I simply realized one of the simplest ways to make use of a Hearth Stick with out a TV

I’ve all the time been a fan of Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. It is very straightforward to arrange, and you can begin streaming loads of reveals and flicks inside seconds of taking it out of the field. When you have a TV with out sensible options or just need a greater streaming expertise in your TV, Amazon’s Hearth TV Sticks aren’t a foul choice. They are much cheaper than an Apple TV 4K, and you may typically discover them on sale at a very good value.

I used to be in a position to get my Fire TV Stick 4K Max on sale for $33. For the value I paid, I’ve completely loved my streaming expertise, and the standard and efficiency have been glorious. Nevertheless, after proudly owning and utilizing a Hearth TV Stick 4K Max for a while, I discovered my favourite use of it had nothing to do with my front room TV.

Late within the evenings, I often take pleasure in watching reveals or motion pictures earlier than mattress. I typically do that on my PC, which is related to 2 screens, considered one of which is a 4K show I take advantage of for picture enhancing and watching movies. The issue is that when watching a streaming service in your PC, you are usually restricted to utilizing your internet browser, like Google Chrome or Firefox, as a substitute of a devoted app. The problem is that the majority streaming providers, akin to Disney+ or HBO Max, do not stream 4K by the browser, so I find yourself watching a 1080p (and even 720p) stream on a 4K monitor, which is not precisely the most effective expertise.

To unravel this downside, I devised a easy answer: flip my Amazon Hearth TV Stick into an Amazon Hearth Monitor Stick.

Organising a Hearth TV Stick on a monitor is simply as straightforward as a TV

Audio could also be your greatest downside

To take pleasure in 4K streaming at my desk utilizing my monitor, I unplugged my Hearth TV Stick 4K Max from my front room TV and plugged it proper into my monitor. Like my TV, my 4K monitor additionally has a few HDMI ports, so swapping it was straightforward. My monitor has a USB port on the again that I might plug the Hearth TV Stick into for energy, however I do not suppose it has sufficient energy output, so I plugged it into my energy bar as a substitute to be protected.

The one huge downside I encountered was associated to audio. You see, when your Hearth TV Stick is related to your TV, you are often utilizing your TV’s audio system or no matter sound system you will have hooked as much as it to listen to the whole lot. Considered one of my screens has audio system, however they suck, and the opposite monitor I’ve simply would not have audio system in any respect, so this introduced an issue. There isn’t any level in watching these reveals in 4K on my monitor if the audio sucks. However then I stumbled upon a function of the Hearth TV Stick that I had no concept it even had: Bluetooth audio.

With Bluetooth audio on my Hearth TV Stick, I used to be in a position to join it to the SteelSeries Arctic Nova 7 headset I take advantage of with my PC and take heed to each my PC’s audio (related by way of USB-C) and my Hearth TV Stick’s audio (by way of Bluetooth) concurrently. To my shock, this labored completely, and I used to be in a position to hear any reveals and flicks clearly by my headset, in addition to any audio on my PC, like Discord.

It is value noting that different streaming sticks, just like the Roku Streaming Stick, lack the ability to attach a Bluetooth audio system. So, in the event you attempt to do what I am doing with my Hearth TV stick on my monitor utilizing a Roku streaming stick, it will not work. The PS5 would not even have native Bluetooth audio assist, so the truth that Hearth TV Sticks do is spectacular — a bonus I did not even take into account when selecting it over a Roku streaming stick. That mentioned, if in case you have audio system wired to your monitor, this is not an enormous deal, however in the event you use headphones, it’s totally handy.

Connecting a Hearth TV Stick with my monitor exceeded my expectations

My essential cause for doing that is that the majority streaming providers have subpar browser high quality on PC

That brings me to the unique cause I wished to hook up my Hearth TV Stick with my monitor within the first place: to look at 4K motion pictures and reveals on my monitor. The crux of the difficulty is that, when you can watch streaming providers in your browser in your PC, akin to Chrome or Firefox, the issue is that primarily no streaming service affords 4K streaming by the browser. Take Disney+, for instance. When you’re utilizing Chrome, Safari, or Edge, the absolute best video high quality you may obtain is Full HD, 1080p.

Whereas 1080p nonetheless appears to be like okay, since I am utilizing a 4K monitor, I wish to see 4K, particularly when watching huge reveals like Andor or Daredevil. One other instance of a streaming service that does that is Prime Video, which Amazon says can obtain “as much as HD” high quality in an online browser. Once more, not 4K. Now, Amazon’s ploy for doing this may be to get individuals to purchase a Hearth TV Stick, and if that is the case, then I suppose it labored on me. Why most streamers restrict their internet browser high quality is past me, however it may very well be associated to bandwidth points or considerations about piracy.

Netflix is a standout on the subject of 4K streaming on PC. Though most internet browsers cannot stream Netflix in 4K, you are able to do so by Microsoft Edge or the devoted Netflix app for Home windows. Whereas it is nice that Netflix could make this occur, if you wish to watch 4K content material from different streaming providers — which I do about 70 % of the time — you may nonetheless want a streaming system like a Hearth TV Stick 4K Max to hook up with your monitor.

Contemplating all this, after hooking up my Hearth TV Stick and getting it prepared, it began streaming easily in 4K on my monitor, identical to it might on my TV. And in case your monitor helps HDR like mine, it routinely allows it. I did not want to regulate any show settings on the Hearth TV Stick – it simply labored. I used to be in a position to stream all the same old providers I take advantage of, like Disney+ and Prime Video, in 4K on my monitor, one thing I could not do earlier than due to the standard limitations streaming providers have with PC internet browsers. One of many first reveals I watched in 4K on my monitor was the second season of Andor, and it seemed wonderful in comparison with my expertise with Google Chrome on my PC.

After I first purchased my Hearth TV Stick, I deliberate to apply it to my TV. I by no means considered utilizing it on my monitor. Nevertheless, since I began utilizing it on my monitor, I’ve turn out to be hooked. If I wish to watch one thing on my monitor, I simply change the HDMI enter from my PC to the Hearth TV Stick, and I am streaming immediately, with the audio related to my headphones by way of Bluetooth. It is fully seamless and as fast as opening a streaming service by the browser. When you’re in the same state of affairs and in addition use your desktop PC for streaming your favourite reveals and flicks, take into account getting a streaming stick just like the Hearth TV Stick 4K Max. It is an reasonably priced method to take pleasure in high-quality 4K content material and keep away from the poor high quality supplied by streaming providers by internet browsers.