Fire TV Stick 4K streaming device with latest Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls), Dolby Vision
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I don’t write reviews often, but I learned a few tricks that solved issues I’ve had over the years. I hope this helps others with seemingly unsolved issues with firesticks.\n\nFirstly I’ve been using firesticks even before 4K TVs and they’ve almost always have worked well. The occasional restart/reboot on older models were something my family got used to. I eventually replaced all older units with this 4K version. And now never have to reboot. Although this has slightly better remote function, it’s essentially the same as the 2018/2019 version. The 4K Max has the spec bump and quicker less congested WiFi 6 configurations.\n\nOkay, so my biggest gripe with the firestick had to do with it not always playing HDR or Dolby Vision, which defeats the purpose of it being a 4K model. I’ve scoured tons of forums and looked at countless YouTube videos regarding this. But either the solutions didn’t work, or they would only be HDR 10 when the nicer Dolby Vision was available.\n\nSOLUTION: Make sure your 4K tv setting are set properly. Go into “INPUT” settings and find the HDMI input you’re using for the firestick and depending on your model make sure “UHD” is toggled on. This solution finally allowed every content I’ve played on all streaming services to finally play Dolby Vision content (and HDR when DV was not) every single time. I hope this helps.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "The positive:\n\nThis new generaion fire stick is faster than our old stick. The old one has struggled with the new major update Amazon did and the buttons were worn. The updated processor and increased memory helps.\n\nIt is really nice having the volume controls on the remote. The two batteries load in a more traditional way as well.\n\nThe negative:\n\nI really wish they made the four quick buttons on the bottom programmable. We ditched Disney + and would much rather have it pull up youTube, HMO Max, or Discorvery +. Oh well.\n\nI don't like the new update. I now have to go to the Amazon Prime app to see my purchased videos, where before it was built into the main menu. I also have zero interest in the live TV and believe that is what was dogging down the old Fire Stick. The ad space on top is also a lot bigger and when I search a movie it's not telling me if Netflix has it. I ended up purchasing a movie to watch that ended up being on Netflix."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Easy to use!!!! Gets the small to medium jobs done.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Was shocked how easy was setting up. I can set up tv's with all the wires and old school way but not the new stuff but it was very very easy. Only been using it 5 mins and besides not my Philly news channel I'm happy."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This new 2021 interface that Amazon pushed to all its devices makes the device near impossible to set up for a parent or older person. There’s no way I can explain that 90% of the screen is an ad to my elderly parents. At least with the old interface, the recent app row was above the ads. Now there’s a banner ad and a suggested row before getting to the large app icons that they can actually see.\n\nOutside of a 3rd party launcher, there’s no way to make this usable for someone that doesn’t understand technology. Luckily the new googletv interface offers an app only mode. That’ll be my go to from now on. A once great eco system of FireTV devices is now more ads than function.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Upgrading from the "old" 4K Fire Stick which will go to my son. One star off for the "WiFi 6" capabilities as I have an ASUS RT-AX86U router with WiFi 6 and yet my new Firestick shows 5GHz with very good signal strength. It works fine and streams fine but I would like to see my FIRST WiFi 6 device showing that it is using all of that extra speed, heh.\nThe boot-up, app boot, and remote are slighter faster. The navigation ring on the remote is a bit stiffer than the older one (does not butt change stuff when you sit on it tho!) The Netflix, Disney+, Prime buttons all work fine. Getting all the apps signed in AGAIN is a pain so I wished that would automatically get moved over with some sort of sync but it is a one-time pain.\nFull-time HDR and Dolby vision pops up on most stuff. Easy to connect to a network. Does 8 bit, 10 bit, and 12 bit HDR and is selectable. Audio sounds great but I just use stereo headphones so cannot tell much difference from the old one\nShould you upgrade from the old Fire Stick to this new one? Nope if the old one works well. A little faster, probably better WiFi reception and some extra buttons are not worth it so far. I just needed another one.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "First off, delivery was quick and the driver was friendly and that is about all I can say that I enjoyed of this so far. The Firestick doesn't seem to want me to stream movies in full screen. I have a QLED TV and now I lost part of my screen with the firestick. Previews will be full screen but once you hit play, not full screen anymore. Don't have this problem with a Roku which is what I was replacing to get an upgrade I thought. Can't log into AMC+ with your existing account, it will make you setup a new account and pay double the money. I already paid for a year and will use my existing one. Amazon seems to be acting like Apple and want to control the apps and where you spend the money. My next move is to return this and get the latest Roku 4k stick. I have tried all the online fixes that were suggested and problems have persisted."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I bought this because it has a quick button for the exact 4 streaming services I subscribe to watch. It works great with all except for Disney+… it won’t connect and I’ve tried everything. Very disappointing and I’m not the first one with this issue. It’s posted all over the internet. Just search “fire stick won’t connect to Disney+“ and you will see. I wish I would’ve searched it before I bought it, because I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew it has had this problem for YEARS. Not a happy customer. It’s been like this for days on my device and it seems like a permanent problem… I’ve tried everything and nothing is fixing the issue. You have been warned.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'DO NOT BUY FIRE TV DEVICES!!! CHOOSE ANOTHER STREAMING PLAYER BRAND!!!\nWorst customer service experience in my life from Amazon!!!! Amazon sent me a completely broken Fire TV 4k stick! From day one the audio cuts out entirely after a few mins of playing a video, and does not return until stick is physically unplugged from power. Then it cuts out again. Problem occurs in all video apps, and I tried full software restore, plugging into multiple different TVs, as well as different audio connections (direct to TV through HDMI, Through receiver, through bluetooth on multiple devices.) And my other Fire TV 4k of the same model works fine in this same TV, so... THE STICK IS BROKEN! So I contact Amazon through their chat interface and Parmish is a total disaster at helping me. I tell him that I have done a full software restore on it, at which point he responds that I need to do a full software restore. Ya know, the thing I just told him that I did already. Then I tell him I have already tried plugging the fire TV directly into the TV with no sound receiver, and he says "well than what I need you to do is plug the fire TV directly into the TV with no sound receiver." This happened over and over. It was like a bad joke. But I wasn\'t laughing. Finally after about an hour of this nonsense he decides that my Fire TV stick needs to be replaced. Then he says I "Have no card on file", what ever that means. So after about 10 more unanswered and ignored questions to him about just what he\'s talking about I finally figure out he means my Amazon account has no credit card on file. But it does have a card on file. I log in and verify this. The card is up to date and working, and amazon had just charged it that day even. So I tell him this, and he responds that I need a credit card on file in order to send out a replacement, even though it won\'t be charged. I tell him again that the card is on file and working, and he says it need to be updated. Even though it does not. So I hit "edit" on my card info on file, and resubmit the same working card. Parmish sees this on his end and says thank you. Then he says I need to update my OTHER CARD on file. I look and there is an old credit card from 6 years ago on the account from a bank I no longer use, and its not even selected as the active/favored card, so It doesn\'t even matter that it there, but I delete it anyways just to be sure. Then Parmish says I need to reenter and update that old card (that I no longer bank with) in order to get a replacement sent out. At this point I\'m done with Parmish. The whole conversation was absolutely ridiculous! I say "thank you for the help but I need a supervisor. Please transfer me to a supervisor."\n\nSo Parmish transfers me to Vikas. I ask Vikas if he is a supervisor and he says "no." (Are you surprised by this? I wasn\'t.) So I explain that I was suppose to be transferred to a supervisor and ask that Vikas transfer me directly to a supervisor. And I\'m transferred to Annal.\n\nI ask Annal if they are a supervisor, and they answer... get ready for it... are you ready... they answer ..."No" !!!!!!!!! They &^^&%&$^^%^ answer "No."\n\nSo I close the chat window I just wasted over an hour on and I call Amazon. This is where the real nightmare begins. I start off with a regular customer service rep and I ask her to transfer me to a supervisor right away because this will be my 4th attempt to get a supervisor. She is very polite and gets me a supervisor on the line write away. I explain the entire issue with the Fire Tv 4k Stick and everything I have done to troubleshoot it already YET AGIAN, and the supervisor apologizes for all the insane trouble I\'ve been having. She sounds like she really wants to help me, asked some more questions, and then tells me that she can\'t replace this particular model because its out of stock. I had just checked the stock, so I knew it wasn\'t out. I checked it again, and then told her it appears to have plenty of stock. She verified what model it was again, then said "oh yes, I guess we do have it, let my put you on hold while I try to send you one." She comes back a while later and says "the system won\'t let me send you one. I have to transfer you to a Fire TV Specialist, buy I\'ll get you a manager there as well.\n\nSo then I have to go through the whole thing again with this new Fire TV Specialist person. She keeps putting me on hold to check things over and over again. And she has me do crazy things - For example, she insists I go to my TV, unplug the other working Fire TV I now have in there, and plug this broken one back in, then load it up and read the serial number off of it to her from the info screen. Why? Doesn\'t she already have that info? She should. And WHY AM I PLUGGING A $25 DEFECTIVE BROKEN DEVICE BACK INTO MY $2,000 FLATSCREEN??!!! I don\'t want to do that. I shouldn\'t be asked to do that. What the hell? Then she keeps checking to see if I\'m still in warranty. REALL???!!! I JUST got this stick in the mail. I JUST GOT IT. How long is the warranty period that she has to keep checking on.. 5 hours after purchase. Also, this is a brand new model that just came out. HOW COULD ANY OF THEM POSSIBLY BE OUT OF WARRANTY??!!\n\nFinally after 3 HOURS of talking to people about this and a final, particularly long hold while the Fire TV Specialist person tries to figure out if I can be sent a replacement - I give up. I tell her I\'ll just return it instead - just so I can just get off the phone. But I\'m NOT returning it - That too would probably turn into another huge nightmare. It\'s not worth my $25 for all this aggravation. So... I\'M DONE. This is ridiculous! After speaking with a total of SIX people for over THREE HOURS.. My brand new Fire TV 4K stick in now in my trash can and I\'m never buying a Fire TV product again. All Amazon need to do was have me send in my broken one and then send out a replacement. That\'s It. They could have sorted out all their serial numbers and insane data requirements after they got my stick back. AS a customer, I simply got something in the mail that arrived broken and I wanted it replaced soon after I got it. How simple of a transition is that? But instead I got this torrent of poor customer service and bizarre data mining. SO.. Officially.. I\'m no longer a Fire TV user.\n\nI\'m currently switching my entire smart TV ecosystem for the entire house over to Google\'s Android TV now, I\'ve had it with Fire TV, and I suggest you do the same. Android TV systems don\'t suffer from the same app limitations that Amazon does (IE with Fire TV you get access got about 12% of the Android apps available to the rest of the Android TV world, Even though Fire TV runs on Android, and you can install what ever apps you want on your Android TV device without having to TRICK IT into installing it), it still works and runs apps (like playing a game or looking at photos) even if your internet connection goes down (Fire TV becomes a useless brick without constant internet), and the whole thing just seems to run better. I don\'t have time to deal with Amazon\'s nightmare anymore. All I needed was for Amazon to replace the broken Fire TV stick they JUST sent me, and they can\'t even do that. So, ummmm... BYEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "I believe I accidently hit Disney +\nOn remote\nI was billed $90.36\nWhat's this. No confirmation seen this on checking account,\nNo way is this programing error?"}]