Fire TV Stick vs Fire TV

[Andra]

I have a Fire TV stick on the TV in living room and am looking at a second one to put in my office.  But then I started thinking (dangerous, I know) - would it be better to get a full-blown Fire TV instead?
We no longer have cable TV and I don't have an antenna on the TV in my office.  I don't really watch it much unless it's for movies.  But I put the Echo in the bedroom and if I had a Fire TV, I could also get to my music on something other than my computer up here.
Does anyone have both of them?  Do you think the Fire TV is worth $60 more than the stick?
Thanks.

[KBoards.com]

[Betsy the Quilter]

Whether it's worth $60 more is pretty subjective; it wouldn't be worth it for me for what I want to use it for, but it may be worth it for you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201640900

Here^ are the differences, per Amazon.  I think the two main differences that affect what you've mentioned are the quality of the sound (Dolby Digital Plus and 5.1 surround sound for Fire TV, Dolby Digital Plus only for Stick) and the ability to use a USB stick with the Fire TV.

Betsy

[Ann in Arlington]

I've read at least one person comment that the TV works better, in terms of wifi connectivity/streaming/etc. than the stick. But I don't have either so that's complete hearsay . . . . might have been Bufo Calvin on his I Love My Kindle blog if you want to look it up.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I've been happy with my Stick's connectivity, but I have nothing to compare it to.  But I could believe that there's a better "radio" in the TV; that $60 has to pay for something.

Andra, if you haven't been having problems with connectivity, I think it gets back to the aspects where it differs as far as delivering music.

Betsy

[Andra]

Since I'm spending allowance to get the second device, I want to try to determine if the extra $60 is worth it.  And you are right, it's hard to quantify.  I know, for example, that the cost increase to go to the Kindle Voyage was totally worth it for me because of the page press sensors (and a few other things).  But with the Fire TV, I can compare specs and they really don't mean that much.  I've read the detailed review of both and am still stumped.  I know if I caught the Fire TV on sale, I'd probably go that way, but $60 difference?  Maybe I need to take change to the Coinstar machine and see if I can get at least part of it paid with a gift card.
I should probably mention that I have a chromecast on my TV in the office and it's annoying me to no end...
Maybe for the time being I should just bring my Fire TV stick up here and use it.  That would buy me some time to think about the prices - and maybe catch a sale.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Since I'm spending allowance to get the second device, I want to try to determine if the extra $60 is worth it.  And you are right, it's hard to quantify.  I know, for example, that the cost increase to go to the Kindle Voyage was totally worth it for me because of the page press sensors (and a few other things).  But with the Fire TV, I can compare specs and they really don't mean that much.  I've read the detailed review of both and am still stumped.  I know if I caught the Fire TV on sale, I'd probably go that way, but $60 difference?  Maybe I need to take change to the Coinstar machine and see if I can get at least part of it paid with a gift card.
I should probably mention that I have a chromecast on my TV in the office and it's annoying me to no end...
Maybe for the time being I should just bring my Fire TV stick up here and use it.  That would buy me some time to think about the prices - and maybe catch a sale.

What annoys you about the Chromecast?  I think the idea of trying your current Stick upstairs sounds like a good idea!

Betsy

[Andra]

What annoys you about the Chromecast?  I think the idea of trying your current Stick upstairs sounds like a good idea!

I suspect that it's more a network issue in my office, but the chromecast drops the network connection regularly and I have to keep resetting it.  It's also harder to get to Amazon where most of my music is stored
I brought the Fire Stick up here and plugged it into the TV and it's working great except I can't get to my own music unless it's through a playlist.  That's probably user error though.  If I wasn't actually trying to get some work done, I'd mess with it some more.  But I can work with what I have for now.
I also need to find the owner's manual for my receiver because I think I need a few changes made so I can hear out of the back channels and I can't figure out how to do that just by poking around.


ETA:
Apparently if you have a large music library you need to be a little patient.  It takes a while for it to sync everything.  I can now see my artists, albums, genres etc.  I guess the playlists sync up first.

[VondaZ]

I have the Fire TV and decided to add a second one to our basement TV. I considered the Fire Stick but chose the Fire TV because it has more processing power, voice command on the remote, and because you can connect a network cable directly into the Fire TV. The WiFi signal is unreliable in our basement and a network connection works much better. Something else to consider is whether or not you will use it to play games. Honestly, I never thought I would use it for that, but once it was in our basement, the kids started using it to play games and I ended up getting a game controller to go with it. If there is a chance you might play games, you should go with the Fire TV because many of the games require the better processor in the Fire TV and won't run on the Fire Stick.

[KBoards.com]