Hi guys, just bought the newest fire stick (non 4K) to go with my apple TVs and android TV, and the quality is shocking. Really grainy. Read a couple of things on the forums and changed to 1080p 8mb, also changed fire stick to 50hz (as I’m in the UK) but just looks rough. Ah I being stupid, is there a fix or is the fire stick just crap? Thanks, Matt
Hi Matt
Sorry I don't know the answer to this as I have only just bought a Fire Stick myself, have you found a solution or are you saying there is a noticeable difference in the quality of channels streaming through a fire stick vs apple tv on the same TV screen and settings?
The reason I ask is because I am in the process of moving from Roku to another streaming device for all my TV's and the Fire Stick is ticking the most boxes so far, I would agree the quality of the UK TV broadcast through the HDHomeRun is poor on some channels especially none HD content.
I will do a bit of research by plugging in both the Roku and streaming the hdhomerun via plex and the Amazon Fire and streaming via Channels and Plex to see if there is a noticeable difference in quality. I don't think there will be though I have never been impressed with the picture quality of the hdhomerun, i use it more because of how well it functions the picture quality from the built in TV tuner was far superior streaming through both Roku and Fire TV.
If the picture quality is somehow considerably better through an apple tv though this would change which streaming device I move to throughout my house
Thanks
Hi Dougie,
The team at channels got back to me and said the standard fire sticks are useless and to return them. However, they said the fire stick 4K was good and works well.
The picture was horrendous when I tested the standard one whereas on Apple TV it’s brilliant.
Hope that helps,
Matt
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Hi Matt
Thanks for the info much appreciated, ok well as Amazon had a deal on I have bought a 4K to try anyway, only problem with the 4K is I believe Amazon have an issue with MPEG2 until the fix is released at the end of Q2! That’s a very unhappy wife for the next 2-3 months if the TV’s keep freezing, but also a pain and not cost effective to buy a load of non 4K sticks with a view to upgrading to 4K sticks once the MPEG2 glitch is resolved
I am sure the Apple TV 4k is probably the best solution but does come at a large cost compared to the Fire 4k which is only £35 at the moment when you start putting 4 or 5 around the house! That £144 per device and £720 more for 5 TV’s around the home!
It’s difficult isn’t it, especially as the Apple TV app is going on the fire stick later this year (worth every penny). Annoyingly the now tv app isn’t on the fire tv but everything is on Apple TV and regularly updated.
Thanks for telling me the fire 4K was £35, just ordered one!!!! 
Yeah there's no right answer for every scenario. The Nvidia Shield is a great device but the lack of All4 and My5 are annoying to the UK.
Didn't know Apple TV was coming to Fire Stick that a bold move by Apple!
If I only had 1 TV to think about without doubt I think I would have the Apple TV but struggle putting them on each TV
You should be able to sideload NowTV to the Fire Stick if that's all you are missing? Sideloading apps on the Fire Stick is very simple
They’re damn expensive aren’t they!
Yeah, did think about that but I don’t think they do a tv app for Android. They promote chromecasting instead I think. Tried side loading the apk on an android tv I had but it all looked weird cause it was made for a tablet. Not that the Apple TV is up to much. They’ve been testing a new interface for ages but are crap at keeping people informed!
Best of luck!
Can you elaborate on Apple TV coming to fire stick? I haven’t heard anything like that. There was an announcement at CES that Apple would allow TV manufacturers to implement airplay, HomeKit, and iTunes into their TVs:
“In the case of Apple, it's started letting TV makers, like LG and Vizio, access its AirPlay and HomeKit technology, and Samsung's 2019 TVs will even come with iTunes built in.”
That’s a far cry from the full TVOS experience you get with AppleTV.
I’m afraid none of this will benefit Channels, unfortunately, as Channels does not support AirPlay because it must use a custom video player to support mpeg2.
Just the Apple TV app, not the full tvOS experience otherwise it wold make them redundant. They’re trying to get the apple tv app (and therefore iTunes) on as many screens as possible, especially for their new streaming service coming.
Unusual move for them but good for us!
Not airplay, but pretty sure that when you have channels installed on fire stick and an iPhone, clicking to play something on the iPhone gives you the option to play on the fire stick. Will test tomorrow when I have one.