Over the years on here I have come across this strange word “firestick” used by some of you and it sounds like it might be a useful way to pick up TV channels. Am I right?
Please could someone explain to me in words of one syllable what a firestick is and how one uses it in France.
Thank you.
It is a usb device that you plug into your tv or any other device you want to make into a smart device. It is made by Amazon so if you have prime you can stream Prime TV and almost any other streaming service to it. It is popular because it is very easy to hack to add other services like free movies and TV and apps like BBC with a VPN.
It’s one of these…
You plug it into an HDMI socket on the back of your telly. It has a bunch of apps you can install - some officially (just like you install apps on your phone from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store), and some unofficially (by installing them yourself manually).
It comes with a mini remote control so you can be sat on the sofa and still control it.
Typically people install apps like BBC iPlayer or ITVx or Netflix, etc… to watch TV shows and films. It can also have a VPN installed on it to circumvent the problem of accessing iPlayer from abroad.
You can also use it to install some apps that allow you to get all sorts of TV channels illegally. However, because of that, I’ve heard Amazon are cracking down on allowing people to install unofficial apps.
Thanks TF, unfortunately I need an even more numpty explanation. As I already have a smart TV is it of no interest to me?
“It is popular because it is very easy to hack to add other services like free movies and TV and apps like BBC with a VPN.”
Sorry, no idea what that means.
Also, we have a satellite and Humax box, so maybe it is of no interest to us. We get i-player and ITVx via our laptop and VPN on that, plugged into the back of the TV. Beginning to think don’t need it.
What are its benefits?
It makes it easy to pirate(steal) TV and movies. If you already have a smart TV I doubt it will be much use unless you have someone set it up for you
Depends if the apps on your Smart TV can do everything you want or not. Honestly, if you’re happy with what you’ve got, then you probably don’t need one.
Less cables and not having to get up off the sofa to switch channels or change programmes 
If you did have a lot of your own media, e.g. you had made digital backups of your old DVDs and VHS cassettes, then you could watch them via an app on the Fire Stick. But, from the sound of it, you don’t have that need.
But really they’re a cheap way for people to (illegally) access other channels such as Sky Sports, Sky Movies, etc… without paying the normal price.
OK @SuePJ, here is my Janet and John description of a Firestick.
Cards on the table, I am no computer techie but I have blundered through enough installations of my own and some friend’s Firesticks to get a usable understanding of these modern miracles.
Like you, I also have a smart TV. It has French and UK satellite boxes connected. It can load and run its own and apps and we have a Firestick. We use the Firestick to watch media content more than any other device. Everything is controlled by a single simple remote control button (which is also duplicated on our ‘phones). We tend to only use “on demand” services to watch what we want when we want. We rarely watch live broadcast (e.g. UK satellite transmissions)
They are plastic rectilinear boxes with a HDMI plug on the end which plug directly into your HDMI port on your TV (exactly the way you do with your laptop). They are small, about the size of a breadknife handle (the internet loves weird units of measurement!) and need a USB type power supply.
They are basically a small but powerful computer which runs various apps, for example BBC iPlayer, ITVX, More 4, 5 Player, U, Netflix, YouTube. These apps are loaded from the Amazon App store. It is important to understand that each country has its own app store to download apps relevant to that country. As far as I can tell, you do need an Amazon account in that country to be able to access its content. You also have to tell Amazon which particular country you purchase your digital media from (even if most of it is free). You can only select one country. So in our case it is UK. I had already done this years ago to be able to download Kindle books from UK. This does not affect regular purchases on your normal French Amazon account.
There is a facility to download unofficial apps called “sideloading” but that has not interested me.
So, it is going to work very similarly to your laptop. You select your app. If it is a geolocated app like iPlayer you will also need a VPN app and need to set it to a location that works for that particular app. It is a matter of trial and error to find the best location and after a few weeks or months it may well change. The same thing applies on your laptop. Some apps like YouTube do not need a VPN.
So why would you buy a Firestick rather than continually plug in your laptop? Well mostly it is a matter of convenience and quality. Once you have set up your Firestick you can forget about it. The video and sound quality is much better than you will get from the laptop and the Firestick uses better streaming software so you get fewer periods of buffering (although they can still occur sometimes)
If you are going to buy one and are not in a hurry they often crop up quite cheaply during sales occasions.
Thanks very much for all of the above Mik, very helpful and suitably numpty-ish.
Just to clarify, we run the laptop through the TV, (just as a firestick) so the sound and video quality is that of the TV, not the laptop.
As I understand it Sue, your TV will play the quality of signal it is presented with (up to the TVs quality limit). The firestick provides the TV with a better video, sound, and streaming performance quality than the lap top. However I would like the electronics experts on here to confirm that
Firestick = a one stop shop for all your streaming services. There’s an App Store where you download iPlayer, Netflix etc.
It uses your WiFi to get content and then feeds it into your TV via an HDMI connection just like a DVD player etc.
Became popular a while back with folks that had older “dumb” TVs or ones that didn’t have a good range of Streaming service apps.
Some of the earlier smart TVs had very poor software and even worse versions of the streaming apps.
Amazon has put a lot of time and money into making the Firestick as reliable and easy to use as possible.
Whilst the Firestick is powered by USB and it looks like you could use the USB port on your TV to power it, you can’t as that port is for reading media from memory sticks and doesn’t provide the DC current needed by a Firestick.
Use the USB power adapter that comes with the Firestick.
Depends on the laptop. 
A posh recent one will have a fast processor and a hi-res display so will be able to push 4K and maybe even Dolby Atmos sound out of its HDMI port (not from MacBooks though unless they are running OS X Sequoia, which now supports Atmos I believe, though I haven’t tried it myself) - see note below.
A ten year old machine with an Intel Celeron processor, not so much.
But the Firestick will be a more convenient solution, especially if the laptop is normally used elsewhere for laptoppy things.
An Apple TV would be another alternative but you wouldn’t be able to “sideload” unofficial apps, though I believe there are VPN apps available for it. More expensive than a Firestick but of course it comes with all that Appley niceness. 
ETA: I should clarify - many recent MacBooks (such as my M2 MacBook Air) support 4K video but not necessarily Dolby Atmos sound.
a smart TV. It has French and UK satellite boxes connected. It can load and run its own and apps and we have a Firestick. We use the Firestick
I use a usb port on my tv to power my firestick.
Maybe depends on tv brand/model?
If it has the USB logo on it, it provides power. All TVs I’ve come across provide power over USB.
I generally use the TV USB port to power my firestick when travelling and it often complains that the power is insufficient for certain functions. It invariably works though.
It also tells me to use a 5 Ghz signal rather than a 2.4 Ghz signal when I connect it to my hearing aids using Bluetooth but, as you said, it still works.
Standard USB 2.0 ports will provide 500ma at 5V. That may or may not be enough but if a device tries to take more than that then the port will remove power. So if a device works at all then it’s not taking too much power.
Depends on the device. I have an external DVD-ROM drive that is USB powered - if plugged into the computer on its own the drive lights up so you think it’s working, but unless its second USB port is connected to a power brick it won’t load a disc.
Nonetheless, it still complains.