Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick • Hacker News Board

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#481

Post by rpdillon » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

riddlemethat wrote: post #458

omilu wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco vets their products very well, if I see something at costco and its something I need I just buy it. No need to research and I've never been burned. They only sell good quality stuff.

We bought a Bosch dishwasher from Costco in January. It was defective and wouldn’t start after 10 days. Costco replaced it. The replacement came with a big gash on the front off the truck so we refused it and Costco sent a third replacement. Again, it was the same model and again it wouldn’t start after another 30 days. Costco took it back. No cost to us for any of these delivery or install attempts. We bought a diff…

Yep, I'm pretty much a lifetime member of Costco if this sort of prioritization doesn't change. A recent article put it well "Costco is the anti-Amazon".

I say this as a happy customer of both, though. I don't seem to have the problems others do with horrible products from Amazon, but I suspect my purchasing habits might be different as well.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#482

Post by parineum » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

8note wrote: post #281

miladyincontrol wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play devil's advocate, when someone says "Chinese made" they're usually well aware of your point, and are more using it as a common way to describe product mills spitting out countless devices with dubious quality or configuration. Of course theres good products made in China, and plenty of entirely Chinese brands killing it doing their thing.

its pretty straight racism though. its US software companies that are the worst of the worst in terms of adware and malware being shipped under monopoly control

> its pretty straight racism though.

It's not. Firstly, because countries aren't races. Second, because it's just a leftover from a time where that was a good heuristic.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#483

Post by ChoGGi » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #295

omilu wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco vets their products very well, if I see something at costco and its something I need I just buy it. No need to research and I've never been burned. They only sell good quality stuff.

Compared to the big e-commerce retailers, Costco's total number of sku's isn't even a rounding error. And most of Costco's sku's are food, clothing, housewares, bulk consumables, and such - vastly easier to test and vet than computer & internet-connected electronics.

Sounds like you're agreeing that Costco is well curated?

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#484

Post by GJim » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

breppp wrote: post #452

tollgategit wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Upon connecting it to the internet, I dare not ask why you would do such a thing, instead, I will simply ask if you now think the reason was good, and I will hint at you that if the reason was "convenience", then you should answer "No".

You assume a lot of things, sometimes you have to connect it to the internet for it to work (such as robovacuums)

Why in the name of all that is holy would you need to connect a projector or vacuum cleaner to the internet in order for it to work?

Seriously, why do you think this is normal or acceptable?

This is bullshit needs to stop (and the scummy AdTech industry has a lot to answer for).

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#485

Post by stevetron » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

Birds Nest soup with Chinese tomatoes?

Or Cinese noodles with Chinese tomatoes?

It sounds likw 2 domestic markets that China should use to rid themseves of their over-abundance of tomatoes.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#486

Post by handle584 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

8note wrote: post #281

miladyincontrol wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play devil's advocate, when someone says "Chinese made" they're usually well aware of your point, and are more using it as a common way to describe product mills spitting out countless devices with dubious quality or configuration. Of course theres good products made in China, and plenty of entirely Chinese brands killing it doing their thing.

its pretty straight racism though. its US software companies that are the worst of the worst in terms of adware and malware being shipped under monopoly control

[dead]

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#487

Post by autoexec » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #450

autoexec wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah, it's like—a cheap streaming stick AND it poisons the advertising well? Keep in mind that it's your IP and identity associated with those clicks and anything else criminals decide to do with your IP address. That means you're identity is being linked to things you may or not want to be known as being interested/involved in. The ads your TV stick clicks on can cause data brokers to include your name in lists of…

So you're saying it's going to weaken the presumption that an IP can be easily tracked to an individual? Even better!

No, your IP will be easily tracked to you as an individual. You'll just suffer the consequences of whatever your streaming stick does with your IP. If your stick clicks a bunch of ads for fast food your heath insurance bill goes up because their algorithm thinks you're a higher risk. If your streaming stick clicks a bunch of ads for high end luxury goods, online stores start charging you more than they charge your neighbor for the same items because their algorithms think you have money to burn. Your streaming stick clicks a bunch of ads for addiction recovery services, you don't get a call back for the next job you apply to because the HR department paid a data broker to run a background check looking for "red flags".

What you do on the internet has very real impacts on your life offline and it's going to happen more and more over time. AI will make it easier for companies to leverage the massive amounts of data avilable to them about you. Surveillance pricing is spreading. Consumer reputation services are spreading. Law enforcement is buying up data from data brokers. Extremists are using data brokers to decide who to target with violence.

Nobody cares if the data they have isn't 100% accurate. The data broker doesn't care. He gets paid either way. The companies buying your data don't care either. It's all a numbers game to them. They just have to be right enough times to justify the cost of the data.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#488

Post by handle584 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #115

simojo wrote: post #108

We purchased a Chinese-made projector from Amazon, which was surprisingly inexpensive (~40 USD). Upon connecting it to the internet, it placed a constantly running feed of ads on the corner of the screen, even while movies were playing. There was no way to disable it either. Even though it's not a stick, it's a similar principle.

Upon connecting it to the internet… I hesitate to blame the victim here, but why on earth would you do that? “$40 Chinese-made” didn’t give you pause?

[dead]

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#489

Post by Rickasaurus » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

omilu wrote: post #251

al_borland wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the main value propositions for retailers in a world of endless cheap garbage being sold online, is to vet products so customers can trust that what their buying is from a legitimate company and not junk or stuff like these streaming sticks. This is the problem with being an “everything store”. “Everything” includes a lot of things most consumers would like to be protected from, and assume they are due to the…

Costco vets their products very well, if I see something at costco and its something I need I just buy it. No need to research and I've never been burned. They only sell good quality stuff.

I have to disagree, costco often has custom worse versions of better products, we recently had a costco air conditioner fail just to find out it wasn't built quite as robustly as the $50 more expensive midea sold elsewhere with an almost identical model number. Similarly had my costco GE washing machine fail last year right out of warranty. There's a real quality problem going on with costco right now.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#490

Post by zrobotics » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #344

nullhole wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, not all of them? Mine's a fancy-pants Stihl battery mower, but it works quite well and has been doing so without problem since I bought it ~4 years ago. The other battery stuff from the same brand (trimmer, chainsaw, kombi-tool) have the same story.

Stihl is a commercial product (mostly). They design for people using them as a full time job. You pay the price for quality.

No, they definitely have homeowner grade tools available.

For instance, the MS182 [0] is a $270, 2.2cu in saw with a 16" bar listed "For homeowners and light duty work".

Meanwhile, the MS201 [1] is $1100 for a 2.1cu in saw with a 16" bar listed as "The lightest professional gas chainsaw from STIHL Perfect for delimbing work in forestry".

Service interval on the 201 will be much longer, and it's expected to last longer but is priced accordingly. I ended up having to buy one of their homeowner grade saws 10 years ago when I was up in the mountains and my saw died, that was all that was available locally. I'm certainly not a professional, but at the time my primary heat source was wood and I had always used the stihl pro-grade saws. However, that cheap stihl was an absolute piece of junk, it was half wore out after cutting 2 cords of firewood that first time. Terrible ergonomics and poor power to boot, even after reserving the saw for light-duty work it only lasted 2 years and was miserable to start and run the entire time.

At least they explicitly say that they are for light duty though, a less honest company would market everything as pro-grade. But don't just buy the name, while they make good quality products they also sell cheap crap under the same name. It also isn't that clear in a retail store besides the price which ones are the homeowner grade saws.

[0] https://www.stihlusa.com/en/p/chainsaws-ms-182-gasoline-chai... [1] https://www.stihlusa.com/en/p/chainsaws-ms-201-gasoline-chai...