Watching Amazon Fire TV
You might know Amazon as a giant online retailer, but it’s also a manufacturer of many different high-tech devices. Among the company’s most popular tech products are its line of Fire TV streaming media players.
Amazon’s Fire TV players are available in both stick and set-top boxes. All players come with voice-activated remotes that let you operate the players and select programming with simple voice commands. These Fire TV devices also are compatible with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, so if you have an Amazon Echo smart speaker you can instruct it to control your Fire TV device, too.
Another unique feature to Fire TV is that your Fire TV device is automatically connected to your Amazon account. This makes it easy to order paid streaming programming from Amazon; Amazon’s programming, not surprisingly, is prominently featured on screens throughout the Fire TV service.
Comparing Models
As of early 2019, Amazon offers three Fire TV models—two sticks and a cube-like set-top box. The basic Fire TV Stick is 1080p HD only and sells for $39.99 USD. A step up, the Fire TV Stick 4K adds 4K Ultra HD resolution, HDR, and Dolby Atmos sound for ten dollars more ($49.99 USD). The Fire TV Cube has the same specs as the Fire TV Stick 4K but also includes an Ethernet port for wired Internet connections; it sells for $119.99 USD.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and remote control. (Photo courtesy Amazon, www.amazon.com.)
Table 6.1 compares the Fire TV models; learn more at www.amazon.com/FireTV.
Table 6.1. Comparing Amazon Fire TV Models
|
Fire TV Stick |
Fire TV Stick 4K |
Fire TV Cube |
---|---|---|---|
Format |
Stick |
Stick |
Set-top box |
Voice-controlled remote with Alexa |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
1080p HD |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
4K Ultra HD with HDR |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Dolby Atmos sound |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Wi-Fi |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Ethernet connection built in |
No |
No |
Yes |
Price (USD) |
$39.99 |
$49.99 |
$119.99 |
Using Fire TV
You can operate Fire TV from its supplied remote or via voice commands (from the remote control or a connected Amazon Echo device) .
Select a tab at the top of the screen to go to that content. Select Home to view the Home screen.
Press the down arrow button on the remote to go to the first row of app tiles. This row displays your most recently viewed apps.
Press the down arrow button again to go to the bottom row of app tiles. This row displays all the apps you’ve added to your Fire TV.
Press the right and left arrow buttons to scroll right and left through all the installed apps.
Press the Enter button on the remote to open a selected app.
With the row of tabs selected, press the right and left arrow buttons on your remote to select other tabs.
Select the Search icon to search for shows and movies across all your installed apps.
Select Your Videos to display content you’ve watched on Amazon Prime and other services, as well as recommended TV shows and movies from Amazon Prime Video.
Select Movies to view movies available on Amazon Prime Video.
Select TV Shows to view television series (including original series) available on Amazon Prime Video.
Select Apps to select new apps/streaming services to install on your Fire TV device and to manage those apps you’ve previously installed.
Select Settings to configure your device’s settings.