Fire stick extension cable

SheenaG4

Hi
We're taking the plunge on an overseas holiday shortly (Spanish island).  In the spirit of planning for the worst case scenario, i.e. positive COVID test prior to flight home = 10 days quarantine in our hotel room, I'm thinking of taking our fire stick as a means of relieving the boredom. There's a flat screen tv on our hotel room wall (hopefully with HDMI socket) above a dresser/storage unit, with a power socket at skirting board level. I know the existing fire stick power cable will not stretch the distance from the wall tv to the socket. There is decent WIFI in the hotel.
I've seen both USB extension cables (i.e. to get power from the socket all the way to the firestick/tv) and HDMI extension cables (i.e. sit firestick on dresser powered by my current cable and just run extension cable up to HDMI port on tv)  for sale on the internet with minimal price difference. 
I can't see any obvious advantages/disadvantages between either option - just wondered if anyone more 'techie' than myself had any views?
Thanks in advance.      

flaneurs_lobster

Doesn't answer your question directly but I've taken to travelling with a 4-gang 13 A extension lead, about a metre in length. 1 socket usually has a 4-way USB charger by default. Tries to address the "never enough sockets in hotel rooms" problem. 

Jenni_D

I don't know how powerful the video driver device is within a Firestick, although a decent quality HDMI extension cable would likely be transparent to it. Just make sure the cable has the right connectors at each end.  

However  ... I've always been successful powering my Firestick from the USB port on a TV, and I've only once encountered a hotel TV which didn't have a USB port.  

mobileron

Yes it will work ok if the bband speed is good,suggest u dont watch hd movies,1080p should be ok.
Agree about taking a extension cable with you.
Remember you may have problems watching UK tv as it will be Geo blocked,possible with  VPN.

Laz123

If the TV has got USB you could instead take a flash drive or external HD loaded with programs and films.

Neil_Jones

Probably safe to assume by now hotel TVs will have HDMI as a standard.  They started appearing on TVs from about 2005 onwards, and Freeview started being part of TVs from 2008 onwards (almost universally from 2010).  USB ports on TVs are a more recent thing for powering devices or using slideshows or whatever else, they apparently used to be used to flash the TV firmware or diagnose it or something like that.

Emmia

If you test positive in Spain you'll have to stay there for quarantine.

However, because you won't be in the UK, you'll almost certainly find that there is substantially less content available on the fire stick. For contents rights reasons, fire sticks are country specific, so you'll only be able to watch the stuff available under the same licence in both places... 

Plugging into the hotel TV also means you probably can't use a VPN to try to get round this, by making it look like the stick is in the UK.

Jenni_D

There are ways and means around Geo-locking. And you can get a VPN on the stick to make it appear (to the target service) that it is in the UK.

And USB ports on TVs are nothing new ... probably been around for 10 years now. As I said above, I've only once encountered a hotel TV without one; every other time it has worked fine with my own Firestick.  

SheenaG4

Thanks for the replies.
I had thought about the TV USB port/power option. The extension cable idea was a back-up option just in case.
My firestick does have a VPN loaded, so hoping that will get round any 'location' issues. 

mobileron

Sticks can struggle when using the tv usb.

Jenni_D

mobileron said:

Sticks can struggle when using the tv usb.

Maybe it depends on the stick version? I've never had an issue with mine - the first (HD) version with voice control. (I have occasionally seen a message about low power and that some things may not function correctly, but I've never actually experienced any issues with mine).