Roko Streaming Stick - Replaced with a Fire stick

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jul 11, 2008
8,904
Northern NH
My first dip into streaming video to my TV was a Roku stick. It worked but always was buggy when scrolling around the aps. I put up with it and when I searched for a fix on the internet I never found anything that worked to reduce the problem. I finally switched to a basic Amazon Fire Stick. It does everything the Roku stick did but it doesn't have the scroll issue. It seems to have better integration with the aps.

I realize that these streaming sticks are just data collection devices so they sell them cheap to give them access to viewing data. Living in NH, Roku's ads are mostly regional ads from random area around the country most of the time, but when it gets on the run up to an election they become pure politics, sometime the same ads multiple times in row. The Fire ads seem to be more national ads. It will be interesting to see if things shift when the next election cycle comes up.

Roku is at the point where they are selling TVs where the HDMI port is not installed so they can serve ads on direct connected peripherals.
 
I did the same, peakbagger. Started with a Roku probably close to 10 years ago, when our Sony smart TV didn't have one of the streaming app's we wanted at the time. Replaced that with another Roku a few years later.

Both were absolutely terrible. Their remotes didn't work half the time, and they were almost unusably slow, despite 1Gbps internet connection and good WiFi signal to the Roku.

When one of our other Smart TV's also needed a stick to get a newer app, I decided to try the Amazon Fire Stick in that one, and quickly learned how much better they are. They actually work! And instead of having to search each app independently when hunting a movie or show, you just tell the stick to go find it for you. It will automatically search each streaming service, and tell you all your options for getting that content, and the associated pricing of each. Awesome.

I've since replaced both of the old Roku's with Fire Sticks, and have bought a few more for our various TV's. We don't watch a ton of TV, by hours, but due to the spread-out nature of our house we 8 Smart TV's or "Sticked" TV's. As you noted, they're pretty cheap, now.

As to the content collection, I guess I don't care if they know I prefer MASH over Barney Miller, or Jack Ryan over James Bond.
 
Interesting.

I have a Roku TV (i.e. a TV that has the Roku platform installed, and not a stick).
Indeed the remote is not very durable (with kids dropping it when they stand up from the couch being a large factor in its demise, I presume).

However, there is no lag here. It's hardwired though, not wifi (the router is right next to it so that's the route I went).

And our TV does allow to search for content across all platforms. (i.e. no need to search each app independently). This TV is 4 years old.

I therefore guess that Roku improved since you walked away presuming that was more than 4 years ago.
(Both being normal: customers walking away because they find something better, and then businesses improving because customers walk away.)

And Jack Ryan beats Bond...


Edit: I do not know if this may be a difference in the stick vs. the TV.
(And I suspect that for some the Roku TV models may not reach their wishes in features, leading to a stick in a higher-end TV to be a better option.)
 
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I've always had fire sticks and they have improved over time. I'm no big fan of being beholden to Amazon, but for the most part other than the main menu, they stay out of your face. My son has a Roku TV and it works too, but it is a bit convoluted to watch OTA broadcasts.
 
Well now all you will get is is adds for Amazon owned products. We were an Apple TV family. But the cheap fire TV stick won out. I even have the DVR for OTA broadcasts that Amazon sold for a while. It’s been decent and integrated well with the sticks. I try to watch all the shows on it vs YouTube just so I can skip adds. It was only 720p that should give some idea of its age and why it’s no longer being sold. But when the internet goes down we have a large catalog of shows to watch.

I’m about to go back to Apple TV. Just to get away from some adds that always play in the Home Screen. Didn’t used to be that way.
 
I canceled prime last year. No ads for me. I recently tried watching a show on Peacock which had ads and it drove me nuts. The mute button is the most used on the remote.
 
We run the native apps on our Smart TV's. From my experience they deliver way better picture quality than a firestick or chromecast anyway.

In Canada we're pretty limited on what we can get for streaming apps, and our TVs have apps for everything that is available.
 
We noted a significant improvement when upgrading to the 4K firestick.
 
stoveliker said:
Interesting.

I have a Roku TV (i.e. a TV that has the Roku platform installed, and not a stick).
Indeed the remote is not very durable (with kids dropping it when they stand up from the couch being a large factor in its demise, I presume).

However, there is no lag here. It's hardwired though, not wifi (the router is right next to it so that's the route I went).

And our TV does allow to search for content across all platforms. (i.e. no need to search each app independently). This TV is 4 years old.

I therefore guess that Roku improved since you walked away presuming that was more than 4 years ago.
(Both being normal: customers walking away because they find something better, and then businesses improving because customers walk away.)

And Jack Ryan beats Bond...


Edit: I do not know if this may be a difference in the stick vs. the TV.
(And I suspect that for some the Roku TV models may not reach their wishes in features, leading to a stick in a higher-end TV to be a better option.)
Click to expand...
I purchased a Roku TV two years ago and am having scrolling issues only with Netflix. Otherwise I am pretty satisfied with how it performs and providing access to what everyone in the house is interested in. I despise NESN360.

As far as Jack vs James; I like them both these days. Bond story lines have developed into more beleivable plots like Ryans. As far as actors, in Ryan films and series I have to go with John Krasinski and for Bond, Daniel Craig.
 
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Krasinski has grown on me, but the best Jack Ryan will always be Harrison Ford, IMO.

Better question, which is your favorite Jack Ryan movie? I'm not sure it's objectively the best one, by any measure, but my favorite has always been The Hunt for Red October.
 
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And that ties them together: Sean Connery (both Bond and Jack Ryan).
 
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