Thoughts on next gen firetv 4k stick (announced Oct 2018)?

Thanks, it is working for me.

1 Like

If Amazon can update this device properly I plan to retire my aging
Apple TV; can I then transfer my Channels app to the Fire TV?
I realize that a DVR sub gets it for free but right now I'm quite
happy with Emby for DVR purposes..Thanx in advance

All of the green and pixelation is gone! Seems faster than the Fire TV.

1 Like

Nice job on the updated app 2.1.0, it has resolved my issue and allowed the 4K stick to look good, even at $49.00
Thanks!

1 Like

Updated application works great on the Stick now.
Thanks,

1 Like

Is anyone using the new Firestick 4k with the HDHR Extend for OTA or the old HDHR Prime & Cable card setup?

With that setup I've had issues with the Amazon TV pendant, whereas the Apple TV 4k has been pretty solid.

I use the FireTV pendant (bought just before they announced the 4K stick), and have no problems using it with 3 Primes with CableCARDs.

The 4K Stick is way better than the Pendant. The CPU/GPU on it is so powerful, we are now using the same exact decoder/deinterlacer/renderer on it that we do on the Apple TV 4. The interface is extremely snappy throughout the OS, and in comparison the Pendant feels very laggy.

On the Pendant and older models we're still using the hardware mpeg2 decoder, which is hit or miss depending on your cable/antenna source feeds. Each model has its own set of bugs in the decoder, but now with the 4K Stick we can bypass the buggy amazon stuff and just use our own reliable decoding.

3 Likes

The Ethernet adapter works just fine.

7 posts were split to a new topic: DVR buffering warnings with tuner sharing on multiple Fire TVs

Got my 4K stick last night. Same hardware decoder issue as US except crashes out after about 5 seconds rather than 30 mins. Get pixellated green tinted image for about a second then stuttering video then crash.

Software decoder much better - no crashes and video plays well however have frequent audio drop out for about 1% of the time. Happens whether live or from the buffer. Don't have my DVR hooked up at the oment so can't test recordings. Source is 1080i AVC with stereo sound.

Setup is HDHR DVB Quatro all wired gigabit. FTV 4K stick is wired via ethernet adapter (haven't tested AC WiFi).

I too had mine delivered yesterday, also in the UK, and was wondering if this was going to be a good alternative to the ATV4K.

I have a whole bunch of problems with it. The decoder issue is there, iPlayer does not stream anything, Plex also has video issues that cause the app to hang and then restart. Netflix does not do frame rate matching (disappointing) either. The wizard to run through and detect your TV/volume controls etc has some bugs and will revert back to trying to detect power halfway through the volume control setup.

On the plus side, the remote is very nice and the interface is also very responsive.

Obviously not all Channels related but just for anybody else in the UK thinking about buying one of these - IMO its clearly not ready and I'm sending it back to Amazon.

I had the remote setup issue also. Chose to skip and setup later. Same thing happened again. However then updated the remote firmware from the settings menu and the remote setup worked that time with my LG TV (the TV then uses HDMI-CEC to control the AVR).
BBC iPlayer worked fine for me.
I've only seen framerate matching for Tom Clancy UHD but havent tested it a lot. It certainly doesn't switch on Netflix for shows I know were shot in 24P.
I'm not sending mine back and will hang on and hope Day 1 issues are improved upon - hope Amazon can sort the decoder. I assume it is just interlaced video that is affected. Can the DVR deinterlace?

I just got my stick last night. Major issue i had with apple tv is the lack of on off with lower price tv's (seiki). Decided i would try to get it all in one place with the new stick. Once updated and running (using 100mbps ethernet adapter to gigibit wired plug in) the only issues i've noted have been it seems to buffer during live tv playback on higher than "original" setting. I love the crispness of the 1080, but it seems to buffer quite a bit. Also on original size the picture seems smaller inside the screen, not picture in picture, but its not filling the screen. This happens the opposite on the apple tv on SCI channel. The screen is actually too big. Otherwise, i love the stick. I'm still new with it so its probably user error on the screen size, but if anyone has any suggestions i would love to use it over my apple tv. My wife would love only one remote!

UPDATE: I decided to go all in on the firestick 4k vs the apple tv as my main player. The remotes work great and i've switched to wireless instead of wired connection. That seems to have solved most of my buffering issues. I still have some here or there, but on the whole it works great. I still have some video issues with the video size being smaller than the TV screen, but again, it works great and only needing one remote is wonderful. Plus for the wife its allot less confusing than the apple tv.

My Fire Stick 4K remote were automatically updated last night. Any idea on just what was changed?

With the latest software update, have you tried using the native hardware decoding vs. the software option? Any improvements there?

Software decoding took away all green screen and pixelation.

I was asking about the fire stick 4K remote control automatic update last night.

Oh sorry I misread... I thought the sw update was to the fire tv, not to the remote.

I should imagine the problems will be fixed but mine has already gone back. Not sure if and when Netflix will be updated to use frame rate matching and I didn't really want to hang on to it and just hope.

I noticed the price has dropped to £34.99...

5 posts were split to a new topic: FireTV 4K Stick in UK