The Amazon Fire Stick and streaming devices

1

Hi Folks,

I’ve got almost no experience with streaming devices, but I recently purchased an Amazon Fire Stick for use with the TV in my rental. In an earlier thread here, I initiated a discussion about (among other things), whether I should purchase a smart TV or not. I finally decided against a smart TV for reasons I won’t attempt to rehash here. Hence, the Amazon Fire Stick.

I’ve tested it, and it is mostly working, though it seems somewhat prone to quickly deciding that my internet connections are not working, possibly incorrectly. Fortunately, the guest room has two internet lines.

However, I’ve got one issue. The Stick needs to be registered to an Amazon account in order to use it, and I don’t want it registered to my account. Among other things, guests will be able to get into my personal Amazon Prime Video account without further authorization. So, I was thinking that the best thing would be to create a new account, and probably buy Prime for it (currently Rs 1000). Does that sound reasonable? I was thinking either “TowerRoom” or “Tower Room”. How does that sound?

I was also considered Android TV devices, which seem the best options from the limited range of streaming devices available here. But reviews of them are mixed.

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We started with the Fire Stick and over time upgraded to the Fire TV. The connection is a lot more stable than the Stick.

I believe we had set up a new, seperate Amazon account with no Prime or credit card attached. We lock our settings so if guests need to download an app they can just let us know and we can download for them remotely.

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Hi @AFineHouse,

Thank you, that’s very useful. Though I don’t know what the Fire TV is. Are you referring to

? Because it does not seem to be available here.

I thought of adding Prime to my new account. That way that account would have Amazon Prime Video. I can’t think of any reason not to. Can you?

Interesting. Can you tell me how to lock the settings? Thanks.

4

I have had AppleTv for a while but they are expensive to replace. Now I provide Chromecast. Most (non Apple affiliated) movies like GooglePlay and most network tv stations work on it. And it costs about $100 so a lot cheaper than AppleTv. And is relatively easy to set up and no passwords required.

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5

I also have chromecast on all the TVs but are pretty sure they are only about $50.

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Me too - I think there are 4ATV or something models for $95.

7

Been pretty warm down our way, hey! How are you holding up in 40 degrees?

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I put on the AC when I get up at 8am. Solar pv so guilt free. Keep a check on the outside temps. Take the dog for a walk at 5pm. Back into the AC. All cool.

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Ah yes! I see that it is no longer available and they’ve switched to the 4K in the Stick. This was originally the one we had purchased:

In our personal home we use the Cube which is probably the best if you can afford:

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@faheem

Why don’t you want the guests watching programming from your Amazon Prime account?

I have a Roku on my TV in the guest suite that shares my Prime account. My Prime is setup to require a password to purchases movies, though.

Guests also share my personal Netflix account, CBS, PBS and Starz. Never been an issue so far. Curious what dangers you perceive in sharing.

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11

I do the same. We have 5 properties, use Roku sticks and Roku TVs, signed in with all the same accounts for Netfix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Sling TV. I set up passwords to make any purchase or add on any app. One cost for all places, works out well.

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12

I would like to give my Guests access to both my jailbroken Fire stick, my Amazon Premium videos and my Netflix but is there a way to password protect it so they can only access them as a separate user? I know for Netflix my boyfriend and I each have our own user profiles and wanted to add one for Airbnb and lock them all with passwords. We like the recommendations being made on our own user profiles and don’t want Airbnb Guests’ choices affecting my profile. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am somewhat technically savvy but not when it comes to TV. For years I never even had one.

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I’ve set up different Netflix profiles for each of my rentals plus one for me and one for kids programming only. As best I can tell I cannot lock the profiles. The profiles are labeled with the property names so clear which account to use.

Recently pre-teen boys had great fun changing my icons, & language options for each profile so difficult to know how to reset.

I had trouble figuring out what option to select to reset the languages when I have no clue what language is displaying and my humble USA background did give me the opportunity to become fluent in the multitude of language options listed. Thank goodness they didn’t change my KIDS profile so I could mimic where to “click” on my other 4 profiles.

Soon it will be a funny rental story to tell but right now I’m still put out about it.

If you find a way to lock each profile, please share it.

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14

Finally, a topic I know something about! I have horrible grammar, so please forgive.

I have a AirBNB listing, that has two bedrooms, and a living room included. Each with a LED Tv. I took AppleTvs that I was using for the rooms anyway, and created a Netflix profile for each room. Later I added Amazon Prime Video when AppleTv had the app to access the streaming content.

In time I noticed that the AppleTv’s (3rdGen) were dreadfully slow to respond. I decided to convert all rooms to Amazon FireSticks. I added the devices to my account, and then set permission to block purchases, and created the Netflix profiles again for the room. After 4 months, I gave up. The Amazon FireStick has a VERY confusing interface/dashboard and doesn’t really show me what I have access to, but rather what they want me to rent/buy/subscribe.

The last straw was when I heard guests complaining that I did not provide “live tv.” Very true. I haven’t had cable or satellite for at least ten years in my home. I swallowed my cord-cutting pride and called my provider, Spectrum. It turns out I could subscribe to all 165+ non-premium channels for an additional $20 AND access using AppleTv (4th Gen) OR Roku devices. It just turns out that I had a new Roku Tv in my bedroom and had fallen in love with the ease of the interface and ability to control what shows.

So, I subscribed to Spectrum and ferried myself (drove) to the local Best Buy and purchased the appropriate devices needed per Tv. HD vs 4k, etc. Upon getting home, it took 10 minutes max per device to activate, add Netflix, Amazon and the new Spectrum app. No payment method is on file, and password is required to download new channels etc. Low price, ease of use, and consistent performer. Roku for me!

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You can make it so you have to put in a code to order videos on Amazon, that’s what I do to, my kids have to ask me to order anything with a price tag.

RR

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I have a dumb question. How many devices can you have your personal Netflix account on and have people watching at the same time? Same for Prime or Hulu (the three acounts I have). I do have our Airbnb unit logged into my Netflix & Hulu account, but we are in the midst of turning one of our long term rentals into a furnished rental for travel nurses, etc. I’d love to offer these services, but I thought there was a limit?

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Could you share how, please?

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From my Amazon account, I use Roku not a amazon stick. Not sure exactly what I did it’s been a long time but I KNOW its password protected.

So I just looked at my account and cannot figure it out, I may have set it up in Roku I will look.

So no real help!

Sorry

RR

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No worries. I appreciate the effort. I don’t have Roku so will likely have something different anyways.

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I have Netfix signed up for 4 devices watch at same time for $14.99. Not sure about Hulu, I signed up hulu for $2 per month last Black Friday deal. Sling TV and Amazon Prime. I have total 15 TVs signed up, didn’t have any problems so far. Thinking of signed up for HBO so the guests will have more choices and less like to all watch Netfix at same time.

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