Amazon Fire TV Stick

[Zee09]

( If it helps anybody here)

I bought one for my mother to help her on her cable bill.
All she watches is the news and old movies like TCM.
Her cable bill is crazy high. I bought her a new 4K flat screen too.

I let the fire stick sit for a few weeks. She has very dismal DSL always under 3 mbps ( In an old big house)

Plus her rec room is in the basement and the modem on the other end of the house upstairs- bad deal.
I figured I'd hard wire it directly to try to make it work.


Since they are new to me- I just plugged it in to the TV as a test run using her Wi-Fi…………
I can't believe it ran fine with no issues and the movies-videos just flowed through it.
Verizon DSL is very slow but it has been bullet proof for years- no issues whatsoever...….

We are in an area where we can not get FIOS or other competing cable companies.
If anyone knows Armstrong Cable- that's the issue.

I'm new to this but setup is 2 minutes-the hardest thing is moving the TV to hook it up- simple
That said- many things are not free- just so you know
In this case- don't really need the paid extras.

 

[WyrTwister]

I bought a ChromCast to use in motel rooms , back when I was working a fair amount of town . Problem was , the motels wi-fi would not support the needed bit rate . :-(

Is the Fire Stick any thing similar to the ChromCast ?

 

[Oildudeny]

I have a roku hard wired into my router and a roku tv wireless both perform flawless. I'm glad you got the fire stick running and having no lag.

Never heard of Armstrong cable what location they cover?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister
I bought a ChromCast to use in motel rooms , back when I was working a fair amount of town . Problem was , the motels wi-fi would not support the needed bit rate . :-(
Free hotel wifi wasn't designed to allow video streaming. They want you to pay for higher quality wifi.


Quote
Is the Fire Stick any thing similar to the ChromCast ?
Yes.

 

[Danno]

If you have a remote location in the house that needs internet, this type of kit works well.
Installed one in my sister's house, to enable a ROKU type device. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/AV2000-Power...mp;keywords=PowerLine+AV2+2000&psc=1

 

[Schmoe]

That's cool!!!!

 

[Pew]

You can also crack the firestick for Kodi or other free TV/movie services.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted by Oildudeny
I have a roku hard wired into my router and a roku tv wireless both perform flawless. I'm glad you got the fire stick running and having no lag.

Never heard of Armstrong cable what location they cover?


Thanks!
I know Armstrong handles PA and MD. they have had my area locked up since the 60's
I went to switch my mother over to the basic cable-internet and phone. They listed $109 for a year.
But since she was a customer already it was $336. really!

So we are keeping Armstrong basic cable-Verizon dsl and landline.
Now I know why many people dump cable

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted by Danno
If you have a remote location in the house that needs internet, this type of kit works well.
Installed one in my sister's house, to enable a ROKU type device. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/AV2000-Power...mp;keywords=PowerLine+AV2+2000&psc=1



Thanks- I tried another brand and I just could not get it to work. I'll give this a shot for the third floor

 

[Zee09]

I don't have much time on it but it is starting to get easier.
My mother is unable to leave the house and I am her sole caretaker for the last few years.
Even in her condition she is able to use it.

At first I was put off as most movies were like $2.99 etc.
I was able to use my Fire Tablet while the stick was running and went to YouTube and punched in "old free movies"
and came up with 1,000's
Then I just grabbed the fire stick and pushed the microphone button and said the movie and those were free.
I do have Amazon Prime but no other streaming services. I did watch some HD shows and no issues with the DSL- very clear.

 

[tmorris1]

Chromecast usually doesn't work in a hotel because they usually do not let you connect to other devices on the hotel network. You would need to control the Chromecast with a phone or tablet, and most places will not allow this to happen.

I have never used the Fire devices, but the Rokus work great.

 

[OldSparks]

Originally Posted by Pew
You can also crack the firestick for Kodi or other free TV/movie services.


I sideloaded VLC player on my Firestick and have a 1 GB hard drive plugged into my Asus router - I can play all the content on the hard drive, including HEVC video files. Sort of a poor man's NAS

 

[Audios]

Streaming is the way to go, you can get her a digital antenna and shell have 40+ channels on that alone. Its been 10 years without cable, saving at least 50/mo over the combined bill, you do the math. I was reading and most said for 720i definition, only 1.2 mbps is needed, and 1080 is closer to 2.

 

[Danno]

Originally Posted by Zee09
Originally Posted by Danno
If you have a remote location in the house that needs internet, this type of kit works well.
Installed one in my sister's house, to enable a ROKU type device. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/AV2000-Power...mp;keywords=PowerLine+AV2+2000&psc=1



Thanks- I tried another brand and I just could not get it to work. I'll give this a shot for the third floor


Hi - just checked my order, it was this model/brand.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5509_TL-PA8030P-KIT.html

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted by Audios
Streaming is the way to go, you can get her a digital antenna and shell have 40+ channels on that alone. Its been 10 years without cable, saving at least 50/mo over the combined bill, you do the math. I was reading and most said for 720i definition, only 1.2 mbps is needed, and 1080 is closer to 2.


What kind of channels would they be? I'm like 50 miles from any real big city. Thanks

 

[Zee09]

Thank you!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by OldSparks
and have a 1 GB hard drive plugged into my Asus router -
1 TB maybe?

 

[BigD1]

Pluto is pretty good for free streaming. They have a big channel lineup with news, movies, music, and etc.. You can also stream free movies from them on demand.

 

[Audios]

As far as channels go its been a few years since I plugged one in for my G-Ma, but I remember the usual 2-13 and then again in HD, along with TMC, and a few other decent channels. Then a bunch of QVC and shopping BS channels.

 

[bubbatime]

The free over the air channels via antennae will be about 10-30 local and misc channels... obviously start there, as they are free. And HD quality, better than the cable company. You might have to have a guy install a cheap ($100) roof top antennae to get the best reception.

Add Netflix. Its only about $8 a month, and has a ton of content. You can even do what I did, which was subscribe for one month, binge watch everything, then unsubscribe for two months. Then subscribe again, etc. They are always adding new content throughout the year, so that's the cheap way to watch most of the new stuff...