Fire Cube Gen 3

[Bull_Rider]

Needing some help from the Tech Savvy folks.

We have an old plasma TV, Panasonic Vista. It's about 15-20 years old. We want to update the TV to a "Smart TV". We currently have an Amazon Firestick that's about three years old that we use on our old dumb TV, the Panasonic.

Will we need a Firestick with a new "Smart TV"? Do the new TV's come with the Firestick electronics built in? I know that I can just move our old Firestick to the new Smart TV if needed. But I would probably just upgrade to the new Fire Cube Gen 3.

I know from Youtube and from reading that the new TV's come with specific operating systems, like Android, Apple, or Roku.

Thanks in advance.

[toedtoes]

I would get the tv first. Try it and see if you are happy with the streaming, etc.

THEN, if you find it lacking, you can pick up a device.

You know you're going to buy a tv. But why buy a device and find you don't need it.

[MrWizard]

Couple of weeks ago, i replaced my firestick lite with a Firestick Max, its 4k, my TV is 1080. Its working great,
The point about adding or removing streaming apps is a Good point, also many streaming devices allow for attaching USB drives and expanding storage for apps, downloaded movies, even apps that ad DVR capability
,
My Vizio TV is 10yrs and Dumb, , my Firestick works great
I have prime video ,tubi,pluto,plex app, roku app, peacock, Paramount+ freevee, & more
My suggestion no matter what TV you get, add a streaming device of your choice, it's a small investment that will increase your entertainment options

[toedtoes]

I have the Toshiba Fire TVs and they work great without any external streaming device. In my opinion, the smart tvs have greatly improved in the last 10 years. My old "smart tv" could never connect to my streaming services well and so I always used a roku to access them.

Both my current tvs were bought in 2020 and I no longer need a roku device to access anything.

With the Fire TV, you can easily add pretty much any app out there via an Amazon subscription or through an outside subscription. I have prime and netflix plus free services like tubi, freebees, etc. And I pick and choose paid apps (hbo+, britbox, amc+, etc) on a temporary basis - pay for a couple months to binge watch shows, then cancel when I'm caught up. Note, I do not have cable or satellite, so all my subscriptions are a la carte.

[folivier]

I've found in the past years that smart TV's don't always update the apps. I use Roku's for that reason.

[LJAZ]

Just another thing to consider. How capable is the new tv at being able to add new streaming apps? I have an older Samsung smart tv that has apps for Netflix, Hulu, and a ton of others but not HBO Max. And there was no way to add it. So I bought a fire stick for $25 and was easily able to add the HBO Max app on it.

Then DW wanted to watch a women's college basketball game being broadcast on some obscure streaming network and was going to do it on her laptop. Instead a search on the Fire stick found the app & installed it so she could watch on the TV.

[Bull_Rider]

Thank you to all that replied. Great info!

I'm continuing to read reviews on "Smart TV's", and I'm better prepared to know what questions to ask when shopping for a new TV.

I can remember the days when we had three black and white channels and rabbit ears.

[Bumpyroad]

amazon has a fire stick with Alexa voice for $25
bumpy

[evanrem]

LG TVs also have a nice smart tv interface that replaces the need for any other device.

[Trackrig]

I don't need the firestick with any of my newer Samsung Smart TV.

Bill

[jorbill2or]

A smart tv by the name “smart” includes firetv or roku or android or some other proprietary built in internet stream ability. The Vizio tv we bought was slow to react and I didn’t like the “smart cast “ interface . so we plugged in the fire stick to an hdmi port and just use it. When you purchase a new one be aware of the streaming system it uses if it matters to you. Roku is probably more prominent in TV’s I’ve seen … Truth is while they all use different looking menus they all do the same thing if you get used to them.

[LouLawrence]

You will not "need" a new FireStick but there are newer 4K versions if you think you would ever find the need for one. The TV very likely will have FireTV built in and, if so, you won't need any stick at all.