Fire stick with Kodi app

[Coheeba]

I recently bought a fire stick and fire TV and an OTA antenna. I originally installed Kodi and it had a lot of buffering so I found FreeFlix and it seems to work better than Kodi. I installed the antenna in my attic after testing and I get 21 locals in my area. I originally had one of those square plastic "HD" antennas and it only picked up 5 channels. I am considering Vue but haven't tested yet. The problem I have with cutting the cord is my wife is not patient or computer savvy and wants to watch it now and there is no (that I have found yet) interface that works as quickly and seamlessly as your cable or Sat provider.

 

[Jgorm]

I recently bought a fire stick and fire TV and an OTA antenna. I originally installed Kodi and it had a lot of buffering so I found FreeFlix and it seems to work better than Kodi. I installed the antenna in my attic after testing and I get 21 locals in my area. I originally had one of those square plastic "HD" antennas and it only picked up 5 channels. I am considering Vue but haven't tested yet. The problem I have with cutting the cord is my wife is not patient or computer savvy and wants to watch it now and there is no (that I have found yet) interface that works as quickly and seamlessly as your cable or Sat provider.

Netflix on roku works as easy and fast as cable. I gave up on kodi. I don't have time to research what app is working and fishing through empty streams sucks.

 

[cozilla]

For those of you using Kodi and continue to be frustrated, check out the apk TerrariumTV. I have been using it for some time now and have not used Kodi since. Great interface and fast. To install it on your Fire devices do a Google search.

 

[KyleP]

Terrarium TV is Soooooo much more stable than Kodi!

 

[Speedling]

So, we've been streaming via the PS3 I had for a looong time now and tonight it died.
I just ordered an OTA antenna, because we don't even have that.
I have amazon prime, I USED to have netflix, but dumped that years ago when we got cable.
Now, I literally have internet and prime.
So adding OTA will be big.
I would love a way to do OTA and prime in a single device and possibly add netflix if we want.
Does fire stick or something similar do that?

Also, does fire stick work with echo dot? Like, I wonder if I could tell the echo (don't own one right now, but been talking about it) to turn on the tv and go to channel whatever, but also get it to turn on the stereo? That kinda automation and stuff would be nice!

 

[vanmurray]

So, we've been streaming via the PS3 I had for a looong time now and tonight it died.
I just ordered an OTA antenna, because we don't even have that.
I have amazon prime, I USED to have netflix, but dumped that years ago when we got cable.
Now, I literally have internet and prime.
So adding OTA will be big.
I would love a way to do OTA and prime in a single device and possibly add netflix if we want.
Does fire stick or something similar do that?

Also, does fire stick work with echo dot? Like, I wonder if I could tell the echo (don't own one right now, but been talking about it) to turn on the tv and go to channel whatever, but also get it to turn on the stereo? That kinda automation and stuff would be nice!

The best experience for OTA is TiVo, Bolt will give you both OTA and streaming in one experience including Prime and Netflix. Best part is guide and DVR but you’ll pay $7/mo.

https://www.tivo.com/products/ota-detail

That said, I have been using TiVo OTA for years and it’s become a backup for me as I have Fire sticks and Apple TVs across multiple device for streaming PSVue and YouTube TV. If you don’t need cable channels or a TV provider, you are good with OTA.

Fire stick is compatible with Echo. You can tell it basic things like “watch ABC” to change channels, etc. For me it was equally important to be able to turn on/off TV, adjust volume, set sleep so I’ve had to get creative with older TVs.

 

[BigAbe75]

I have a Tablo for OTA viewing and dvr. Bought the device, plus $150 lifetime fee for guide channels. https://www.tablotv.com/

You install the Tablo app on the fire stick to connect to it and view content.

I would still recommend the FireTV over the Firestick for a permanent install. Difference being a little better processor (I think) and an Ethernet connection instead of relying on your home WiFi.

You then install all your media apps on the fire device. Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, etc.

The newer fire devices also have a voice remote so you can talk to Alexa. It doesn’t listen automatically like the echo devices, but yes it will interact with Alexa.

One area that I’m not sure how I feel about cutting the cord... I am disconnected from the news, politics and advertisements. Most of my viewing is Netflix after the kids go to bed. I don’t watch commercials unless I go looking for them. The only reason I have the ota dvr is for the wife’s Y&R, which she only half watches nowadays and stuff like the Macy’s parade recently.

I get all my current events news from here and conversations around the water cooler at work. Sometimes I feel like I should pay more attention, but mostly I don’t miss it.

 

[Mainah]

Cord cutters should check out the new amazon recast. Two models with the better one having 4 ota tuners and a 1tb drive for recording anything on those tuners. Just hook up the recast anywhere in your home with a good wifi signal and plug in one ota antenna (roof mount is best). The recast will broadcast the 4 tuners or recordings to any fire tv sticks/boxes or mobile devices wirelessly. Is also has a cable box like interface with guide. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[BigAbe75]

Cord cutters should check out the new amazon recast. Two models with the better one having 4 ota tuners and a 1tb drive for recording anything on those tuners. Just hook up the recast anywhere in your home with a good wifi signal and plug in one ota antenna (roof mount is best). The recast will broadcast the 4 tuners or recordings to any fire tv sticks/boxes or mobile devices wirelessly. Is also has a cable box like interface with guide. Pretty cool stuff.

Didn’t know that was available. Cool!

 

[djetok]

With the loss of firestick and Kodi streaming . What are the thoughts on Sling?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

With the loss of firestick and Kodi streaming . What are the thoughts on Sling?

PLEX is the bomb for streaming Kodi or any media server both local and anywhere you have cell or internet.

 

[djetok]

So running a plex server instead of jail breaking a fire stick. I used to run a plex server to watch the movies downloaded on my laptop. I think the plex app is still on my roku

 

[UpNorth]

We cut the cord with DirectTv about 2 months ago after 16 years.

We went to DirectTvNow which is their streaming service. The $55 dollar package has all the same channels we had with directtv. The package also has free HBO AND local channels.

Since we are AT&T customers the bill gets cut down to $40 a month to stream on 2 TVs. We went with the Amazon 4G Fire sticks to stream.

I have to say we were very hesitant to cut the cord but couldn’t be happier with our choice. Zero buffering issues.

 

[mark_m]

Check out HDHOMERUN @Speedling you connect it your antenna and then you get an app that you use to watch, just like any other stream

 

[cozilla]

For those of you using Kodi and continue to be frustrated, check out the apk TerrariumTV. I have been using it for some time now and have not used Kodi since. Great interface and fast. To install it on your Fire devices do a Google search.

With TerrariumTV shut down back in November check out Cinema APK.