Streaming Devices - what's everyone using?

[alistairolsen]

After a long run of XBMC/Kodi and then just casting stuff from my phone with a Chromecast stick (now dead) I've been left browsing TV with an early firestick (shoved it in one morning after the Chromecast died and the kids were wearing me thin). It's laggy and horrible and Netflix has just stopped being supported so it needs to be replaced but I did like having a remote, native apps, a remote app on the phone and being able to "cast" (although I'm sure I'm not allowed to call it that).

What are people using/would they recommend?

• The Nvidia Shield always seems to come out well, and seems to be available new again - but is it long in the tooth and mainly liked for gaming features I'll never use?
• Google TV Streamer 4K comes out well
• Anything Amazon which is better than the basic stick seems to bring Alexa into my house
• I've never gelled well with Apple, but possibly there's an exception here as everyone seems to love the Apple TV?

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[Oggy997]

I use a 4k firestick, but my plex streams appear to be ending 720s before the end, which is s**t.
Will swap it with the upstairs one for a bit and probably set up one of these

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

After a long run of XBMC/Kodi and then just casting stuff from my phone with a Chromecast stick (now dead) I've been left browsing TV with an early firestick (shoved it in one morning after the Chromecast died and the kids were wearing me thin). It's laggy and horrible and Netflix has just stopped being supported so it needs to be replaced but I did like having a remote, native apps, a remote app on the phone and being able to "cast" (although I'm sure I'm not allowed to call it that).

What are people using/would they recommend?

• The Nvidia Shield always seems to come out well, and seems to be available new again - but is it long in the tooth and mainly liked for gaming features I'll never use?
• Google TV Streamer 4K comes out well
• Anything Amazon which is better than the basic stick seems to bring Alexa into my house
• I've never gelled well with Apple, but possibly there's an exception here as everyone seems to love the Apple TV?

Any advice?

Thanks

We have a Shield Pro running the Emby client (server hosted locally on a Windows PC). It's great for that, does refresh rate switching, and is easily powerful enough. Only downside is that at the minute we can't use iPlayer on it (some weirdness over the Play store) but it does the other streaming apps well.

Probably massive overkill if you're not gaming as you say, but I still have flashbacks to the days of f**king about with codecs endlessly to get anything playing so I thought overkill wasn't a bad thing.

 

[alistairolsen]

I don't mind overkill particularly, but I'm 38 with two kids rather than in my 20s now so I want something that 'just works' and will continue to, without excessive fannying around.

 

[The Psychedelic Socialist]

I don't mind overkill particularly, but I'm 38 with two kids rather than in my 20s now so I want something that 'just works' and will continue to, without excessive fannying around.

Other than iPlayer, it's been flawless. Even that is allegedly fixable with a factory reset but I just haven't been arsed to do it yet.

 

[leeds2592]

Never had any problems with my 4k firestick and I like that I can take it with me if we’re going away and I want to watch the football etc.

Nvidia Shield is what the provider used to recommend though

 

[alistairolsen]

Ordered an Nvidia Shield Pro on Amazon prime this afternoon, thanks for the replies gents!

 

[Oggy997]

Got some money you have

 

[alistairolsen]

It's 5 takeaways over a decade. I think the Chromecast and firestick were purchased in '16

 

[ChrisR]

I always use whatever the current best model of Roku stick there is for streaming services and connecting to my Plex server.

They are cheap, good format support, plus I like the simple UI . Not as fancy as others and maybe limited if you're into frigging about with things, but for me they just work and give a nice clean and simple UI.