I’ve used the Home Theater option since the day the Echo Studio and Sub came out. After at least a couple of years I noticed two things that were pretty negative. First, I will say the sound of Echo Studios are room filling and way better than any TV speaker. Now for the not so good. I found that the Sub continually disconnected from the pair, so much so, I removed it and it’s sitting in my closet. Unfortunate because I was enjoying those deep bass sounds. Second, and more annoying, the Echo Studios only WiFi connect at 5GHz, which is fine for me, however my Fire TV Stick 4K would connect at 2.4GHz or 5GHz. My Orbi Mesh Network takes the worry out of needing two SSID’s and allows any device to connect at the best band possible. Here’s the big problem. If and when the Fire TV decides to connect to the router at 2.4GHz, you lose your sound from the Echo’s. They all need to be on the same frequency. Not a good thing when you are midway through a movie! The only thing I could do was disconnect the Fire TV in the Network Settings and then reconnect. Sometimes, it would take a dozen or more tries to get it back to 5GHz or I’d give up and go back to the TV speakers. Rebooting any or all of them didn’t help. I just bought the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to replace it because it was doing other strange things like leaving blank spaces where recently watched shows were. Guess for $550 I expected a little more stability and compatibility. Anyway, hope this is informative for some. As always, great videos. 😉👍🏻
@@pikey740 You bet! I didn’t expect I was suffering alone with this. If I can’t get it to stop, I’ll just buy a sound bar or when replacement time comes I’ll look for a router mesh that doesn’t have the frequency connect feature.
@@tonyvalenti6614 & @Chris Pike I stopped it switching by blocking the echos on the 2.4 ghz channel on the router which means it can only connect to 5 ghz
@@wesbez6226 Thanks. Problem is the Orbi router doesn’t let you do that. It determines what it thinks the best frequency for a device should be and doesn’t let you chose or block. Unless you know something I’m missing. 😔
Surely it allows you to separate the 2.4 ghz channel and 5 ghz channel. Separate them and only give the password to the Amazon gear of the 5ghz password.
Dear Craig: I've been following you for years and your shows had helped me a lot. Yes, I've been using my Ecos + Eco-sub + FireTV for quite some time; which I missed was connecting my HDMI to the wrong port, I just fixed this and I'll check this change later this evening; what I couldn't do was rising the volumen enough, the max setting is not enough; well I'll see this tonight. Merry christmas to you and yours and thanks a lot for your tutorials which I never miss. Yours, Fernando Biancardi in Colombia.
One tip about using two echoes in one room you may want to mention is change the wake word on one. It keeps them from getting confused. It's a helpful tip if you have overlapping areas if you want a specific device to respond. Example I love that anywhere in my house I can say Alexa turn on xxx but the full size echo in the family room that is my primary music device wakes on echo. Same with dot in the master bedroom so I don't accidentally set my morning alarm in the guest room.
Your a legend, this video helped me soooo much as I didn’t know about changing the arc hdmi settings…. Frustrated I came here hoping to find a solution and your the only video that explained it and so simple that within a few minutes I finally had home theatre set up in my room. FOREVER GRATEFUL X
Thanks for telling us about the ARC option. I have two Echo Studios w/ Subwoofer with my 4K Firestick. It’s been an issue that I have these expensive speakers but the only thing I can use them on is the fire stick. Now I know I can upgrade to the 4K Max and take advantage of the speakers. A welcome addition that I had no idea existed.
It’s great. Able to get Dolby digital plus. Wish I could add more than two speakers (yes I know bass speaker.) have two by the tv and two smaller eggs at the back. Why is it limited
I have two echo dots 4th generations paired with the echo sub for my home theater. They are paired to my cheap Amazon Fire 4K 43” television and the sound is great.
If I have one Echo Dot Gen.5 / Echo Dot Kids Gen.5 / Echo Dot Gen.4, Can I pair the Dot5 and Dot5 Kids in left/right stereo and use the remaining Dot4 as a 2.1-channel subwoofer by connecting it to another speaker via Aux Out? Or is it only possible to link the two devices for 2-channel use?
Correct me if I'm wrong but switching to ARC will only play sound from the devices (echos)? I just set up echos for theatre sound but can't get sound out of the TV when playing sound from devices. Please tell me if I'm missing something?
I currently using a cable box with my new Vizio Smart TV. Now my TV supports Alexa pairing and blue tooth. I am thinking of getting 2 echo studios and an echo Sub. Could I easily pair the speakers straight to the TV or would I still need a Fire Stick or Fire Cube. Thanks.
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I have a echo dot 4th generation paired with my fire stick in my home cinema, and it doesn’t let me add my other echo dot 3rd generation, will a 5th generation work with the 4th one? Or do I have to buy another 4th
Hey Brian, I think that is a great idea for a direct comparison. In a few days I have basically the same video for HomePod minis. I filmed the demos at the same time. The mic placement is the same. It may give you a better idea. Comparing the two and for $99 speakers, the echos will win with better range. Nicer bass with the echos. But for the most robust setup, I would pick the Apple TV. Apple has been putting out very good image quality that a lot of people rank it as better than alternative streaming boxes. The hardware is a lot more powerful then competitors. Maybe the second video will help. I will look at doing a comparison. Happy Holidays
@@CraigsTechTalk thank you for responding. I have two of the original HomePods with my Apple TV and I love them for the sound they produce. But, since they discontinued them, and since we have no idea how long Apple might support them, (hopefully a while) I was just curious
Is there an Alexa command or routine that can toggle on/off Home Theater? I want to use the optical audio output on my TV for a hearing aid bluetooth transmitter when other people aren't wanting to hear my TV and then switch from TV to Home Theater (Echo Studio speakers) when everyone in the house is watching a movie. Right now I'm having to navigate to Settings/Display & Sounds/Alexa Home Theater/Audio Output/ then select either Television or Home Theater. It would be so much easier to say a command like "Alexa, switch audio output to Home Theater". And yes, I tried that command already but she thinks I'm referring to the TV, not the FireTV Cube and tells me that "input" isn't valid. If I try that same command in the living room, she tells me my TV isn't powered on, even when it is. This command logic needs to be editable and have some sort of structured UI and related tutorials. I pay several hundred dollars on this equipment and I'm running blind in regards to it's full functionality. We shouldn't have to be searching TH-cam for "hacks & tricks" or "hidden features" to make these things function like we need them to.
When going through set up, it says all my echo devices are not compatible. I did not realize about the arc, my tv does not have the arc hdmi. Is this why it says my devices aren’t compatible? Thanks
Made sure my 2ndgen cube and app were up to date but I still didn't get the Home Theater ARC Setup Steps. I Tried unpairing and resetting things up& everything was the same as it used to be. I was really looking forward to this as I hate when I have to use my tv speakers after using my echoes.😿
@@Rodnyet It's always the excuse even if you are getting 800+mbps speed wifi test. Its so they don't have to actually deal with it. And if you call your internet provider they will blame it on the equipment. It's an endless sickening circle! Sorry to hear you are on that ride. Mine got really bad after the fireTV updated to the "new look." But in the last few months of updates it has got better.
@@katmac940 I'm getting 900 and it still happens. It can be a bit annoying at times but I still like the sound when they are working and for the most part they usually do.
Got the fire tv 4k max just to try the ARC support so all hdmi inputs the sound to the echo speakers. . With two echos connected to the fire stick 4 k max. Fails all the time. Wasted few hours trouble shooting. Was good to test it but it’s not reliable.
I am sorry to hear it has not been reliable for you. Just out of curiosity, is all the software up to date. Found my Fire tv was not auto updating. Thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry it’s did not work well.
I tried manually updating it. I just got so fed up. It won’t hold. Restarting the fire tv makes the speakers try reconnect. I realised the 4k max created its own AP (access point) for the echo speakers. I found this put by looking which Wi-Fi channel my echo speakers were set too. Moving the 4k max in frustration I moved it to another location in the house. Connected it in a room to two more echo speakers and I got a audio delay. The software seems too buggy. Had to use my cube back in its place as it’s rock solid. Really wanted to get the use of the ARC. check it out for yourself. The 4k max creates its own AP for connected speakers. This is new to any fire tv. Ps My router is very capable and is Wi-Fi 6 AX. one of the best consumer routers on the market so it’s not at fault here.
Hello the video was very simple to understand. I do wanna ask if you could use a pair of echo 4 as a stereo pair without fire tv. I have a smart LGTV but can only connect to one echo at a time. I instaled the alexa app on the tv but still cant get to use both echos. Can you help me?
Hello craig i have an issue connecting my 4k stick max to my lg tv i put it on hmi arc and i choose the arc audio on my tv and i still dont get any sound. Any recommendations?
I ordered a sound bar but after watching the videos about echo stereo I bought a 4k firestick and 1 more echo dot. I'm going to setup 2 echo dot 4th gen + a sub for the home theater experience
I actually just did this and was very disappointed. I have actual Fire TV's. (Not the stick, not the stand-alone Fire TV boxes - ACTUAL FIRE TVS) and theater mode will NOT support Fire TV's AT ALL. Luckily I have a stick laying around I can use but it's insulting to have to use a stick in my Fire TV to do what Fire TV's should be able to do already.
Ugh I’m wanting run head first into wall with the same issue . Once you got it going can you switch from the home theatre setup to the original tv audio with ease? I’m actually wanting to connect to my dot that’s audio out to my sound system and it’s really loud .
Hi, watched your video it was great but mine didn't by any means work like that I can't get the two echo 4th gen to pair to each other, called customer service 2 days in a row for more than 4 hrs @ a time. it was my tv was old (2019), my tv didnt have bluetooth (paired one echo), can only pair two things. Help or suggestions Thank You
Can they not bring the arc update for the fire tv 4 k max to tv cube 2nd gen. This would be a downgrade to move the 4 k max in the place of my fire tv cube. The cubes raw power. Surely a update to support it. This update would just be great. Or it’s going to be the 4k max in the system just to get this to work but still using the cube as the main device. I’ve wanted something like this for ages. Sound from all HDMI inputs going to the echo speakers.
Can this only be connected using Wi-Fi? I have my firestick 4K max connected by Ethernet and echo studio by Wi-Fi. Is that why it is not connecting? Thanks
One thing I noticed, once I start my vpn on the firestick, the sound moves to the tv speaker instead of the echos, can't use them till I disable the vpn.
Thank you for your video which helps a lot. And I also want to ask if the Xbox sound through fire tv has a noticeable delay comparing to the sound directly from TV?
Yes, the sound that would normally go from the Fire TV stick through HDMI to the projector is now routed to the echos instead. It should be the easiest way to get sound to a projector
Thank you so much for this video. I hooked up my new FireStick 4K Max and my 4th gen Dots and it is working great and sounds lovely. I reviewed the comments and did not see this issue but when I turned off for the night, the Dots come back on within about 30 seconds playing the sound from the same show. I tried all the ways to get them to stay quiet but had to resort to turning g the volume down all the way. Anyone else have this experience? Thank you.
You may be experiencing the devices hopping from 2.4GHz to 5GHz, or vice versa. Split your WiFi into the two bands with different named SSIDs, one for each band, then set the echos to the same band, and fire tv on same band, that may fix it.
@@ryanhalley1982 yep. I solved this problem a little bit another way. Created wifi mesh (I have lots of devices) and my routers have the option ban devices by MAC and frequency. So I just banned 2,4hz for all "high level" devices, like phones, laptops, etc. it helped to reduce the number of devices on 2,4hz and improved stability.
I have the latest Fire TV stick, but can't get it to play with the speaker because even though the TV works with the stick, the app shows it as offline. Nothing I do seems to fix this. Any suggestions?
I'll check it out when they do 7.1 (or greater) surround. Watching TV and movies in stereo is like watching a 3D movie downscaled to 2D - you can tell that there's something missing that should be there and it detracts from the experience.
Hello Craig, first I have to thank you for the video. This is the only information I could find in the web about this feature. I have an issue with this setup. I use this setup for my Nvidia Shield TV and using my 2 echos (4th gen) for audio. Everything works good except when I open netlfix app in the shield. For some reason when I open netflix the audio stops and the whole setup stops working and I have to re configure everything again. Any ideas why this is happening?
Oh wow I've just watched 4 or 5 videos about this same ish and finally some actual useful information thank you so f***in much the arc was the key to it all. I was about to chuck the Alexa into the TV lol!
I've just started using the Home Theater Option and wanted you know your thoughts, is it worth it to pay the extra money and use the echo Studio or should I use the Echo 4th Gen
I think the Echo Studios sound great. I think they are really big. They do a good job at simulated surround sound and have better low end. For me, I would probably save the money and do the Echos. Or I would commit to go with more of a dedicated sound system. One of our subscribers loves his pair of studios. They do sound really nice. Sound bars and sound systems may be a pain, so two Studios can give you good sound with easy setup. It really depends on how good you want to try and get that sound. With the Echos vs Studios.
I just recently bought 65" omni 4k fire tv, 2 echo studio speakers, and an echo sub. The only problem when I get them all hooked up and working none of their equalizers will work! What's the deal?
The problem is when your using the arc for a sound bar ie already in use. As when using the studio speaker it only works with TV when using fire stick and not normal TV. But I think this issue is occurring when you have a studio and maybe not normal dots etc.
Is there any 4k ultra tv that is not smart? If I have 4k max firestick then what is the use of smart tv? I have full hd tv and 2 echo 4th gens. I want to setup alexa home theatre. But tv doesn't have hdmi arc port. Do I need to buy a new tv or is there any hdmi to hdmi arc adapter available?
Not that I know of. At this point in time, there really isn't the need for streaming devices. As a long time Apple TV and Fire TV user, I like having a dedicated streaming device. With a FireTV stick, you are not at the mercy of the TV manufacture bringing you new smart features. You do not need an Arc port to use the Fire TV 4k Max. You can pair your echos and the sound will be sent from the Fire TV wirelessly to the Echos. You need an arc port if you want to have sound from other devices than the Fire TV stick to use the Echos.
Currently, I own a 2nd gen Firestick. However, when I attempt to set up a home theatre in the Alexa app, it informs me that my Fire TV Stick is not compatible. As a result, I am considering purchasing a Firestick 4K Max. The concern is that my TV lacks an HDMI ARC port. Can I still set up a home theatre without one? I have my 2 Echo 4th gens configured as a stereo pair, but I can only connect one speaker via Bluetooth. There's an upcoming Amazon sale in 2 days, and I'd appreciate your help with this.
All of my devices that are connected to my TV via HDMI outputs to Echo 4 except PS5. Other hdmi outputs to Echo 4 but PS5 doesn’t. Am I doing anything wrong? Help me please? Thank you
I hope that the future updates includes at least do create a 3.1 sound system. I don't dare to dream of a 5.1 system where the 3 front speakers are the bigger echo or echo studio devices, and the two rear speakers are two echo dot devices. 🤞😊
I do this with one Echo 4th gen and the regular (not 4K) stick. Much better sound than the TV, but there's a big problem. The Stick keeps muting or the picture keeps freezing and I have to reboot. Happens with several apps. I'm wondering if anyone else has this issue?
Yup same exact issue here. There’s a very long thread on the Amazon support forums with people experiencing this. My fire stick runs fine when I disable the echo/home theater setup. As soon as I re-enable it the freezes come back. I’ve tried contacting fire tv support but they have no idea. They’ll just give you a generic list of troubleshooting steps that I’ve already done multiple times. If this was more stable it would be amazing.
I have the 2nd gen cube set up with two studios and the sub. Sounds fantastic. Those same speakers +sub with the 4K stick was good but sometimes alittle glitchy.
Really helpful. Thanks. I hate my sound bar and am now thinking of getting some Echo speakers for this purpose. I have a Fire TV 4K stick. Question re the network consistency issue mentioned in another comment - would the network consistency (stick and speakers must both be on the same network frequency) be an issue if my Fire TV stick was direct connected to my network (rather than to the WiFi network). TIA for info or advice.
Thank you Lynn. I am glad that it is helpful. You should not have any issue with the Fire TV being hardwired. We have a long time subscriber who has a Fire tv hardwired and two Echo studios paired up to it. He loves it.
The TV used in the video is ARC and is not a high end TV. E arc is for Enhanced and has higher bandwidth. I am seeing from others that to get Atmos you would need E arc.
Kudos to Craig! After two years I learned something I never thought of or considered! I truly thought the ARC advantage was strictly to add a sound bar. Who knew if I moved my new Fire TV 4K Max with Home Theater Echo Studio’s to my HDMI ARC port, I’d now get high quality speakers through my Apple TV 4K as well, instead of the tinny TV speakers! So thanks very much for that! 😁👍🏻 One caveat though. Even though the sound from my Apple TV comes through the Echo’s now, I can’t use the Apple Remote to control the volume. I was hoping …. But, I have to switch to my Fire TV Remote to change the volume. 😔
Thank you very much. I hope you are doing well Tony. It’s a been a while. My apologies on the delayed response. Glad to hear i was able to help with this and it is working well. I like the Apple TV using the Echos. It’s a great alternative if you use both. I had not thought of that. Thanks for sharing. Thank you also for the long time support. Happy New Year Tony.
@@CraigsTechTalk No … Thank “you” for giving up the lighting gig to help us geeks! 😁 Yep, been a while since I piped up, but know that I stalk your videos all the time! 😉 Hoping you and your family have a Happy & Healthy New Year! More cool stuff/vids on the way in 2022! 😎
Thanks to both of you, Tony & Craig. I was curious if you could set up a Alexa home theater and still have the sound coming out when using Apple TV. I like the home pod mini's but this is a cheaper alternative.
I have a *TV stick lite* connected to a projector and I bought an *echo dot 5* and the sound through *home cinema* is *TERRIBLE* (like canned). On the other hand, if I connect the echo via bluetooth, the sound is perfect but sound and video of the film get out of sync after about 15-20 minutes. I don't really know how to fix it, it seems to be done on purpose so it doesn't work 😮💨
Hello, that is interesting. I had not compared the two. I am sorry to hear that it sounded so bad in theater mode. It is unfortunate that the bluetooth can't stay in sync. The only thing I can think of is trying to adjust the EQ after you put the echos in theater mode. Maybe it can be adjusted in the Alexa app or from the Fire TV Stick.
Hi Craig! Nice video there! I have a 4k stick, 2 echo's 4th gen and a subwoofer. The first time when I did the setup everything was fine and I was turning on the home theater mode just when needed because the primary function was TV speakers. Now when I switch on the TV the home theater starts automatically. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!
Amazon may have broke something on their end with all their updates. I would break the connection between the devices. Unplugging for 30 seconds. Plug them back in and join them all again. Amazon has been bad about things acting up lately. A lot of frustrated users with things that use to work, not working now.
Before anyone makes an unwanted purchase, Idk if you said it Craig, but FireTV's canNOT be paired with two Studios for surround sound. It's a fail that bugs me to this day. You have to buy the stick like Craig said. And trying to attach a stick to a FireTV and make it work that way is problematic too.
I am sorry to hear that it has not worked for you. That is not cool. Amazon has short change the Fire TVs. I did not share that and had put the supported sticks and Fire TV cube. I appreciate the information. Happy Holidays
I’ve used this since it was originally available and honestly that was an initially very frustrating experience and Amazon wasn’t a ton of help in the beginning. However happy to say it has gotten better. I only use fire sticks in all TVs and recently upgraded to the 4K max versions on main tv and projector in basement. For a projector this is a must have!! Projectors speakers are crap (if not your probably paying too much for the projector!), so two Echo latest gens make a world of difference. I hung my Echos with large magnets and the tripod ports on the bottoms, never saw people talk about using those but a great thing to mount the speakers!! Anyway love the setup now that it’s more stable, agree with other person that high volume is limited I feel. With streaming services and even just different shows so variable on volume of speech vs action, I find myself having to man the remote for sound too much! Would love to know if other have advice there! Thx Craig as always great video!
Were you able to get the ARC support to be stable on the fire tv 4 k max. Just wouldn’t hold. It allows you to have all the hdmi inputs come through the echo speakers. I got it to work briefly.
NOT RECOMENDED!!!! I just git my second Echo Dot 5th Gen after an offer. It took me like couple of hours to set it up bevause it kept failing. Firs, the sound is distyrv, so I reset it, then only one works with tv audio, then the other answer. I resest it to factory, update the old one, change setting through both the app and the Fire stick. When finally seems to kind of work, basically only get on the first few seconds of TH-cam video or movie sound brrr quiality, after like an hour of watching a movie, suddently disconnected. I am returning it tomorrow.
I had a mini stroke when you showed the ARC function, you just saved me a lotta money my friend!
🤣 that’s awesome. Glad to hear it helped. Thanks for watching.
@aminah761 read the whole comment dumbass. He didn’t have a real stroke.
LOL@@CraigsTechTalk
I’ve used the Home Theater option since the day the Echo Studio and Sub came out. After at least a couple of years I noticed two things that were pretty negative. First, I will say the sound of Echo Studios are room filling and way better than any TV speaker. Now for the not so good. I found that the Sub continually disconnected from the pair, so much so, I removed it and it’s sitting in my closet. Unfortunate because I was enjoying those deep bass sounds. Second, and more annoying, the Echo Studios only WiFi connect at 5GHz, which is fine for me, however my Fire TV Stick 4K would connect at 2.4GHz or 5GHz. My Orbi Mesh Network takes the worry out of needing two SSID’s and allows any device to connect at the best band possible. Here’s the big problem. If and when the Fire TV decides to connect to the router at 2.4GHz, you lose your sound from the Echo’s. They all need to be on the same frequency. Not a good thing when you are midway through a movie! The only thing I could do was disconnect the Fire TV in the Network Settings and then reconnect. Sometimes, it would take a dozen or more tries to get it back to 5GHz or I’d give up and go back to the TV speakers. Rebooting any or all of them didn’t help. I just bought the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to replace it because it was doing other strange things like leaving blank spaces where recently watched shows were. Guess for $550 I expected a little more stability and compatibility. Anyway, hope this is informative for some. As always, great videos. 😉👍🏻
Cheers for posting this. This issue has been driving be mad and I didn't realise that frequency switching was the cause.
@@pikey740 You bet! I didn’t expect I was suffering alone with this. If I can’t get it to stop, I’ll just buy a sound bar or when replacement time comes I’ll look for a router mesh that doesn’t have the frequency connect feature.
@@tonyvalenti6614 & @Chris Pike I stopped it switching by blocking the echos on the 2.4 ghz channel on the router which means it can only connect to 5 ghz
@@wesbez6226 Thanks. Problem is the Orbi router doesn’t let you do that. It determines what it thinks the best frequency for a device should be and doesn’t let you chose or block. Unless you know something I’m missing. 😔
Surely it allows you to separate the 2.4 ghz channel and 5 ghz channel. Separate them and only give the password to the Amazon gear of the 5ghz password.
Dear Craig: I've been following you for years and your shows had helped me a lot. Yes, I've been using my Ecos + Eco-sub + FireTV for quite some time; which I missed was connecting my HDMI to the wrong port, I just fixed this and I'll check this change later this evening; what I couldn't do was rising the volumen enough, the max setting is not enough; well I'll see this tonight. Merry christmas to you and yours and thanks a lot for your tutorials which I never miss. Yours, Fernando Biancardi in Colombia.
One tip about using two echoes in one room you may want to mention is change the wake word on one. It keeps them from getting confused. It's a helpful tip if you have overlapping areas if you want a specific device to respond. Example I love that anywhere in my house I can say Alexa turn on xxx but the full size echo in the family room that is my primary music device wakes on echo. Same with dot in the master bedroom so I don't accidentally set my morning alarm in the guest room.
There is a turn off mic on top of the device as well
Yeah the echo on my nightstand has a different name for that purpose. The alarm and associated lights only respond in the bedroom.
Your a legend, this video helped me soooo much as I didn’t know about changing the arc hdmi settings…. Frustrated I came here hoping to find a solution and your the only video that explained it and so simple that within a few minutes I finally had home theatre set up in my room. FOREVER GRATEFUL X
You are too kind. I am glad to have helped and it is working for you. Thank you for the the nice comment and for watching.
If you have a soundbar could you use these as rear speakers? thanks
Will the new feature on the 4k max work with a playstation or only with amazon luna gaming service?
Any word if 5.1 might be supported in the future?
Thanks for telling us about the ARC option. I have two Echo Studios w/ Subwoofer with my 4K Firestick. It’s been an issue that I have these expensive speakers but the only thing I can use them on is the fire stick. Now I know I can upgrade to the 4K Max and take advantage of the speakers. A welcome addition that I had no idea existed.
the second gen of fire stick 4K (not the max version) can do it now too
now even the 2nd gen of 4K sticks can do it
It’s great. Able to get Dolby digital plus. Wish I could add more than two speakers (yes I know bass speaker.) have two by the tv and two smaller eggs at the back. Why is it limited
Can the tv speakers be used in conjunction with the Alexa set up and fire tv?
It is one or the other.
It seems like the technology is getting close... Hopefully soon. That's what I'd like as well
I have two echo dots 4th generations paired with the echo sub for my home theater. They are paired to my cheap Amazon Fire 4K 43” television and the sound is great.
Very cool. Thats great to hear.
If I have one Echo Dot Gen.5 / Echo Dot Kids Gen.5 / Echo Dot Gen.4,
Can I pair the Dot5 and Dot5 Kids in left/right stereo and use the remaining Dot4 as a 2.1-channel subwoofer by connecting it to another speaker via Aux Out?
Or is it only possible to link the two devices for 2-channel use?
Correct me if I'm wrong but switching to ARC will only play sound from the devices (echos)? I just set up echos for theatre sound but can't get sound out of the TV when playing sound from devices. Please tell me if I'm missing something?
Hello, I'm Ralf from Germany, I tried it and it worked great. Thank you for the good tips! I wish you a Merry Christmas. Greetings Ralf.
So dumb that the Fire TV Stick 4K Max does not support Echo Dot 3rd gens for home theatre while the old Fire TV Stick 4K does.
I currently using a cable box with my new Vizio Smart TV. Now my TV supports Alexa pairing and blue tooth. I am thinking of getting 2 echo studios and an echo Sub. Could I easily pair the speakers straight to the TV or would I still need a Fire Stick or Fire Cube. Thanks.
I have a echo dot 4th generation paired with my fire stick in my home cinema, and it doesn’t let me add my other echo dot 3rd generation, will a 5th generation work with the 4th one? Or do I have to buy another 4th
Curious, Craig, any thoughts or any comparison vs HomePod and Apple TV?
Hey Brian, I think that is a great idea for a direct comparison. In a few days I have basically the same video for HomePod minis. I filmed the demos at the same time. The mic placement is the same. It may give you a better idea. Comparing the two and for $99 speakers, the echos will win with better range. Nicer bass with the echos.
But for the most robust setup, I would pick the Apple TV. Apple has been putting out very good image quality that a lot of people rank it as better than alternative streaming boxes. The hardware is a lot more powerful then competitors.
Maybe the second video will help. I will look at doing a comparison. Happy Holidays
@@CraigsTechTalk thank you for responding. I have two of the original HomePods with my Apple TV and I love them for the sound they produce. But, since they discontinued them, and since we have no idea how long Apple might support them, (hopefully a while) I was just curious
Apple TV with HomePods is so much better. Gotta love that ecosystem.
Is there an Alexa command or routine that can toggle on/off Home Theater? I want to use the optical audio output on my TV for a hearing aid bluetooth transmitter when other people aren't wanting to hear my TV and then switch from TV to Home Theater (Echo Studio speakers) when everyone in the house is watching a movie. Right now I'm having to navigate to Settings/Display & Sounds/Alexa Home Theater/Audio Output/ then select either Television or Home Theater. It would be so much easier to say a command like "Alexa, switch audio output to Home Theater". And yes, I tried that command already but she thinks I'm referring to the TV, not the FireTV Cube and tells me that "input" isn't valid. If I try that same command in the living room, she tells me my TV isn't powered on, even when it is. This command logic needs to be editable and have some sort of structured UI and related tutorials. I pay several hundred dollars on this equipment and I'm running blind in regards to it's full functionality. We shouldn't have to be searching TH-cam for "hacks & tricks" or "hidden features" to make these things function like we need them to.
When going through set up, it says all my echo devices are not compatible. I did not realize about the arc, my tv does not have the arc hdmi. Is this why it says my devices aren’t compatible? Thanks
Home theater isn’t supported in the 2 series fire tvs
Made sure my 2ndgen cube and app were up to date but I still didn't get the Home Theater ARC Setup Steps. I Tried unpairing and resetting things up& everything was the same as it used to be. I was really looking forward to this as I hate when I have to use my tv speakers after using my echoes.😿
In the preview part I am getting odd sound.... Which continued. It is single echo dot 3 & fire tv 3rd generation.
I use 2 Echo Plus with my FireCube, they sound great but the only issue I have is them cutting in and out from time to time.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry to hear they give you problems. Thanks for watching. Happy Holidays
When I call with the same issue they will always blame it on your "internet connection"
@@katmac940 that's what I was told as well, it's annoying
@@Rodnyet It's always the excuse even if you are getting 800+mbps speed wifi test. Its so they don't have to actually deal with it. And if you call your internet provider they will blame it on the equipment. It's an endless sickening circle! Sorry to hear you are on that ride. Mine got really bad after the fireTV updated to the "new look." But in the last few months of updates it has got better.
@@katmac940 I'm getting 900 and it still happens. It can be a bit annoying at times but I still like the sound when they are working and for the most part they usually do.
I have a Fire TV from 2020. Will it update and do this?
Can you combine the tv speakers with the echo?..
Got the fire tv 4k max just to try the ARC support so all hdmi inputs the sound to the echo speakers. . With two echos connected to the fire stick 4 k max. Fails all the time. Wasted few hours trouble shooting. Was good to test it but it’s not reliable.
I am sorry to hear it has not been reliable for you. Just out of curiosity, is all the software up to date. Found my Fire tv was not auto updating. Thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry it’s did not work well.
I tried manually updating it. I just got so fed up. It won’t hold. Restarting the fire tv makes the speakers try reconnect. I realised the 4k max created its own AP (access point) for the echo speakers. I found this put by looking which Wi-Fi channel my echo speakers were set too. Moving the 4k max in frustration I moved it to another location in the house. Connected it in a room to two more echo speakers and I got a audio delay. The software seems too buggy. Had to use my cube back in its place as it’s rock solid. Really wanted to get the use of the ARC. check it out for yourself. The 4k max creates its own AP for connected speakers. This is new to any fire tv. Ps My router is very capable and is Wi-Fi 6 AX. one of the best consumer routers on the market so it’s not at fault here.
Is this possible without Fire TV stick,trying to find if its possible to use my android or smart tv and play via the 2 echos(left and right)?
You can only pair 2 echos to a fire tv stick or cube. Or you can use them as a stereo pair for streaming music.
Hello the video was very simple to understand. I do wanna ask if you could use a pair of echo 4 as a stereo pair without fire tv. I have a smart LGTV but can only connect to one echo at a time. I instaled the alexa app on the tv but still cant get to use both echos. Can you help me?
Yes you can pair two echos to a fire TV. Here is a video I did on it. th-cam.com/video/4OTpi-v4GsE/w-d-xo.html
Hello craig i have an issue connecting my 4k stick max to my lg tv i put it on hmi arc and i choose the arc audio on my tv and i still dont get any sound. Any recommendations?
I ordered a sound bar but after watching the videos about echo stereo I bought a 4k firestick and 1 more echo dot. I'm going to setup 2 echo dot 4th gen + a sub for the home theater experience
Could I accomplish the same thing with Apple TV and echoes?
I actually just did this and was very disappointed. I have actual Fire TV's. (Not the stick, not the stand-alone Fire TV boxes - ACTUAL FIRE TVS) and theater mode will NOT support Fire TV's AT ALL. Luckily I have a stick laying around I can use but it's insulting to have to use a stick in my Fire TV to do what Fire TV's should be able to do already.
Ugh I’m wanting run head first into wall with the same issue . Once you got it going can you switch from the home theatre setup to the original tv audio with ease? I’m actually wanting to connect to my dot that’s audio out to my sound system and it’s really loud .
@@kylecaress7753any luck
Would i be able to pair a 2nd and 3rd gen echo dot as a stereo pair?
Which echo models are those? They are huge?
Hi, watched your video it was great but mine didn't by any means work like that I can't get the two echo 4th gen to pair to each other, called customer service 2 days in a row for more than 4 hrs @ a time. it was my tv was old (2019), my tv didnt have bluetooth (paired one echo), can only pair two things. Help or suggestions Thank You
Is there any difference between Home Theater and Stereo Pair if I'm using two Echos?
Can fire tv cube be used for this application ?
Can they not bring the arc update for the fire tv 4 k max to tv cube 2nd gen. This would be a downgrade to move the 4 k max in the place of my fire tv cube. The cubes raw power. Surely a update to support it. This update would just be great. Or it’s going to be the 4k max in the system just to get this to work but still using the cube as the main device. I’ve wanted something like this for ages. Sound from all HDMI inputs going to the echo speakers.
Can this only be connected using Wi-Fi? I have my firestick 4K max connected by Ethernet and echo studio by Wi-Fi. Is that why it is not connecting?
Thanks
Yes, from what I have heard from others is that they both need to be on WiFi. It doesn’t make sense.
Is fire stick tv lite is eligible for home theatre mode?
One thing I noticed, once I start my vpn on the firestick, the sound moves to the tv speaker instead of the echos, can't use them till I disable the vpn.
Thank you for your video which helps a lot. And I also want to ask if the Xbox sound through fire tv has a noticeable delay comparing to the sound directly from TV?
Hey Craig!
What brand of lamps are those in your office? Are they using lifx mini or wyze bulbs?
If I have a projector with HMDI and not Arc, will I still be able to get this set up?
Yes, the sound that would normally go from the Fire TV stick through HDMI to the projector is now routed to the echos instead. It should be the easiest way to get sound to a projector
Can you add an echo dot and echo pop to a home theatre combo?
Thank you so much for this video. I hooked up my new FireStick 4K Max and my 4th gen Dots and it is working great and sounds lovely. I reviewed the comments and did not see this issue but when I turned off for the night, the Dots come back on within about 30 seconds playing the sound from the same show. I tried all the ways to get them to stay quiet but had to resort to turning g the volume down all the way. Anyone else have this experience? Thank you.
Will this work for Spotify, TH-cam or just for Amazon tv and music?
I need to have a fire tv max to be able to get sound from the echoes for my xbox? Or it can be any fire tv?
Yes you do. It is the only one that supports E-Arc
Thanks @@CraigsTechTalk
I had several cases when the sound disappeared out of the blue. It's cool when it works. Do you have any tricks on how to improve stability?
You may be experiencing the devices hopping from 2.4GHz to 5GHz, or vice versa. Split your WiFi into the two bands with different named SSIDs, one for each band, then set the echos to the same band, and fire tv on same band, that may fix it.
@@ryanhalley1982 yep. I solved this problem a little bit another way. Created wifi mesh (I have lots of devices) and my routers have the option ban devices by MAC and frequency. So I just banned 2,4hz for all "high level" devices, like phones, laptops, etc. it helped to reduce the number of devices on 2,4hz and improved stability.
@@ryanhalley1982 but anyway I give up to use echo as sound system for TV. Bluetooth or wired connection is more reliable.
I have the latest Fire TV stick, but can't get it to play with the speaker because even though the TV works with the stick, the app shows it as offline. Nothing I do seems to fix this. Any suggestions?
I'll check it out when they do 7.1 (or greater) surround. Watching TV and movies in stereo is like watching a 3D movie downscaled to 2D - you can tell that there's something missing that should be there and it detracts from the experience.
I can't get any audio from the ps5 through the echos. have firestick 4k max
Hello Craig, first I have to thank you for the video. This is the only information I could find in the web about this feature. I have an issue with this setup. I use this setup for my Nvidia Shield TV and using my 2 echos (4th gen) for audio. Everything works good except when I open netlfix app in the shield. For some reason when I open netflix the audio stops and the whole setup stops working and I have to re configure everything again. Any ideas why this is happening?
could it be possible to connect the firetv stick 4k max to nest audio stereo pair?
No it is not possible. They companies don’t play well with the others tech.
Oh wow I've just watched 4 or 5 videos about this same ish and finally some actual useful information thank you so f***in much the arc was the key to it all. I was about to chuck the Alexa into the TV lol!
Is there any way I can play the sound through my tv and the echo at the same time ?
I've just started using the Home Theater Option and wanted you know your thoughts, is it worth it to pay the extra money and use the echo Studio or should I use the Echo 4th Gen
I think the Echo Studios sound great. I think they are really big. They do a good job at simulated surround sound and have better low end.
For me, I would probably save the money and do the Echos. Or I would commit to go with more of a dedicated sound system.
One of our subscribers loves his pair of studios. They do sound really nice. Sound bars and sound systems may be a pain, so two Studios can give you good sound with easy setup. It really depends on how good you want to try and get that sound. With the Echos vs Studios.
I just recently bought 65" omni 4k fire tv, 2 echo studio speakers, and an echo sub. The only problem when I get them all hooked up and working none of their equalizers will work! What's the deal?
Can you use them as stereo pc speakers without fire stick ?
The problem is when your using the arc for a sound bar ie already in use. As when using the studio speaker it only works with TV when using fire stick and not normal TV. But I think this issue is occurring when you have a studio and maybe not normal dots etc.
Yeah, you get one or the other. Thanks for watching.
Not sure what I’m doing wrong with the new Cube , but it won’t pair with the gen 4 echo
Thanks Craig. Happy Holidays to you and your family. 🎄
Is there any 4k ultra tv that is not smart? If I have 4k max firestick then what is the use of smart tv?
I have full hd tv and 2 echo 4th gens. I want to setup alexa home theatre. But tv doesn't have hdmi arc port. Do I need to buy a new tv or is there any hdmi to hdmi arc adapter available?
Not that I know of. At this point in time, there really isn't the need for streaming devices. As a long time Apple TV and Fire TV user, I like having a dedicated streaming device. With a FireTV stick, you are not at the mercy of the TV manufacture bringing you new smart features.
You do not need an Arc port to use the Fire TV 4k Max. You can pair your echos and the sound will be sent from the Fire TV wirelessly to the Echos. You need an arc port if you want to have sound from other devices than the Fire TV stick to use the Echos.
Currently, I own a 2nd gen Firestick. However, when I attempt to set up a home theatre in the Alexa app, it informs me that my Fire TV Stick is not compatible. As a result, I am considering purchasing a Firestick 4K Max. The concern is that my TV lacks an HDMI ARC port. Can I still set up a home theatre without one? I have my 2 Echo 4th gens configured as a stereo pair, but I can only connect one speaker via Bluetooth. There's an upcoming Amazon sale in 2 days, and I'd appreciate your help with this.
Ok...I've added my Dot, but now I can't delete the group! Any thoughts?
All of my devices that are connected to my TV via HDMI outputs to Echo 4 except PS5. Other hdmi outputs to Echo 4 but PS5 doesn’t. Am I doing anything wrong? Help me please? Thank you
can this be done with chromecast google tv?
I hope that the future updates includes at least do create a 3.1 sound system. I don't dare to dream of a 5.1 system where the 3 front speakers are the bigger echo or echo studio devices, and the two rear speakers are two echo dot devices. 🤞😊
But I want to do the opposite: I want the sound of echo dot to come out of my fire stick TV during the day. Can I do that ? Please reply :)
Can I use it on a Roku to?
Anyone know how to connect all echoes to cable box? I’m trying to get the sound for the Super Bowl to play throughout my house.
You are not going to be able to. You can only connect speakers when streaming from a supported service
Can you use this without connecting them in the internet??
No, both devices are worthless without an internet connection.
It’s a good video but the system is so confusing. I’ve got speakers within groups within group!! I don’t understand what I’m doing. Madness
I do this with one Echo 4th gen and the regular (not 4K) stick. Much better sound than the TV, but there's a big problem. The Stick keeps muting or the picture keeps freezing and I have to reboot.
Happens with several apps. I'm wondering if anyone else has this issue?
Yup same exact issue here. There’s a very long thread on the Amazon support forums with people experiencing this. My fire stick runs fine when I disable the echo/home theater setup. As soon as I re-enable it the freezes come back. I’ve tried contacting fire tv support but they have no idea. They’ll just give you a generic list of troubleshooting steps that I’ve already done multiple times. If this was more stable it would be amazing.
I have the 2nd gen cube set up with two studios and the sub. Sounds fantastic. Those same speakers +sub with the 4K stick was good but sometimes alittle glitchy.
Really helpful. Thanks.
I hate my sound bar and am now thinking of getting some Echo speakers for this purpose. I have a Fire TV 4K stick.
Question re the network consistency issue mentioned in another comment - would the network consistency (stick and speakers must both be on the same network frequency) be an issue if my Fire TV stick was direct connected to my network (rather than to the WiFi network). TIA for info or advice.
Thank you Lynn. I am glad that it is helpful. You should not have any issue with the Fire TV being hardwired. We have a long time subscriber who has a Fire tv hardwired and two Echo studios paired up to it. He loves it.
@@CraigsTechTalk THANKS. I'll hit send on the order today.
What a ball ache just to set up a couple of speakers ! Amazon really need to work on the UI .
Omg I had a melt down 😅 a lot to do but will try thank you 🤞
Does it work on ARC only TVs? Mine does not have eARC, only ARC.
Believe it’s only eARC
The TV used in the video is ARC and is not a high end TV. E arc is for Enhanced and has higher bandwidth. I am seeing from others that to get Atmos you would need E arc.
My firestick connects to home cinema just fine, but then it doesn't send audio to the device (TV or Projector)
Kudos to Craig! After two years I learned something I never thought of or considered! I truly thought the ARC advantage was strictly to add a sound bar.
Who knew if I moved my new Fire TV 4K Max with Home Theater Echo Studio’s to my HDMI ARC port, I’d now get high quality speakers through my Apple TV 4K as well, instead of the tinny TV speakers! So thanks very much for that! 😁👍🏻
One caveat though. Even though the sound from my Apple TV comes through the Echo’s now, I can’t use the Apple Remote to control the volume. I was hoping …. But, I have to switch to my Fire TV Remote to change the volume. 😔
Thank you very much. I hope you are doing well Tony. It’s a been a while. My apologies on the delayed response. Glad to hear i was able to help with this and it is working well. I like the Apple TV using the Echos. It’s a great alternative if you use both. I had not thought of that. Thanks for sharing. Thank you also for the long time support. Happy New Year Tony.
@@CraigsTechTalk No … Thank “you” for giving up the lighting gig to help us geeks! 😁
Yep, been a while since I piped up, but know that I stalk your videos all the time! 😉
Hoping you and your family have a Happy & Healthy New Year! More cool stuff/vids on the way in 2022! 😎
Thanks to both of you, Tony & Craig. I was curious if you could set up a Alexa home theater and still have the sound coming out when using Apple TV. I like the home pod mini's but this is a cheaper alternative.
Does it sound better than a sound bar ?
I have a *TV stick lite* connected to a projector and I bought an *echo dot 5* and the sound through *home cinema* is *TERRIBLE* (like canned). On the other hand, if I connect the echo via bluetooth, the sound is perfect but sound and video of the film get out of sync after about 15-20 minutes. I don't really know how to fix it, it seems to be done on purpose so it doesn't work 😮💨
Hello, that is interesting. I had not compared the two. I am sorry to hear that it sounded so bad in theater mode. It is unfortunate that the bluetooth can't stay in sync. The only thing I can think of is trying to adjust the EQ after you put the echos in theater mode. Maybe it can be adjusted in the Alexa app or from the Fire TV Stick.
Shame got to last part says my fire TV. stick not compatible , it's a fire TV stick 2 nd Gen , would latest one work in UK.
Hi Craig! Nice video there! I have a 4k stick, 2 echo's 4th gen and a subwoofer. The first time when I did the setup everything was fine and I was turning on the home theater mode just when needed because the primary function was TV speakers. Now when I switch on the TV the home theater starts automatically. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!
Amazon may have broke something on their end with all their updates. I would break the connection between the devices. Unplugging for 30 seconds. Plug them back in and join them all again. Amazon has been bad about things acting up lately. A lot of frustrated users with things that use to work, not working now.
@@CraigsTechTalk thank you so much! Have a lovely day!
You too
Can this work with a Chromecast?
I am not sure if Nest speakers pair with a Chromecast. But Echos would definitely not be able to pair with a Chromecast.
Can you add more than 2
One MAJOR(!!!) caveat: The volume isn't loud enough
Personally using a Fire TV Cube + 2 Full Sized Echos
Is it still the same ?
OMG, I how did I not know about Home Theater mode. I got my FireStick and Echo Plus but was missing volume control. 🙏🏽
Before anyone makes an unwanted purchase, Idk if you said it Craig, but FireTV's canNOT be paired with two Studios for surround sound. It's a fail that bugs me to this day. You have to buy the stick like Craig said. And trying to attach a stick to a FireTV and make it work that way is problematic too.
I am sorry to hear that it has not worked for you. That is not cool. Amazon has short change the Fire TVs. I did not share that and had put the supported sticks and Fire TV cube. I appreciate the information. Happy Holidays
I wish I could use the TV audio AND the echo speakers at the same time 😬
but no surround?
I’ve used this since it was originally available and honestly that was an initially very frustrating experience and Amazon wasn’t a ton of help in the beginning. However happy to say it has gotten better. I only use fire sticks in all TVs and recently upgraded to the 4K max versions on main tv and projector in basement. For a projector this is a must have!! Projectors speakers are crap (if not your probably paying too much for the projector!), so two Echo latest gens make a world of difference. I hung my Echos with large magnets and the tripod ports on the bottoms, never saw people talk about using those but a great thing to mount the speakers!! Anyway love the setup now that it’s more stable, agree with other person that high volume is limited I feel. With streaming services and even just different shows so variable on volume of speech vs action, I find myself having to man the remote for sound too much! Would love to know if other have advice there! Thx Craig as always great video!
Were you able to get the ARC support to be stable on the fire tv 4 k max. Just wouldn’t hold. It allows you to have all the hdmi inputs come through the echo speakers. I got it to work briefly.
If you use a soundbar as well
Does sound supersede that or will sound come from both? Looking for smaller speakers to put behind the couch. Thanks!
Anyone else completely lost after 2 minutes? 😢
NOT RECOMENDED!!!! I just git my second Echo Dot 5th Gen after an offer. It took me like couple of hours to set it up bevause it kept failing. Firs, the sound is distyrv, so I reset it, then only one works with tv audio, then the other answer. I resest it to factory, update the old one, change setting through both the app and the Fire stick. When finally seems to kind of work, basically only get on the first few seconds of TH-cam video or movie sound brrr quiality, after like an hour of watching a movie, suddently disconnected. I am returning it tomorrow.
Great video
Thank you very much Jeffrey. Happy Holidays
I will schedule this right between my brain surgeries.
i cant find tv
Well my bedroom is full of Google peoducts so I had to do those to my brothers room so I don't need to buy a crappy soundbar for my brother