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

Order Received - October 28, 2014 11:04 AM
Not yet shipped
Delivery estimate: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 by 8pm
 
My estimated shipping on my second order went from Dec 10 to:

Your new estimated delivery date is: Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Amazon ftw.
 
mine got updated and should arrive Dec 5th now. (was the 14th, then the 12th)
 
Well mine was delivered yesterday. That's right the postal service delivered it on a Sunday lol. I think I'm just going to send it back and not even open it at all as I really don't have a need for it. I did have Amazon Prime but no longer have it since there's nothing on there I really care about and I don't really order that much from Amazon every year.
 
The AVS consensus on the Fire TV Stick appears to be that's suitable for online streaming sources (Netflix, Amazon, HuluPlus, YouTube, etc) But it doesn't have enough oomph for a local/network media player. The Fire TV box is the better option.
 
that's all I need it for... no more air play from the ipad to the apple tv for prime video (which works ok but it will be nice to have a device that streams prime natively).
 
Happy with mine so far, especially for the price. The only thing that really disappointed was how barebones the Twitch app is, considering Amazon owns them now was at least expecting basic features like stream quality settings, account sign in and follow lists.
 
ND40oz said:
Sideload the google play store plex pass version if you don't want to spend the $4.99 or $1.99 when they put it on sale.

Latest apk's are in this thread: https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/60585-plex-for-android/

Most Amazon users will have spare coins to purchase it for free though, plus it's nice having it from the Amazon store so you can use it on your Kindles as well without sideloading.
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I bought the app and am having weird stuttering issues while viewing. Now, the machine I am using as the Plex server isn't beefy so that might be the issue. But I wanted to know if anybody else is seeing this so far.
 
Got mine today. Haven't had the chance to check it out yet, but plan on doing a little later.
 
Kenworth said:
I bought the app and am having weird stuttering issues while viewing. Now, the machine I am using as the Plex server isn't beefy so that might be the issue. But I wanted to know if anybody else is seeing this so far.
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Looks like some others have had an issue with stuttering. I haven't noticed it on the FireTV, but my 2 Fire Sticks are still in the box until Christmas, so I can't compare it them. Forcing transcoding worked for a little while for someone but they need to reboot it every few days.

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/105662-stuttering-on-amazon-firetv-with-non-transcoded-media/

Did you sideload the plexpass version or are you using the Amazon App store version?
 
got it from bestbuy 24.99. Its fantastic. No stuttering, fast, quick buffering etc. Also like other stuff like the the bloomburg tv+ live tv channel, Smithsonian app, opera app, etc. Other apps occosionaly buffer but the amazon app is perfect.
 
Mine didn't have any stuttering from what I could tell. The only real bummer was that it took like 1/2 hour or so to update when I first turned it on before I could use it.
 
ND40oz said:
Did you sideload the plexpass version or are you using the Amazon App store version?
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I used the purchased version from the App store built in to the stick. I had read the sideload version was working well after I bought it the first night. I wanted to get right in to testing and seeing the results. So now I either wait for that to get patched (if they recognize it as an issue), or just side load away and see if I can get better performance in the mean time. I will say, the Plex app was pretty impressive. I haven't used it in a while and it has come such a long way since I last loaded it up. Looking forward to keeping the PS3 powered down for a long time.
 
Yay, mine got brought up from Dec 16th to Dec 5th delivery.

I'll see how it performs with Plex for me when I get it.

Any info on rooting it? I haven't checked XDA yet.
 
got my fire stick last night.. it's great and the only reason I am keeping my Roku in the bedroom is for the headphone jack on the remote which I use a lot. The fire stick is a very nice streaming option. The HD video quality is quite good and the audio is better than our X1 box or the appleTV (2nd gen). The surround (Dolby Plus) audio actually sounded decent - a pleasant surprise.

After several days with the fire stick I am very happy with it. The video and audito quality are both excellent and the ui is very well done. This was a steal at 19 bucks. At 39 very good too. I have it on my 5G network with the extra power connected. Very stable streaming performance.
 
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Still stuttering in Plex, and now the thing just freaks out and freezes randomly. Anybody else having issues with this thing?
 
Try going into the Plex settings and make sure Use experimental player is turned off. What's the CPU usage look like on your Plex server when it's stuttering?
 
Not a lot of time to test because the wife doesn't care about testing, she cares about watching. So, I was able to monitor the Plex server (dual core hyperthreaded Atom D525, 2gb of ram, 320gb hd, nothing fancy) while trying to watch on the Plex app. The server doesn't really shutter at around 10% cpu and hardwired to the gigabit network. Files are mp4 and the Fire TV Stick is about 30 feet from the router through a wall. I don't think bandwidth is the issue or the server at this point. I did NOT, however, make sure experimental player is turned off. Not a lot of time this morning before leaving for work. What was really strange was it now will just lose signal, freak the tv out, come back for 10 seconds, lose signal for 2, back for 10, and so on. My TV is a 10 year old Visio plasma which has zero issues running movies through the PS3 (please let me get rid of this thing) so I don't believe it the television as much as it is old and maybe the Fire TV Stick is throwing some wacky signals to it that it doesn't understand. This weird in and out activity was on the home screen as well as in Plex so I think I might just go the exchange route. First, I am going to do a factory reset tonight and see if I can't wipe the slate clean and cross my fingers.
 
What quality settings are you getting from plex? Is it higher qualitiy on the stick than the chromecast?

I know if you go over 6-8Mbit/s on chromecast it stutters (and I have a fast encoder - 4770k)

I also have TONS of wireless bandwidth -- connecting via 802.11n in the same location yields consistent 60Mbit/s (my max internet speed) on my laptop.

I figure it's the chromecast cpu. I'm wondering if the Amazon stick is better since it's dual core.
 
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I don't know if that was directed at me but I will respond in case it was.

I am getting great quality from Plex on the stick when it is working. It was really slick and quick when it was working initially. I didn't check the bandwidth while it was streaming because I didn't think to. I have to remote into that box so that may skew the bandwidth numbers a little, but I will check.

I just upgraded my router to a Netgear R7000 (not due to issues, good deal at Walmart) so I am hoping in my conditions wireless isn't even close to being the issue.

As far as cpu goes, there is definitely room for improvement on the server side but I didn't notice even the little atom having to work hard to feed it out. If it were an mkv file it might be but the mp4 doesn't seem to chew much cpu wise. As far as the Fire TV goes, with everyone else running buttery smooth, I hope it isn't that device. I could run Plex from another machine but that was what I was trying to avoid. I wanted to just have this little box running Plex by itself. It streams through the PS3 just fine but all it is really doing there is serving up bits and not crunching anything. At least that is how I perceive it to be happening in the PS3 scenario.
 
Finally got it yesterday after shipping delays.

Tried to play a 1080p MKV in Plex and got stuttering/buffering. It would also take a good 30-60 seconds to actually begin the movie.

Found in the Plex forums (might have been linked previously in this thread actually) somebody was having similar issues - solution was to turn Direct Play and Direct Stream off in the settings. I can't remember if I left the experimental player on or off though. Was watching my traffic on my router and it seemed to be just fine. I did also have my 2.4 / 5GHz networks named the same...some issues seemed to relieve themselves once I renamed by 5GHz network (previously didn't have any issues at all). Too bad the Fire Stick won't connect to the 5GHz network for some reason (saw other people had similar issues, but didn't have time to play with the settings on the router b/c the wife was playing MP games).

After I made those changes it only stuttered once at the beginning, and then once more in the 10 minutes of the movie I watched. I figure it's due to it being on a C2D machine that's doing my transcoding.
 
I got mine about 2 weeks ago and haven't had too much time to use it. What time I have had I've noticed the Netflix app has some random noise distortion in the picture. I've also had it lock up on me once when connected via the outlet rather than the USB port on my TV.

I'd like to play with it more and see what the distortion is about but other than that, for being a full interface on a flash drive I'm happy enough if no other problems arise.
 


Boy was I wrong! I don't know how I didn't see this happening the first time through but this is when I first started the stream from the Plex server. And I was wrong about the processor as well. Anyway, by the time our hour long show was over I checked the machine and it had died down a little to this:



I did a factory reset on the Fire Stick, put it on the 5g band, and it played front to back with zero issues. I also watched about an hour of Netflix before this. I couldn't get through that much playback without hiccups or full on freezes before so here is to hoping whatever gremlin was in there isn't anymore.
 
I got mine today, I don't even know if I'm going to use it seeing as I have a smart TV upstairs and a PS3 on the other. Might as well put it up for sale.
 
HeavensCloud said:
I got mine today, I don't even know if I'm going to use it seeing as I have a smart TV upstairs and a PS3 on the other. Might as well put it up for sale.
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Yeah I have not even bothered to open mine. My bluray player has netflix and other stuff and the only reason I got the stick is because I had prime when I ordered it. I no longer have prime so I dont see the point in this any longer.
 
misterbobby said:
Yeah I have not even bothered to open mine. My bluray player has netflix and other stuff and the only reason I got the stick is because I had prime when I ordered it. I no longer have prime so I dont see the point in this any longer.
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Then are selling for $44 minimum on eBay, I might go that route.
 
Sparky said:
Order Received - October 28, 2014 11:04 AM
Not yet shipped
Delivery estimate: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 by 8pm
Click to expand...

new date change 3rd change
Delivery estimate: Monday, December 15, 2014 by 8pm

I changed the delivery address because the original delivery date was Jan 5 which I will be home but since it has moved up I decided to get it here now. After the change the date moved up again.
Delivery estimate: Friday, December 12, 2014 by 8pm
 
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Just a quick update, the Plex app seems to crash quite often. I have had to reboot the stick, (pull power), about six times in two weeks. It seems to lose the network settings quite a bit too, where it says it has authentication problems, and I have to enter the wireless password about every other day. I'm hoping they can fix that and update the plex app soon because I am really digging the remote and interface. Oh and it would be nice if they made like a user custom area so I could make sure plex was towards the top and always available.
 
ob1 said:
Just a quick update, the Plex app seems to crash quite often. I have had to reboot the stick, (pull power), about six times in two weeks. It seems to lose the network settings quite a bit too, where it says it has authentication problems, and I have to enter the wireless password about every other day. I'm hoping they can fix that and update the plex app soon because I am really digging the remote and interface. Oh and it would be nice if they made like a user custom area so I could make sure plex was towards the top and always available.
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So I changed many variables at once but here are my results. I returned the first stick because it simply crashed and got stuck during function in Plex, Netflix, or whatever I was doing. In that time I bought the $90 R7000 from Walmart which some people might remember was a big thing. The new stick seems stable IF I put it on the 2.4ghz band. On the 5ghz band it was doing strange things like you described; dropped from network, asking for credentials again, etc. Plex still seems to hitch and freeze so I need to find out if that is my server or the stick now.

Keep testing and tweaking I suppose.
 
you guys with issues connected the additional power connector to the stick?
 
Kenworth said:
Additional power connector? I only used the one that came with the unit. My television is old and doesn't have built in usb.
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right that's what I meant.. I think it just helps boost wifi reception. my tv has usb but I am using the 'wall wart' that came with the stick and it's worked flawless on 5G pretty far from the router too.
 
revenant said:
right that's what I meant.. I think it just helps boost wifi reception. my tv has usb but I am using the 'wall wart' that came with the stick and it's worked flawless on 5G pretty far from the router too.
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That's the other sticking point which makes no sense. My stick is about 20 feet from the router through one wall. I have very few devices on the 5g so I don't think it is that. Maybe I will throw it back on there to see what happens.
 
Well mine just died tonight. I noticed Netflix was hitching more and more over the last couple days and then in the middle of movie tonight, Netflix just kept buffering. I went to the home screen then it went to a black screen and that was it. Even unplugging the device from the TV or the power cord from the wall and back in does nothing. :(
 
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