I had the original Roku box after seeing an old Navy friend's in 2009. It lasted a decent time but ended up with a lot of buffering issues and problems. I bought an Xbox One at some point around 2014 I think, and now I use it more for streaming than games. If it ever dies, I should probably re-read this thread for the next device.
z31maniac said:Mndsm said:I realize this is a (mostly) dead issue- but I've got straight up android TVs. Was not my intention. HOWEVER- They seem to run the most stripped back user interface of all the smart TVs out there, they integrate with all my other ish the easiest, and they've (so far) been the most consistent from a performance standpoint out of all the "smart"devices I've owned.
I've discovered I hate anything Fire related with the passion of 1000 terrible romance novels, to the point we actually gave away our 4k fireTV because I refused to use it.
That's weird, I'm a big fan of Android stuff, but have found the last few TVs we've had to be painfully slow and unreliable for the apps built in vs using Roku or a Fire Cube.
We just got a Gen 3 Fire Cube, as the first one we bought 5+ years ago was starting to act strange. I think it was all the 4k content and apps being more processor heavy.
Heres a double mindberkeley for ya, they're cheap-ass hisense TV's too- bought largely because they were the best performing panels for gaming. I could give a E36 M3 about the software. But it works pretty good so ???
Personal preference, but I find the FireTV interface to be maddening. Non-intutitve, busy, full of ads and promos to try and get me to watch whatever show or subscribe to whatever service. My default devices are Rokus. Simple interface, they have everything from cheap streaming sticks to advanced boxes and their own TVs. And they have all the streaming apps.
Having said that, my main streamer on my main TV is an Nvidia Shield Pro. Part of this is me being an Android nerd, but a big part is the AI upscaling.
eastsideTim said:In reply to 4cylndrfury :
That's actually the one that I had that died. I'm downgrading to the most basic one, which shouldn't be much of a big deal, since I don't have a 4K TV, nor is my eyesight probably good enough to take advantage of one.
yes...but does the cheaper one now offer MOAR BUTTUNZ?
but yeah, not wanting 4k functionality is an important factor...
One thing I'd like to see on Amazon Fire remotes, is to have the 4 "direct service" buttons have a few more to directly access certain apps. AND have them be programmable.
The remote for our newest Amazon Fire, one for DirectTV, and one for Peacock. We don't use either of those.
For those thinking of Amazon Fire, you can look forward to more ads!
Duke said:Right now we're streaming through our PS4. We're about to drop cable and I'm not sure the PS4 can keep up with being our only source of streaming. Sometimes it's a bit juddery.
We will need a new TV at some point in the moderate future. I really don't want a smart TV. I'm thinking of getting a Roku 4k now even though we can't take advantage of it until we replace the 15-year-old 1080P Sony.
We currently have Netflix and access to Disney+ through family. I was thinking about adding Hulu and maybe Discovery, but honestly we'll probably just run with the 2 we already have, plus Amazon FreeVee and Pluto.
So, 3 months later I still haven't pulled the trigger. Been too busy to really concentrate on the issue, but we have to ditch the cable we never watch. In the 3 months since this post I would have saved enough to pay for the streamers outright.
Anybody have anything bad to say about Rokus? I'm still favoring these two:
https://www.roku.com/products/roku-ultra - This one will replace the cable box in our main setup, which is run through a 5.1+ AVR.
Also probably going to get this one for the den TV, which doesn't have audio support, just it's internal speakers:
https://www.roku.com/products/audio/roku-streambar-pro
Anybody have thoughts or advice? Definitely looking for a plug-n-play solution.
We don't currently have any smart TVs, and while the next TV almost certainly will be "smart", in general I hear people complain about most of the native apps, so I plan to bypass them in favor of the Rokus (or alternate recommended device).
We had Amazon fire sticks and they worked well when we used Fubo or YouTube TV.
When we switched to Spectrum streaming we found that Spectrum and Amazon don't get along so we switched to Roku sticks on two TVs and the Roku box on the one that could be connected via Ethernet cable.
The free Roku channels have some old syndicated show like home improvement, bones, and others.
The biggest annoyance is that the living room tv is an older Samsung plasma and we have an lg soundbar, and the Roku controller can't control power to the tv and volume on the soundbar cleanly. It works, but the tv complains about it with a message box in the middle of the screen (which eventually goes away).
The Amazon remote could handle both tv and soundbar, but since you are looking at a Roku soundbar it seems like it wouldn't be an issue for you.
In reply to Duke :
Roku is probably still the most independent of the platforms and seems to have pretty good support all in all. I have both a 4k Roku TV and an ultra stick for an older dumb 1080p TV. As a bonus I can get my Pi-Hole to fully sinkhole all the phone home metrics that the devices attempt to send back to Roku without breaking anything.
I've never had good luck with Fire devices, they seem to spec the hardware in such a way that they become unacceptably slow after a year or two and I don't have any experience with Apple TV.
I wouldn't go for the streambar personally. Roku, while the support is pretty long lived, it is ultimately a semi disposable device. I'd just get the stick (unless you really need the ethernet port) and pump that extra $120 into a decent standalone soundbar. I have a 2.1 Sony soundbar that's outlived 2 Rokus at this point over the last 15 years.
My only gripe with Roku is that we keep the Youtube app off the devices it because it's too easy to get out of the Kids profile (not that Google does a great job moderating it in the first place) and onto an unfiltered profile. While Roku supports casting from a device, for Android anyway, it has a tendency to pull up a full interface for Youtube rather than just the video I was attempting to watch. That really annoys the hell out of me because now I need the find the video again and my iOS devices don't do that. So I have a Chromecast hooked up to the TV in addition to the Roku because that behaves as expected.
As a side note: One of the Roku live TV channels is just 24/7 TopGear reruns. I really appreciate that some days.
The biggest annoyance of Roku is that it consumes an HDMI spot limiting the amount of other things I plug into the TV.
Other than that they are fantastic.
What about Apple TV? We are Mac-based at home, with several Mac computers, plus an iPad and iPhones.
In reply to The0retical :
Thanks very much for the detailed reply.
In reply to ProDarwin :
On the main setup, everything goes to the AVR with a single HDMI out from there to the TV. On the secondary setup, extra inputs aren't really needed.
I use and recommend x86 PCs running Linux, you can get small NUC-style single-board PCs for 2 digits these days or find used office PCs in your local classifieds. They run whatever I want and I don't have to worry about any privacy-ruining crapware.
GameboyRMH said:I use and recommend x86 PCs running Linux, you can get small NUC-style single-board PCs for 2 digits these days or find used office PCs in your local classifieds. They run whatever I want and I don't have to worry about any privacy-ruining crapware.
While that's certainly an optimized solution, I don't want to make this my hobby. I just want to take it out of the box, hook it up, and use it.
I have Roku as well. No problems after 3-4 years unless you count that the back won't stay on the remote. Tape fixed that. I would Roku again.
I have two Roku boxes here, one of 'em predates 4k by about 5 years and it worked last time it was plugged in, but the TV it was driving was retired years ago, so I should probably just toss it.. The daily driver has been working flawlessly in the hands of 5 kids for the past 4 or 5 years and still streams to the 4k TV perfectly fine. The remote's plastic is a bit wonky due to being chewed on by the dog when he was a puppy, but, I don't really fault them for that..
We liked it enough that we bought a Roku TV (TCL Brand) for in front of the exorsize equipment in the basement. It works equally as well.
As mentioned above, it's platform agnostic and the Pi Hole seems to block the telemetry.
I'd buy it again.
I was Apple TV back in the day, but it quickly sucked so bad that I tossed them all despite the investment.
I was then Amazon TV, but over the years I got SO SICK of them not working. When you have a 1/2 hour to eat lunch and want to watch something, but it takes 20 minutes to get the damn thing to work, its frustrating.
So last year I went to Roku and I have to say, I am loving it. Not one glitch or issue in 6 months, so easy to setup and operate, I really cant complain.
I do have a few smart TVs, but in my experience you are stuck with whatever apps they came with. Like when HBO Max became just Max, my older TVs were SOL. Streaming devices can be updated, I haven't found that to be the case with TVs.
Very happy with our Roku Streaming Stick 4k.
I thought we were looking at replacing our Samsung "smart" TV, but it turns out that letting Roku do the smarting fixed everything we hated about it.
I've had two incidents (over several months) of a wavering-video wierdness, which may be down to the TV, or the combination of HDMI jiggery-pokery (we *do* have a TV with 2 HDMI ports that are hard to access but 3 devices, and we occasionally want to swap out the Roku for a Blu-Ray player, so I have the Roku on an extender cable so I don't have to try to reach up behind the TV to do the swap). Other than that it's been solid, it's much snappier in interface than the Samsung TV was, the Roku remote does a fine job of controlling the TV power and audio.
I have half an inkling that we had a couple of issues with volume control not working just for a moment, but it's possible that we just got sloppy with line of sight for the TV's IR receiver.
It's worked well with files off the NAS via Synology media server and with the streaming services we use.
It's so much better than the Samsung it just makes me gush a little.
I have yet to find any of the smart TV type interfaces that doesn't drive me berking nuts, so I use my laptop with an HDMI cable connected to my multimedia receiver/stereo. The audio for the TV stopped working a couple of years ago, so now it's basically a large-ish monitor.
Eventually, I'll get some type of mini desktop computer with an HDMI output and a wireless keyboard and mouse. That would reduce the cable-clutter running across my living room.
Have multiple Roku devices. A TV. A couple sticks. And an Ultra in our bedroom which allows me to connect with an Ethernet cable. Recommend strongly.
Note: they have big sales on Black Friday and probably some other holidays.
No Time said:We had Amazon fire sticks and they worked well when we used Fubo or YouTube TV.
When we switched to Spectrum streaming
...Snip
How do you like Spectrum TV versus YouTubeTV and Fubo?
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