Posted on 02/24/2015 6:11:54 AM PST by dennisw
If you have Amazon Prime, your clear choice is the new Amazon Fire TV.
I have 4 Roku’s, an Apple TV, a WD Live and a Chromecast. For Christmas, I was given an Amazon Fire TV.
After 2 days with the AFTV, I unhooked the Roku, WD Live and ATV from my main TV and now only use the AFTV. AFTV comes with apps installed for Netflix, Hulu Plus and, of course, the Amazon Prime services.
But AFTV also has lots of other very useful apps. For example, there’s an app called Plex that makes it very easy to play music and videos stored on a computer on your network. There’s another app that supports Apple airplay so that you can play videos stored on your iPhone.
The AFTV supports gaming.
The AFTV makes the Roku seem very dated.
Can’t say enough good things about the Amazon Fire TV.
We’re using a Roku LT for our big screen and love it. The device gives you access to subscription channels such as Netflix, etc. - but also includes numerous free channels. Good mobile app also for Roku (select and manage channels, and remote control).
We also use Netflix at $9/month streaming. Have it on our TV’s, laptops, cell phones, tablets... Recommend it.
We also subscribe to Amazon Prime, and use Amazon to fill in the gaps when we can’t find something we really want on Netflix.
We have a FiOS connection, but your DSL connection would likely be fine. Good luck!
I paid twenty five bucks for an Acer computer from the Vista era. It can be either mini-tower or pancake. It has a blue-ray DVD. It has HDMI out. It is 64bit capable.
spent another 10 bucks for a wireless NIC, and 30 bucks at WallyWorld for a wireless KB with glidepad built in. Meant to jack up the RAM, put in a big vid card, and install Win7/64, but I hooked it up to the TV and found it handles everything perfectly as is.
Subscribed to Netflixs and Amazon Prime, and I expect to give CableTV the axe around summertime, saving me some 70 bucks a month. And NO MORE stupid Smart TV apps. No more DVD player. No more Roku. Just a TV and a computer, and I have never been happier. Cheap, effective, upgradeable, and I can fix it. Sweeet.
exactly, there are a lot of classic old movies on Youtube and if you like K-dramas like me, KBS World subtitles everything on their site.
Time Warner Cable subscribers can watch it on their computers, but local stations and a few other channels might not be available
sounds like a good plan
I got a Roku 1 on sale for $30 right before Christmas, after having the earlier version for a couple of years, so I wouldn’t have to cart it back and forth from my bedroom TV to the one in the living room.
I’m watching the fourth season of Mad Men and the first season of House of Cards on Netflix, which the Roku is great for. I’d suggest getting an Amazon Prime account if you order lots of products through Amazon, because in addition to the free two-day shipping there are lots of movies and TV shows you can watch for free on Prime Instant Video.
I have heard some bad things about the reliability of the Roku stick version. It is certainly handier to put it in your HDMI port than to have to find a surface to place the tabletop version, but perhaps until they get the bugs worked out that would be the best way to go.
FWIW - we have a Roku device - not the stick but the one that’s about 4” x 4”. We stream Netflix and Amazon prime - but there are some free channels and YouTube, and Acorn, etc. Not a lot of live anything. Right now going through episodes of Blue Bloods.
D00d. It rocks. I should have done this years ago.
It has been pretty normal for me to have the TV on and muted, while I am listening to something on the laptop or the tablet... but not anymore. And best of all, once the cable box goes, I will be down to ONE clicker and a keyboard. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had but ONE clicker? It's heaven, I'm tellin' ya'
I would go with the 6 meg DSL. You will be able to stream HD no problem with little delay. You will be pushing it though if you decided to have two or more streams at the same time.
I have an older Roku XD that I’ve used for years and just purchased the Roku 3 ($59 at Costco after instant rebate!) Spend the extra $$ and go with the Roku 3. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but you can connect earphones right into the remote! Perfect for those late night movie binges!
So my advice is go with 6 meg internet, and get a Roku 3. You will be happy!
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Antenna. Where I live, I can only pick up a couple of over-air stations; thus, cable/satellite TV is almost essential.
TV Tuner Card. What is you computer type? Older computers have full connectors. Newer machines have Express cards. I bought the wrong one when I got my new Win7 computer a couple of years ago.
I did buy another TV card that works pretty good — Hauppage WinTV 1255 with 1 coaxial cable connection. I did have a problem with the original software, so I had to upgrade. The latest didn’t work, so I ended up with a middle upgrade. It was a hassle, but I finally got it to work.
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Why don’t you just mind your n00bie business and stay off of the TV threads?
There has got to be a thread better suited to you than coming here and posting your stupid graphic.
Actually it’s not ‘on the edge’. There is no law against streaming. There is a law against downloading and distributing.
Once again, all comments are appreciated. Hopefully I am not the only freeper who can learn something here.
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