Thursday 5 April 2018

Our love of TV and films, and of Alexa!

Stephen and I first met when we were at uni and both started working at Blockbuster (remember them?!). We 'clicked' over our love for film and it quickly became one of our favourite pastimes; going to the cinema to see the latest release and building a pretty huge DVD collection. Between us, and using our Blockbuster discount in the beginning, we amassed around 700 DVD's. Then came the Blu-rays. Then the 4K HD discs.


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We're quite a techy family, with various consoles (it's hubs' main passion, don't ask me to tell you which ones we have!) and subscriptions to Netflix, Now and Amazon Prime. Oh, and we welcomed Alexa to our home with our Google Dot over a year ago, and she even helps control our Philips Hue lights around the house.

Talk about living in the future!



At first, being a bit of a technophobe and only understanding all things digital to a basic degree, I wasn't sure if we would need all this new fancy technology, like the Amazon Fire Stick. I mean, how would it help us day-to-day?

Over time, I have come to see that my initial misgivings were misplaced and there's a lot this nifty gizmos have to offer the modern family, such as ours who love watching TV and films.

Seriously, an Amazon Fire TV Stick is just a must. All you have to do is plug it into your HDTV and within minutes, you can start streaming. This is the most powerful media stick available right now, and has the fastest WiFi (so I am told), and you can use the included Alexa Voice Remote to search through the apps and find the best way to watch the TV shows and movies you love the most. 

The Fire TV Stick also features the most accurate voice search of any streaming media stick, so even someone like me who often doesn't have a clue how to get technology to work properly - ask the husband - can master it in no time. 

As you pick your favourite show, from Stranger Things to Modern Family, you can benefit from a swift start up and a smoother stream too. 

If you want to connect to all the platforms and channels you like to use, there's over 7,000 apps, games and Alexa skills to choose from, including Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and of course, Netflix. You can also easily access websites such as YouTube and Facebook with browsers like Silk and Firefox.

The thing I have found the best is how simple the instructions are - you just have to say something like 'Launch Netflix' or 'Skip ahead 5 minutes' and Alexa will listen to you and respond accordingly. Even better, beyond just watching something, you can use this handy device to play music when the mood takes you, search for a local takeaway's phone number, or check the weather forecast. Almost anything, you just have to ask Alexa. 

Ethan's even got to the age now where he knows how to use the voice activation, more often than not asking to hear I'm Still Standing by Elton John on Spotify because he loves this song (since he watched the film Sing!).

The Amazon Fire Stick also comes with 8GB storage and Amazon Prime members like us get access to Prime Video, with even more films and TV series to tap into, unlimited and at no extra cost. Score!



Other things to love about it include how it remembers where you were the last time you watched something, how it offers up suggestions for new shows to watch that you might like direct from the Home screen and how you can take it all with you when you travel, as you just need to put the Stick into another TV's HDMI port, connect to the WiFi and away you go. This has come in handy on more than one occassion, from visiting my parents, who don't have many channels other than sport (snore!) to going away to Center Parcs on holiday. 

It's just like accessing our complete 700+ film and TV show collection, any time, any where, and with minimal fuss.

If you're into your television or films, or your kids love to catch up on their favourites, it really is a must and a site like Latest Deals is worth checking so you can pick something like this up for a bargain price too. It pays to shop around first!

Do you have a Fire Stick? What clever features have you found, that you can tell me about?!
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2 comments

  1. Oh I didn't have a clue that the Fire Stick was so clever! My youngest got an Echo Dot for his birthday this year from us and he loves it, especially getting Alexa to burp ha!

    Stevie x

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    Replies
    1. Oh it doesn't take kids long to find a way to be cheeky, does it?! Like I say, I'm not that technically minded but something like the Fire Stick is just really user friendly and becomes more and more useful x

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