You can use them to power on and off your TV as well as turn the volume up and down too. Both remotes are a good size and well thought out, and they each allow quick and natural search and control functions of your on-screen experience. Voice control was an all-new feature introduced with this particular Chromecast model and it lifts the Google streamer's usability right up to the excellent level of the Fire Stick. That's no big deal for these dongles themselves, given that they're tucked away, but the Chromecast's matching remote control certainly looks cheerier than the Fire Stick's. It comes in a choice of three colours – Snow (white), Sunrise (pink) or Sky (blue) it's just plain gun-metal grey for the Fire Stick. The penny toffee-shaped Chromecast is a little more touchy feely. They slot into one of your TV's HDMI ports and require their own power through a USB cable that needs to run between the streamer and a wall socket. **Winner** Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K – cheaper and sometimes as little as half the price of the Chromecast when bought on sale.īoth of these dongle-based streamers have a similar design ethos: make it small and keep it out of sight. We wouldn't be surprised to see it come down again in the coming months, but be warned that a new version of the Fire TV Stick 4K is likely to launch at some point soon – and that would replace the current version and bring with it, no doubt, a price bump. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has been around since the end of 2018, and we have seen its price drop to as low as £30/$29 on occasions. And keep an eye on Google's store if you are also in the market for another Google device such as a Pixel smartphone or Nest smart speaker. The Chromecast is considerably newer than the Fire TV Stick, so standalone discounts are harder to come by, but you can sometimes find it in bundles such as the free giveaways YouTube TV subscriptions. In the case of the Fire TV, that means loss of anything better than Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, or lower bit rates if it thinks the bit rate is too high for the target player to handle, etc.The difference in price between these devices may be small, but every penny counts at this end of the media streamer market.Īt launch, the Chromecast with Google TV was the more expensive of the two, at £60/$50, with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K coming in at £50/$40. It means if the file has surround sound, higher rez or bit rate, etc, Kodi plays them and passes them through… Where as Plex re-encodes them on the fly to the parameters it thinks the target playback device can handle. It plays the files natively, without touching them, on my player. Why do I use it? I drop my movies, videos and MP3’s onto folders my Kodi server can access. (see Kodi.TV) You can also get plug-ins to add features (I don’t use plug-ins). Its rarely you asked what Kodi is… its a media player with a nice GUI, movie info scraper,etc. Since first getting my 1st Fire TV box, I have 3 Fire TV Boxes and 2 Sticks in my house. While I also have a 2nd Gen Fire TV Box, I’ve not tried the newer sticks yet. My Plex Server transcodes on the fly to a lower bit rate for him (I set the plex app on his stick that way). I’m not sure there is enough bandwidth to handle the higher bitrate titles. He used to use the Watch Disney/DisJR apps, but he’s grown out of those Because his stick is Wifi only, and at the far end of the house, I’ve not tried Kodi on it. He uses Netflix, Plex, and Disney Moves Anywhere. I later got 1st gen Fire TV Stick for my Son. There is no VUDU or UltraViolet apps/options on the FireTV family. I have side loaded a few apps, like MAME4Droid, but not much else. ![]() The remote was much easier to use than the way the chromecast worked (especially for my wife and son).Īs I use the Fire TV… for HBOGo, Netflix, Kodi, Plex, Disney Movies Anywhere (although linked to my Amazon account, its better to watch the movies via Amazon, and special features via DMA), YouTube, and apps for Starz, Showtime, Encore, Watch Disney/DisJR Channels, and an app called PhotoGuru (allows me to view my Google Photos/Videos as well as my Facebook photos/videos). ![]() ![]() I liked the wired network abilities and Optical Audio. I purchased one 1st Gen Chromecast to start binge watching Game of Thrones on HBO Go… When the Fire TV box came out, I got one of those.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |