It doesn't. It runs off USB for numerous devices (including my receiver), it just isn't the recommended method since it may not give it quite enough juice.

The sale price is not that much more than the fire stick. Is this thing fairly portable, or is it better to go with one of the sticks? I do my home streaming on my Xbox and PS consoles, but I wouldn't mind having something for other TVs or to take on the road.

Ok, I just set mine up and it rocks. There was a bit of a problem when it was trying to update and it did ask me to unplug and plug the AC adapter. It does say for best results to plug into the AC, though. It installed right away after that, updated, and played the tutorial video. I'm just happy that it noe carries DD 5.1 Plus. I do need to sync it to my Macbook and my iPhone. I don't know if there's an app for the iPhone just yet, so I am currently using the remote that it came with.

Shit, for $19 this is fucking great! I may give my Chromecast to a family member or friend.

I agree that using a USB port makes for a cleaner install but using the wall plug likely prevents issues.
It looks fine for use within the Amazon ecosystem but they don't make it easy to break out. I guess you're supposed to use these "apps" as opposed to just selecting Roku channels. There is no big pool you can just browse and pick what you want like Roku... This seems crude by comparison. I'm not crazy about it.

Does this work well for duplicating web content from your phone to the tv?

Mine shipped today, around two weeks early. Does this come with the remote? The page both says it does and it doesnt.

Yes it does, it just isn't the Voice remote that comes w/ the full Fire TV.

Shoot, I guess I won't be shouting "Gary Busey!" much in my house. Well, no more than usual.

You can use your Smart Phone for it if you must

that was funny. Good job!

Ours showed up yesterday, about a week ahead of schedule. Setup was easy enough, although I agree that Wi-Fi on this thing does not seem to be great, as it was grumbling about the connection speeds while it was downloading a software update (funny, the other three wireless devices in the room have no issues). It was already programmed with our Amazon account information, which was nice.

I am less than impressed with the layout and responsiveness of the interface, but Netflix and Prime Instant Video worked fine in limited testing. It will see a lot of use over the next month on road trips, so I'll post some additional thoughts later.

Make sure you plug in the AC power adapter for extra juice.

Arrived yesterday and I plugged it into one of our receiver's HDMI slots and I like it. I've noticed most songs I stream from my Amazon music library have a real-time lyrics scroll on the screen, that's cool. My playlist for Amazon Prime video is a little tricky to find but gosh, no problem finding videos to BUY, but other than that I like it.

Is this thing always on? If there's an on/off option, I haven't seen it.

there's a sleep setting in the Settings menu. I think it may also go to sleep on its own after a while.

Been enjoying the music I have uploaded over the past 18mos

Also been using the photos option, I've uploaded a bunch, it's a nice bonus to see them on TV now

The bonus has been the video I uploaded, it's been great, I might have to up my storage as I've maxed out the free 5 gig , it's nice to check out some of my older flip and camcorder and iPhone videos...

For $20 at launch, it's been great

No YouTube app? Bizarre. And of course, all our preschooler wants to watch this week is YouTube clips...

There's a YouTube app, it's just blue (instead of red) and simply says youtube.com on it.

Really? Huh, can't find that.

Wasn't supposed to receive mine til Christmas, but shipping notice came today. Look forward to checking it out.

Package arrived today. I like the stick after playing around with it for a short bit. My biggest gripe was trying to open the remote up so I could insert the batteries. Felt like an idiot trying to do so, finally looking for an answer and discovering it was a common difficulty.

I've been using my stick for about 2 weeks now and I love it. After some early connection issues, I changed the frequency on my router and it's been rock solid. HD streams look great on my 50" plasma. Wish I'd gotten 2.

Just got shipping notification 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

I stumbled into the apps finally, got the WWE Network, also downloaded some of the rain and waterfall scenes which seem nice to fall asleep to. Also thought the aquarium was pretty neat.

So does anyone have this and the Chromecast to compare? I am pretty happy with my Chromecast, but for $20 I decided to give this a shot.

I think the Fire stick is a better but that's due to it being twice as powerful as the Chromecast device itself. I watched some Netflix and Youtube the other day and it was pristine. I just need to test out the 5.1 DD lossy on Netflix before making a final judgement.