Vizio SmartTV + Firestick??

[adettman]

Hi, folks.

Forgive me but I haven't owned/purchased a television since my mom bought me one for Christmas in 1990! I've learned a lot in the last couple months so, please, bear with me..

I bought a new Vizio 32" SmartTV. I have a Netflix subscription as well as a Hulu + Live TV subscription. I recently upgraded my Internet connection to 100 Mbps. Presently, my Vizio is approx 15' from the closest wireless router (although I have experimented with plugging the television directly into the back of my router).

I'm posting this thread to learn a bit more about what, if anything, I would stand to gain by buying a streaming media player (like an Amazon Firestick). At the moment, I'm using the television's pre-installed SmartCast service and, admittedly, it's not great. In particular, I'm experiencing issues while trying to watch live TV via Hulu. The Hulu app is sluggish and prone to periodic freezes/buffering.

Would I eliminate these problems with something like a Firestick? Again, forgive my ignorance but does a Firestick, itself, connect to the Internet or is it still relying on my television's connection?

I otherwise don't experience many issues with the Vizio. I'm happy with the way it handles apps like Netflix and YouTube. However, the unresponsiveness of the Hulu app is frustrating. Just wondering what I can do to eliminate that and I'm not opposed to spending 40 bucks on a Firestick. Furthermore, it might be nice to have access to some of the additional apps offered via the Firestick that otherwise didn't come installed on my Vizio.

Thanks for your time. I look forward to reading what you have to say!

 

[next010]

These things are basically just computers acting as kiosks for media.

The computer in the TV is a very low end piece of hardware and that's why it struggles.

The computer in the FireTV device is faster so should be able to better handle some tasks so long as it supports Hulu and Live TV (I dont know if it does). The FireTV uses its own internet connection.

Even higher end hardware is the AppleTV 4K but you will pay a lot more money for that vs FireTV.

 

[adettman]

These things are basically just computers acting as kiosks for media.

The computer in the TV is a very low end piece of hardware and that's why it struggles.

The computer in the FireTV device is faster so should be able to better handle some tasks so long as it supports Hulu and Live TV (I dont know if it does). The FireTV uses its own internet connection.

Even higher end hardware is the AppleTV 4K but you will pay a lot more money for that vs FireTV.

Thanks for your response.

This is perhaps a dumb question but will a streaming media player like the Amazon Firestick or the Apple TV more or less automatically take precedence over the Vizio in terms of establishing an Internet connection? My concern is that the TV, itself, will still try to use its own Internet connection to provide content whereas I want the external media player to do the work. Does that make sense?

Again, sorry for what could be a dumb question. Thanks for your time.

 

[JayCee]

Your TV will have no bearing on a Firestick or other external streaming box.