experience

Alexa enthusiasts and streamers looking for a device on the cheap will not be disappointed.

gizmodo.com

FWIW: The images and videos I've seen do not impress me. All I can say is it is somewhat less confusing than the current UI. All these UIs really need is a grid of apps with a good search function. Everything else is fluff that distracts from the purpose of the device. Roku and AppleTV do the best in this regard.

 

[KAB]

Looks more convoluted and cheesy than it already did.

 

[lparsons21]

FWIW: The images and videos I've seen do not impress me. All I can say is it is somewhat less confusing than the current UI. All these UIs really need is a grid of apps with a good search function. Everything else is fluff that distracts from the purpose of the device. Roku and AppleTV do the best in this regard.

Yeah, I have to agree. AppleTV’s biggest weakness is its remote, especially with live streaming apps IMO. And I think the search works better on Roku than Apple these days.

Kind of a shame that Amazon chose to make a very cluttered UI to go with an otherwise solid series of devices.

 

[HipKat]

FWIW: The images and videos I've seen do not impress me. All I can say is it is somewhat less confusing than the current UI. All these UIs really need is a grid of apps with a good search function. Everything else is fluff that distracts from the purpose of the device. Roku and AppleTV do the best in this regard.

Agreed. Home and settings are the ONLY links in the Menu bar that I ever use on my FS.

 

[KAB]

I bought a new Roku Ultra...not one of their finest moments! It has an HDMI handshake issue that several updates have not corrected, PQ is less than my 2017 version. Stacked up against Apple TV, it's not even a runner-up. Sending it back!

 

[ncted]

I've been trying out Rokus in the Kitchen the past few days for my wife, who isn't any more enamored with the looks of the new Firestick UI than I am. The biggest problem we've found is that closed captions don't work on CBS AA for some reason.

 

[lparsons21]

I've been trying out Rokus in the Kitchen the past few days for my wife, who isn't any more enamored with the looks of the new Firestick UI than I am. The biggest problem we've found is that closed captions don't work on CBS AA for some reason.

CBS:AA is an odd duck on the Roku. While you are watching a show on it, press the asterisk button and you can turn captioning on.

Also you can change to a different soundtrack the same way on shows that have that. In CBS:AA the default is stereo but many shows have DD5.1 and/or DD+ available.

 

[ncted]

CBS:AA is an odd duck on the Roku. While you are watching a show on it, press the asterisk button and you can turn captioning on.

Also you can change to a different soundtrack the same way on shows that have that. In CBS:AA the default is stereo but many shows have DD5.1 and/or DD+ available.

Yeah, it just doesn't work. No captions every appear. I've tried rebooting and a factory reset, but neither fixed the problem.

 

[lparsons21]

Yeah, it just doesn't work. No captions every appear. I've tried rebooting and a factory reset, but neither fixed the problem.

I checked a few shows, it seems CC is hit or miss. On Cheers it worked fine and on Seal Team it worked fine too. But on The Stand, nada.

I did notice that it takes it a little time to switch it on after the selection though.

 

[lparsons21]

I’ll correct myself. CC works fine but takes a bit to actually start doing it. Even The Stand has it.

Which Roku do you have? Possibly an older one? I’ve got the Ultra 2020.

 

[ncted]

I’ll correct myself. CC works fine but takes a bit to actually start doing it. Even The Stand has it.

Which Roku do you have? Possibly an older one? I’ve got the Ultra 2020.

I've tried on a 2018 Ultra and a 2016 Premier+, both with the latest software, which exhibit the problem. I watched an entire episode of Cheers on the Premier+ with no CC last night. Works fine on all other devices I have. It is a small annoyance on one app, so not a big deal.

 

[Don in CT]

I checked a few shows, it seems CC is hit or miss. On Cheers it worked fine and on Seal Team it worked fine too. But on The Stand, nada.

I did notice that it takes it a little time to switch it on after the selection though.

I wonder if that is the embedding per show that is different.

 

[Zookster]

I've been watching The Good Fight on CBS AA on my new 2020 Roku Ultra and am often not getting captions, but it's fine on new episodes of Discovery. Since I don't have a hearing impairment, I'll take the 5.1 audio I get from my Roku over the captioning. However, with my new Roku, I've noticed an audio sync issue if I select DD+ audio. Regular DD 5.1 is fine.