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#Post#: 109--------------------------------------------------
Fire Sticks?
By: gillumhouse Date: July 2, 2023, 6:31 pm
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I am tired of the cable company jerking me around with the
rates. A friend has given me a fire stick and set it up. She
will be back tomorrow (rain moved our concert from tonight to
tomorrow) and show me how to set it up & use it. Cable will
still be up in 2 rooms until I get the other fire sticks and get
it set up.
Am I going the correct route? Tell me if this is a mistake
BEFORE I tell the cable company to pound salt! Are there brands
of fire sticks that are better? I have no clue.
#Post#: 110--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: JimBoone Date: July 3, 2023, 6:49 am
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[quote author=gillumhouse link=topic=19.msg109#msg109
date=1688340700]
I am tired of the cable company jerking me around with the
rates.
Am I going the correct route? Tell me if this is a mistake
BEFORE I tell the cable company to pound salt!
[/quote]
Let's try it this way. Do you watch TV personally? If so, I
think I'd put it on that TV and try it for a while to see if
you're comfortable with the equipment and the choice of things
to watch. I generally go under the idea of what's good for me is
good for my guests.
Firestick, ROKU, and others are streaming devices and receive TV
over your internet connection, so one concern is "how is your
internet connection and WIFI equipment"? Is your connection fast
enough to support streaming on several devices if your guest
rooms are all watching TV?
Our grandson in GA has ROKU and not cable, have used it when we
visited. At Michelle's suggestion we have a ROKU on our TV in
addition to satellite but haven't used it often. Many new TV's
have the ability to stream built in "smart TV.
#Post#: 113--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: gillumhouse Date: July 3, 2023, 8:39 am
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I rarely watch TV - VERY rarely. I also rarely have all rooms
occupied and I now have fiber optic internet. Cable is costing
me $126 & change per month, just for Basic+ cable (sports). I
had it for Himself & for guests, not for me. I think only the
Gillum Room and the TV I moved to the Library (Himself no longer
watches it so it is now available to guests) are the only smart
TVs.
#Post#: 114--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: Generic Date: July 3, 2023, 11:54 am
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We switched to all ROKU equipped TVs a few years ago. But our
Internet provider also has IPTV channels available via ROKU. So
we have "cable" via the Roku. YMMV. There are host of free
"live" channels via Roku Channel, as well as via the PLEX
channel and more. We have a personal Netflix and Prime
available. The Netflix has a specific "Guest" selection with our
personal accounts blocked via PIN codes.
A few guests have had trouble figuring out the IPTV service. But
no one has complained about the selection we have set up for
them, including the weather and some neutral TV news channels
and a few free movie channels.
We do not offer any extreme news channels on either side of the
spectrum. So, no RT, no CGTV. But we also aren't in the US, so
we skip all those channels... just the local national news
channels.
#Post#: 117--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: gillumhouse Date: July 3, 2023, 9:33 pm
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She gave me a quick tutorial tonight. It appears the local TH
channels are not accessible. Not sure I like that. I will have
to force myself to go up and play with it. I need them to be
able to access sports - and I do not want to have tp be
subscribing to stuff. I think she said ESPN+ was $10 per month.
IF I have to subscribe to a bunch of crap, I may as well just
keep the cable - it gets all the ESONs, ROOT (another
sports),local channels, a Disney, etc. for $126 a month. Sign.
Glad I did not purchase fire sticks yet. She has given me 1 and
I know how to use it - sort of. Why can't things be easy!
Got through the concert tonight. He did remember to queue me
sort of in one song and a bit better in another (totally forgot
in another) but the gong WAS heard! Because the concert was
moved to the rain date, I missed rehearsal with the Fairmont
band and will miss Monday's rehearsal due to City Council
meeting, That leaves me 1 rehearsal before THAT concert! Then
done until September.
#Post#: 118--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: JimBoone Date: July 4, 2023, 5:27 am
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[quote author=gillumhouse link=topic=19.msg117#msg117
date=1688438017]
She gave me a quick tutorial tonight. It appears the local TH
channels are not accessible. Not sure I like that. She has given
me 1 and I know how to use it - sort of. Why can't things be
easy!
[/quote]
Sadly, easy generally = more expensive. May also depend on age
or background of your guests, younger folks adapt, some of us
have reached the point where we forget how it worked last time.
On the other hand, the B & B that I loved didn't have TV's and
I'm old enough to remember motels with a couple of over the air
TV channels, you are still offering them something to watch and
waste a little free time.
#Post#: 119--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: gillumhouse Date: July 4, 2023, 9:37 am
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I think the majority of my guests are over 40, perhaps over 50
is more like it.
#Post#: 120--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: Arks Date: July 5, 2023, 10:25 am
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Our local cable company used to provide remotes with lots of
buttons and features that few people used, and I think they
finally realized all this was leading to LOTS of tech support
calls to the cable company, so they switched to very simple
remotes to control the cable box: on/off, vol up/down, channel
up/down and that's about it.
It greatly cut down on my own problems with guests getting
things out of whack, like changing the input from HDMI1 to
Antenna and stuff like that.
For my new room I recently made available, in a different
building, I went with a different service provider and their TV
remove is the very big, complicated kind. I dread the calls.
For a while, in addition to offering cable TV in my rooms, I
also had ROKU available so they could access Netflix, Amazon
Prime, etc., but that led to lots of confusion, with the
multiple remotes and need to switch input between cable and the
ROKU. I finally removed the ROKU and went strictly with the
cable system. Keep it simple is a good rule for innkeepers to
live by!
#Post#: 121--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: gillumhouse Date: July 5, 2023, 11:03 am
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I am beginning to think the cable - as much as I hate it (and
people in town who actually WATCH TV complain it is out a lot -
one reason I stopped watching was the frozen pixilated screen
halfway through the last episode of Victoria on PBS) is worth
keeping. The Fire Sticks might be a cheap answer to giving
"smart TV" to the 2 TVs that do not have the access to Netflix
etc. Since my friend gave me a fire stick, I only need to buy 1
more to be covered.
I will just keep calling them looking for the promos they offer.
Thank you and Jim for reminding me the KISS is the best system.
#Post#: 122--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Sticks?
By: Generic Date: July 5, 2023, 3:20 pm
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Arks, the new Roku remotes control the TV, so there is one
remote and even LESS buttons. The on/off at the top, the volume
and mute at the side and that is IT.
Honestly, guests from my country had no problem, because
everyone has decoders around here. But guests from the "south"
were constantly punching the TV button on the remote, or worse,
fiddling with the cable in the back. But only channel 3 was the
message "Cable is digital, use the decoder to see channels". And
I just gave up. Switched to only Roku. TV is on Roku too. But if
they can't figure it out, they figure out how to use Netflix or
Prime. Some ask. Most don't watch much TV. A few with "CAST" to
the Roku from their phones
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