What's your favorite streaming device?

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephenson Perhaps ROKU does this, but when one selects Search on Netflix, Hulu, Prime, PBS, etc the AppleTV box automatically opens comms with my iPad and my iPhone ... So, instead of pressing buttons on the remote to navigate the letters to make words, one uses the keyboard on their iPhone or iPads ... I guess it works with Mac computers, as well. HUGE annoyance reduction ...

In that case, I usually use Siri to say or if needed spell out loud the search name. That is very slick.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpeirce Some also literally spy on you. Vizio for example has an option called "Smart Interactivity" which is turned on my default which tracks your viewing habits and reports them back to Vizio who sell it to information brokers.

Our current Vizio has this turned off by default. I didn't activate it.

On the other hand our previous Vizio did, indeed, have that activated. I had (have) no objections to that for I have nothing to hide. In any event, after four years, the world survived and I am still here.

[Sunset]

We use our blue ray player, no need to buy a specialized streamer.

OP might want to see if they have a blue ray player or DVD player with roku built in already.
I also notice x-box has streaming capability as well, various apps available on it.

[triangle]

I have been a long time user of Roku and recently purchased a TCL smart TV with built-in Roku. Although the image quality is great and the TV gets great reviews online for its value proposition, in retrospect I wish I would have purchased something else though it is difficult not buy a smart TV these days. Nearly all my complaints are with the user interface (Ux) as someone who watches OTA broadcasts and streaming channels. Specific short comings include:

• Remote is way too basic. No buttons to enter the TV station channel number. One is forced to bring up the channel menu and press up/down arrows. And to top it off, the scrolling direction in this menu view is the opposite direction when just going next/back without being in the menu context. The bottom half of the remote is of little use having fixed streaming channels, but at least it is easily ignored.
• Once you have selected your last two TV stations such that you can use the "last channel" button there is a big semi-transparent banner giving a description of the current TV show. This banner lingers on the screen too long...especially if you are flipping back and forth between two football games and checking the scores at the bottom of the screen.
• Volume button is on the side of the remote. Seemed like a good idea at first but it is hard reach. Which would be less of a problem if the baseline volume level between many streaming channels and OTA broadcasts was not so large. Volume must be adjusted every time.
• A lot of button presses are needed to get anywhere. Switching from watching a Roku channel back to broadcast TV takes 6 button presses. If you need to change the TV channel, then more. The previous TV with a separate Roku device required two remotes but was so much easier/faster to operate. With the old TV it was simple to switch sources between broadcast TV and external source (Roku device). This also meant that the Roku did not loose context about what streaming channel it was on. Making it easy to pause the Roku channel stream, go check the score of the big game on OTA, then return back to the paused Roku stream.

Bottom line Roku is nice device/service with a lot of channels that I would recommend. TCL 6 Series is a nice display by itself, great for watching movies and sports. But I would definitely NOT recommend them together in a single package where Roku software is controlling the whole TV interface.

[gtweath]

Our older "stupid" tv just died so I bought a "smart" one. It has netflix, prime and youtube tv built in so it made sense to finally "cut the cord". I stayed with xfinity for internet but dropped the cable and subscribed to youtube tv. One device, one remote...love it!!!

[T-Minus]

We bought three (3) Roku Ultra’s last year on the black Friday sale at Costco for $49/each and love them (Family Room, Guest Room and Master Bedroom). Previously, we had one of the Apple TV 4k units which I actually liked slightly better, but returned it for $189 and got the 3 Roku’s. As I said, the Apple TV was the superior device (the interface is nice), but the Apple remote control never worked the way I wanted it to. I was forever bumping it and accidentally turning the TV on or switching content when I didn’t intend to. The Roku remote has physical buttons that require a push and it does a better job of controlling our TV. Once the entertainment starts however, you cannot tell the difference between devices, so the cheaper the better.

[stephenson]

gt wealth - don't forget, if you want to stream something from another source other than those you mentioned as being integrated in the tv, you may be able to do so. I think a Roku chip enable tv (built with Roku in it) will provide the future flexibility you need.

t-minus - yeah, one of the major gripes about Apple TV is their remote. I use a cheap ($40) Harmony universal remote to control TV, DVD, AV receiver, Apple TV box ... works quite well and is easy.