# Freetime and streaming



## paulsiu (Dec 26, 2015)

I notice that freetime seems to have contents to Nickelodeon, Disney Jr, and PBS. I was hoping to use the freetime as a form of cable cutting. If I get freetime, is there any option to stream to a TV? If I side load chromecast on a Kindle fire, can I stream the freetime video?

Paul


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

It's direct to the child's free time profile. If you want to go to the TV, get Prime and a Roku or Fire TV.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Speaker-To-Animals said:


> ...If you want to go to the TV, get Prime and a ... Fire TV.


Or a Fire Stick if you want portability


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## paulsiu (Dec 26, 2015)

I think I figured it out. The problem is that the information is confusing and I am not sure i figure out all of the parts.

My first mistake was assuming that the Kindle Fire's second screen was miracast mirroring. After reading various pages, it appears that this is not the case. Instead, second screen is essentially the Amazon version of Chromecast where the stream is cast to the display. It doesn't actually mirror the screen, it just passes the stream to the destination device while the original device is used as a remote control.

To further add to the confusion, a particular model Kindle Fire HDX can miracast, but it appears to cost about $400-$500. This is steep if you just want to get Disney Jr.  for the kids.

Essentially, you will have to get either Amazon TV or TV stick unless you have a Kindle HDX, in which case you can mirror the screen to a miracast receiver (which may be built into the TV). Essentially, the cheapest way to get what I want is to buy the Amazon TV stick for $39.

The issue with the stick is that I have limited HDMI space on the TV. I would for example need to remove the chromecast to install the Amazon TV stick. Currently, the chromecast serves two different functions: 1) To stream youtube because youtube crashes constantly on the blueray 2) to stream tv shows from chrome browser. Amazon TV Stick supposedly can miracast, but all of the article indicated that it barely works. My better bet may be to pay the extra bucks and get the Amazon TV, where Miracast appears to work.

Paul


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

All the kids video in freebie are also on prime. Just get prime


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Speaker-To-Animals said:


> All the kids video in freebie are also on prime. Just get prime


And with Prime, if you have the right sort of TV or DVR -- got to be of a certain 'newness' -- you don't even have to watch on your tablet/phone; you can watch on the TV.


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## paulsiu (Dec 26, 2015)

Wait, I am confused. I thought freetime unlimited is a few dollars over prime and has stuff like Disney Jr, which prime does not have for free. If it's same as prime then there's no reason to get it.

Paul


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Honestly, I'm not sure about the interaction. I don't do the Freetime thing 'cause I don't have little kids.  I do have Prime, though; I have noticed that there's a fair amount available for kids. 

But I don't think you need to have Prime to get FreeTime. I thought they were two separate programs. 

Freetime would ONLY have kids programming, whereas with Prime there's grown up stuff -- as well as the free book and shipping benefits. 

I admit that I could be mistaken here, though . . .


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Does it seem like maybe Amazon is getting too many different programs going? Is anyone else confused about all of these?


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## paulsiu (Dec 26, 2015)

OK,

I got the Amazon Fire TV and attempted to look at the extra content you get from the freetime unlimited and it appears no different than what is already on prime. A call to Amazon wasn't exactly helpful. The first operator keep repeating what was on the website. The second operator was more knowledgeable and indicated that there may be some new content, but couldn't list the title differences between prime and prime + freetime unlimited. It appears that Ann was correct.

As a result, the service is of limited value to me. At my kid's young age, I don't let my kids watch tv by themselves nor do I let them play around with a tablet or computer unsupervised. Unlike a kindle, you do not have access to books and you cannot borrow movies. The amazon tv will be returned to Best Buy. The box runs a lot faster than the other streaming boxes and the voice command seems useful until I realized that it only works on amazon content. For the purpose of streaming, I don't see the justification to spend another $100 for another streaming box.

Paul


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

The extra content is games and books aimed at kids. The video content is the same as far as I can see


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