Switched over to streaming this year and loving it and saving lots of $$. Bought 6 Roku devices last year during 50% off Christmas sale, 3 each for each of our homes. Everything has the exact same interface. Now have YouTube TV, Netflix, Prime, and Peacock (free with Xfinity internet) and the best part is we can watch everything at either home under the same subscription. Screw Comcast, we were paying almost twice as much and could only watch at one home.

I have avoided the Firestick because of the possibility that Amazon will limit my app options. This is based on my experience with Amazon Fire tablets that I have owned. The Amazon Fire tablets pretend to be Androids, but they are not true Android tablets. I have always used Roku sticks, but maybe I am misinformed about the Firestick?

I have the same frustration with the fire tablets.

I am not aware of any streaming apps that are not available on the firestick. That said, I haven't tried many obscure apps, I have stuck with Hulu, Netfilx, Max, Peacock, etc.

Unlike Roku, Firestick (Amazon), Chromcast (Google), and Apple TV, all have an agenda that goes far beyond providing the best streaming device.

Absolutely correct

Exactly what is the Firestick (Amazon) agenda that goes far beyond providing the best streaming device and how does it make my streaming experience different than retiredguy's?

I have not yet found a program that requires sideloading. I know there are a number of pirating apps but I prefer to stay on the legal side of streaming.

Given the choice between my conscience and your $35 pirating service, I choose my conscience.

During our last stay in TV we rented a house with Apollo group TV app. Once I got used to it, I found it rather amazing. I could view almost anything from current movies to local TV broadcasts. And by local, I mean local anywhere across the country as long as I knew the station call letters, I could look at the local news from any station from California to New York. Having just paid my $350 monthly cable bill which supplies me with 500 channels of which I only look at about 6, I decided to look into apollo group tv. It requires a firestick or roku type device. It's incredibly inexpensive, less than $200/yr. When I look to cutting the cable, it seems I need to subscribe to a half dozen services to cover the cable offerings at which point the savings are not that great and there is a lot of redundancies. As the saying goes, "if it sounds too good to be true...." Does anyone have any experience with the apollo tv group app? Thanks.

Thanks for your reply,

With cable I feel like I am paying for a lot of content that I don't use or want. I don't watch a lot of TV. With apollo I was able to dial in what I wanted. While in TV this winter I was able to check on the local reporting of nasty weather back at my home in NY as well as the local take (as opposed to national new reports) on issues that may be affecting my son in California. My only complaint was that there were sometimes buffering issues. But I wasn't sure if that was a problem with Apollo or with the local ISP. And while we don't watch most of the recent movies, we were able to watch Oppenheimer in the comfort of the living room. I may give it try before cutting the cable. Interestingly they want you to pay with cryptocurrency. Which I can do through paypal. But it's different. While I get your comment about conscience, I don't think there is a lot of conscience in the cable companies. Competition is fundamental to our very successful capitalistic society. Others may change in the face of it.

"Find"... You really couldn't figure that out?

I've never had an ad for Amazon on any of my Firestick loaded TVs. Where did you get that info?

The operative work is "most", which is not all. History channels for live broadcasting not available. Whenever you go to streaming you need to know what you don't get and/or what you can live without.

Alternately you can use a Firestick for the "one and done" setup. Similar to Roku.

I do the exact same thing.
6 TVs , two different homes, all different brands. And by now they are all at least 7 years old. Originally they had a total of 13 different remotes. (Not sure what all we had going on)
After my husband died I put ROKU on all of them, so they all operate exactly the same. Six TVs …..six remotes. I am now the master of my TV life.
I agree with everyone who says to buy one brand and stick with it for all your TVs. When I start replacing TVs I’ll definitely do that.
But with Roku everything has worked flawlessly for 7 years. Changing TVs just seems like too much trouble.

not true, you can't sideload many apps on Roku like you can with firestick.

Yes I agree with you. But to set record straight. The first so-to-speak cable station was “On-tv”. Launched in1977. It was a box that had to be wiggle-tuned (if that’s such a word) to only a handful of available programs. It was cool, but it also needed constant tuner fidgeting.

I understand how confusion you r with sticks for old or new smart tv sets...I did install with fire stick with my (recently becoming old) tv set to get tv streaming...it works well as if I have a new smart tv set, smile. For our improved FL room (formerly lanani room), I decided to install onn (sell at Walmart) for half price with our oldest tv set, it runs well. Or you may find Fire Stick at Home Depot for $30 or so...maybe the sale is over? Enjoy shopping...glad that you ask for The Villagers' recommendations.

Seeing all this information, I think I am ready to get rid of my B&W tv and upgrade to a color set.
Don't think I would go as far as having a tv that's smarter than I.
What's with all these remotes and sticks people use with their sets?
Sounds very dangerous!

Gotta ask do you still have commodore 128?:ho:

No. Still using my trusty C.64.:thumbup: