Stick Choice

MenloPete

My Panasonic TV has started giving trouble on Netflix. It crashes out repeatedly when starting a stream, but eventually (after four or five attempts) will stream an entire show. I'm not sure if this is because Panasonic haven't updated the TV or if it's because Netflix know I'm sharing the account with my son.

So I was thinking of trying a smart stick instead. All I need from a stick is Netflix, Youtube and whatever players are legal in Ireland - RTE, Virgin, TG4, All4. (None of which are available on the TV)

What's my best option to achieve this?

decor58

I use a Now stick, no experience of the others, I find the Now stick very reliable and at 10e, at the moment, is good value. Now has Netflix, YouTube, RTE and VM players, All4, Spotify and Tune in (internet radio), no issues with buffering auto updates. Some of the guys in work have Chrome sticks with other services and they seem very pleased.

icdg

Apple TV is probably the best streaming media player out there, but is super overpriced compared to its competition. Fire TV (but buy it in Curry’s not from Amazon) or Chromecast with Google TV are cheaper options, and the Now Smart Stick cheapest of all (though beware it wants you to take Now, so have that in mind).

boc121

Mistake

boc121

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934857#Comment_119934857

Fire TV (but buy it in Curry’s not from Amazon)

Can you tell me why please ?

icdg

Because they’ll only ship the never discounted and less featured “Basic Edition” to Ireland. They don’t support the fully featured model here. I’m not sure why because the fully featured model works fine now, even for Prime Video which I think was the problem before.

Curry’s will sell you the normal model. Still won’t be discounted but at least it will be fully featured.

There may be other places you can get it too, I just happen to know Curry’s stock it or at least did last time I checked. Just not Amazon. They’re great for other stuff (I do buy from them regularly) and it’s not anything against them bar their policy regarding not selling Fire sticks (their own product) to Ireland at the discount U.K. buyers seem to get.

Btw in case you think this is a Brexit thing, it’s not, it predates Brexit and Amazon.de have a similar policy - they’ll only ship the standard models to Germany and Austria.

boc121

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120312076#Comment_120312076

Sorry for the newbie questions and thanks for your help.

I have this ordered and its on the way, do you think it will be ok or should I switch it to the one in currys?

Thanks again

https://www.amazon.co.uk/fire-tv-stick-4k-max-international-version-streaming-device-wi-fi-6-alexa-voice-remote/dp/B08XWRP2LT/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3O1K4PREV3LCA&keywords=fire+stick+4k&qid=1677932128&sprefix=fire%2Caps%2C57&sr=8-5

icdg

I think you’ll be fine for most purposes. Actually by the looks of it they’re now labelling that one an “International Edition” rather than the “Basic Edition” so I would think the gap between the two has probably lessened.

CalamariFritti

I know it's way up there from a €10 stick price wise but after going through a couple of cheap sticks and Chinese boxes I simply went for NVIDIA Shield (Pro). It actually runs android tv as opposed to just android and has hardware decoding all the way up x265. It does so much more than just running Netflix and the rest too. It runs Kodi, works as a gaming console, rte & iplayer, youtube, a ton of other android apps. it's my one stop shop for all things media in the the sitting room and it does all of it with ease. Should have gone for that from the start would have saved me buy a few cheap boxes that weren't really up to the task.

icdg

I meant to say as well, the Now Smart Stick, which was sold at a ridiculously low price, has been discontinued and its availability is fairly low now. You might be able to pick it up in Lidl or Tesco if you local one still has some stocks left, they come with passes for Now too if that’s your thing (and to be honest that’s really what they are designed for)..Cex, the second hand electronics retailer, will also stock used ones at about a tenner though the new ones weren’t much more anyway.

galtee boy

Will that International version of the Firestick allow you to download the RTE Player ? Because I have a UK bought Firestick and a Currys Ireland Firestick and neither have the RTE Player in the Amazon appstore.

batistuta9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120321493#Comment_120321493

No, Rte haven't made an app for the firestick that's why.

You can put the Android TV version on it yourself though & it work

Fake Tales

I just found out my Sony remote controls the fire stick.

Would an LG remote do the same?

CalamariFritti

It depends. It's more like the devices communicate with each other via HDMI-CEC - pass on the remote control commands to each other - which typically can be turned on and off for each device. In an ideal scenario with HDMI-CEC turned on for all your bits one remote can control everything.

In my instance certain combinations work and others don't. For example I still have an old Sky+ box. When I turn it on with its remote it also turns on my AV receiver with the right input selection (Sky+) and then also turns on the telly. So one button gets everything going. But turning off doesn't work the same way, it only will turn off the Sky+ box and the AV receiver and the telly will stay on (with an empty black screen).

When I turn on my Shield with the Shield remote however it all works perfectly. Turn on the Shield and everything else turns on. Turning off the Shield turns everything off. Turning up the volume on my shield turns up the volume on the AV receiver where it should and not on the telly speakers or on the shield itself. Turning up the volume with my TV remote also turns up the volume on the AV receiver where it should and not on the telly speakers. Its because the connected systems 'know' its the receiver in charge of the sound. This way I can also turn everything off with the TV remote alone. Or alternatively with the AV receiver remote. Just the Sky+ and its remote is the outlier but I guess it's old.

So long story short, it depends. On how new your bits are and how well they do HDMI-CEC. You'll just have to try but the newer your bits the better the chance it all works. But HDMI-CEC must be turned on everywhere, check that.