Top positive review
3 people found this helpful
Detroit Comcast Ex-User
By M1K3 FR0M D3TR01T on Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2017
Update: still love it. All this week my neighbors Comcast kept going out, but my fire TV with DirecTV now works great on my measly 0-3mbps internet. I had some stuttering and thought I might have to upgrade my internet, but I just deleted the DirecTV now app and reloaded it (you'll need your password!) And it's been fantastic ever since! Very few glitches on live TV-way less than the Comcast set top box! My parents' Comcast tv is screwed up right now, channel not authorized every few minutes. Comcast tv is like landline phones: ditch it and save money and hassles. Comcast internet is great-if your neighborhood network of ok. I canceled my Comcast TV subscription but kept my measly "up to 3Mbps" internet. I ordered this device and plugged it in. Clicked to confirm my Amazon account (came right up on screen) and selected "English". Then I navigated to the Direct TV Now app and selected it. It told me to sign up at direcTVnow.com/amazon...please note that there is only 1 "T" in the address. I signed up for the free 7 day trail and swiped LEFT to go to the cheaper plan of $35/month. BAM: I'm channel surfing just like I had with Comcast...only now I have MORE channels!!!! Why did I choose Direct TV Now over PlayStation Vue? Well, the $25/month PS Vue had ALL the channels I watched on Comcast EXCEPT for AMC (Better Call Saul, Walking Dead) and History Channel (Forged in Fire, Ancient Aliens). The $35/month PS Vue deal added AMC and some other sports stuff I don't care about. The $35/month Direct TV Now added AMC AND History Channel...AND it includes Spike TV (Ink Masters, Bar Rescue) which Comcast took away from us way back in like 2015! Plus Direct TV also adds Comedy Central (South Park) and Velocity TV (car fixing and racing shows) and TV Land (1950s TV shows, etc.) plus a few others. I kept a notebook log of what channels I watched on Comcast...out of 727 channels PS Vue 11/12 and Direct Tv Now had all 13 channels I watched. Ditching the other 700+ channels has lowered my monthly living costs by $84/month. With this Fire TV Box and a $84/month subscription to Direct TV Now I can now watch my favorite channels: A&E, AMC, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Comedy Central, Discovery, E!, Fox, Fox News, FX, FXX, HGTV, History, ID, Nat Geo, SPIKE, ScyFY, TBS, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), TBS (they still have NEW episodes of American Dad), TNT (Animal Kingdom), TV Land, Velocity, Viceland plus some other stuff. With my crappy "up to 3Mbps" Comcast internet (so low they don't offer it to new customers) I am watching TV and CHANNEL SURFING just like when I had Comcast. I canceled Comcast TV last week. I'm typing this as I'm watching Deadliest Catch. I have no idea what resolution this is playing in, but it's definitely better than the lame-ass 430p resolution Comcast was putting out of their set-top box for $90/month! In the 3 days I didn't have Comcast or Fire TV I hooked up a free over the air digital TV antenna (so I could watch Colombo reruns and Svengoolie on local TV) and that was WAY better resolution than Comcast! The screen looks like I'm watch a DVD of live TV (not a BluRay, but better than Comcast live TV). I'm so HAPPY I found this and so ANGRY Comcast has been screwing me/us all these years...although their internet is great. Fire TV and Direct TV Now together give you a channel surfing experience just like with Comcast. I've been watching for almost an hour now and I haven't had any glitches. With my Comcast TV the setup box from Comcast would have reset it self TWICE by now and maybe even asked me to "unplug for a minute and replug if the problem continues". My comcast TV was glitchy, but Fire TV somehow works great with way higher resolution! Unbelievable. I can't believe how beautiful my TV looks now with high resolution! What would I miss? Well, I'm not sure how to watch old episodes "On-Demand", but I still have to play around and possibly download individual "apps" and then tell them my TV Provider is Direct TV Now. Or it's just somewhere on the menu I haven't played with. There are a few free movies I already found. Update: it automatically loaded apps for all the Direct Tv Now channels: there are on demond episodes for almost evetything! So happy! Oh, apparently if you have Amazon Prime you get Prime TV which is like literally millions of movies and TV shows and stuff. I have a freebie "limited" Prime account through a family member so I just get the free shipping. I guess I can pay the $85 per YEAR (not month) and get a "Full" Prime membership and get all those movies and TV. I'll probably do that since there is an old AMC show called "Rubicon" that isn't available on DVD or online anywhere...the rest would just be gravy. Also, for like $7/$8 dollars you can add HBO or Showtime or Cinemax to your Direct TV Now account per month. I think PS Vue charged like $15/month for those each...so adding premium channels is like 50% less on Direct TV Now per month. I looked at all those premium channels and it was like: I've already seen all of the Sopranos episodes so I bought the entire run of "Dexter" on BluRay for $60 and thus I have zero need for any premium channel. I'm staring at Deadliest Catch and marveling how clear it is compared to the crap Comcast fed me! So, what were the BAD parts of Fire TV: You have to run an ethernet cable to it if you want the best performance instead of wi-fi. I just unplugged the one out of my old BluRay player and plugged it right in. I believe this will also do wi-fi wireless, but cable is always better than over-air wifi. The player arrived in a padded envelope and not a box! Scary, but it was ok. There was tape run around both ends of the "sleeve" of cardboard around the box containg the unit. I had to get a knife to slice it and even then it tore the box apart as I slide it off! The box had a clear, hard to see tape seal. The unit was in a plastic, sealed bag and also the unit had a ring of clear cling wrap around it which was hard to remove. The AC plug had TWO layers of plastic cling wrap running on opposite directions covering it!?!?!? The remote was in a plastic bag that had instructions on how to insert the batteries (included), but there was also a separate piece of glossy paper in the box that duplicated the exact same instructions! Wasteful!!!! The entire back of the remote slides off by the way, kinda weird so you DO need visual instructions to get it off, lol. The batteries were just rolling around LOOSE in the box: no wrap! THIS UNIT DOES NOT COME WITH AN HDMI CABLE!!!!!!!! You can order one for $8 from Amazon. The AC cord had a really nice, wide black rubber band keeping the wire coiled nicely, but I still think it's wasteful: rubber is a natural resource, why waste it. The batteries were rolling around loose, who cares if the AC cord is a little uncoiled? When you first turn it on and do the setup you have to hit the pause/play button to OK your choice to setup; then your second choice of language you have to hit the center button to ok your choice: jut sort of sloppy: pick a button to "OK" stuff with. From then on, you use the huge center button to click on/ok things just as you'd think the remote would work. You have to press AND HOLD the microphone button to talk to Alexa. Not a big deal, that's a good thing actually for privacy but it took me by suprise: I'm used to clicking on things, not pressing and holding. It took me a few tries to realize...it also says right on screen with huge letters "Press AND HOLD while talking to Alexa". LOL! Hit the "Home" house logo and click to the right to go to "Guide" and you have a guide grid of channels and show titles and times just like Comcast. How nice and simple! I have no affiliation with Comcast or Direct TV. I'm a middle-aged librarian in Metro-Detroit who just wants to veg-out and channel surf every now and again. I tried Hulu but didn't like it because it was like "Please tell us which of the 38,0000 TV shows we have that you want to watch" and I'm like "Uh...I dunno!, let me see the shows that start with the letter A" and Hulu was all like "We have 11,214 TV shows that start with the letter A, which one do you want?" And I'm like, "Um, Archer?" I spent 3 days binge-watching Archer and then canceled it. I don't "know" what I want to watch for the most part...I surf and find it. With this setup I can watch reruns of Archer and I do "know" I NEED tio see Better Call Saul, but other than that I stumble on the usual shows....like Fargo or whatever. I LITERALLY canceled a 7 day FREE trail of Hulu on the 3rd morning because it just seemed like WORK to find something to watch. 2 hours in and no glitches--my crazy slow 3Mbps internet is just fine :) I guess I don't have to upgrade the internet (which even if I did I'd still be saving like $60/month over Comcast TV)...but I think I'm going to. For the first week everything worked great: I could watch Fire TV and also use the internet on my tablet. I even watched a Youtube video while also using the Fire TV...but that was pushing it. My internet sucks generally: I can barely read emails on my new desktop it's so slow (even before getting the Fire TV). We also just had some storms in Detroit and my Air Conditioner unit blew a fuse at 5am...so I can't be sure if it's really even a speed issue, or just power brown outs and general mayhem playing havoc with the internet (and the lights and AC unit). IF I WERE PLANNING THIS OUT: I would price the cost of ditching all Comcast TV but upgrading to their 10Mbps internet. It's still way, way cheaper than Comcast TV. My bill came today and it was $51.54 instead of $135.13!!!!!!! Heck, I may upgrade to their 75Mbps service! Every month I save enough money to buy another Fire TV box....$1008 per year less (unless I upgrade the cable). I'm glad I went with the Fire Box instead of the stick, since the box can take an ethernet input instead of relying on wi-fi to connect: My wi-fi goes out when I use the microwave, LOL! Also weird: earlier today (before Fire TV was delivered) there was a Comcast Internet and TV outtage throughout the subdivision! That raised my stress level a bit, but it was fixed before the box arrived. Fire TV Box + HDMI Cord + Ethernet cable to my modem/router + Comcast 3mpbs slow internet = AWESOME! I can remember back in the 1970s we had "ON TV" with a single movie channel and it was a cool treat! Like having a Coke was a treat, like a milkshake. Then regular cable as we know it came around with Atlanta/Georgia scientific boxes or something? They were beige with huge reddish/clear remote control windows and it was fine: tons of channels. Then Comcast came along and it was: at least twice a month you were calling them to reset your box or fix your internet. TODAY MY ENTIRE SUBDIVISION HAD A 2 HOUR CABLE TV AND INTERNET OUTTAGE. My parents up the street had to call because NOTHING worked and it was some substation that blew out. There is ALWAYS something wrong with Comcast. Since 2002 nobody can watch BBC America without audio glitches and picture freezing...which is fine, I've overdosed on Gordon Ramsey shows and the only movies they show are Aliens (2) and Silence of the Lambs (which I love, but how many times in a row can I watch that). I know this was wordy, but the more info I give the more it might help others cut the cord. Oh, two months ago my Comcast modem died so they sent me one of the combination modem/wireless/router "Bridge" things. All is well. Tip: hold the home button (little house) and it'll bring up the sleep option. Never leave your Fire Tv running a TV channel or else you'd be burning gigs of Internet usage and slowing your network. If you just tap your home button it takes you to the home screen which I think goes to sleep after 30 minutes. Good luck and great savings to you fellow cord-cutters, Michael Logusz Science & Optics
Top critical review
8 people found this helpful
Flawed and Unreliable Fire TV - It's difficult to decide which is a worse Fire TV or Customer Service.
By Syed Ali on Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2015
Flawed and Unreliable Fire TV Well, I tried to hold myself to give a negative review about Fire TV. First generation Fire TV gave me so much trouble from buffering, lagging, and the picture and audio that I end up returning it. Then came the 2nd generation Fire TV so I thought let's give it a try because the description page showed too many promises and fixing the previous issues. Well, I thought so for a while as well. First the thing I like about new 2nd Gen Fire tv, and reason for that two stars. 1. It connects real fast to Wifi and showing really good signal strength which was choppy in previous models. 2. The buffering and lags reduced significantly and resolved that issue almost but not completely. 3. It has 4K, but I haven't tried it, but, read the issues other users have it. Now come the issues. 1. After the great 5.1 Dolby sound disaster which everyone or every other review talked about I had another issue....Most of the Movies I played are just giving me horrible peeping sound like a fire alarm. Called Fire Support several times and believe me it's real pain these days calling Amazon support in general. Don't want to sound rude, but no offense 8 out of 10 times the call goes to some third world country from the Philippines, to India to Vietnam to somewhere...most of the time I had to repeat myself twice for everything because honestly, they don't understand accent or English or both and after like 10 minutes of frustration I had to ask them to transfer the call to some US rep, which sometimes they do, sometimes they said they can't. Bottom line, the support people doesn't matter US or anywhere else comes with same troubleshoot book seriously, they are so dumb and repetitive that you would commit suicide by boredom. They will say the same words and then start troubleshoot, same drill, even though when you informed them that you already did those steps, if you said that then they will have a threat in their sleeve, sir, if you don't want to cooperate or do troubleshoot then we can't help you. I mean seriously!!!! This is the customer service of a multi billion dollar company? Customer rep threat customers? So I didn't have any choice but to comply with the same BS they throw at me. a) Poweroff the Fire TV box, take out the power cable, from both wall jack and TV. b) Wait for 30 seconds and then connect both and restart...Bingo..I did that, sir did it resolve the sound issue. How come switch off and switch on resolve sound issue, can't be any more lame, but I was under threat right so I did that. c) Then comes the next step of clearing cache by going into settings, except I don't have anymore things to clear in cache because I did that some 10 times already. Of course after doing it one more time I did not resolve the issue. d) Then comes their ultimate solution... Factory resets. Some seriously s***. Because it's so frustrating to do a factory reset because then I have to not only log in to my amazon, but I have to login to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and all other applications. But, since If I don't do meaning I am not cooperating and as per them they can't help, after doing 3 to 4 factory resets I had to do it one more time. So here we go spend another 10 to 15 minutes of doing factory reset and login in again and then comes the same result. Sir, I hope this resolve the issue, wait, wait, no I didn't. Sorry to hear that, sir, I have done what I had to do, including threatening a customer as per my book and the issue hasn't resolved yet. So What I can do is I will transfer to one of our technical support guy, wait what? WTF! Are you kidding, I thought you are some Crappy Tech support guy, no sir, I will transfer just hold on for one minute.. Meaning you have to hold for almost 5 to 10 minutes, by this time the total call time exceed 45 Minutes already. Good news, the ultimate tech support guys comes in and then he go through logs or whatever and asked me some 10 questions, including my name, address, email address, my grandmother name, grand father name, where they born and why they are dead already by natural causes or diseased killed them, did they fight in WWI and WWII, so after repeating all that information that ultimate tech support guy will asked me same question from the Bible they have and when I informed them that I had done this, this and this then that tech support guy put me on brief hold which last for another 5 minutes. Then the torture start, sir, I what TV model you are connecting the Fire TV too, then I had to give that information, then when I informed him that it's basically connected to the AV receiver that's it, that's the issue, I mean seriously! Fire TV doesn't work if its connect to AV receiver while I have Blu-ray, Roku 2 (3 years old), Nexus Player works perfectly fine with AV receiver. Then I will be put on hold for another 5 minutes, then comes the ultimate tech support. Sir, what model AV receiver I have, Pioneer and I also have Harmon Kardon. Sir, I guess Fire TV doesn't work with Pioneer please connect with Harmon Kardon, I said are you joking what if I don't have the other AV receiver and also how come it was working fine few days back and now after software upgrade its not working on same receiver? But, anyway If I don't connect to other AV receiver and don't cooperate, then I will be blamed as not supportive and they won't help me right. So I spend another 15 minutes and bingo... The connected and same result, in fact, I put my phone just beside that speaker and he heard this horrible sound of beep instead of dialogue and he was almost apologetic about all the ordeal and he really don't have any solution now. So, he start shooting blanks, what model of this and that and after getting TV, AV receiver, Speaker, Sofa, refrigerator, Microwave, Router, Modem and my car model, at that instant I was hoping he would tells me since I am driving Honda Pilot instead of BMW 7 series, that might be the reason my Fire TV is not working, thanks GOD he didn't. So he put me on brief hold again, which was really 10 minutes and then he came back and start blaming hardware and all. Then I start helping him out because it seems their ultimate tech support guy is not really technical. I told him, it was working fine and after the latest upgrade its not working and also, I told him that while you were working on my TV, AV, Microwave model I tested by changing my Audio Settings from Dolby Plus through HDMI to Dolby and switched off it works. But, at the same time I told him that it kills the purpose if its not work on Dolby plus settings. So he created the ticket and told me that ultimate, the ultimate tech guy will review my case. Gave the case number. Now today is third day did not receive any response. And I am too afraid to call the awesome Amazon Customer service. I will wait for a couple of more days for the resolution, even though I told them what causing the issue and their so called tech support don't have a clue. Amazon not only needs to fix the sound issue of Fire TV, they need to improve their customer service and bring them back to US. Else the Fire TV going back and I vow I won't buy another Amazon product again. UPDATE (Nov 19th 2015): First of all, I challenge all the ignorant to read the complete review before coming out and calling it rambling. So I reduced from two stars to one star not because of Fire TV, but because of abysmal and pathetic Amazon Customer Service. I bought the New unit 2015 2nd Generation Fire TV in Oct and on Nov 4th after their software upgrade I had the issue where Movies giving beep sound and nothing else, I gave the details to their tech support and they listened to the beep sound, still they don't figure it out, so I told them that it's not a hardware issue it's your software issue and also added that they upgrade the software to fix one thing and instead they break another thing. But, they created the case on Nov 4th, and send the case to their Engineers, and Representative assured me that they will get back to me in 24 to 48 hours, after 4 days or 5 days I didn't get any response or call, so I called the Fire TV support again and Representative told me that the Engineers infact sent the email but, the last rep who should suppose to give me a call didn't do it, I mean seriously! She told me that last rep dropped the ball, I was like how come Amazon deal with issues with individuals, isn't that they created the case and anyone can work on the case instead of just one Rep? Because after that rep took my call, he could leave the company or take vacations? They claim they are a billion dollar company and this pathetic customer service. Anyway, that rep asked me the questions which I already answered some 10 times, but she told me that these questions being asked by Engineer, so I gave all the answers and she was satisfied and told me that Engineer who are working on this issue can't reach customers so they reach the Customer Rep who in turn reach the customer. She assured me that she sent the email to Engineer and they usually respond in 24 to 48 hours and she will give me a call latest in 3 days, I thanked her and waited? So after another 5 days and no response, I called Fire TV support again, gave them the case number and asked them why I didn't get any call from the last rep as she promised. So this Rep Jamie B told me that, she should suppose to give me a call because Engineers responded to the case next day, I mean seriously I asked her the reason why I didn't get the call in spite of assurance from last rep, she said she might forget, I mean how ridiculous they become not sure, this is the height of their non-sense excuse that rep might have forgotten to follow up? Anyway, Jamie B told me that Engineers couldn't find a solution, mind that I told them already when I switched the Audio settings and turned off Dolby I am getting sound, but as soon as I turned on Dolby settings I am getting Beep sound, so it's their software issue. Before the software upgrade it was working fine with Dolby on, still their Engineers are clueless. Anyway, Jamie B told me that their Engineer will inspect my defective Unit, I mean seriously, it's defective because you upgrade some crappy software and firmware. She told me that since my unit is under warranty at the time of I spoke with Jamie B, my unit is just under one month and it's still under warranty. Since its under warranty She has told me that they will replace with brand new 2nd Generation device. Also, she told me that since I will be getting new device I should pack everything, including Fire TV in the original box and drop at UPS at the earliest so that it reach the Amazon Lab in Sunnyvale, CA. I told Jamie B that they will definitely send me the brand new Device because I don't want to replace my brand new device with some crappy refurbished 1st generation device, she told me that she is processing the request and she put the request as we are speaking. As per the phone instructions and instructions sent to me over email with shipping labels.I print the label, neatly packed everyhthig including power adapter, remote, batteries and Fire TV box in the original box and a drop at UPS. After three days ordered came in. Lou and behold, when I opened the bubble, yellow parcel I couldn't believe my eyes... all I found was a small black box and inside it was a single refurbished 1st generation crappy Fire TV Box? I mean seriously, I couldn't believe no power adapter, no remote, just the refurbished Fire TV BOX? I immediately called the Fire TV support and talked to their manager and after putting me on hold for like 20 minutes he came back and apologized me that as per their policy they can replace with new or bloody refurbished device, I said Jamie B promised me and it was under warranty? He then placed me on hold for another 10 minutes and came back and told me the same thing, he can't do anything as I already got the refurbished device, I said what do you mean by he can't do anything? He said he is sorry there migth be some mistake from Amazon rep who wrongly promised new device, I said what the heck, if its amazon customer rep mistake then you should take the blame and recrtify it and send me the new device, he put me on hold again and after 5 minutes he came back with more bulls*** and told me that they rightly replaced my device with refurbished device because its out of warranty, at this point I lose my cool, I said go and have a look, when the order was created and when I talked to Jamie B it was under warranty, you guys process the reuqest after 3 to 4 days and its your mistake. He said he can't do anything, I said what the heck I am gonna do with this crappy device, you asked me to send power adapter and remote and battery and replaced with crappy refurbished box, how I am going to plug in. At that point the representative said Sorry and disconnect the call after more than 50 minutes. I am sorry to say, but this is the most bulls*** customer rep and customer service I ever come across. So after 15 minutes I called again this time it connects to somewhere else and then it took me 15 minutes to repeat my story. So I was put on hold again for 5 minutes three to four times and finally the manager came, that lady told me that she can't do anything and I was kind of fed up hearing the same s*** again and again that they can't do anything. If they wanted to replace with this s***ty refurbished device, then why the hell, they asked me to send all the accessories? After telling her that I can't plug in the device she put me on hold for 10 minutes and then told me that she will try to give some money so that I can shop for accessories like power adapter and remote and batteries. At that point I said " You know what just shove this fire tv box where ever it fits" and give me my money, I don't need your bulls*** Fire TV box and I will not go to use another Fire TV again. I challenge Amazon or anyone who needs my case number I will provide it. I am going to put everyting on online blog because I have been lied by Aamzon representative and its fraud pure and simple.
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