TV streaming devices ?

IanD · Post by **IanD** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:28 pm

I've been using my sons old PS3 to watch Netflix on our main tv via a powerline adapter and Ethernet connection.
Unfortunately it stopped working yesterday seems pretty common for the original machines so looking for a replacement.

I could buy another used PS3 for £70-£100 but the Roku devices seem like a possible option. Would be for Netflix, Amazon, iplayer and other pretty basic stuff, the Roku 2 or 3 look useful as I could use Ethernet if the wifi isn't good enough which I feel it is struggling at times with all the devices connected.

Any experiences of these or other options to think about or consider that are better or could give me more in this under £100 price range ? Read stuff about chromecast, fire, Apple TV.
Would be used by everyone in family so want it fairly ease to use. Everyone has iPhones but not bought into the whole iTunes or Apple world. Son has a lot of films downloaded which might be nice to connect to and play but not really critical.

Post by **pete** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 8:49 pm

We've got a chromecast and it's ace...

BiggestNizzy · Post by **BiggestNizzy** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:08 pm

Kindle fire, sideload kodi then install genesis. Free everything.

Post by **campbell** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 12:28 am

Fire TV stick? Yet to boot mine up tho. Sigh.

Ferg · Post by **Ferg** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:01 am

We had the same issue but went XBox to retain a console.

The fire box is nice, similar to a Roku. I've heard several people get the NowTV starter kit for £25 and then immediately cancel the paid service so you end up with a Roku player that way. I've been looking at what I might use for a second room and keep coming back to ChromeCast.

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:43 am

We have two Amazon fire sticks here and No. 1 son maintains an Amazon Prime and Netflix account that we use liberally

In terms of performance I would say it's pretty good - i.e. it pretty much always works and the odd time it hasn't the old turn-it-off-and-on-again trick has worked.

No idea whether you can stream from handset (or any other local media) to the TV using the fire stick. I have no media to stream - but we have a good internet connection so can stream anything from the internet anyway.

The fire remote is good in that it's not an IR device - it's bluetooth or similar - so works really well from wherever in the room (rather than the TV one which I have to point around obstacles/bounce off ceiling) - but that's minor I should think as most people seem not to struggle with IR remotes the way we do (maybe they need batteries more than once a decade?).

Cheers,
Robin

tut · Post by **tut** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 12:07 pm

What is your download speed Robin?

tut

BiggestNizzy · Post by **BiggestNizzy** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:10 pm

campbell wrote:Fire TV stick? Yet to boot mine up tho. Sigh.

Yup, sideloading kodi is pretty straight forward as is installing genesis (not an official addon) a bit of work gets you streaming movies, sky sports, bt sports and pay per view. You can even setup an epg like sky.

Obviously is less than legal.

scott_e · Post by **scott_e** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:11 pm

I cannot recommend the Amazon Fire TV with Kodi side loaded on it enough.

Ref: http://kodi.tv/

The reason:

- Over 10 years I have tried a large number of devices including Raspberry Pi (running Kodi), Roku, PS3, PC running media services like TVersity / Windows Media Centre. Everything came up short in one way or another.
- Fire TV is the best hardware I have used to date. More stable and faster than any other box I have used. It just works.
- You can side-load Kodi (re-branded XBMC) and access media on your home network / NAS arrays.
- Amazon TV / IPlayer is supported.
- Now does Netflix in UK.

Downsides:
- I have a Roku3 for Now TV (Sky Sports).
- The Amazon PRIME user interface (UI) us poor. Not clear enough what is available via PRIME to stream.

I am so satisfied with Amazon Fire TV with Kodi as a solution I am installing it with every TV in the house.

Amazon have got it right allowing users to side load 3rd party software on to the hardware.

ps , edited to add the Amazon Fire TV box is nothing special without Kodi and access to your home network files. Although you can do this with the Roku kind of .... its Kodi (formally XBMC) that supplies the features and usability that surpasses other UI experiences.

Post by **campbell** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:24 am

I plan to use Plex? As its supported native by my Synology NAS. But am happy to trial XBMC too.

Post by **campbell** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:29 am

I was meant to be home-alone this weekend and had a whole programme of geekery lined up to configure all kinds of tech and home ents projects. Not least the Fire TV stick. Sadly all changed last minute on Fri and instead it's been wall to wall chores and grief

Maybe next weekend eh.

Post by **pete** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:22 am

campbell wrote:I plan to use Plex? As its supported native by my Synology NAS. But am happy to trial XBMC too.

Pal has a Plex and was visiting over christmas and could stream stuff from his home network (overseas) onto my Chromecast. Genius.

istoo · Post by **istoo** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:12 am

Have a perfectly well working PS3 sitting doing nothing here, it was chopped for a PS4 a year ago if you are interested?

Saves me taking it to game one weekend and exchanging for some more PS4 games...

Also been a similar route to Scott-e but kids and wife got fed up with things being complicated, I was running a PC and NAS arrangement, that was 4 years ago, we were living overseas so the PS3 then became the lifeline for TV we understand. Like Pete I used a native IP as a proxy, still owned a UK business at the time so was valid! Has been used for Netflix & nowTV for 3 years until chopped for PS4.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IanD · Post by **IanD** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:33 am

Cheers guy, will look a bit more at Amazon Fire tv sounds interesting loaded with kodi but also covers off the basics without doing anything. Wasn't sure if using Fire TV and Amazon prime would become messy it being too clever and predicting stuff, passwords etc as would be using my sons (sorry 'family' account) for Prime so interesting to hear Robin you do the same and found it ok.

Thanks istoo will PM you to discuss the PS3 further, has been good enough so far and like for like replacement would keep it simple for now.

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:40 pm

pete wrote:
campbell wrote:I plan to use Plex? As its supported native by my Synology NAS. But am happy to trial XBMC too.
Pal has a Plex and was visiting over christmas and could stream stuff from his home network (overseas) onto my Chromecast. Genius.

Got Plex up and running in 10 mins at the weekend. It just works. Not sure what I will use it for as have a media player for TV/projector and dont use handhelds for watching stuff. I guess if there are any codecs the media player does not support then I could throw it to the Chromecast via Plex and my ios device.

Mate behind me has a good friend who is a long time Plex dev who lives in Edi of all places!

Scottish Elises