Thread from 2018:
School me on basics, please....GO
Thread from 2018:
School me on basics, please....GO
Ignore the smart TV, put the brains in the little box attached to it. That way you can update the little box for a lot less than a new smart TV.
My TV is hooked up to a computer I built specifically for that purpose, I think it was around $250 to build it including the bluetooth keyboard.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Well it really is time for me to update tv. Give size of my den going from 42 inch to 60ish inch.
I agree, forget the smart TV gimmick. You just need any TV with HMDI ports, which you probably already have. But you will need an extra device, which you can transfer to any TV.
From there, you can plug in a streaming device into one of those HMDI ports. These devices are just small little computers with WiFi. They connect your TV to the internet. Options include:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Roku
- Google Chromecast
We have the Fire TV stick on one TV and Roku on the other. Fire stick is nice because it comes with a wifi remote, so it feels like traditional TV but you don't have to point it at anything. But we have one of the earliest Fire sticks and it has not aged well. Very laggy sometimes and has trouble connecting on occasion. I love the Fire Stick interface though. Very modern and easy to use. I am considering upgrading a newer one to resolve the bugginess I have with my old one.
The Roku always works, but the interface seems dated and not as intuitive. Also the Roku remote needs to be aimed at the Roku receiver thing, which the Fire stick has spoiled me on.
I've used Chromecast before and it works well, but I like having a remote. Chromecast uses your smart phone as the remote, which is kinda cool but doesn't feel right to me personally.
All of them will have access to all the streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Prime, HBO GO, etc. And they're all pretty cheap, especially compared to cable TV bundles.
This is going to be rough as I am at work.
I cut the cord, well the TV portion any way, had to keep the internet connection.
I will start the the negatives:
I cant watch most NFL games, including the Pats. Yes I am from New England, New Massachusetts, er I mean Hampshire.
I am in a dead zone, to far from Boston MA, Manchester NH, and Portland ME to get any over the air stations, with the exception of PBS, there is no NFL on PBS. This was not an issue in the days of analog broadcasts.
I have to get my local news from a Roku app called News On which streams the Manchester ABC affiliates news broadcasts only. Its prone to frequent frozen screens.
I also pay for Sling, one step up from the base package, this gives me one Boston Station, NBC, no Pats there, their news is much better than the Manchester ABC station, but they don't cover anything my way. There is also no Discovery channel or subsidiaries.
The Sling PC interface caused carpel tunnel, and still will if it is the same interface as a year ago. Get a Roku
If you are a frequent channel surfer, changing channels,programs on the Roku and sling is not quick.
Positives:
There is a tone of content on Roku, but a lot if it is older and poorer production. I found ALF on Tubi TV. Its still a funny show after all these years.
I save $85 bucks a month, this takes into account the 25 it costs for Sling.
One Roku came free with the sling description. Took about 10 days (they may want to speed this up, I was getting ready to cancel due to the PC interface)
Sling gives you access to a lot of on demand stuff from TBS, TNT, SiFi, BBC America, but some times stuff you plan on watching tomorrow is gone when tomorrow arrives.
Over all, I wont go back to Metrocast for TV, but may be up for other options. My Girlfriend followed suite after seeing much more of the type of stuff she liked on Roku, even with out Sling.
Other ideas and notes:
I am thinking about Direct TV Now to replace Sling to see if I can get more local stations and the Superbowl.
For newer movies, a PC and Kodi are used. I am not a big fan of the Kodi interface, and the processing that can go on for up to 5 minutes before the movie starts, or the buffering after starting.
Steve
Ovid_and_Flem said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
Well it really is time for me to update tv. Give size of my den going from 42 inch to 60ish inch.
Sure, of course. Just consider it a separate purchase from the smart.
Our dumb TV is hooked up to an AppleTV because we have other Apple products and they integrate well. It's got Amazon Video and Netflix which we use and a bunch of other stuff we never use. A lot of the time, I'm streaming straight off my laptop so the AirPlay integration is the valuable part for us. A Roku would do the job otherwise and I'm sure all the little USB stick options that let you stream from Androids and PCs etc would do the trick as well.
Meanwhile, my BluRay player will do Netflix and other stuff. I'm pretty sure most of the gaming consoles have this capability now as well.
So the "smart" part is almost a commodity. Figure out if there's an unusual thing you want to do (ie, support AirPlay in my case) and that might steer you towards one option or another. You might even find a smart TV will do everything you need right now, but in five years when we're all watching GoogleTV or whatever you will probably have to plug something else into it.
In reply to maschinenbau :
What about recording TV shows etc for later playback? What’s good what’s cheap?
We ditched Direct TV when we moved 7 years ago. We have a couple of Rokus and a smart TV with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. My wife uses it during the day, but other than the occasional movie the TVs mostly stay off in the evenings. I really don't miss it.
frenchyd said:In reply to maschinenbau :
What about recording TV shows etc for later playback? What’s good what’s cheap?
You can still get TiVo's for OTA TV. Many are available for cheap in the secondary market.
For Cable, you have to use their DVR boxes because they won't work with TiVo's.
Thanks, all for your input. When I really look at tv viewing, I really only watch news channels, some PBS, local affiliates. Local channels are readily available with an antennae and I get about 20 channels..abc, nbc, fox, CBS and PBS with excellent antenna reception. SWMBO only watches HGTV and cooking channels plus have a need for STARZ so she can watch a few series she likes (Outlander primarily). We will watch occasional movie on demand. Realistically not a whole lot of tv in the big scheme of things. Probably would miss History channel. Truth be know we could realistically survive with just an antennae.
We cut it 3 years ago.
2 Roku boxes, Sling,Hulu and Netflix. Wife works nights and cant catch the weeknight shows, Hulu is almost like a DVR for her.
The freebee stuff can be amazing. PlutoTV is great for the $0 price tag.
The amount of great stuff on Youtube is staggering. The amount of garbage is even more staggering.
Live stuff on youtube is great too. Austrailian racing, Stuff from Goodwood, Mecum acutions...
We dont watch any sports.
With the decent Home Depot antenna, and a booster, we get a good 40 over the air channels, sometimes more or less depending on the weather.
I dont ever plan on going back
FWIW, finding a 'dumb' tv these days is hard/impossible.
Most smart TVs will get the job done, but the interface is very slow compared to a dedicated box. As far as the dedicated boxes go, Apple TV has been the most user friendly in my experience.
We have a Vizio that handles Hulu/Neflix/Amazon, as well a Chromecast and a RPi3 Kodi.
maschinenbau said:I've used Chromecast before and it works well, but I like having a remote. Chromecast uses your smart phone as the remote, which is kinda cool but doesn't feel right to me personally.
If your TV supports HDMI-CEC (it should), your remote can control the chromecast as well. You need your phone/tablet/pc/whatever to launch the show, but you can play/pause/stop/etc. with your remote. This goes for almost anything made in the past 5 (10?) years plugged into HDMI, with a few exceptions (xbox one IIRC)
With Amazon Prime, you can add on the premium channels like Starz($8.99/month) and HBO(14.99/month), and I'm pretty sure I've seen a history channel package as well.
Odd, my xbox prime video app doesn't allow the ability to purchase channels, but the smart tv app does. While a bit pricier than most streaming boxes, an Xbox or PlayStation would be a good replacement as well. All the streaming capabilities, Blu-ray /DVD capability, easy to use interface.
In reply to lrrs :
Where are you in NH? I think the antenna finders on the web play games. There are TV market areas, so I suspect that areas in NH won't show Boston Stations just because they are in a different broadcasting market.
I live in Chelmsford, MA (near Lowell). The Boston transmitters are located in Needham, MA near the Rt 128/Highland Ave exit (where the WCVB and Fox 25 studios are). Using http://antennaweb.org , that is about 22 miles from Chelmsford as the crow flies. The center of Nashua, NH reports the Boston stations as being 34 miles away. Manchester, NH doesn't even show the Boston stations. There are antenna with a reported range (best case) of 100-150 miles (above roof line, no major obstructions). You might be able to get them with different equipment.
Keith Tanner said:Ignore the smart TV, put the brains in the little box attached to it. That way you can update the little box for a lot less than a new smart TV.
This. I can't take credit for this line, but somebody once had a pretty good summary: "I want my TV to be like Homer Simpson. Big, loud, and dumb."
we have roku/amazonprime/netflix/hulu. Really isn't much we can't watch. Eventually that stuff adds up to the same amount as tv packages do though so just be careful. Oh we also have a firestick but it won't stay connected for crap and spends most of its time buffering.
roku household here, running sling, netflix, and amazon prime.
tend to get more buffering on sling programming except on our one roku that is hardwired (not on wifi). Honestly I wouldn't miss sling if we dropped it but my wife uses it a bunch. We tried Hulu for a month and she preferred sling.
Just cut my cord this week. Here are some high points:
HD Antenna: Amazed at how well this works and how clear the picture is. For the price, I can have local stations for free when I just want something on in the background. Watched an episode of Gomer Pyle yesterday, because it was on. LOL
Amazon Fire Stick: We have Amazon Prime anyway, so this makes sense. I watch the Grand Tour and some other stuff, but mostly get to Netflix through it.
Netflix: Love it, a must have. Available on the Smart TV or the Fire Stick, so we are covered everywhere.
Sling TV: This seemed like the best option for streaming, but it only works on certain Smart TVs. My Samsung was not one of them, it is model-specific so do some research. Not a huge deal, but did not want 14 remotes just to watch a show. Also more expensive, and did not give me any Steelers games, so the live streaming was less important to me.
HULU: We went with this because it is pretty cheap, and there were a lot of shows for the kids. Lots of the shows I like are on there as well, just not live streaming. You have to wait until they are available, but I am about a month behind on TV anyway. (8 years behind on fashion, 12 years behind on fitness, 17 years behind on pop culture, 23 on music...)
Football: This is the hard thing to get, my wife is a Steelers fanatic. You can find online where each game of your favorite team will be broadcast - even the Boston Cheaters - with tips on how to watch. (my wife told me to call them that) We can see some on local TV, some on Amazon, and for the ESPN games, we are going to a sports bar. She also has NFL on her Verizon cellphone, which can also fill gaps...like walking around Epcot Center as she watched the Steelers end their season. : (
Internet: Verizon has amazing, awesome deals with brand new equipment and no annual contracts for new customers. Existing customers get squat. There are ways to be a new customer at the same address apparently, I have no idea, but you could Google it.
Apple TV: I have two, sitting in a box. I am an Apple FanBoi, but the TV never really clicked for me. You can stream from the phone to the Amazon stick, so I doubt they will get used again.
Having a cold and not being able to watch the Pats game, and figuring I might miss the superbowl, got to me today.
I signed up for Direct TV NOW as the 4 quarter was getting under way. Direct TV now carried the Boston CBS station, so I was able to catch the end of the game.
I will post an update on Direct TV Now vs Sling in a couple weeks.
Going to bed to shortly take care of my cold, unless I get distracted on the forum.
I just cut loose Directv today, which I have had since 2009. So I will be looking into options listed here. Seems like plenty of choices.
First I am getting a HD antenna, for the local stuff. No brainer there. I have Amazon prime already, just need to get it connected to my TV. It's a LG led tv, not smart. I do have a Blu-ray player with both Wi-Fi and network cable connections. Maybe I can use it to get content to the TV. Doing some research on it to see what it can do.
Later I may get something like Amazon Fire, Apple TV or similar. Then whatever streaming service covers what I want to watch.
In reply to 81cpcamaro :
I am amazed at the quality of the picture just using a digital antenna for local stations. Much better than the actual cable reception
How old is the Roku being mentioned? Mine is 3 years old and still has a WiFi remote?
We have been using a Roku for years and it's been awesome. We have brought it on vacation and as long as the hotel has wifi, we can get NETFLIX, Motor Trend on Demand or any other number of apps on the TV. Plex is a great app that I use to get YouTube videos on my TV. A Roku box is small, cheap and there are a ton of channels for every imaginable interest on there. Some Rokus have a port to plug in data like a USB stick and you can watch files on your TV.
Cut the chord over 5 years ago and haven't looked back. Have an antenna and get all the usual CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox. Chromecast is a great asset as well.
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