Amazon Fire TV Stick $19 for Prime Users 2 days only

Regular is faster, remote has voice support, plays higher intensity "games", and allows Ethernet rather than just WiFi.
 
King Icewind said:
Is there any big reason to get the regular FireTV over this now?
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The FireTV being more powerful is really the big difference. Ethernet is there if you need it, that could be a big benefit to some. Optical out, which some may need. Also, the voice remote.

For the general population, I would say no. But there are a handful of important things that the FireTV does add that will be crucial to certain people. It's not irrelevant, but not quite as attractive either.
 
Viper87227 said:
The FireTV being more powerful is really the big difference. Ethernet is there if you need it, that could be a big benefit to some. Optical out, which some may need. Also, the voice remote.

For the general population, I would say no. But there are a handful of important things that the FireTV does add that will be crucial to certain people. It's not irrelevant, but not quite as attractive either.
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don't most modern TV's have optical out on them, so no real need for it on the device.
 
Power is irrelevant for 99% of people who don't care about playing games on the thing. If you want to play games get a Wii for the same price and have a much better experience.

Honestly the Chinese stick makers started this whole market, no one gives them credit. Then Google copied them with Chromecast, then Roku stick, now Amazon. All people need is a way to stream media on their tv using a easy cheap low power device , that's all that matters.
 
MrCrispy said:
Power is irrelevant for 99% of people who don't care about playing games on the thing. If you want to play games get a Wii for the same price and have a much better experience.

Honestly the Chinese stick makers started this whole market, no one gives them credit. Then Google copied them with Chromecast, then Roku stick, now Amazon. All people need is a way to stream media on their tv using a easy cheap low power device , that's all that matters.
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It may be irrelevant in your point of view but that is what people seek and everyone here on hardforum. You can't get me to revert back to a dual core processor for my computer just because it is "irrelevant" to have four cores or eight cores instead. You think people overclock their newly built computers because their brand new cpu isn't fast enough to handle everyday tasks and games?

CPU power, memory, access speed, etc is everything. None of it is a necessity but we want things to run faster. We want everything to pop up instantly. Games are not the main reason.
 
Badger said:
True... for $1.99 to $2.99 an episode.
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Do you have prime? I watched the entire Sopranos series in HD for free from amazon. I also have watched The League and movies like Pain and Gain for free on it. I was highly considering buying a Fire TV but didn't want to shell out the $80+ for one. This is exactly what someone like me wanted, a device through which I can use a remote or a phone app to watch amazon stuff directly on my TV without launching a browser.

I like it in concept a lot more than the chromecast. I didn't have a ton of time to use a chromecast but I did the "screen cast" from my father's desktop to his TV for the Indy 500 practices and it just didn't work as well as I'd wanted. I MUCH prefer native apps to screen streaming, but the screen streaming/mirroring is a good option when those native apps don't exist.
 
Zepher said:
don't most modern TV's have optical out on them, so no real need for it on the device.
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Yeah, good point. Personally if I were hooking into a home theater, I'd just plunk the device onto the back of my receiver anyway.

So really, it's power and ethernet.
 
Zepher said:
don't most modern TV's have optical out on them, so no real need for it on the device.
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The FireTV's optical out is for interface with A/V Receivers, not TVs. Only Dolby Digital will pass through the optical. But Dolby Digital Plus passes through HDMI. (and you can choose which streams teh FireTV will use)

It's useful for those with legacy AVRs w/o HDMI.
 
Wrench said:
Man almost jumped on it...my Chromecast sits in a nightstand drawer untouched for 6 months now. I can find no reason to buy it. But I want it lol.
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I feel the same way. I dont actually have a use for this but it does look interesting.
 
Saturn_V said:
The FireTV's optical out is for interface with A/V Receivers, not TVs. Only Dolby Digital will pass through the optical. But Dolby Digital Plus passes through HDMI. (and you can choose which streams teh FireTV will use)

It's useful for those with legacy AVRs w/o HDMI.
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I think what he meant was even if you needed optical out to a receiver, you could connect the TV Stick to your TV, and then use optical from the TV to the receiver for audio, thus negating the benefit of optical out on the FireTV.
 
Not_So_Hard said:
Ordered early yesterday (2) and they are expected December 2.

This is on the website right now (10/28/14 @ 10:34 a.m. Central):
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Damn! Glad I ordered this before it hit the masses. Mine still shows a delivery estimate of November 26th.
 
Pylor said:
Do you have prime? I watched the entire Sopranos series in HD for free from amazon. I also have watched The League and movies like Pain and Gain for free on it. I was highly considering buying a Fire TV but didn't want to shell out the $80+ for one. This is exactly what someone like me wanted, a device through which I can use a remote or a phone app to watch amazon stuff directly on my TV without launching a browser.

I like it in concept a lot more than the chromecast. I didn't have a ton of time to use a chromecast but I did the "screen cast" from my father's desktop to his TV for the Indy 500 practices and it just didn't work as well as I'd wanted. I MUCH prefer native apps to screen streaming, but the screen streaming/mirroring is a good option when those native apps don't exist.
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I do have Prime, and I agree I think it's awesome that some HBO shows like Sopranos are available for free through Prime. I just think it's deceptive of them to advertise Game of Thrones in their images alongside free included content when each episode of GoT is $2.99. GoT has to be a huge draw for something like this. If you're scrolling through that page and see that image, you're likely to think sweet, this includes GoT... and it does, for $30/season.

I'm being nitpicky and petty, but to me that image just screams impulse-buy bait.
 
Viper87227 said:
You should be able to place multiple orders with the discount. At least that how it was yesterday morning...
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"We're sorry. This item has limited purchase quantity. We have changed your purchase quantity to the maximum allowable." Changes it to 0.
 
saving $20, my bluray player has amazon, Netflix, Hulu and a hundred other apps on it already.
 
talk about underestimating demand... ordered one last night since it would not let me order two :(

estimated delivery Dec 17... had a friend of mine with a prime account order one also to give to my parents since he already has a firetv he wasn't interested in the stick...

at $20 it's awesome
 
I flip flopped again just tried to order one and it told me none available from the seller. Guess they are sold out? Eh didn't need it anyway.
 
In for one. We already have 5 chromecasts in the house as it is, but if this will work with prime videos and play nice with my Pioneer theater receiver it would be a worthy replacement. But the plex part has to work well too I guess. 20 for testing isn't a bad price to check it out I guess.
 
Wrench said:
I flip flopped again just tried to order one and it told me none available from the seller. Guess they are sold out? Eh didn't need it anyway.
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Definitely not sold out. Just ordered mine. Thanks, OP!
 
I ordered 1 yesterday. Already have a chromecast & a roku stick, I think this will replace the chromecast on the 2nd tv, probably leave the roku on the main tv.
 
I bit and ordered 2. I may gift one or both, idk yet, but for 40 bucks for the pair, I couldn't pass it up. My ship date is estimated to be Dec 9th though.
 
I checked yesterday afternoon after seeing people on multiple forums talking about only being able to order 1. It looks like they had to change it sometime yesterday to a limit of 1 per customer, and all new orders weren't going to be filled until after January 1st. Not sure if they underestimated demand or what.

$20 for a stick I can shove in the back of my AVR to play amazon with surround sound and ESPN through anything but their stuttery web player (assuming nfl games aren't device restricted, which they probably are now that I think about it) is well worth it.
 
I just tried it since I'm a Prime member and its $39.99 for me all the way to checkout. Apparently the deal is dead.
 
It was two days only. Oct 27 & 28th.

I'm betting they'll lower the MSRP on this after the holidays. $39 really is too much if they want to go head-to-head with Chromecast.
 
I picked up 2. I have a roku3 in the bedroom that I hate sitting out on the dresser. If it plays well with Plex they should work out quite well.
 
Dang, I can't believe I somehow didn't notice the $19 price for Prime members there, I would have happily snapped up a few of these :(.
 
Popping in to say that my order shipped today. Delivery is set for Thursday (though I wouldn't be surprised to see that pushed back seeing as UPS doesn't know how to move about in the snow).

I'll let ya'll know what I think when it arrives.
 
edit: oh nvm.. mine says Delivery estimate: Friday, December 12, 2014 by 8pm ... a couple days before the original est.
 
My first order just shipped and it was estimated for Nov 26, I think the December ones will ship early as well.
 
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