[Closed] Tell me about chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon stick etc

i think youre right to forego the smart element of the tv, but thought they were all smart these days 🙂

yeah, get the best pictured tv you can, and add the smart element from a stick later. theyll move with technology faster than youll upgrade the tv.

Been many threads 😉

Apple TV, basic £69 will be fine. I agree with your approach, get the best TV you can smart or non smart and put the smart tech in he ATV/iPad. That you will update every few years a TV you tend to keep for 10 years. I say ATV as you have an iPad and it works very well AirPlay/Mirroring content, eg bbc iplayer, itv, channel 4, other steaming movies (eg Curzon Home Cinema). Red Bull DH coverage is great too.

The smart tv i went to buy ~4 years ago is now completely out of date and no longer supported by the manufacturer.
Good job it was out of stock and i bought a dumb telly.

The chromecast that i bought for it still works fine. And i can upgrade to a chromecast 2 for €30. Raspberry Pi 2 is on the shopping list too.

Mate of mine has a smart tv, but still uses Netflix off iPad via AppleTv - it's just easier to use that way. Smarttv interfaces (the few that I've seen) are a bit crappy compared to browsing through an iPad or laptop,

My new Sony has a Chromecast built in (been using a normal Chromecast for over a year now). I'll let you know how I get on with it once I've set it up.

I have both an Apple TV 2 (for Airplay from the iPad /phone, Amazon prime and Netflix) and a NowTV (which does iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4 and the NowTV subscription service). They're both good, but it's a bit frustrating that I have to switch between boxes. The NowTV hardware seems a bit better to me, and considering you can get them for £10 they're a complete bargain.

I recently bought my sister a box, and went for the Roku2. It does most of the above, but of course won't do Airplay so it's not perfect for me (I think it'll do Chromecast, mind).

Slight thread hijack - what device can you record on? My broadband isn't the best so sometime streaming can be a pain, so we prefer to download and watch later.

Currently with Sky, but looking to cancel. But their series link, set record from phone app etc., makes ease of use very simple.

I've been contemplating the Apple TV (old one) route. I assume it will stream any content from an MBP. Is that so?

We have the recently outdated Apple TV. I have found that AirPlay has become quite sketchy recently, whereas the chromecast that we also have is much more reliable for mirroring from my iPhone or iPad.

The main advantage for me of the Apple TV is that you can buy or rent films via iTunes on it. If it wasn't for that, I would sell it and just use the chromecast.

To answer the question above, you can AirPlay most things, but not everything. The sky go app blocks AirPlay.

We've a smart Samsung tv..really good, the Samsung apps work well (you tube, love film etc). Have an HDD attached via usb, and the tv controls this.
However, I've also a Chromecast attached to it (and just bought another for the spare room tv) as I like to be able to cast the screen, and certain other apps work better through the Chromecast.

To complicate further, I can cast you tube to the smart tv, or either Chromecast...
I think casting works better on the separate device, but love film on the TV itself is great.

Complicated eh!

DrP

@slowoldman yes it should do and the TV can act as an additional monitor. I say should do as I assume the MBP isn't too old, the wife's 2012 MBP works fine. My 2009 Mini won't support AirPlay

Thanks jambalaya, sounds good. Mine's a mid 2012 MBP.

Turning on home sharing in iTunes on your Mac allows you to stream movies, photos, music etc from that. (I think you need to have same Apple ID for both devices.) Just got ourselves the latest Apple TV. Cracking piece of kit so far. 🙂

Right I got it working!! In built Chromecast is immense!!! I have also installed Kodi on the TV too!! I am impressed.

I have the same basic question. However the smart telly in the spare room has one big virtue.
I am not paying for anything I watch (TV licence excepted) Could drill holes in the house and run a HDMi cable from this PC I suppose.

I got my parents a Chromecast for Christmas. Technologically, they struggle with the landline. They got it working in minutes and now everything is streamed from iPad or my dad's phone. Even when it's live on telly?! £30 can't go wrong.

The sky go app blocks AirPlay.

pretty sure it does i tried it the other day didnt work

Ok, I got that to work with Curzon. Can you access SkyGo through Safari on iphone/ipad ? Blocking it is stupid as you can just plug your computer directly into a tv with a cable/adapter

I don't think you can access via safari but I would have to check

I can output my laptop into the tv via hdmi, so sky blocking it is a bit daft really

I should have also said that sky go app also blocks chromecast, and sky go won't run in chrome on the laptop (silver light support is the issue I believe)

Currently with Sky, but looking to cancel. But their series link, set record from phone app

Free Sat box from Humax and the Freetime app.
Replaced Sky+ and haven't looked back. Box is better, has loads of on demand built in and beta software does Netflix too.

That and a Chromecast is a great combo.

I've been contemplating the Apple TV (old one) route. I assume it will stream any content from an MBP. Is that so?

It's not quite that simple. Airplay works really well but only for certain sources (eg iTunes). Airplay mirroring that uses your laptop's CPU to send the whole screen across doesn't work so well IME. I'm not sure whether it's my laptop (mid 2011 MBP) or the WiFi (probably more likely) but it usually stutters and is unwatchable. Airplay could be a lot better than it is. Never mind.

Same as gravity-slave ditched the Sky Box and got a Humax Free time 1tb box. Has all the TV catch up, YouTube (great for cx) and Netflix. it also allows me to steam stuff downloaded from showbox on my phone via the media steaming function.

Still considering Kodi via a Firestick or Chromecast but can't make my mind up.

I've just put kodi on my mobile and now stream to the chromecast plugged into the telly.
Works a treat.

Dumb 1080p TV with Chromecast at Woppit Towers. The smartphone on t'internet puts everything Chromecast-supported on the net, on to the TV. Fabulous. As to recording, with everything on catch-up and thousands of films available to rent online, why would you need to?

Hmm, still not sure about Apple TV. I tend to download a lot of stuff from BBC iPlayer (radio and TV) into iTunes for later consumption. Now I'm sure Apple TV works with iTunes but I have a sneaky suspicion it needs to be material "purchased" through iTubes (at least that seems to be how they often phrase it).

Might be better sticking with the HDMI cable.

PS: with the "TuneIn Radio" app there's also radio from the entire planet available. I get it the hifi from the TV by casting. Also Ì've recently moved to Google Play Music from Spotify - more music available to download and doesn't go through reguler periods of cutting out every ten minutes when listening to a playlist... ( Samsung Note 4, BTW)

Another +1 f basic Apple TV. Bought it off the classified here for £30 and our full HD Sony TV which we bought as a bargain 8 years old works brilliant with it.

Not tried the sky go app as its on the same telly as the Apple TV but I don't have sky sports so use a streaming app called live media that someone recommended to me. Can't record on it but live steaming of almost any sports channel.

If the AirPlay isn't connecting properly try resetting your router. I had the problem numerous times and thought it was the Apple TV box but it was actually the router.

[url= http://www.iviewus.com/index.php/cyber-pc.html ]PC on a stick[/url] plugged into a tv.

[url= https://plex.tv/downloads ]Plex[/url], Netflix, etc to watch stuff.