Oppo Hive Mind, Assemble! 

"Brian, The Life of" (familycar) 04/04/2016 at 16:16 • Filed to: None

0

40

With the move back to my house this weekend, I am officially joining you trendy kids and cutting the cable cord. At the moment I have two “smart TVs” and two dumb that I’m not ready to replace yet. To smartify them I am not sure whether to get Apple TVs, Rokus, Chromecasts, or Amazon Fires. My other question is around content. I have Netflix already and will be getting HBO Now. I’m not against subscribing to something else to round out the content but the question is should I and, if so, what?

I know several of you have already beaten a path down this route and I’m hoping to learn from your lumps.

Party-vi > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:19

3

HD antenna, Roku2, Sling TV, HBO subscription through Roku ($15/month) with your HBO Go included anyway.

TheHondaBro > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:22

2

Apple TV if you have Macs. Roku if you don't.

PatBateman > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:24

1

A buddy of mine has a hacked Amazon Fire stick. Basically, he can watch anything, any time. New movies, old movies, all the premium channels (including the adult ones)... ERRTHING.

ttyymmnn > Party-vi 04/04/2016 at 16:24

0

What about live sports, particularly hockey and F1?

Jonathan Harper > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:24

1

I use chromecast and my Xbone, if what I want isnt on that I just HDMI the laptop onto the TV.

Party-vi > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:25

3

Stream that shit.

Slant6 > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:26

0

Sling has live sports.

Nibbles > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:26

1

Another + for the Roku. Apart from all the channels, you can easily stream from a Win10 box to it - it populates in the Connect box and connecting to it is quick and painless.

I streamed the Model 3 reveal from my phone to the TV in one tap. Pretty sweet.

vondon302 > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:27

1

A old ps3 works great on my non smart tv.

Gone > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:29

1

HD antenna, Roku3, Netgear something or other - 1 smart (w/Roku3) and 1 dumb TV (w/Netgear - for the kiddo). We have Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime (which if you have Prime, you might as well use it). We use each equally, so I can’t help much. Wife may pick up HBONow, but we haven’t bought it yet. the Roku3 seems to be “better” than the smart part of our smart Samsung TV, so we just use the Roku instead of the smart features.

Steve in Manhattan > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:30

1

I am the worst example - $169 a month to Time Warner (we have no alternative in my building) and a TIVO Roamio. And a PS3 that is now just an overqualified bluray player. Oh, and a VHS that still works. We use it as a clock.

Jcarr > Party-vi 04/04/2016 at 16:31

2

If I get enough fiber, I do.

qbeezy > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:31

1

Over the air HD antenna for locals for news and shizz. Sling TV for all the other things. And then if you want more, netflix or hulu.

ttyymmnn > Party-vi 04/04/2016 at 16:31

0

What does that mean?

ttyymmnn > Slant6 04/04/2016 at 16:32

0

Is it possible to record stuff?

Captain of the Enterprise > Party-vi 04/04/2016 at 16:33

0

from where?

Slant6 > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:34

0

Not sure. My parents got it when I left for college.

Ash78, voting early and often > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:40

1

We have 2 TVs, 2 Rokus, a couple iPhones and an iPad mini. None of us is a techie or a jailbreaker/hacker (I ain't got time for that shiat!). For content, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, plus several other marginally successful free apps on Roku (eg local news). We don't feel like we're missing anything. In fact, we have started to pity people who haven't cut yet :D

Party-vi > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:41

2

I DON’T KNOW I’M JUST REPEATING BUZZWORDS I HEAR THE YOUNG PEOPLE SAY AT WORK

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:41

0

I recently got Hulu, which I love, although I mostly watch movies and rarely television programming. Netflix is ok, although the selection in Hulu is better right now IMO. I strongly suggest you try the 1 week free trial..

I agree with the other commenter suggestions; an HD antenna for network TV and season sports packages as needed. Apple TV or Xbox 1 as your set top box, which offer good interfaces and mirroring capabilites for tablets and phones. PS3 is a good budget option, but doesn’t have the mirroring option. I’ve never used Roku or Chromecast so I don’t know about those.

Party-vi > Captain of the Enterprise 04/04/2016 at 16:41

1

The internet, bruh.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:43

0

Live in a place where there are no local NHL teams, like Atlanta, then NHL.tv on Xbox One/Roku/device of your choice.

Then you only have to curse when NBC, NBCSN or NHL network is playing your desired game.

Klaus Schmoll > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:44

1

I have a smart tv but got the amazon fire stick with my prime subscription anyway, since it’s much easier to access prime and other content via the stick vs the built in browser. Got Prime mostly for the free shipping since I live on an island, and therefore have a limited choice of shops. The included content is nice but not overwhelming.

Mum got a tablet for her last birthday, and got access to Netflix through some relatives. A chromecast helps her push it onto the TV. Prime apparently doesn’t exist in Switzerland. She then wanted her own account, and I was vaguely interested. So it was “decided” that I have to get one to share with her. She supported me all the way through university, so I’m more than fine with getting that for her.

Prime plus Flix is a nice complementary package. Haven’t seen the chromecast in action yet, but I can say that the Amazon stick will turn any dumb tv into a smart one.

Prolly not helping, but here’s my $ 0.02.

SVTyler > Captain of the Enterprise 04/04/2016 at 16:46

1

Reddit’s dedicated subreddits (/r/nflstreams, /r/racestreams, /r/nbastreams). Basically put ‘streams’ after organization you’re wanting to watch and chances are someone’s made a subreddit about it.

MUSASHI66 > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:46

1

I am all about the Roku, I have 3 of them, but I do have 2x Chromecasts as well for the times I need to cast from my laptop. I vote for Roku 3 over the 2, just because it is faster and the interface is better (especially on Netflix, Roku 2 does not support profile switching)

MUSASHI66 > Nibbles 04/04/2016 at 16:48

0

Wait wait, you can cast from W10 to Roku? How does that work? I have some Chromecasts on my TVs just for the rare need to watch something from my laptop (Monday night The Walking Dead is about the only thing ever)

SVTyler > ttyymmnn 04/04/2016 at 16:49

0

Some websites rip a TV stream and then broadcast it live on the Internet. For F1 Reddit’s /r/formula1 subreddit usually has about ten or fifteen links you can click on to see various streams, and /r/nhlstreams does the same thing.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 16:59

1

I got Rokus, they work wonderfully.

Where have all the lightweights gone? > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 17:02

0

You can find hacked Fire TV sticks or “Android Boxes” advertised on Amazon/eBay for cheap. Install Kodi and do some searching on sports services through there that stream everything. A lot of my friends in the UK have bought them for streaming footy (soccer), and they swear by using Kodi!

Xyl0c41n3 > Party-vi 04/04/2016 at 17:10

0

Where I live, having an HD OTA antenna is a crap shoot. When I first moved in, it picked up CBS (kind of), NBC, the CW (sometimes) and PBS. And a smattering of Spanish language stations. No ABC or FOX.

Now, it only picks up NBC, and PBS is in and out.

I’ve gotten used to reading. A lot.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 17:12

0

If you have Xbox One/360 or PS4/3 you can use those for smart TV purposes. I don't know how they stack up against Roku/Apple TV, but if you already have them you don't need to buy anything else.

Nibbles > MUSASHI66 04/04/2016 at 17:43

0

Yarp :) Just click “Connect” in your notification center and watch the Roku pop up. Click and stream

Oddly enough W10 doesn’t see either of my XBones

C62030 > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 18:42

0

94 Chromecasts.

MUSASHI66 > Nibbles 04/04/2016 at 19:03

0

Interesting! Chromecast is far superior - W10 to Roku ruins the resolution and it doesn’t stream audio. I will stick to my Chromecast for now, but I hope they improve it. Thanks for the info!

TheRealBicycleBuck > Brian, The Life of 04/04/2016 at 23:05

0

We haven't cut the cord, but we use various devices to stream content. So far, I've used an XBONE, XB360, a Chromecast, and various computers. So far, my favorite is the XBONE because you can use it with your favorite apps.

Nibbles > MUSASHI66 04/05/2016 at 09:56

0

Uh, it didn’t hurt the resolution for the Model 3 reveal and it most definitely piped the sound from my phone through the Roku to the soundbar.

MUSASHI66 > Nibbles 04/05/2016 at 12:29

0

Moment I got connect my resolution goes way low, and no sound is coming from my soundbar, just the laptop speakers.

Nibbles > MUSASHI66 04/05/2016 at 12:35

0

Weird. Maybe it’s your wireless connection strength? Mine, a Roku 3500R, is set up on a 5GHz N network and pipes both video and audio. I’ll test again tonight to see if I get a 1080P signal from the phone.

MUSASHI66 > Nibbles 04/05/2016 at 12:39

0

I doubt it is my wireless - chrome cast works just fine on the same tv and same connection.

Dick Best > Brian, The Life of 04/21/2016 at 12:43

0

Firestick will not play nice with Netflix. so, you can cross that one off your list.