Was just reading/watching about this one. I have no experience with this at all. How much of a cable replacement would this be?
I’d want full access to my favorite shows (eg Walking Dead, GoT, etc), Sports (NFL, College football & hoops, Soccer), movies, and plenty of content for my wife & kids…
Just getting really tired of my cable bill. Seems like money we could be putting towards a better cause.
I think this one might be a tad more expensive than others, but I want max features and plug n play idiot proof, everything preloaded capability.
Also, any chance I could use like a 7" tablet as a remote with an app?
I’ve got a Vizio Costar HTPC box. It’s not an Android box, like the one you posted. It supposedly falls under the Google TV umbrella. So I still get apps from the Play Store. So I’m not completely sure how an Android box differs from a Google box. Maybe the only difference is the user interface.
A couple of things I would suggest to get as much information as you can before making the purchase. 1) While it says free to load any app you want, the apps are very limited when compared to the phone apps. The apps have to be built for use with tvs. It’s not that big of a deal because I never intended to have all of the apps from my phone on my tv as well. But it is a little misleading.
It does come with Google Chrome. But it still has some of the limitations as the original Smart tvs in terms of the Flash compatibility. For instance, I could not get the feed from the Campbell game last night to work on the Costar. But it did on the laptop. To the best of my knowledge they still haven’t gotten Flash to work correctly. I would be interested to hear if it works correctly on these Android boxes.
I use a roku on each tv and have a plex server… Also I have netflix, prime, and hulu. Anything I can’t get on those I download for plex to serve up. Getting ready to add a slingbox to the mix so each roku can take advantage of the basic cable we have to buy through our HOA.
If you have much digital media, there is nothing better than plex and roku . Not to mention that plex makes that media available on just about any device at home or away.
[quote=“moss2k, post:3, topic:28980”]NA, have a list of programming that would allow you to receive? Particularly interested in sports programming.[/quote]The key to sports is really to get someone with cable / dish to authorize your device to stream using their account (you don’t even need their password, just some coordination).
With a Roku, you can put on WatchESPN and use it with someone else’s account. You can also download an app called SkitterTV and with that you can subscribe to CBS Sports channel for $4.99/mo.
Mac, you know you’re a techy if you use Plex. ;D I tried it a few years ago(I believe there’s even a thread about it on NNN somewhere) and it was over my head. Forgot trying to explain it to family members trying to use the TV. The user interface could have changed since then though.
Definitely a techy, but the interface is pretty simple these days I think. You can even share libraries with people and set certain media to automatically sync to a device for offline.
It does pretty much require a PC up and running all the time though. Plex with roku passed the wife acceptance factor in our house. Not to mention the downloaded stuff has the commercials ripped out.
[quote=“Niner National, post:6, topic:28980”][quote=“moss2k, post:3, topic:28980”]NA, have a list of programming that would allow you to receive? Particularly interested in sports programming.[/quote]The key to sports is really to get someone with cable / dish to authorize your device to stream using their account (you don’t even need their password, just some coordination).
With a Roku, you can put on WatchESPN and use it with someone else’s account. You can also download an app called SkitterTV and with that you can subscribe to CBS Sports channel for $4.99/mo.[/quote]
It works great for that, but the Roku doesn’t allow you to stream from your phone to it to play on your TV. Wish it did because I would have watched the game last night.
I use an OUYA. It runs XBMC really well, and it can emulate any pre-ps2 game on it.
I have all the add-ons for xbmc, and can watch pretty much any sports channel or sporting event live. The quality is not always great, but its free. Also, you can find almost any movie or tv show ever made in hd.
Its not always the most user friendly, so I wouldn’t recommend it for your grandparents, but it is has been great.
Asus is coming out with this little stick. Some think these will be upgrades to owning a Roku or Chromecast stick. I imagine Google will have to upgrade the Chromecast to something like this soon.
Android TV has pretty much made my Google TV box(Vizio Costar) outdated already. It still works. But there’s no more updates/support or apps being developed for it.
I’m still interested in getting a Media PC, mostly for streaming sports. But I’m reluctant to sink money into not knowing how well the video performance will be or if there is enough memory.
I still love the simplicity and convenience of Chromecast. As someone who’s had XBMC, and a Windows HTPC, I can say that Chromecast is by far the easiest to use, and, fairly robust.
[quote=“ninermac, post:4, topic:28980”]I use a roku on each tv and have a plex server… Also I have netflix, prime, and hulu. Anything I can’t get on those I download for plex to serve up. Getting ready to add a slingbox to the mix so each roku can take advantage of the basic cable we have to buy through our HOA.
If you have much digital media, there is nothing better than plex and roku . Not to mention that plex makes that media available on just about any device at home or away.[/quote]
does the sling app natively throw to the chromecast?
I have a kindle fire box on one TV and my other TV is a 4k smart TV with a built in web browser. Even @ 4k resolution, I don’t like using it as a PC, though it functions fine.
I was gonna buy a PC stck, but I find the Fire box does pretty much everything I need, and its fast.
BTW, if you get one of these, drop $25 on the Logitech Bluetooth keyboard/touchpad that’s on Amazon. Yes you can keyboard app on phone or tablet, but that keyboard is great. I love it. Very portable too. Plug n play.