Best hardware device to stream to a TV

[Grey Ghost]

I cut my crapcast cable down to basic (10 channels) and now about ready to get rid of those and turn their crappy hardware back into them.

What would be the most economical device to stream YT, and all the other stuff to a TV via HDMI input? IPAD? Cheap laptop?

[Thunder22]

playstation or xbox

[ZipZap]

Pretty much all newer tv's have streaming if you have the wifi link.

[MEANZ06]

Between a laptop piped into the boob tube and a firestick we have plenty of content to watch. For live news I just use another laptop and watch online.

Yeah, cutting the cord was hard at first but the frustration at first is well worth a hefty cable bill that you only use maybe five channels.

[BayouCountry]

I picked up an Apple TV for 70 bucks when AT&T had a promotion. It works great with my Harmony remote and home automation voice commands.

When I was canceling Spectrum the service rep mentioned they had a $30 streaming package that allows me to select ten channels. I’m able to get my local channels, Fox Business, and sports channels for LSU games and NASCAR races. I pay a little more for the cloud DVR so it comes to around $130; near the price I used to pay for Spectrum before the huge price increases. I bounce around using other streaming providers for movies and Sci-fi shows.

Internet alone is now $75 per month for the so-called 200 mbps.

I upgraded an old laptop with a SSD and wireless keyboard. It works OK for any other steaming needs.

[mrvette]

I use two Ammozone Firesticks, the one in the back bedroom turns on/off with the TV, I wired a relay to the back of the set.....the living room set has a switch on it, I too lazy to tear into the TV ......A couple months ago, I turned in my cable TV box....dropped my commiecast bill down to about 70 bux/month....instead of the 150 I was paying.....

[VatorMan]

I’d say Roku or Apple TV. We are majority Roku.

[MadInNc]

When we moved I had the new house prewired with an OTA antenna and distribution amp. Channel master is supplier. Bought high gain outdoor antenna and installed in attic.

40 channels over the air

Also upgraded the main TV to a 85” smart TV for G-kid movie night and all others now ~32” Fire TV’s

Pluto Tv, Ustvgo.tv, Tubi, Plex and IMDb are free and have local and all are streamer services. Besides that we have Prime, Hulu and Netflix.

Was paying ~$200 per mo w Spectrum, now $80 for everything including Internet, phone (security system) and Netflix/ Hulu.

8 month payback, 3 to go yet

[Stangkiller]

Best bang for the buck if Apps are okay, a fire tv stick $25-45. Apple TV is arguably the best device, but at nearly 10x the cost of a firestick its value is debateable.

If you want the feel of a computer, consider buying a refurbished work station from newegg or something ~$200 and use a wireless keyboard/mouse combo.

I use a mix of fire tvs and apple tvs throughout the house, but ive been adding fire tvs and amazon echos lately, we use ATT TV for our IPTV, but also have prime video and hbo max.

[Strats-N-Vettes]

Originally Posted by Thunder22

playstation or xbox

This.↑

• Both can be hardwired or wireless.
• Both can be found used everywhere, for cheap (if necessary).
• Both have access to hundreds of free apps, with free TV, or ....paid subscriptions...ie. Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc...
• You Tube, Crackle, Pluto TV, etc.. = free
• Is portable, can go house to house.
• Will play DVD's and Blue Ray.

[dvarapala]

I have the original FireTV and have ZERO complaints. It's snappy, responsive, and AFAICT bug free - which is more than I can say for the apps built into my Samsung 8-series UHDTV...

[ratflinger]

FireTV 4K cube

[Rodnok1]

I use firestick mostly or built in apps on tv. For any streaming from a pc, i hook laptop up or download and throw on a thumb drive and slap in the tv. Haven't had paid tv channels in 15 plus years.

[Aerovette]

Roku on 3 TVs and my projector.

Firestick on the outside TV.

Built in apps on Samsung.

I hate the Samsung apps. Like Roku the best. Firestick is "meh" as far as navigation

[TripleBlack]

We have a 4k Roku that's worked very well. Like it better than the built in AndroidTV interface on our Sony TV. I have a fire stick on the projector and it's okay.
One thing to check out is availability of apps for the services you use. Roku and YoutubeTV are at odds right now. The YoutubeTV app can no longer be downloaded to Roku though what's loaded still works. I don't think you can get tje YoutubeTV app on a new Roku for now. The regular Youtube app isn't affected. I think there was a similar issue between Firestick and Youtube in the past.
Google just sent me a free "GoogleTV" streamer. It's a stand along AndroidTV 4k box. Haven't opened it, but it was a $50 freebie. I'll try it out if the Roku/Youtube feud gets worse.

[The_Dude]

I just have an old PC with a tuner card hooked up to mine.

[Torqaholic]

Beats me, don't own a TV... But I did watch a few YT movies recently and learned a new trick. Doesn't work on regular videos (and maybe not even on every movie?) but I've seen it work on a few movies so far. Click the end of the progress bar then skip back to the beginning and watch the flick without ad interruptions