Can firestick replace dth?

[billubakra]

Hi Guys,

Using d2h dth at our place. It is used to watch Bhakti, saas bahu shows for about 2 hours in a day. With the recent trai packages the cost has increased a lot. Now there is zero customer support, d2h was sold by videocon to essel. Then essel refused to buy it, videocon is bankrupt and d2h is left on its own. I read that it's employees are running it. Anyways they will randomly keep on changing channels as they wish in the pack. I had done a long term recharge so was stuck. Since our usage is less so thought of Chromecast or Firestick. Will Amazon Firestick allow me to mirror channels, from jiotv/youtube etc, to my tv, an old Samsung tv but has hdmi port. Other option is installing jio tv in firestick, but almost half reviews on Amazon and in YouTube say that there are issues with mirroring and again half says that jio tv cannot be installed with the recent update. Since Firestick is non-returnable so I am confused. Anyone using the same here?

Thanks

 

[mitraark]

Hi Guys,

Using d2h dth at our place. It is used to watch Bhakti, saas bahu shows for about 2 hours in a day. With the recent trai packages the cost has increased a lot. Now there is zero customer support, d2h was sold by videocon to essel. Then essel refused to buy it, videocon is bankrupt and d2h is left on its own. I read that it's employees are running it. Anyways they will randomly keep on changing channels as they wish in the pack. I had done a long term recharge so was stuck. Since our usage is less so thought of Chromecast or Firestick. Will Amazon Firestick allow me to mirror channels, from jiotv/youtube etc, to my tv, an old Samsung tv but has hdmi port. Other option is installing jio tv in firestick, but almost half reviews on Amazon and in YouTube say that there are issues with mirroring and again half says that jio tv cannot be installed with the recent update. Since Firestick is non-returnable so I am confused. Anyone using the same here?

Thanks

No it won't be possible to mirror channels from Jio TV and Youtube. And i am assuming those who watch TV in your house are the elderly and non tech savvy people. I would say they might have a tough time using the Fire TV method to open channels/shows, they would rather have the traditional TV and remote.

But if you think they can manage to use the UI of Fire TV or any other stick for that matter, you can go ahead with the purchase and get premium subscriptions like Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Zee5, Sony LIV. Yearly membership costs are way lower than monthly packages in D2H. I used to have a VIdecon D2H HD connection myself, on aplatinum HD pack of around Rs 750 per month, I stopped recharging it after the new PACK system was introduced and prices shot up, and got premium membership to the above services. I havent' purchased the stick yet , am used to watching everything on the PC but might soon.

 

[Randy_Marsh]

@billubakra Better to go for a Android box rather than firestick etc. There are many budget options available on amazon.
*www.amazon.in/s?k=android+tv+box&ref=nb_sb_noss
Check for the reviews and buy one. After connecting it to your TV via HDMI, your TV becomes pure android TV and so you can sideload any app (including JioTV) and watch any channel for free.
I did the same setup with my android TV, connected a wireless mouse and trained my mom on how to use it. It supports HD channels too.
However, the "Star" channels would not work as JioTV itself doesn't come with those. You will have to use Hotstar app for it.

 

[billubakra]

No it won't be possible to mirror channels from Jio TV and Youtube. And i am assuming those who watch TV in your house are the elderly and non tech savvy people. I would say they might have a tough time using the Fire TV method to open channels/shows, they would rather have the traditional TV and remote.

But if you think they can manage to use the UI of Fire TV or any other stick for that matter, you can go ahead with the purchase and get premium subscriptions like Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Zee5, Sony LIV. Yearly membership costs are way lower than monthly packages in D2H. I used to have a VIdecon D2H HD connection myself, on aplatinum HD pack of around Rs 750 per month, I stopped recharging it after the new PACK system was introduced and prices shot up, and got premium membership to the above services. I havent' purchased the stick yet , am used to watching everything on the PC but might soon.

Because of the bold line recharged for another 6 months, previously they exhausted my balance of around 1000 by activating a 800 inr pm pack. I called them to enquire about the new validity, the pack is the same but as per them they have only received amount for 2 months. That's it. I am done with them. Mahachor saale. Looped in trai in my previous mails but those harami babus are good for nothing.

@billubakra Better to go for a Android box rather than firestick etc. There are many budget options available on amazon.
*www.amazon.in/s?k=android+tv+box&ref=nb_sb_noss
Check for the reviews and buy one. After connecting it to your TV via HDMI, your TV becomes pure android TV and so you can sideload any app (including JioTV) and watch any channel for free.
I did the same setup with my android TV, connected a wireless mouse and trained my mom on how to use it. It supports HD channels too.
However, the "Star" channels would not work as JioTV itself doesn't come with those. You will have to use Hotstar app for it.

This box seems a better alternative. Isn't there one by a reputed company? Should one go for more ram and rom in these boxes?
Hotstar app for those star tv channel, the saas bahu one, is paid, right?

 

[Randy_Marsh]

This box seems a better alternative. Isn't there one by a reputed company? Should one go for more ram and rom in these boxes?
Hotstar app for those star tv channel, the saas bahu one, is paid, right?

I am afraid that there aren't any from a reputed company. Even if there is, it would cost much more. However the available options are robust and would be fine. Few of my friends are using such boxes with no issues.
My android TV is powered by a quad-core processor with 2.5 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. 16GB is enough on TV, as you would be installing only streaming apps which hardly uses 1-2GB in total.
I have even put some games in it (NES and PSP games) which runs fine using android emulators, and play those via a bluetooth gamepad. The setup looks absolutely clean as there are no wires at all
Talking about RAM, I generally run one thing at a time (youtube or JioTV or Media Player or an emulator), never faced any memory related problem even when my TV is a 4k panel. However, it do gets a bit sluggish if there are multiple things left open.
As far as I know, you only need to purchase their premium plan if you want to see the latest episode of saas bahu serial on the same day it aired (or at the same time at which it is being aired). Next day, it would be free. However, the premium plan only costs INR 999 for 365 days which includes everything (live sports and hollywood shows & movies) so it is still much cheaper than traditional dth.

 

[topgear]

from my experience : TV boxes are extremely mediocre on software support front but they do have more ports and processing power but very bad optimization and almost no support. Used one bought from ebay and the thing was gone in 3 months. Aso installing apps and changing settings for various purposes were not good.

Bought fire TV stick : fire Tv stick has very good optimization but has limited official app support still it's good enough. This one has warranty and regular software updates. Using one from July last year and I'm happy with it. Like @mitraark suggested get fire TV stick and premium subscription of apps / channels your family members want.

 

[Randy_Marsh]

from my experience : TV boxes are extremely mediocre on software support front but they do have more ports and processing power but very bad optimization and almost no support. Used one bought from ebay and the thing was gone in 3 months. Aso installing apps and changing settings for various purposes were not good.

Bought fire TV stick : fire Tv stick has very good optimization but has limited official app support still it's good enough. This one has warranty and regular software updates. Using one from July last year and I'm happy with it. Like @mitraark suggested get fire TV stick and premium subscription of apps / channels your family members want.

A product like Fire stick is anyday better than an android box, but it won't fulfill all of the requirements of OP.