Recommendations on streaming hardware

[St George Ute]

I’ve officially cut the cord! Thank you, thank you! (taking a bow) Now I’m researching which streaming equipment to buy for the upcoming football season. I’ll be subscribing to SlingTV as they have the PAC12 Network.

Any recommendations on which streaming box to use? I’ve got it narrowed down to either Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Do any of you have experience with one or both? What are your pros and cons to consider? Which do you prefer?

Any help is appreciated

79 Days left!!!

[UTE98]

I cut the cord several years ago, except for football season. Though last year I found a work around, know someone nearby who has the Utah games.

I’ve got an Apple TV and  two FireTV sticks. I love the FireTV sticks for travel, they are better than the AppleTV for streaming on the cheap/free internet at your hotel, my AppleTV would always be buffering. Long story short the streaming rate is lower, but I haven’t noticed a difference.

I recently added the Plex server on my iMac, since it doesn’t get used as much and have a 500G external HD hooked in with about 100 movies. I have 230 movies on another 1TB external HD with WiFi but it has a battery so I don’t want to overcharge it by leaving it plugged in as my media server storage.

I have accounts with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I paid the extra couple bucks for Hulu with no commercials. I use Hulu as a sort of DVR for TV shows. There are a select few shows not available on Hulu, like Big Bang Theory, but I haven’t missed it. My FireTV Stick has apps for all of those, plus the Alexa, which I’m getting better at using. In fact I’m considering an EchoDot for Christmas.

I don’t have much experience with Roku, however I was just looking at SlingTV the other day and they are offering some good deals on them. Honestly, most streaming boxes do the same things, so Roku and FireTV are likely very similar.

the Apple TV which I’ve had the longest doesn’t have a Plex app, I know Apple wants us to bow down to them. However I have quite a few movies I’ve redeemed digital copies on my iTunes account so it does come in handy, but I spend 90% of my time on the FireTV sticks. The FireTV is probably a little better.

I would probably go with the Roku box, and do the upgrade for about $50 with the Sling subscription, unless you have Amazon Prime, then I’d probably go with the FireTV unless you are keeping Sling year round, I probably won’t.

 

So long story short, if you’re keeping SlingTV year round I’d go with the upgrade on the Roku. If you have Amazon Prime and don’t plan on keeping Sling year round definitely I recommend the FireTV, Amazon has some pretty good programming. The Man in the High Castle was GREAT, Red Oaks was pretty funny, I’ve heard Hand of God is good, I’ve heard good things about Bosch. And as a bonus you get Amazon music, so can stream music with a quick… “Alexa play the best alternative songs from 1997” or “when is the next Utah utes football game” Oh wait that’s not music. “Alexa how are the Pens doing”

Cutting the cord, is definitely the right decision, but make sure you get an HD antenna, I picked one up at Costco. And of course if you have an XBox, or computer you might not even need the streaming device.

Devices which run SlingTV.

[PlainsUte]

Great source for over-the-air antennas and such…  
http://www.solidsignal.com

[Milton Vanderslice]

I posted a more in depth answer on UFN.  Choose the Roku over the Fire if SlingTV is your go to sports watching. 

 

Also, I use Plex more than any other app. 

[Tony (admin)]

2nd time I’ve heard about this Plex thing. So what is it, like a DVR for streaming devices?

[UTE98]

Plex is basically an application which connects a media server, in my case an external HD with about 200 DVD movies, and a few HD movies, and over 3000 songs. I burned my music and ripped my DVDs, I still have them physically, and put them on the drive. So now using the Plex app on my FireTV I can access all my movies and music. Note some like to use KODI but I like the simplicity of Plex, though it is not as flexible as far as skins, themes, etc, it does the encoding for you if needed unlike KODI from what I’ve read.

[Tony (admin)]

I cut the cord a couple of years ago when crapcast doubled my bill from $100/mo to $200.  I bought an OTH antenna for the TV so I can get the big 4.  Then I got a Roku and pay for the sports package with the ESPN’s and then add the $5/mo for Pac12, but only in the on-season.  In the offseason it all gets shut off.  I haven’t watched TV since the Masters in April and before that was the men’s basketball.

I got a deal on the roku where if I paid for 3 months of some subscription I got the roku for free.  The one disadvantage of a roku is it isn’t a DVR, but I don’t care.  If I don’t catch it live I just won’t watch it.

[St George Ute]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I’m going to go the Roku route, get a Roku Ultra for my main display and an express for each of my other TVs. The main reason for the Ultra is the optical audio port. My main display is connected to a home theater system where my video and audio use separate connections. Just HDMI means I’d have to connect it directly to the display, so no surround sound for Roku streaming. Nah, I’d rather spend a little extra and get the HT connectivity.

Thanks again! And GO UTES!!!

78 DAYS!

[Torg]

I’ve never used Plex, but I do use kodi which I think is awesome.

Any other kodi users here?

[Author]

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