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Firestick/ Chromecast/ Roku - best cheap one - please educate me?

chemn

chemn

shmemn
Hello good Urbs :)

I'm sure there have been similar threads but I imagine this type of advice changes all the time, so.... Without further ado ...

To turn a TV into a smart TV, whilst avoiding Alexa (or any microphone potentially listening in), what is the best option? In terms of "best", my criteria are:

  1. Ease of use - want it to be plug and play with minimal or no hassle
  2. Cost - ideally would be no more than around £50
  3. Preloaded streaming options - I would like as much as possible! I expect a black market device would win out here. I don't really want to get such a thing, as want to stay on the right side of the law! So if anyone can privately advise on what boxes NOT to buy in this regard, that would be appreciated ;)
  4. Would also be nice to easily stream/ cast from computer/ mobile to the TV - but this is real 'take it or leave it' territory. If it's as easy to stream directly to the box as I hope it would be, then this would just be a 'nice to have' to look at phone/ computer videos on a bigger screen.
So, dear friends, on the basis of the above - please can someone in the know fill me in? Me and the Mrs are looking at quarantine for months here, potentially ( :eek: ?!?!?!) so would be good to snap something up before they're all sold out!!

What say you good people of Urban? What fits the bill the best?

Thanks in advance :)

<and if this should be in the tech forum, apologies and please whip her over to the most appropriate place :) >
 
Nvidia Sheild would tick all the boxes, but way out of budget.

I've got a Chromecast, don't find it that user friendly having to use the phone, but that's a personal thing I guess, but have a PS4.

I've been quite impressed with the firestick I got for my Dad for his streaming needs. I belive it can do all you ask, but not tested it running Kodi or streaming from PC.
 
Thanks for the replies so far :) So... Chromecast vs Firestick .... I do not really want to line the pockets of Jeff or Alphabet... But might go for one if it turns out to be best/ easiest. But with Firestick - you can't get 100% away from Alexa, right? Jeff could be listening to our every word, right? And aren't there dodgy boxes that cost a bit more that increase streaming options by orders of magnitude? Or am I thinking of the VERY naughty boxes that need VPN (?) and stream ALL of the paid for services?

And is Chromecast 100% phone driven? You can't cast from PC to chromecast?
 
I've had chromecast and was not happy with the performance or quality of it. We are currently running Roku at home and have been doing so for a while. Mrs T can use it easily and it covers much of what we need. It has Netflix and NowTV, neither of which we use. It has catch up for all the main channels and many more besides.
 
hash tag said:
I've had chromecast and was not happy with the performance or quality of it. We are currently running Roku at home and have been doing so for a while. Mrs T can use it easily and it covers much of what we need. It has Netflix and NowTV, neither of which we use. It has catch up for all the main channels and many more besides.
Click to expand...

This is really selling it to me.... a Roku it might be .... yet no-one has warned me about these dodgy ones that I deffo SHOULD NOT buy with preloaded stuff :hmm: I guess the days of the monster kodi boxes are over, or they're undesirable for reasons?
 
One Amazon review I saw said something along the lines of "Roku is good ... but really meant for American market, so a lot of the options were unavailable due to geolocation ...." - any comment on that, please?
 
With our new box we have only kept our Roku thing for Italian television. I dont think it's made any more.
Cant answer your question directly, but the channels are here Roku
 
Chemical needs said:
This is really selling it to me.... a Roku it might be .... yet no-one has warned me about these dodgy ones that I deffo SHOULD NOT buy with preloaded stuff :hmm: I guess the days of the monster kodi boxes are over, or they're undesirable for reasons?
Click to expand...

I guess it depends where you want to get most of your content from and if you can get the legit apps working.

If I mostly wanted to use the less legit stuff that's what I'd be looking at.
 
The 4k Fire TV is by far the best option.
I owned ~50 different Android boxes and none were anywhere near as good as the Fire TV. I actually retired two very good Android boxes in favour of it. You can install Kodi on it too, and watch free content to your heart's content. I tried the 4k Chromecast... For a full day, before boxing it back up and returning it for a refund. It was the most useless POS I think I ever bought. Even if it wasn't constantly freezing and stuttering, it was worse than useless. Does it even serve a purpose?
Trust me on the 4k Fire TV thing. I've owned every flavour of box, and the Fire wins, hands down. Its only downside is lack of storage, but if you're only using it to watch TV, you don't need any more.
 
Firestick all the way -I've used Zgemma and Android boxes , Android TV , Chromecast and Roku. The Firestick 4k is very quick but the basic Firestick is just fine. Its good for beginners and if you want to do more with it later when more confident you can.
 
Firestick looked awesome (especially when during xmas super deals) but went for Roku and will take it back if not happy. Just doing the install now and, so far, am impressed with how slick it is ...

And as I said before, I think our old mate Jeffy boy takes enough of our £, and I'm highly suspicious of having a microphone linked to Amazon/ Alexa in my home. Do not want.
 
If I Remember you can open a Roku account online and customise like that, should you wish. It's probably easier that way.
 
Well this is annoying. My five year old Sony Android TV developed an annoying glitch where I had to reboot the TV every time I wanted to watch the BBC iPlayer.
I find myself searching YouTube a lot as seeing as my TV doesn't have voice search, I thought I'd bite the bullet and get the newish Chromecast with remote and voice control.

Set it up now and everything is definitely far speedier but there's no support for Freeview - so I have to use the old TV remote to jump into live TV, which is just adding a new faff to the viewing pie.

I can;t even find the app in my Play store but some folks say that they've managed to sideload it. Anyone managed this or shall I just send the thing back?
 
That's only Freeview Play. It's not going to get you the true Freeview live experience, that only comes one way, Through the aerial. You always have to go back to your actual TV/Freeview box remote. As far as I'm aware anyway.
 
cybershot said:
That's only Freeview Play. It's not going to get you the true Freeview live experience, that only comes one way, Through the aerial. You always have to go back to your actual TV/Freeview box remote. As far as I'm aware anyway.
Click to expand...
It seems that it's the same story for Firestick, Roku etc. Damn.
 
cybershot said:
That's only Freeview Play. It's not going to get you the true Freeview live experience, that only comes one way, Through the aerial. You always have to go back to your actual TV/Freeview box remote. As far as I'm aware anyway.
Click to expand...
I don't watch much TV but what's the difference between Freeview Play and the true Freeview experience?
 
editor said:
Does that come with support for Freeview?

I do like the fact I can browse my Google Photos on the Chromecast and everything is very slick - apart from watching live TV.

Not sure if I fancy this faff: How to Add and Stream Freeview on Google TV - Google TV Stick
Click to expand...

Actually i don’t know. I look at Freeview on my phone and if i want to watch something i just open the relevant player on Firestick. I never thought about easier ways!
 
editor said:
It seems that it's the same story for Firestick, Roku etc. Damn.
Click to expand...

FWIW I note that you can watch live TV through the iPlayer app, ITV Hub, etc on the Firestick. Obvs it requires jumping in and out of the apps but it just at least give you the main channels.

I found that the equivalent apps on my Android TV don't offer live options. Not sure if thats the same for Chromecast.

Another option is to use TV Player app which I think covers off the main channels and for an added extra more besides

tvplayer.com

TVPlayer: Watch Live TV Online For Free

TVPlayer is home to the most popular TV channels and premium quality on-demand programmes, exclusive to TVPlayer. Watch over 40 live channels and thousands of hours of bingeable science, nature, travel, history and sports documentaries, contract-free and anywhere you like.
tvplayer.com tvplayer.com
 
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