The Amazon Firestick, FireStick, or Fire TV Stick is Amazon’s answer to the Roku Stick Plus or Roku Express from The Roku Company. Like these pocket Roku streaming players, the Firestick can stream any content to any HDTV or HDMI display device. It works best with HDTVs since it is called the Fire TV Stick, but it can also work fine with an HDMI monitor or projector. Can you watch Firestick on the projector? Absolutely. You can use a computer monitor or laptop screen too while you’re at it as long as you have an HDMI port on them, but usually, you won’t need to since they can play Amazon Prime just fine without you needing the stick.
On that note, here’s what you need to know regarding how to connect the Firestick to a projector.
What Is The Amazon Fire TV Stick?
The Amazon Firestick enables you to watch content from Amazon Prime as well as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and various other streaming services that have been emerging out of the woodwork as of late. Just don’t forget you also need a Wi-Fi connection handy!
- Main Purpose: The main purpose of the Amazon Fire TV Stick is to turn any TV with an HDMI connection into a streaming display. It’s like how your computer can log in to Netflix at any time and play all sorts of movies but in TV form. It works with any HDTV, but it’s particularly handy with non-smart HDTVs. That’s because some smart TVs with Wi-Fi capabilities are borderline computer-like already, so some can probably play Netflix on their own by downloading the app. This stick is for TVs without app-playing abilities.
- Turns Your HDTV into a Laptop or Smartphone: The Amazon Fire TV Stick can turn any HDTV with an HDMI port into a streaming player because it’s a piece of streaming hardware (as opposed to software) that enables HDTVs to play Netflix and Amazon Prime without connecting it to a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. The device comes with an app that immediately accesses services like Amazon Prime and Hulu as well as CrunchyRoll and the like. Any streaming service like HBO Max and Disney+ that comes with an app and requires you to get a membership.
- Limits of the Amazon Firestick: The Amazon Fire TV Stick can’t easily connect to non-HDTVs or really old TVs without an A/V connection. At least TVs from the 1970s to the 1990s have an A/V connection at the side, front, or back of it to allow at least a VCR, Betamax, or LaserDisc link via RCA composite video or SCART connection. You can use adapters and whatnot in order to link non-HDMI connections to the Fire TV Stick by Amazon, but with mixed results, especially if it’s a vintage TV with region issues (NTSC vs. PAL vs. SECAM) and whatnot. It is cool to be able to watch Netflix’s Stranger Things on a genuine 1980s TV for a truly retro experience.
Can You Connect the Amazon Fire TV Stick to a Projector?
With that in mind, can the Amazon Fire TV Stick easily work with a projector? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes but it depends on the projector you have.
- Streaming Stick with Its Own Wi-Fi Connectivity: Additionally, the streaming stick known as Amazon Fire TV Stick comes with its own Wi-Fi connectivity on top of the software and apps required to run streaming services. How is this handy? In case your HDMI projector HDTV doesn’t have Wi-Fi connectivity, your Firestick will connect to your Home Internet for you at your convenience. It’s because of this technology that it’s possible for your Firestick to serve as your Wi-Fi connecting device even though you’re using a CRT TV with an HDMI adapter link. The hardware will connect to your Internet and deliver streaming content on your non-Wi-Fi device, in short.
- Netflix Allows Its Streaming Services on Amazon’s FireStick? Some people are still baffled or confused by the fact that the Amazon Fire TV Stick features access to Amazon Prime’s biggest competitor, Netflix. They were under the impression that the Firestick only works with Amazon Prime. However, Netflix is generous enough to allow its wares to be accessible to streaming players like Amazon Firestick and Roku simply because they have yet to release their own standalone streaming hardware. They have to rely on third parties even as Amazon Prime has increased its subscription numbers from developing the Fire TV Stick and featuring exclusive content like the comic book series “The Boys”.
- Amazon Prime Is Your Main Streaming Service: Amazon Prime will still serve as your main streaming service. On top of viewing “The Boys”, a deconstruction of the superhero genre, Amazon Prime also offers other series and movies like Chemical Hearts (2020), The Big Sick (2017), The Report (2019), The Vast of Night (2019), Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019), Suspiria (2018), One Child Nation (2019), Troop Zero (2019), Boyz in the Wood (2019), and so forth. Many consumers prefer using sticks like the Firestick because of its convenience, in fact. It’s easier to plug a stick and watch than to program a VCR or Blu-ray Disc player, after all.
- Things to Remember about FireStick Projector Connections: First off, even though the Firestick looks like an oversized USB stick or flash drive, you can’t plug it into the USB port of your projector. It only plugs into the HDMI port and comes with its own remote. It provides the software needed to access streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix as well as Hulu. As a rule of thumb, if you’re using the Fire TV Stick 4K, only use it on a 4K projector. Otherwise, use the Full HD Fire TV Stick on your Full HD 1080p projector to avoid compatibility issues or downgrades on image and video quality when push comes to shove.
- To Connect The Amazon Fire TV Stick to a Projector: You simply need to shove the Firestick up the HDMI port of your projector. That’s it. It might need to connect itself to the USB as a power source or maybe it won’t. It depends on what version of the Fire TV Stick you have and what sort of projector you got. Just turn your projector on and use the projected interface to connect your Firestick to your Wi-Fi. You might need to link your sound system to your projector as well in case its built-in stereo isn’t loud enough to hear the video your watching. However, that’s more of a projector issue than a Firestick issue.
- The Signal from the FireStick Has The Audio Signal Too: The Amazon Firestick works like the HDMI version of a USB stick in that it’s a piece of hardware that you can literally Plug & Play with your projector so that it can take care of the rest when it comes to streaming Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, CrunchyRoll, and what-have-you. The stick also provides an HDMI signal that carries both video signals and audio signals (in the form of Dolby Atmos) so that you can get HD quality video images and high-fidelity sound from your projector in one fell swoop.
- Separating The Audio Connection: There are two ways to go about plugging your home entertainment audio stereo system, soundbar, amps, base, speakers, and so forth. You can either use the projector to connect your 3.5 mm audio jack, HDMI cable, or coaxial cable with your sound system. Or you can hook your Firestick to an HDMI splitter so one end goes to the projector and the other end goes to your home entertainment audio system. Usually, it’s much easier to depend on your projector for audio, including Bluetooth speakers in case it’s Bluetooth ready.
- What’s The Point of Using a Projector with Your Amazon FireStick? The main point of using a Firestick with your projector is to literally get the bigger picture. Actually, here’s a little secret. You can’t really appreciate 4K quality video on an HDTV, especially if it has a smaller screen. 4K has so many millions of pixels per square inch that you can get a quality image out of it even on a blown-up 100-inch screen a la what you’d get from a small viewing theater and whatnot. 4K is a cinematic digital quality video that’s best viewed on huge screens, but it’s more expensive to buy a huge HDTV compared to getting a projector and a 100-inch screen to be honest.
Final Thoughts
There are quite a number of projectors out there that can easily receive the Amazon Firestick. It should work fine with the late 2000s Full HD projectors with an HDMI port. It should work even better with more advanced projectors from the 2010s that offer 4K resolution, at that.
Your best bet is to get a projector with HD capabilities because chances are they have an HDMI instead of A/V, component video, or VGA port behind them. Many of the models of the Amazon Firestick feature compatibility with any projector that has an HDMI port, which is in contrast with reports regarding Roku players and their stricter HDTV-only policies by consumers. If your projector lacks an HDMI port, you’ll require an adapter or converter of some sort, like a VGA or A/V to HDMI converter. Some converters will make the Firestick work while others might not. As a rule of thumb, always get the latest HD or 4K projector.
References:
- “FIRE TV STICK for projectors“, YouTube.com, July 27, 2018
- “Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice“, Amazon.com, Retrieved September 7, 2020
- “Tensun 4K HDMI to HDMI Optical SPDIF TOSLINK Converter Adapter“, Amazon.com, Retrieved September 7, 2020