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Amazon doesn’t always refresh its Fire TV Stick lineup, but the latest update shakes up the company’s assortment of streaming sticks: Meet the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD, the latest movie and TV streaming dongle.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD replaces both the lower-end Fire TV Stick Lite and the standard Hot TV Stick As the company’s most affordable way to turn your TV set into a smart TV.

By simplifying Amazon’s product line quite dramatically, the Fire TV Stick HD could be extremely successful during Amazon’s Black Friday sales, when tech discounts are frequent.

If you’re curious about this new device, here’s everything you need to know about the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD features at a glance

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD price information

You can buy the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for $34.99 / £39.99; Therefore, after replacing the TV Stick and TV Stick Lite, it becomes the most affordable streaming stick that Amazon has to offer. The next step is Fire TV Stick 4K price $49.99 / £59.99.

For context, the Stick HD falls squarely in between, as the Fire TV Stick costs $39.99 / £44.99 while the Fire TV Stick Lite costs $29.99 / £34.99.

Note that these prices are standard RRP prices, but Amazon often discounts its tech in sales. If you wait, you can find the Fire TV Stick HD at a nice discount, but it’s unclear whether this will be available for Black Friday (Friday, November 29) because the Stick HD will still be fairly new then.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD release date

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD announced and available in mid-October 2024.

The two streaming sticks it replaced were removed from sale at that time, but you can still pick them up second-hand or refurbish them at a discounted price.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD video features

Like Amazon’s previous entry-level Fire TV Sticks, and as the name suggests, the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD supports videos up to 1080p resolution, also known as HD or High Definition.

While many people now have 4K TVs, which is a higher resolution than HD, most of the videos you’ll find on streaming services are HD only. To access limited 4K libraries, you usually have to pay for higher tiers.

You can also opt to buy an affordable 1080p streaming stick for smaller TV sets that aren’t your main TV: maybe you have a TV in your kitchen or bedroom, you might be staging an Airbnb or guest room, or you might need a screen in your office. .

If you have a TV that supports high refresh rates, the Fire TV Stick will show you videos at up to 60fps. If you don’t know what this means, it affects how many times per second the screen updates (24 fps, 24, 60 fps, 60) and the result affects how smooth the motion appears on the screen.

The Fire TV Stick HD supports several video technologies that its more expensive siblings do. There’s HDR, HDR10, and HDR10+, which all increase color accuracy, brightness, and vibrancy (basically making colors look better), as well as HLG (made by), a video format that works similarly but affects more broadcast TV. Britain’s BBC and Japan’s NHK).

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD audio features

Some of the advantages of Amazon’s more expensive streaming sticks are that they support fancy audio technologies… but now the basic one does too!

The headline feature is Dolby Atmos. Dolby Atmos is a type of enhanced surround sound; Therefore, when you watch a movie, you hear the events happening where they are on the screen.

In other words, you can hear the squeal of tires on your left as a car passes in that direction on the screen, or the sound of a helicopter flying overhead as our characters pass by. Dolby Atmos, unlike surround sound, pans the sound up and down, as well as left and right.

Note that to use Dolby Atmos, your TV or soundbar must also support it. Many do this these days, including affordable ones Amazon Fire TV Soundbar.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD software

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD gives you access to the exact same software as its siblings. Once you plug it into your TV and turn it on, you can access Fire TV, Amazon’s home-made streaming software, on its TVs and sticks.

Fire TV gives you access to most of the apps you want for entertainment. There are subscription services like netflix, Prime Minister Video, Disney Plus And AppleTV+ together free streaming services like Plex, Pluto TV and Tubi. Non-video applications such as Spotify, news feeds, and children’s entertainment services are also available.

If you use Amazon’s Alexa devices, you can also connect Fire TV to your smart home devices. This allows you to control your TV or streaming stick with a separate device.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD remote control

One upgrade of the Fire TV Stick HD over the Lite is that it features Amazon Alexa Remote, just like every other streaming stick from the company.

The big advantage here is that it has a button that you can hold down to summon voice assistant Alexa. This way you can easily ask for something you want to watch: “show me Just Murders in the Building” or even a short suggestion: “show me horror movies” or “turn on Netflix”.

Beyond that, you can use the remote to control Fire TV (and your actual TV). How to turn off your TV with your Fire TV remote). It is quite small and relies on AAA batteries.

Who is Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for?

If you don’t have a 4K TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick HD is definitely the product you’ll want to choose. There’s no point in paying more for one of the more expensive sticks because you won’t be able to appreciate its benefits: 4K support.

This also applies to people who have a 4K TV but don’t subscribe to any streaming services that offer 4K videos and don’t see themselves changing that anytime soon.

I’d also recommend it as an entry-level option for those who currently have a standard (i.e. non-smart) TV, but I think they’re looking to upgrade. It gives you a taste of the app-heavy world of internet TVs at a low cost, so you can decide whether to buy a real S.