We are cutting the cord since all we end up watching is netflix and amazon prime. Which one of these devices do you prefer? I have read some good things about YouTubeTV which doesn't work with the fire stick. But initially we aren't going to add a streaming service beyond either Amazon Fire Stick or Roku, so really just focusing on those devices.

Obviously we love watching the Aggies, but can always go to family or friends for that during the fall. But if either one of those has a more straightforward way of accessing sports, that'd be great.

TIA!

Amazon Fire TV, not the stick. Haven't used a Roku since the 3, but I like the Fire TV interface better.

I have an Apple TV, 2 fire sticks, and 2 Rokus. They are all great devices, but all things considered, I give the nod to Roku.

Fire tv for sure.

Side effect of going fire route, you can sideload android apps. I loaded my vpn onto my fire tv and sticks, now i can watch the astros by VPNing to California and streaming it from mlb.tv (got full year for free from Tmobile)

agproducer said:

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Roku, and here is why: If you want to try to watch baseball, you'll need and MLB.tv subscription. With Roku, you can get around the MLB blackouts. With Amazon products, you can't.

So, if watching baseball without the use of Reddit streams is important to you, go with Roku.

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Completely wrong. You can bypass on fire's just fine with VPN's.

FatZilla said:

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agproducer said:

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Roku, and here is why: If you want to try to watch baseball, you'll need and MLB.tv subscription. With Roku, you can get around the MLB blackouts. With Amazon products, you can't.

So, if watching baseball without the use of Reddit streams is important to you, go with Roku.

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Completely wrong. You can bypass on fire's just fine with VPN's.

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I should have clarified. It will work with VPN, but I don't think they can with Smart DNS. My fire stick doesn't get around the blackout on Smart DNS. When I tried VPN, I ended up with choppy video.

We have both and prefer Roku by a large margin, mainly due to the slow, l**** interface on the Fire stick. To be fair, I've heard the non-stick Fire TV is supposed to be better on that front.

Like others have said, if you go with Amazon, do NOT get the stick. It's garbage.

I have both and Roku by a mile. We've been binge-ing on a series using the Prime app on Roku. No problems. And we have Youtube TV. Everything we need...

We've been Firestick for a few years (since the first Prime Day) and it just died. Got the Roku Ultra. Like Roku MUCH better, though it isn't a fair fight with the Stick vs Ultra. It has a lot of great features we use like the headphone jack on the remote and that the Roku remote can control my TV power and volume.

Glad we got the Roku, will buy more.

We have 3 fire TV bricks that worked well for awhile and then they got slooooooooooooooooow and starting constantly cutting out, not connecting, timing out, etc. Bought one Roku to try out and it's lighting fast and the interface is much better as others have stated. Still not sure what the deal is with the Fire TV boxes as we still use 2 occasionally. No issues with phones/tablets/laptops connecting to our network (Spectrum cable modem). Maybe there's a master reset on the boxes that I need to try to find.

My fire TVs have been great, exponentially faster than my fire sticks. I have two of the 2nd gen fire TVs, one 3rd gen fire TV, one Fire cube, and the latest gen fire stick. The new firestick is pretty quick, but it's in the kids room so I haven't used it much at all. The others are all very quick and I personally love the user interface. Other's have complained about the user interface, but I suspect they don't consume much Amazon content. I have Prime, HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax subscriptions (all through Amazon), so I'm heavily focused on Amazon content. I do watch some Netflix, but I don't find accessing that app any more difficult than a Roku. I like that my home button takes me to a user interface that has all of my recent shows and suggestions right in front of me without having to open an independent app. Yes it was confusing at first and I didn't like that, but after I got used to it, to me it's much more advanced. My Roku's worked okay, but just seemed behind the times on UI. I still have a Roku TV and it's slow, but does work. I've had one Roku 3 that the remote didn't work out of the box, so there was no way to connect it to wifi to setup a different remote. The remotes were almost as expensive as the box, so it was trash. The one I got to replace it, the headphone port on the remote did not work.

What I'd like one of the companies to do is to put a beeper in the remote that will page a lost remote. Not sure why we can't get this tech in 2018.

I have both also (new FS gen2 & older roku 2) and prefer the Roku. I experience a video glitch with the FS on some video content which can be aggravating at times. However, I'm streaming wireless with the FS into an adjoining room whereas the Roku is hardwired to my Google Fiber modem in my den. I prefer the UI of the Roku. But the FS was on sale for 20 bucks a few weeks ago on Amazon so figured what the hell...why not. I also subscribe to Sling TV (basic/orange)with the sports add-on package (ESPN's/SEC, etc) along with Amazon Prime Video and Netflix (and an OTA antenna for locals). I'm good to go.

Roku. Just don't get the low end one, it's terrible.

Yeah, if you aren't planning to sideload unofficial content, Roku is the way to go. Much cleaner interface. Though, I personally haven't experienced the problems others have with Firesticks - all three of ours seem to work fine.

One other feature worth mentioning that I love on the Roku is the ability to stream audio to your device through the Roku app. Really like connecting bluetooth headphones to my phone and then streaming my TV's audio wirelessly in bed.

I use the headphone jack on the Roku remote all the time. It's great.

Just don't leave the headphones plugged in or it will drain the crap out of the batteries.

Have and use both. The Amazon remote is better since it's smaller. Biggest knock on both is that you can't control TV volume so you still need the TV remote nearby.

JSKolache said:

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Biggest knock on both is that you can't control TV volume so you still need the TV remote nearby.

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You can with the Roku streaming sticks and the Roku Ultra.

Or, I also have a Sideclick for my Fire TV remote.

JSKolache said:

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Have and use both. The Amazon remote is better since it's smaller. Biggest knock on both is that you can't control TV volume so you still need the TV remote nearby.

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My roku ultra controls power and volume.

JSKolache said:

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Have and use both. The Amazon remote is better since it's smaller. Biggest knock on both is that you can't control TV volume so you still need the TV remote nearby.

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The firetv cube can.

I also prefer the firetv interface, I like that it tells me what is new to stream rather than having to find out elsewhere when there is a new series starting back up on one of the various streaming services.

What are the pros/cons of the Roku streaming stick, streaming stick +, and Roku ultra?

The Roku website has a pretty good product comparison/finder, but here is a breakdown of more recent models:

https://image.roku.com/ww/docs/compare-chart-new-old-en-us.pdf

How do they compare to Apple TV?

We have an Apple TV 4K in the living room and love it, but hate that the remote is so easy to lose in the couch and doesn't have a beeping capability when it's lost. I love this about the Roku Ultra remote for the bedroom. The Roku remote has a better overall feel to it too. Both are way better than the Fire sticks that we have (haven't tested the fire tv or cube).

The Apple TV is by far the fastest. We have DTV NOW and when I change the channels it's almost instant. On the Roku Ultra it's easily 5 seconds between channel changes. You can also scroll through the guide way faster with the scroll pad on the remote.

All in all I would say all are great. It just depends on what content you use. At the end of the day, I'd spend the extra money and get the Apple TV. Keep in mind cutting the cord is going to suck on all of them if your internet sucks.

Things to consider. The Fire TV and Fire stick are very different, just like a Roku Ultra or a cheap $25 Roku "stick". The cheaper versions do not have as much "horsepower" and do freeze up, studder, and just not work more often.
Second, if you can plug your device into an ethernet cable, DO IT! Unless you have a pretty robust WiFi AP (ubiquity, etc), the plugged in devices are more reliable and smooth.
Third, Roku can run most of the online TV apps, like PS Vue, Spectrum Online, etc. The amazon devices are more limited, last time I checked. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure.
Fourth, Roku has TEXAGS APP! Yes, you can watch all your favorite videos straight through the app.
Finally, I use an in-house Plex server and the Roku Plex app is the best of all of the devices I've used. In our area, with an HD antenna and an HD Homerun receiver on the network, Plex acts like a DVR, deletes commercials and plays back to any device, at home or away. (I love being able to watch local news when overseas).
So I vote Roku, although I have a Fire stick I use as a media player on one TV. It's not useless and at $30ish, why not get one too?

Now if I could just figure out how to run the Texags live video through Plex, I'd be all set.

Gig 'em. Will '97