Since I've never met an electronic gadget that I didn't like, I just
had to run out and buy one of these as soon as I heard about it. The
Fire Stick basically turns an ordinary (dumb) TV into an internet
connected (smart) TV, and it costs less than $40 depending on where
you buy it. You need a high speed wifi connection for it to work
properly, and an open HDMI port on your TV. It installs and self
configures in seconds, needing only your wifi sysID/password to get it
working. After that you have full access to all of your favorite
movies, music, YouTube videos, etc. It comes with a fairly slick
remote control that accepts voice commands.

No financial interest in any of this - just a happy user.

In my case I already had a fairly nice Samsung smart TV but apparently
Samsung and Amazon are dueling with each other, and the Amazon Music
app no longer works on any Samsung devices. The Fire Stick device has
fixed all that and enabled a few other nifty features.

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:03:41 -0500, wrote:

Since I've never met an electronic gadget that I didn't like, I just
had to run out and buy one of these as soon as I heard about it. The
Fire Stick basically turns an ordinary (dumb) TV into an internet
connected (smart) TV, and it costs less than $40 depending on where
you buy it. You need a high speed wifi connection for it to work
properly, and an open HDMI port on your TV. It installs and self
configures in seconds, needing only your wifi sysID/password to get it
working. After that you have full access to all of your favorite
movies, music, YouTube videos, etc. It comes with a fairly slick
remote control that accepts voice commands.

No financial interest in any of this - just a happy user.

In my case I already had a fairly nice Samsung smart TV but apparently
Samsung and Amazon are dueling with each other, and the Amazon Music
app no longer works on any Samsung devices. The Fire Stick device has
fixed all that and enabled a few other nifty features.


If this is what you're referring to, I got mine Thursday.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Haven't hooked it up yet, but it seemed to be a good buy. I'm glad to know you've got one in case I
need help.

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 15:27:35 -0500, Poco Deplorevole
wrote:

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:03:41 -0500, wrote:

Since I've never met an electronic gadget that I didn't like, I just
had to run out and buy one of these as soon as I heard about it. The
Fire Stick basically turns an ordinary (dumb) TV into an internet
connected (smart) TV, and it costs less than $40 depending on where
you buy it. You need a high speed wifi connection for it to work
properly, and an open HDMI port on your TV. It installs and self
configures in seconds, needing only your wifi sysID/password to get it
working. After that you have full access to all of your favorite
movies, music, YouTube videos, etc. It comes with a fairly slick
remote control that accepts voice commands.

No financial interest in any of this - just a happy user.

In my case I already had a fairly nice Samsung smart TV but apparently
Samsung and Amazon are dueling with each other, and the Amazon Music
app no longer works on any Samsung devices. The Fire Stick device has
fixed all that and enabled a few other nifty features.


If this is what you're referring to, I got mine Thursday.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Haven't hooked it up yet, but it seemed to be a good buy. I'm glad to know you've got one in case I
need help.

===

That's the one. It's an especially good value if you are already an
Amazon Prime member because it gives you free access to the entire
Amazon Music collection which is quite extensive - including a fair
amount of Bluegrass.

On 2/19/2017 11:03 AM, wrote:
Since I've never met an electronic gadget that I didn't like, I just
had to run out and buy one of these as soon as I heard about it. The
Fire Stick basically turns an ordinary (dumb) TV into an internet
connected (smart) TV, and it costs less than $40 depending on where
you buy it. You need a high speed wifi connection for it to work
properly, and an open HDMI port on your TV. It installs and self
configures in seconds, needing only your wifi sysID/password to get it
working. After that you have full access to all of your favorite
movies, music, YouTube videos, etc. It comes with a fairly slick
remote control that accepts voice commands.

No financial interest in any of this - just a happy user.

In my case I already had a fairly nice Samsung smart TV but apparently
Samsung and Amazon are dueling with each other, and the Amazon Music
app no longer works on any Samsung devices. The Fire Stick device has
fixed all that and enabled a few other nifty features.


I love my Fire Stick. I have one on each TV in the house.

I never use my TV for music (I have an Echo for that), but I now use
the Fire Stick in place of my Vizio smart tv apps, because the apps on
the Fire Stick are always up-to-date (its Android-based). And the UI
for the Android version of Prime Video was LOADS better than the Vizio
version!

I also use it to play "You Don't Know Jack - Party Pack" with friends.
(Yes, we had a hopping New Year's Eve party! lol)

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime
Video. I understand why, of course, but it would be nice if you could
configure it to search any of the major (legit) VOD providers (Netflix,
Hulu, etc).

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P." wrote:

On 2/19/2017 11:03 AM, wrote:
Since I've never met an electronic gadget that I didn't like, I just
had to run out and buy one of these as soon as I heard about it. The
Fire Stick basically turns an ordinary (dumb) TV into an internet
connected (smart) TV, and it costs less than $40 depending on where
you buy it. You need a high speed wifi connection for it to work
properly, and an open HDMI port on your TV. It installs and self
configures in seconds, needing only your wifi sysID/password to get it
working. After that you have full access to all of your favorite
movies, music, YouTube videos, etc. It comes with a fairly slick
remote control that accepts voice commands.

No financial interest in any of this - just a happy user.

In my case I already had a fairly nice Samsung smart TV but apparently
Samsung and Amazon are dueling with each other, and the Amazon Music
app no longer works on any Samsung devices. The Fire Stick device has
fixed all that and enabled a few other nifty features.


I love my Fire Stick. I have one on each TV in the house.

I never use my TV for music (I have an Echo for that), but I now use
the Fire Stick in place of my Vizio smart tv apps, because the apps on
the Fire Stick are always up-to-date (its Android-based). And the UI
for the Android version of Prime Video was LOADS better than the Vizio
version!

I also use it to play "You Don't Know Jack - Party Pack" with friends.
(Yes, we had a hopping New Year's Eve party! lol)

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime
Video. I understand why, of course, but it would be nice if you could
configure it to search any of the major (legit) VOD providers (Netflix,
Hulu, etc).

I've not hooked mine up yet. You mean you can't say, "Turn on Netflix"? Hell, that's one thing I was
looking forward to.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P."
wrote:

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime

Well that fact alone will keep my Echo in the box until I can regift
it. The only reason I wanted it is so my wife could call up movies and
we have a bunch of movie channels. I was already disappointed that it
could not talk Samsung and I was going to buy a stick. Now that is not
happening either.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 15:13:09 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P."
wrote:

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime

Well that fact alone will keep my Echo in the box until I can regift
it. The only reason I wanted it is so my wife could call up movies and
we have a bunch of movie channels. I was already disappointed that it
could not talk Samsung and I was going to buy a stick. Now that is not
happening either.

===

Just got a Samsung KS9000 recently and it has a pretty decent search
function that goes across different sources. And the video quality
is spectacular. My only gripe was the lack of Amazon Music and the
Fire Stick has fixed that issue.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 23:51:47 -0500,
wrote:

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 15:13:09 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P."
wrote:

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime

Well that fact alone will keep my Echo in the box until I can regift
it. The only reason I wanted it is so my wife could call up movies and
we have a bunch of movie channels. I was already disappointed that it
could not talk Samsung and I was going to buy a stick. Now that is not
happening either.

===

Just got a Samsung KS9000 recently and it has a pretty decent search
function that goes across different sources. And the video quality
is spectacular. My only gripe was the lack of Amazon Music and the
Fire Stick has fixed that issue.

I still have PCs connected to 3 TVs. That seems to give me the most
flexibility. The one in the Tikibar is just a jukebox for the most
part.

On 2/24/2017 2:13 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P."
wrote:

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime

Well that fact alone will keep my Echo in the box until I can regift
it. The only reason I wanted it is so my wife could call up movies and
we have a bunch of movie channels. I was already disappointed that it
could not talk Samsung and I was going to buy a stick. Now that is not
happening either.


So I did a little experimenting... I meant to answer Poco with
something that I knew to be true, and then discovered something else new.

Apparently in a recent update, the added the complete "Alexa"
interface (its seamless, so you don't have to do anything but push the
talk button on your remote). Along with this, searching for movies DOES
now access Amazon Video AND Netflix (and apparently 75 other "top
streaming services" including HBO.

I assume you have to have these services installed on your device for
Alexa to bother searching them. I tested this, and it does indeed
work... It gave me results from Amazon Video, Netflix, HULU and STARZ.

This was added in late 2016... I generally ignore most "What's new
with Alexa..." emails I get, so I missed it!

On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 12:59:22 -0600, "Ryan P." wrote:

On 2/24/2017 2:13 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:11:54 -0600, "Ryan P."
wrote:

My one complaint is that the voice search feature only searches Prime

Well that fact alone will keep my Echo in the box until I can regift
it. The only reason I wanted it is so my wife could call up movies and
we have a bunch of movie channels. I was already disappointed that it
could not talk Samsung and I was going to buy a stick. Now that is not
happening either.


So I did a little experimenting... I meant to answer Poco with
something that I knew to be true, and then discovered something else new.

Apparently in a recent update, the added the complete "Alexa"
interface (its seamless, so you don't have to do anything but push the
talk button on your remote). Along with this, searching for movies DOES
now access Amazon Video AND Netflix (and apparently 75 other "top
streaming services" including HBO.

I assume you have to have these services installed on your device for
Alexa to bother searching them. I tested this, and it does indeed
work... It gave me results from Amazon Video, Netflix, HULU and STARZ.

This was added in late 2016... I generally ignore most "What's new
with Alexa..." emails I get, so I missed it!

I got real smart. I left the thing in the envelope from Amazon, and gave it to my wife as a 'Welcome
Home' present from a recent trip she took. She thinks it's a really cool gift and will install it
tonight. I haven't started getting the emails yet. I'll probably get them after she installs it.

I am glad to hear it 'does' Netflix though!