Firestick general discussion thread

TheDriver

Deleted User wrote: »

Should I buy a Firestick or a Chromecast with Google TV ?

You'd be better asking that on a general thread. Asking here is like going into a BMW forum and asking if you should buy a BMW or Merc. Most of us are firestick enthusiasts.

mossie

mossie wrote: »

Hopefully they'll do something. I'm very pleased with Getflix apart from that.

Response from Getflix - no good.

"We do apologize in advance as of the moment the only server we can access for Dinsey+ is Disney + US. If you wish to use Local disney+ you may opt to temporarily remove the DNS ips in order to gain access"

I have getflix set up on my router so basically now I have to remove it when I want to watch anything on Disney+.

Simi

Simi wrote: »

It's down to price and personal preference. The Chromecast is generally more expensive. Having recently bought an Android TV I have to say I much prefer the user interface and you have access to the full Google play store rather than just the Amazon app store.

If you plan on using BBC / Itv players they're much easier to get on the firestick however.

There’s €2 in the difference between the Fire Stick 4K from Curry’s and the Chromecast from the Google store.

Wheety

mossie wrote: »

Response from Getflix - no good.

"We do apologize in advance as of the moment the only server we can access for Dinsey+ is Disney + US. If you wish to use Local disney+ you may opt to temporarily remove the DNS ips in order to gain access"

I have getflix set up on my router so basically now I have to remove it when I want to watch anything on Disney+.

I have (Irish) Disney+ working on my Firestick even though it's set up with Getflix's DNS settings. UK Prime and US Netflix are both working fine so it was just a setting in the Getflix Dashboard I changed. I'll log in and have a look.

Edit: Disney+ is in Channel Group C. I have this turned off.

I also have A and D turned off as I'm not using any of those channels at the moment.

I have Netflix set to US, Prime set to UK and group B set to UK.


Edit2: Looking in the Getflix thread and it seems that even though I have that Channel group turned off, the Disney+ I'm seeing on the Firestick is still the US one.

I checked my set up and when on the tv app (which doesn't have it's DNS settings changed) I have Star. On the Firestick, I don't.

So on the Firestick I'm getting the US Disney+ but was still able to watch Endgame with no problems last night. Just now, the Firestick app said "It looks like you're travelling" but still let me play something.

obi604

I ordered my Firestick 4k from Currys.ie

In order so that I dont balls up the initial install,are there any 'gotchas'

Like should I initially set the country as UK etc
and then set it back to Ireland

TheDriver

obi604 wrote: »

I ordered my Firestick 4k from Currys.ie

In order so that I dont balls up the initial install,are there any 'gotchas'

Like should I initially set the country as UK etc
and then set it back to Ireland

It's based on your anaxon account.
Mess it up and just reset and redo.

Trevord

obi604 wrote: »

I ordered my Firestick 4k from Currys.ie

In order so that I dont balls up the initial install,are there any 'gotchas'

Like should I initially set the country as UK etc
and then set it back to Ireland

No gotchas in that you can reset the stick if you balls it up.

Because you are buying from Curry's it may arrive unconfigured to your amazon account.

If you are not using Prime Video then I don't see any reason to set up the firestick with your amazon shopping email address (assuming you have one).

Instead I'd make up a specific email address for the firestick and then register that address on amazon with a UK postal address. This will mean the stick will pick up the Amazon app store for UK to give you easy access to the UK apps.

The UK apps won't be directly available if the stick is registered to an Irish postal address. You'll either have to side load those apps ( a bit of a nuisance when apps need updating) or switch your amazon shopping account to the UK temporarily to get at those UK only apps.

Having suggested you set it up to UK from day 1, I'm not sure whether the stick will identify that you are in Ireland when you boot it up and connect to wifi.

I have a second mini router

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Converter-Pre-installed-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=Gl.inet&qid=1614189355&sr=8-7

set to a UK VPN so I can make a new stick think it is in UK as soon as it connects to that wifi network when it is being configured.


In terms of Irish apps - RTE player and VM Player need to be sideloaded as they don't exist on amazon store. TG4 player is on both the UK and IRL Amazon store as far as I remember.

For US or Canadian apps you can sideload or switch your country to US/Cananda temporarily (although I have never managed to do that successfully)

mossie

Wheety wrote: »

I have (Irish) Disney+ working on my Firestick even though it's set up with Getflix's DNS settings. UK Prime and US Netflix are both working fine so it was just a setting in the Getflix Dashboard I changed. I'll log in and have a look.

Edit: Disney+ is in Channel Group C. I have this turned off.

I also have A and D turned off as I'm not using any of those channels at the moment.

I have Netflix set to US, Prime set to UK and group B set to UK.


Edit2: Looking in the Getflix thread and it seems that even though I have that Channel group turned off, the Disney+ I'm seeing on the Firestick is still the US one.



I checked my set up and when on the tv app (which doesn't have it's DNS settings changed) I have Star. On the Firestick, I don't.

So on the Firestick I'm getting the US Disney+ but was still able to watch Endgame with no problems last night. Just now, the Firestick app said "It looks like you're travelling" but still let me play something.

Yeah, that's what I'm getting Disney+ but no Star and Getflix have told me they have no plans at present to change this. Maybe if they get enough people questioning it they might do something. Unfortunately I just signed up for two years so Ican't threaten to take my business elsewhere.

Edit. Ijust tried with NordVPN set to UK and I can get Star even with Getflix running on my router. Just messy having to use a second program to do it.

theoneeyedman

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Change firestick location to the UK. You will now have access to the UK apps on amazon. Download what you want. Repeat for US apps. When you have the apps you required set location back to Ireland. The apps stay on the firestick no matter what county you are in. These are genuine firestick apps so will automatically update as time goes on

This is different to setting prime video content to UK. This is just setting firestick address to UK for 20 minutes or so

https://playmo.tv/2017/03/how-to-install-apps-from-different-regions-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/

I'm not seeing the option for settings, only see the content tab. Anyway, I'll Google again, not strictly a firestick issue

Leonita

Anybody having problems with ITV hub lately? Seem to be getting some sort of bad gateway error even after the usual troubleshooting

obi604

Trevord wrote: »

No gotchas in that you can reset the stick if you balls it up.

Because you are buying from Curry's it may arrive unconfigured to your amazon account.

If you are not using Prime Video then I don't see any reason to set up the firestick with your amazon shopping email address (assuming you have one).

Instead I'd make up a specific email address for the firestick and then register that address on amazon with a UK postal address. This will mean the stick will pick up the Amazon app store for UK to give you easy access to the UK apps.

The UK apps won't be directly available if the stick is registered to an Irish postal address. You'll either have to side load those apps ( a bit of a nuisance when apps need updating) or switch your amazon shopping account to the UK temporarily to get at those UK only apps.

Having suggested you set it up to UK from day 1, I'm not sure whether the stick will identify that you are in Ireland when you boot it up and connect to wifi.

I have a second mini router

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Converter-Pre-installed-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=Gl.inet&qid=1614189355&sr=8-7

set to a UK VPN so I can make a new stick think it is in UK as soon as it connects to that wifi network when it is being configured.


In terms of Irish apps - RTE player and VM Player need to be sideloaded as they don't exist on amazon store. TG4 player is on both the UK and IRL Amazon store as far as I remember.

For US or Canadian apps you can sideload or switch your country to US/Cananda temporarily (although I have never managed to do that successfully)

Thanks. I have an amazon account on Amazon.co.uk and prime video also. Disney plus too

What is the best way forward with this setup?

TheDriver

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks. I have an amazon account on Amazon.co.uk and prime video also. Disney plus too

What is the best way forward with this setup?

I use an Amazon US account and find I get more. It's a dummy account, no prime.

Tom Mann Centuria

[Deleted User] wrote: »

There’s €2 in the difference between the Fire Stick 4K from Curry’s and the Chromecast from the Google store.

Both decent devices. I don't think you'd go too far wrong with either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQFa8td6bo

Sleeper12

Jeremy Beagle wrote:

There’s €2 in the difference between the Fire Stick 4K from Curry’s and the Chromecast from the Google store.

I have the Firestick 4k and it's a great bit of kit. Chromecast should be as good with a better interface. It should be easier to use, in that If its not in the play store then it's easier to sideload an app. Sideloaded apps are better suited to chrome

Tom Mann Centuria

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I have the Firestick 4k and it's a great bit of kit. Chromecast should be as good with a better interface. It should be easier to use, in that If its not in the play store then it's easier to sideload an app. Sideloaded apps are better suited to chrome

I agree to an extent, but once file linked is on your firestick, and you switch launchers, (neither is difficult or time consuming) installation of the "good" apps and ordering them how you like is actually very quick and easy.

Trevord

Seem like the 4K home screen upgrade is coming in the next couple of week.

Even less of the default home screen will be available for apps, so I am wondering have people experimented with alternative launchers and which ones work best.

Played around a little but with ATV launcher. That is the only one I've tried.

Villa05

Batesout wrote:

Unless the TV is going to be an android TV, you'll still need a firestick.

Purchased an Android TV a number of years back, purchased a firestick 6 months later. The firestick is far superior to Sony android
Won't make the same mistake again

FanadMan

Trevord wrote: »

Seem like the 4K home screen upgrade is coming in the next couple of week.

Even less of the default home screen will be available for apps, so I am wondering have people experimented with alternative launchers and which ones work best.

Played around a little but with ATV launcher. That is the only one I've tried.

A friend of mine has the new UI for a few weeks. I set up mine and his sticks at the same time but I've had no word of the update.

TheDriver

FanadMan wrote: »

A friend of mine has the new UI for a few weeks. I set up mine and his sticks at the same time but I've had no word of the update.

What's your take on it?

FanadMan

TheDriver wrote: »

What's your take on it?

Not overly impressed, but then again, I'm not good with change lol

Takes a bit of getting used to it - the normal top menu is in the middle of the screen. Had to change some stuff/manage apps etc and the setting menu is so different looking.

I don't know if it's any way related, but he's been having a lot of problems with his IPTV service since it updated.

Lucas Hood

Launch on boot apk with wolf launcher sorted.

Customizable to your liking. Way better than amazons one.

obi604

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks. I have an amazon account on Amazon.co.uk and prime video also. Disney plus too

What is the best way forward with this setup?

Got the firestick earlier and have been messing around with it. For easiness, I Signed in with my Amazon uk account. (Prime)
I literally know nothing about firestick and am in the very early stages yet so just want to get the basics of it first without VPNs and APKs and all this.

When I go to view anything in amazon prime, it says ‘Internet connection error, we’re unable to connect to prime video, please verify your devices internet connection’

Internet is fine and I can use other things like Disney plus etc
On my phone and prime video I can view the stuff fine that I am trying to view via the firestick.


Any ideas?

obi604

I don’t even know what an APK is, but I think it lets you download apps like zoom to your tv.

Does anybody give an APK name?

Not even sure if that’s the correct way to phrase it.

Fann Linn

obi604 wrote: »

I don’t even know what an APK is, but I think it lets you to essentially download apps like zoom to your tv.

Does anybody give an APK name?

Not even sure if that’s the correct way to phrase it.

There is a girl on youtube called Tania. Just search her there and she will give you a good introduction to setting up a firestick.

Sounds dodgy I know but I'm being serious.��

Dr Turk Turkelton

Hey folks, is it possible to get the All 4 app on the firestick?
Was trying earlier and couldn't find it anywhere.

TheDriver

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Hey folks, is it possible to get the All 4 app on the firestick?
Was trying earlier and couldn't find it anywhere.

Yes. It's on the UK appstore. If not, go to OP and follow instructions for Tania's youtube channel and her filelinked.

Nigzcurran

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Hey folks, is it possible to get the All 4 app on the firestick?
Was trying earlier and couldn't find it anywhere.

have you a vpn? It’s on mine and works great but that could be cause I think I’m using a vpn set to the uk. Watched the first 2 episodes of it’s a sin on it last night, ads are a tad bit annoying but not the worst

loyatemu

obi604 wrote: »

Got the firestick earlier and have been messing around with it. For easiness, I Signed in with my Amazon uk account. (Prime)
I literally know nothing about firestick and am in the very early stages yet so just want to get the basics of it first without VPNs and APKs and all this.

When I go to view anything in amazon prime, it says ‘Internet connection error, we’re unable to connect to prime video, please verify your devices internet connection’

Internet is fine and I can use other things like Disney plus etc
On my phone and prime video I can view the stuff fine that I am trying to view via the firestick.


Any ideas?

the built in Prime Video app on the Fire Stick only works with a UK Prime account, but you can't view UK Prime from Ireland any more.

You either need a VPN (to make the app think you're in the UK), or switch your account to Ireland and install the "Prime Video for Smart TVs" app.

obi604

loyatemu wrote: »

the built in Prime Video app on the Fire Stick only works with a UK Prime account, but you can't view UK Prime from Ireland any more.

You either need a VPN (to make the app think you're in the UK), or switch your account to Ireland and install the "Prime Video for Smart TVs" app.

Thank you.
My address is entered as Ireland in firestick.
So sounds like I just install prime video for smart tvs.

Anything funky involved with this install?

Edit: I could not find anything called exactly: "Prime Video for Smart TVs"

Pressing home > search

loyatemu

obi604 wrote: »

Thank you.
My address is entered as Ireland in firestick.
So sounds like I just install prime video for smart tvs.

Anything funky involved with this install?

Edit: I could not find anything called exactly: "Prime Video for Smart TVs"

Pressing home > search

you need to sideload it as an APK - this is the link on Aptoide: https://prime-video-android-tv.en.aptoide.com/app