5 helpful Fireplace TV Stick options I remorse not...

I’ve had a Fire TV Stick 4K Max for a very long time, but I nonetheless uncover options I wasn’t conscious of very often. It is easy to attach it to your TV, begin streaming, after which overlook about every thing else. For a streaming device that typically prices as little as $20 on sale (relying on the mannequin you select), it is spectacular how a lot it may well really do.

In the event you personal an Amazon Fireplace TV Stick and wish to elevate your streaming experience, it is fairly straightforward. Most of those settings/options solely take a number of seconds to take a look at, so there isn’t any motive to not give them a shot. In the event you’re an skilled Fireplace TV Stick consumer, you would possibly already know a few of these, however should you’ve not too long ago purchased one for the primary time, these options might be useful. From one Fireplace TV Stick consumer to a different, listed below are 5 helpful options I want I had found sooner.

1

Rapidly repair stuttering or freezing

You should use a shortcut in your Alexa distant to repair this

Some of the irritating features of utilizing any streaming stick is when it begins to lag or freeze. More often than not, my Fireplace TV Stick 4K Max runs simply positive, however each as soon as in and whereas, it does begin to stutter and never load issues. Sometimes, to repair this, I’d use the tried-and-tested technique of merely unplugging and plugging it again in. Nevertheless, I then found a a lot simpler solution to restart it with out having to succeed in for the again of my TV or navigate to restart within the settings menu.

To restart your Fireplace TV Stick tremendous rapidly, all it’s important to do is maintain down the Choose button and the Play/Pause button on the distant on the similar time for 5 seconds (as highlighted in inexperienced within the picture above). As soon as you’ve got completed that, your Fireplace TV Stick ought to immediately restart. As soon as it is booted up once more, any freezing or stuttering points you could have skilled ought to be gone, and your machine will really feel a lot smoother. I like to recommend doing this as soon as every week to forestall any points from arising within the first place.

2

Join Bluetooth audio units

Hearken to your Fireplace TV Persist with AirPods or different Bluetooth headphones

Throughout the summer time, I made a decision to attempt a brand new means to make use of my Fireplace TV Stick. As a substitute of hooking it as much as my TV, I plugged it into my monitor at my desk so I might stream in 4K there at any time when I needed. Throughout this course of, I found a characteristic I did not even know the Fireplace TV Stick had, however which made excellent sense for it to have: the flexibility to attach Bluetooth audio units. In any case, you may join a controller to your Fireplace TV Stick, so why not Bluetooth audio units?

When you have a pair of Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, like Apple’s AirPods, you may join them to your Fireplace TV Stick by navigating to Settings > Remotes & Bluetooth Units > Different Bluetooth Units. From there, allow pairing in your Bluetooth headphones or earbuds, and you may join them proper to your Fireplace TV Stick. Since I’ve began utilizing my Fireplace TV Stick at my desk close to my PC, I’ve discovered this extremely useful for listening to my PC’s audio (related through USB-C) and my Fireplace TV Stick (through Bluetooth) concurrently with my SteelSeries Arctis 7 Nova headset. It is a good way to look at TV late at night time with out disturbing anybody else in your family with loud noises.

3

Use your telephone as a distant

Cannot discover the distant? Your telephone can clear up that downside

I just like the Alexa Voice Distant that Amazon consists of with its Fireplace TV Sticks, however typically it isn’t essentially the most handy to search out or decide up. I’ve a nasty behavior of leaving my distant midway throughout the room or within the kitchen, which is problematic after I sit down to look at one thing, and my cat instantly jumps on my lap, and it does not want to be moved. Fortunately, I all the time have my telephone in my pocket, and when you have the Fireplace TV app, you should use it as a distant in your Fireplace TV Stick.

The Fireplace TV app is out there on each iOS and Android. When you obtain it, you will be given the choice to attach it to your close by Fireplace TV Stick. As soon as related, your telephone’s display screen turns right into a distant, displaying a consumer interface similar to your bodily distant — full with the navigation dial and all of the button instructions you want, comparable to house, pause/play, rewind, and ahead. You may even quick-launch apps in your Fireplace TV Stick immediately from the Fireplace TV app, like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, or some other app you select to pin. The Fireplace TV app is completely free to obtain, so it is value trying out should you like the thought and the added comfort of utilizing your telephone as a distant management.

4

Mute featured content material

No extra audio leap scares

Each every now and then, I used to get leap scared by my Fireplace TV’s house display screen after I by accident hovered over one of many sponsored exhibits or adverts Amazon has on its homepage within the featured content material tab, as these are set to play with audio by default. In the event you’re like me and would fairly not have your Fireplace TV Stick all of the sudden play audio with out you clicking on a present or film to look at, it is fairly easy to repair.

To cease computerized audio playback in your Fireplace TV Stick, head to Settings > Preferences > Featured Content material. From there, you will see two choices: Enable Video AutoPlay and Enable Audio Autoplay. By default, each of those are set to on, however should you’d favor to not hear it or have it play any video in any respect for featured content material on the homepage, you may set each to off.

5

Play video games from the cloud

Xbox Cloud Gaming is not dangerous for single-player titles on the Fireplace TV Stick

Bethesda

After I purchased my Amazon Fireplace TV Stick 4K Max, I knew it might help cloud gaming by way of the Xbox app, however I by no means tried it, fearing it will be too laggy. Not too long ago, I scored a deal on an Xbox Sport Cross Final subscription for a month, so I made a decision to attempt Xbox Cloud Gaming and see the way it performs. To my shock, enjoying Xbox video games on the Fireplace TV Stick is not that dangerous.

To be clear, would I play aggressive multiplayer video games on it? Completely not. However for chill single-player titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the expertise wasn’t too dangerous. Sure, there’s a tiny little bit of latency, and your expertise could range relying in your web velocity (Xbox recommends utilizing 5GHz Wi-Fi with at the least 20 Mbps velocity for optimum efficiency), but it surely was playable. My largest gripe is that the Xbox app itself may be considerably laggy when trying to find video games to play, however I consider that is because of the limitations of the Fireplace TV Stick’s {hardware}.

In the event you personal a Fireplace TV Stick and do not have a gaming console, however wish to play new video games, Xbox Cloud Gaming is value attempting, and I consider the expertise will solely enhance as Microsoft continues to refine it. Simply needless to say you will want a wi-fi Bluetooth controller to play, comparable to an Xbox controller, Sony DualShock 4, or Nintendo Change Professional Controller, and an Xbox Sport Cross Final subscription (which prices $20/month). You may play it with cheaper Sport Cross subscription tiers, however you could have to enroll in the Xbox Insiders program. You may play video games by way of the cloud through Amazon Luna in your Fireplace TV Stick, however I believe the Xbox app is the higher alternative attributable to its bigger catalog of video games.