Time to slow down for a moment.

If you have a new TV described as having "smart" features, you should have no need for a Fire Stick unless the TV itself doesn't have an app for a content source you want to use.

Have you previously set up the TV to connect to your Wifi, (without the Fire Stick plugged in) or with a wire to your router? If not, when you turned it on, it would have no way to get content. If the "TV with Fire Stick" was set up and working, what you set up was the Fire Stick. Not the TV. With the Fire Stick sitting on a table, you need to go through the setup of the TV to connect to your network on its own.

Does that help?

What else would upgrading to 4K do, other than improve the picture?

Can you be more specific about what 'screen had changed--and not in a good way' means, exactly?

I do think you should first check out what the TV can do w/o the firestick plugged in, for sure.

"I do think you should first check out what the TV can do w/o the firestick plugged in,"

There should be nothing to "discover". If the TV wasn't previously set up on its own to connect to the home network (whether with an ethernet cable or by Wifi), it won't do anything at all other than receive local over the air broadcasts if an antenna wire is attached.

My son set up the TV for me. I can tell you what I know, which isn't much:

He didn't think I needed the Fire Stick, but I told him I wanted to use it with the TV, so he plugged it in. The TV worked very well. The home screen showed a bunch of options, like Netflix, YouTube, and others--including Live TV, the option for watching the channels I get with my antenna. (I don't have cable.)

After I screwed things up by using the Fire Stick remote, the options disappeared from the home screen. In order to get to Live TV I had to use the Input menu.

The information I found online is confusing. CNET and some others assume a Fire Stick will be installed on a smart TV. Apparently it adds some benefit, but I'm not clear on exactly what that is.

I'll have to consult with my son this weekend. Thanks for your responses!

Since he set it up, I'm sure he'll get things sorted out for you. Don't be wedded to using the FIre Stick, though, it may not be necessary.

I have a Fire Stick, as my tv isn't a Smart one. I have the Fire Stick Lite. Lite doesn't have the power button and volume button, I don't mind using my regular remote to turn on the tv.

No need to upgrade to a 4K as the shows are all HD anyway. I don't know why your home screen would have changed. But sometimes mine shows Profile, Apps, User etc. If yours shows anything different than the regular home screen just use the Back arrow and see if it goes there.

Jasdip, I bought the Fire Stick a few years ago to use with my previous TV, which was not a smart model. As you've found too, it worked very well that way. But the smart TVs are quite different. Also, a lot of streaming movies and shows are 4K. Amazon Prime supports all of them. Netflix does if one is willing to upgrade to the more expensive plan. But if I were streaming through my Fire Stick I wouldn't get 4k resolution (and Dolby Atmos sound) unless I upgraded to 4K.

What size is your new screen? Your old? We were OK with regular 1080 (HD) programming watching on sets up to and including 55". Once we went above that size definition became more important, but most shows are still fine without going higher.

FWIW, we don't have 4k on either of our Amazon Firesticks. We have 4K programming on our DirecTV package, but most shows are 1080. We don't have Netflix 4k. We have a 4K UHD DVD player but most discs we buy are Blue Ray as we found most 4k not worth the extra $.

My old set was 43" and the new one is 50", which is as large as I thought I should go in this relatively small space. (The other half of the room holds a grand piano.) It looks big to me, but I could probably go to 55" if I had to--which I may have to if I ever get another TV. I noticed this time more of a selection was offered in screens 55" and up.

What brand of TV do you have? We have several Samsung TVs, which we like because Samsung provides a lot of extra channels, such as Project Runway, America's Test Kitchen, This Old House, Wipeout!, Bon Appetit, etc. that we watch frequently. We tend to watch these streaming channels more often than regular network channels. I'm sure other brands of TVs also provide extra channels, but those will vary according to brand.

We also get extra channels through our BluRay player, which is how we normally connect to Amazon Prime. I think we can do this directly through the TV, but we haven't set up the account to do that yet. For us, it is easier going through the BluRay player.

Lars, I didn't realize a TV could play a role in determining what channels we get. I have a feeling it might be different here because any channels I get come in through an antenna high above my house. I had a Samsung once and was impressed at how well it held its value. I sold it for a good price even though the remote had stopped working.

My new TV is a Hisense Quantum ULED. It has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, which I wanted. Hisense and TCL surprised me with the excellent reputation they have among serious reviewers such as Rtings.com. I read a slew of reviews, usually more than once. I knew I didn't want to pay thousands, so that eliminated quite a few models right off the bat.

Here is a list of Samsung TV Plus Channels. All you need in addition to the TV is internet connection to the TV, and then all of these channels are available streaming free. They have schedules like antenna TV, and they are not "on demand" but at least they are free, as long as you have a decent internet connection.

Your brand may not offer these channels. I think Samsung has the best list - other brands have a more limited choice of streaming channels, which is why we bought Samsung.

Looking at those channels @ Lars' link, I can tell you most, if not all, are available on other platforms too, not just Samsung TVs.

There are a number of streaming apps that offer specific streamed content on 'channels' and are available through various platforms like Amazon's Firestick and Roku: Pluto TV, Shout !Factory TV, Plex, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and so on. They have schedules and listings and feel a lot like broadcast TV.

Seriously, you can watch practically anything nowadays. And if you want to binge one particular program, many of the shows on streaming channels are also available on demand.

I have a smart LG TV, but I do still use my Roku stick because it does offer special deals on premium channels that I enjoy, and other content that the smart TV doesn't. The free streaming live TV channels do overlap a bit, but each also has channels that the other doesn't. I tend to view via the Roku mostly.

I can easily switch my input from the TV (live OTA channels, or streaming content) to the Roku, or to my DVD player, using the input button on the TV's remote.