“My dad just emailed me, asking the best way to add Netflix to his TV,” Dave Mark writes for The Loop.
“There are many ways to solve this problem, but my knee-jerk reaction was to consider an Apple TV. But the cheapest Apple TV is US$149,” Mark writes. “The Amazon Fire TV Stick solves the same problem for $30. For someone who just wants Netflix, hard to argue for the Apple TV.”
Mark writes, “At $30, the Fire Stick is a bargain, gives you something Apple TV does not (access to Amazon Video), and points out a real hole in Apple’s product line.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Plus, the Amazon Fire Stick comes with the Alexa Voice Remote that was actually designed by someone who tried to use it for five minutes before shipping it off to end users.
If you ONLY want netflix, Apple TV and not the way to go. Thats Apples and Oranges comparison.
In fact, the google chromecast resolves the same issues for $5 less ($25). (Is the Amazon fire 4K? because the chrome cast is not)
I brought the chromecast as a gif and after a year and a half the HDMI connector is having issues, but I guess if you don’t unplug it never it will work fine.
I personally use apple TV at home, it is a lot more functionality, but this last blackfriday, I brought a 4K tv with ROKU integrated and it is awesome and I not just speaking for the image quality but also you can do private listen of your program using the APP remote, you can up/down volumen, and tons of other features. I will still use the apple TV because of the integration of the Mac and iPhones, but now I use the Roku more than the Apple tv.
ditto…….been doing the same thing for MONTHS and bitching about the lack of 4k on ATV……a huge shortcoming and the top end Roku does voice commands in the remote…..
Bad move not including 4k in ATV!!!!
Agreed, apple has serious issues. Can’t do anything right and have so few products. Darn shame
Troy the Chromecast is basically a “wireless” dongle for you need a phone, tablet or computer. if you don’t have any of those how are you to select what you want to watch? or what if the person “casting” leave with his/her phone? how can you change or select something else?
The ‘casting’ depends on the App. If you ‘cast’ a YouTube video (one of many Chromecast compliant Apps), once you send the video to the Chromecast, it runs it on the copy installed on it and only requires your tablet or smartphone to ‘control’ play/rwd/ff/etc. If you only intend to watch the vids you queued up you can turn your tablet/smartphone off till you need it. If however you are casting a non-complant webpage from say Google Chrome you will require the computer/smartphone/tablet to remain on and connected to the network for you to continue viewing. One ‘feature’ I find fun is that as far as I know the Chromecast is the only video streaming device that allows multiple people to queue up YouTube vids from their own devices to the same Chromecast enabled TV. No fighting over the ‘remote’ here just fighting over playback control since all devices will be able to affect playback. 😀
AND YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU.
If you are a Comcast subscriber, access to your Netflix account is easy and free:
http://www.xfinity.com/netflix
If you’re a Comcast subscriber, I feel really bad for you…
I have an Amazon Fire TV box, their ” Top of the Line” tech, and it is basically shite. It randomly loses touch with the remote, doesn’t wake when the HDMI receiver it is plugged into comes on, etc. I shudder to think what dealing with their low cost product would be like. My Apple TV had no such problems. Amazon is no Apple.
The Amazon Fire or the Chromecast are the only solution anyone should seek. I abhore my Roku and my Apple TV is a pos too.
I’ve tried them all, and wish I could say the Apple TV was the best solution but sadly Chromecast is what anyone with a brain should get, that is unless you need Amazon. In which case I thought the Roku would solve that, but no it’s the absolute worst choice you could.ever make.
Chromecast and Fire are your only go-to solutions. But best of all, they are the cheapest.
Get a Roku.
…and regret it for the rest of your life.
Had a 2nd gen Apple TV, it’s time to move to a Roku for the replacement. Does more and a fraction of the price.
Have used airport from Day 1. Need to replace my routers, time to move to netgear. Apple is discontinuing their routers.
Using an 8 year iMac, it needs replacing, seriously looking at a Dell since I want current specs on a desktop.
Fewer and fewer reasons to be tied into Apples ecosystem since they are charging top dollar and they are providing fewer reasons to stay with them.
Maybe Cook needs to be less political and get his company to actually deliver.
So..I caved and got Amazon Prime last night. I have a Samsung UHD TV. The list of 4K content seemed limited to Amazon originals..bunch of TV shows…not impressed..and quality didn’t seem much better. Am I doing something wrong? I like the movie selection though..and it will pay for itself do to shipping costs (I like things delivered now..)
The problem with devices that provide online content through your TV is that nobody, not Apple, not Google, not Amazon is going to be able to put in place deals to make all content available through their one device – at least not without some sort of cludge (i.e. airplay streaming to an Apple TV from an iOS device). As such, I think it will be a case of people going with a solution that is good enough. Aside from whatever traditional media they may have access to, a lot of people are going to look at Amazon and think that they already have Prime and that with the exclusive content it has plus the library it has license that it’s good enough and with a cheap box/dongle it’s not going to be a costly mistake. Apple have no content other than what they license for sale/rent and those services that make Apps available. Netflix seem unlikely to add themselves to the new TV app, not will Amazon, so Apple are behind already. I’m beginning to think Apple need to bite the bullet and buy something that will get their foot in the door with their own content and library. Personally I like my Apple TV because I have a large iTunes library of films and TV shows that I know I like to watch, so to pay multiple services to cobble together access to content I already own makes little sense, but I’m going to be in an ever decreasing minority. I think it’s close to being a case of go big or go home.
M, no your not doing anything wrong. There’s nothing better about it. And 4k is to limited to consider it right now which is why Apple hasn’t gone 4k yet. Sorry people my Apple TV does just fine for Netflix, Youtube, all of my movies and tv and 4k isn’t really available yet especially for streaming unless you have gigabit internet.
Thanks for the reply. Setting up the amazon account using the TVs crappy interface (guessing Java) really made me appreciate the Apple TV.
Sounds like either you bought the Fire Stick before creating an Amazon Prime account or didn’t buy the device from Amazon directly. When you buy the Amazon Fire Stick from Amazon they have already set it up for your account so you don’t have to. The only thing I had to do when I bought mine was plug it in and set the Wifi connection. Easy peasy. 🙂
I give not a rat’s for Amazon Video. But the cheaper alternatives to the TV are plentiful. There are also alternatives with benefits not available from TV.
As for the ‘Why doesn’t it do 4K?!’ argument, 4K remains over-priced overkill, a marketing gimmick that benefits not much of anyone. IOW: BFD.
Meanwhile: Apple clearly has some work to do on the TV. They should have upgraded it this year and did not.
But also meanwhile: The decrepit old farts running the media oligarchy demand that everything be done the wrong old way of the 20th century. Apple knows very well what the 21st century of media is supposed to be, entirely à la carte with Apple providing access. I hope Apple strives on with their vision while we wait for the media oligarchy dunderhead geezers to die off.
I really think Apple should’ve taken the “hobby” label off years ago. Three things have happened with the Apple TV over its lifespan that have created an environment for such a vast number of worth competitors:
1) Apple TV slowly improved the expectations of a “net box” UI and some of its best ideas now appear in those other interfaces
2) Apple’s dominance of the music market scared the holy hell out of Hollywood and television networks, which weren’t going to let any one company dominate their distribution the way Apple did with the music labels for so long.
3) Apple failed to deliver on being a somewhat exclusive content conduit, and I think as a result pretty much lost interest in really delighting customers with a fully polished solution. That’s why there’s no 4k toggle for people with decent download speeds or why the remote is as institutive as a hammer without a handle.
Just my $.02.