Welcome to the age of inexpensive 4K streaming. Not solely do most 4K TVs now function a minimum of some type of app and streaming service assist, however devoted 4K media streamers have gotten much less and cheaper. The Roku Premiere and Premiere+ had been the primary 4K fashions we have seen to dip beneath the $50 mark. They’re joined by the Amazon Hearth TV Stick 4K, a $49.99 media streamer that does not signify a sequel to the 1080p Hearth TV Stick, however as a substitute fully replaces the 4K-capable Amazon Hearth TV. The Hearth TV Stick 4K is smaller, quicker, cheaper, helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient, and contains a extra superior distant besides. It is the most effective media streamer you possibly can for beneath $50, and our Editors’ Alternative.
Design and Voice Distant
The Hearth TV Stick 4K is barely bigger than the usual Hearth TV Stick, measuring three.9 by 1.2 by zero.6 inches (HWD). It is a easy rectangular matte black plastic bar with a male HDMI connector on one finish and a micro USB port on one facet. If it is barely too giant to suit comfortably in a port in your TV, a brief, versatile HDMI extender allows you to reposition it at a distinct angle.
Amazon has up to date its Alexa Voice Distant with some new methods. The second-generation distant continues to be a slim rectangular wand with a outstanding round navigation pad and a pinhole microphone close to the highest for utilizing Alexa. It nonetheless has menu and playback controls, and now energy and quantity buttons be part of them. The Hearth TV Stick 4K can straight management your TV’s energy and quantity, letting you leap straight into watching streaming media with out choosing up a second distant. It presently solely adjusts quantity and toggles energy, so you possibly can’t navigate your TV’s menus or change inputs, but when your Hearth TV Stick is the first gadget you are going to watch, it is a very helpful improve.
Setup
Organising the Hearth TV Stick 4K is easy, and works identical to organising every other Hearth TV gadget. Plug it into your TV, plug within the energy adapter, then observe the directions in your TV to attach the stick with Wi-Fi. After that, you possibly can log in along with your Amazon account and also you’re set.
You do not want a paid Amazon Prime account to make use of the Hearth TV Stick 4K; an everyday, free Amazon account will work. When you’ve got Amazon Prime, although, you may routinely get entry to streaming media by means of Prime Music and Prime Video.
Hearth TV OS
The Hearth TV expertise is usually constant throughout all Hearth TV gadgets, from the non-4K Hearth TV Persist with the Hearth TV Dice to Hearth Version TVs. The principle menu is organized in giant rows of apps and media, each personally organized by you and steered by Amazon. Options are clearly very Amazon-centric, however loads of third-party apps and companies can be found, and the content material search operate aggregates throughout Amazon and several other of these third events.
Apple and Google companies are noticeably absent on Hearth TV, however almost each different large video identify is current together with Crackle, Crunchyroll, HBO Go, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, Twitch, and Vudu. YouTube does not have its personal app, however because of the Firefox and Silk Internet browsers on Hearth TV you may get the identical expertise by means of a YouTube shortcut that hundreds the online model of the service utilizing a lean-back interface much like the Android TV and Roku apps.
Amazon Alexa
As a Hearth TV gadget, the Hearth TV Stick 4K has Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Simply press the microphone button on the distant and communicate into the mic on the high to speak to Alexa (if you’d like hands-free Alexa in a media streamer out of the field, you may must get the Hearth TV Dice). You’ll be able to ask Alexa for normal data or to seek for media to look at or take heed to on the Hearth TV Stick 4K. Your related TV will show visible data to go along with Alexa’s spoken responses, like climate forecasts with cloud and rain icons, sports activities scores with staff logos and particular person interval scores, and lists of films with summaries and listings of availability by streaming service.
Alexa additionally permits voice management of media playback, your TV, and any appropriate good house gadgets you’ve got. You’ll be able to inform Alexa to play, pause, and navigate by means of Amazon streaming media and a small handful of third-party companies. Alexa additionally works with over 20,000 totally different house automation gadgets together with good lights, thermostats, and locks. You’ll be able to even carry up reside feeds of house safety cameras just like the Amazon Cloud Cam and Nest Cam IQ.
Within the different course, you possibly can pair your Hearth TV Stick 4K with an Amazon Echo gadget like an Echo Dot to allow hands-free voice management. As soon as they’re paired, you possibly can merely say “Alexa,” (or “Amazon,” “Echo,” or “Laptop,” relying in your tastes) to play media or present data in your TV.
4K Streaming and Efficiency
Moreover the up to date distant, the Hearth TV Stick 4K’s largest function is true on its identify: It will possibly stream 4K media. Particularly, the Hearth TV Stick 4K can stream extremely excessive definition (UHD, or 4K) video, together with excessive dynamic vary (HDR) media in HDR10 or Dolby Imaginative and prescient. This makes the stick much more succesful than final 12 months’s Hearth TV, which solely supported HDR10. In line with Amazon, the stick can be quicker than the earlier Hearth TV.
By way of , the Hearth TV Stick 4K makes use of a quad-core 1.7GHz CPU with 8GB of reminiscence. It has MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.zero with BLE. The Wi-Fi specs are vital, as a result of in contrast to the bigger Hearth TV, there is no such thing as a Ethernet adapter included with the Hearth TV Stick 4K (although you may get an non-obligatory adapter for $15).
I streamed Daredevil in 4K HDR on Netflix with the Hearth TV Stick 4K related to my house 5GHz FiOS community. It loaded nearly immediately and jumped to 4K decision with Dolby Imaginative and prescient in seconds. Media playback was clear and snappy in testing, and you’ll reliably anticipate 4K video you probably have an excellent wi-fi community.
Menu navigation is fast as properly. Shopping by means of totally different rows on the primary display and switching between totally different apps feels very responsive. Alexa additionally responds to queries rapidly, and the voice distant reliably prompts Alexa and controls TV quantity with little to no delay.
The Finest $50 4K Media Streamer
The Amazon Hearth TV Stick 4K is a virtually flawless media streamer. It helps 4K with HDR10 and Dolby Imaginative and prescient, it options Alexa for voice management with assist for a wide array of good house gadgets, its new distant can management your TV’s quantity and energy, and it could actually entry a large choice of streaming media each from Amazon’s personal libraries and most main third events, all for simply $50. It does not have an Ethernet adapter just like the earlier Hearth TV, however that is the one trade-off for the smaller measurement, quicker efficiency, Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist, and $20 lower cost tag. The Amazon Hearth TV Stick 4K is just the most effective media hub you’ll find for beneath $50 (and even beneath $100, for that matter), and simply earns our Editors’ Alternative.
In case you want Google Play Films & TV assist in your $50 4K media streamer, you may have to show to the Roku Premiere or Premiere+ and sacrifice the voice assistant, TV quantity management, and Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist within the course of.