What streaming device to get now?

So, it appears my third (or fourth, I've lost count over the years) Fire TV device is done for.  It's basically operating as if it's powered by a Z80 chip, even after a hard reset.  I can barely get it to connect to wifi, and can't even get it to log back into my amazon account.  Before these, I used an Apple TV, and it served for quite a while, the only reason I switched was during the time Apple/Amazon/YT were feuding, and I couldn't get all I wanted on the Apple device.

Looks like a basic fire stick is $20, the cheapest Roku device (which may be in the process of being discontinued) is $25, and of course, Apple is charging a huge chunk more at $129.  Main things I watch are YT/Netflix/prime video/prime music/Disney+/Motortrend+.  Oh yeah, some occasional Tubi/Freevee stuff.  From a cost/access standpoint, it is looking like the cheap FireTV stick is the default option, but for those who have them, how long have your Roku devices been going?  Ditto for more recent Apple TVs?  I really don't like contributing to e-waste, so something that won't become useless quickly would be nice.  If there's other options, I'm missing, as long it is plug and play, I'd be interested.  No Raspberry Pi/arduino solutions.

Subscribed.

Modern TVs have all the functionality built in.  No device is needed.

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

That is true, until you have a fire tv like mine, which is becoming less stable, slower, and failing to launch apps properly even after a hard reset. 

As to the original question, I'm using a fire stick plugged into my fire tv to currently stream, but am watching for Roku devices to go on sale again so I can replace the firestick with a Roku stick that can actually work with the spectrum tv app.  

The other TVs in the house are a Samsung smart tv, which is using it's built in streaming and downloaded apps, while the Samsung plasma tv (a dumb tv) is using a xumo device provided free from spectrum for 12 months. 

I have had a Roku stick since 2020 and it still performs great.  If it died I would just buy another.  Truly the easy button.

No issues with our Amazon Fire Cube. 

Went to clean up my initial post, as there are probably enough keywords in there to eventually drag in spammers, but can't edit.  Realized I had some credit on my amazon account, so for now, just went for the cheapest fire stick, as I also realized I watch almost no OTA TV anymore, and I want to get it fast.  Going to do some more looking around and be prepared to switch to Roku or Apple TV after this one conks out, unless it actually lasts longer than 1.5 years.

We had chromecast for years. We got tired of it not working right and just swapped everything to roku. Im pretty happy with it. 

Roku here as well.  No issues

I realize this is a (mostly) dead issue- but I've got straight up android TVs. Was not my intention. HOWEVER- They seem to run the most stripped back user interface of all the smart TVs out there, they integrate with all my other ish the easiest, and they've (so far) been the most consistent from a performance standpoint out of all the "smart"devices I've owned. 

I've discovered I hate anything Fire related with the passion of 1000 terrible romance novels, to the point we actually gave away our 4k fireTV because I refused to use it.  

I've got no problem with the Fire TV interface, but just the reliability.  If it hadn't been for the credits in my account, I'd have probably grabbed something else.  Sounds like next time, I will.

I am running a Nvidia Shield.  It has been rock solid since I got it in maybe 2018 or 2019.  Still fast, still nearly 100% uptime.  Streams everything, runs Kodi, sideload apps if needed, no weirdness like having to put your TV into dev mode to sideload stuff like the LGs....

Amazingly enough devices with adequate processor power still run pretty well.  

I have 3x fire sticks, one just gave up after 5 years, it was going super duper slow so I just unplugged it and need to recycle. The new one is great, it is the 4K one and it's super fast, I have that in my bedroom and in my camper, it runs all the apps I saw above. 

I also have 2 Apple TV's, one is still hooked to a TV but is now not used. One is used just to stream AHL TV for my FIL. I loved them but they are very pricey and they get obsolete like the others do but they do it at 6x the price.

I stream on one TV on my XBox, it works well, it is only streaming Youtube and Disney +, I am sure it can do more but that is all I am doing with it ATM.

Last one is a Samsung smart TV, it is 2 years old and has been great so far, I am worried it will make the TV obsolete with the smart device but so far it is great. On that I stream: Disney+, Netflix, Youtube, Prime, Flo Racing, and F1TV

They all seem to work fine, good news, I don't know that there is a bad choice.

We have a Chromecast HD we got for free or nearly so a few years ago, but I don't think it has a remote.  Honestly I haven't really used it because we still have cable and I never cast from devices to it.

Right now we're streaming through our PS4.  We're about to drop cable and I'm not sure the PS4 can keep up with being our only source of streaming.  Sometimes it's a bit juddery.

We will need a new TV at some point in the moderate future.  I really don't want a smart TV.  I'm thinking of getting a Roku 4k now even though we can't take advantage of it until we replace the 15-year-old 1080P Sony.

We currently have Netflix and access to Disney+ through family.  I was thinking about adding Hulu and maybe Discovery, but honestly we'll probably just run with the 2 we already have, plus Amazon FreeVee and Pluto.

I am a Apple fanatic so I have a Apple TV 4K and love it and how it works so well with my other Apple devices. That said I also have a few Chromecast HDs and when they work they are great for the price. 

My parents have the Fire Cube and seem very happy with it too. I have not had good experience with Roku but everyone else seems to love them so maybe I just had a bad egg. 

It seems that you get what you pay for. My experience: 

Apple TV>Roku box>Roku Stick>Fire Stick>Samsung Smart TV>Vizio Smart TV

My only complaints about the Apple TV are that it is expensive and that the remote is not the best. I think the new remote is better. 

We run Apple TVs. No signs of any feud with Amazon or YouTube. They just work. The one in my shop is from 2012 and won't play every streaming service, but it'll do Hulu, ESPN and YouTube so that's all I'm looking for to play while I'm working on cars. The one in the living room is a 4K from 2018 and it's shown no signs of becoming obsolete with the ability to play any streaming service I've ever heard of. As a bonus, both of them will happily stream music from libraries on my computers. I did update the 4K to the newer remote.

All the TVs are just monitors, they don't get wireless access.

We had two of the original Fire sticks. They both got really slow over time. I replaced them with the 4k Max version and haven't had any problems since. 

We are on our second fire stick after the first one died. The first one lasted almost 8 years so I can't be mad, we paid $10 for it. The second is on it's second year and doing great. Base model for $15. 

We have a Roku in the bedroom that was free. IT works when it wants to. IT's finicky about connecting to wifi and just enough of a PITA we barely use it. Instead we use the DVD player's built in apps. 

Smart TVs have privacy issues.  The cost of the TV is heavily subsidized by information collected about you.  Samsung, LG, and Vizio in particular have been called out for their snooping practices.  If you actually read the privacy agreement on a Samsung TV some years back, you were agreeing that your conversations could be monitored via voice recognition and sent back to third party partners.  No thanks.

My preference is a separate HDMI connected device from google/apple/amazon without the microphone enabled.  It's less convenient and still lets the device manufacturer watch what you're doing, but I think it's at least a little better from a privacy perspective.

Mndsm said:

I realize this is a (mostly) dead issue- but I've got straight up android TVs. Was not my intention. HOWEVER- They seem to run the most stripped back user interface of all the smart TVs out there, they integrate with all my other ish the easiest, and they've (so far) been the most consistent from a performance standpoint out of all the "smart"devices I've owned. 

 

I've discovered I hate anything Fire related with the passion of 1000 terrible romance novels, to the point we actually gave away our 4k fireTV because I refused to use it.  

That's weird, I'm a big fan of Android stuff, but have found the last few TVs we've had to be painfully slow and unreliable for the apps built in vs using Roku or a Fire Cube. 

We just got a Gen 3 Fire Cube, as the first one we bought 5+ years ago was starting to act strange. I think it was all the 4k content and apps being more processor heavy.

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Anything connected to the internet has privacy issues.  It's why conversation in secured areas have drop boxes outside them for all electronic devices.  

Ethical conundrums with Amazon aside, their nicer Firestick (maybe $40 or so vs the cheaper one at $25 iirc) now features some basic universal remote functionality, We cut the cord back in May and have been 100% streaming or Air channels ever since. Playing the 2-remote foxtrot when turning on the TV and adjusting the volume between streaming selections was tedious and 1 of the 2 remotes was constantly AWOL. The new Firestick comes with power on and volume controls, making the TV remote unnecessary 90% of the time. The universal functions worked out of the box with my aging smart TV , no programming required (aging native apps that arent supported any longer end up slow and buggy, hence the stick). YMMV.

Ive never had a firestick take a dump. I still have an older one that is working great on an old dumb TV, and an even older one that is still running at SWMBO moms house. Only bought this one when the native TV apps started to act up, and was worth it imho on Prime day for 25% off.

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

That's actually the one that I had that died.  I'm downgrading to the most basic one, which shouldn't be much of a big deal, since I don't have a 4K TV, nor is my eyesight probably good enough to take advantage of one.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Anything connected to the internet has privacy issues.  It's why conversation in secured areas have drop boxes outside them for all electronic devices.  

True, but if that device has a microphone it's a bigger privacy problem than a device that doesn't have a microphone. Same with cameras. Not all issues are of the same level.