Streaming boxes
 

We are considering going to over the air locals and streaming all other tv. Any tips or guidance is appreciated.

We have 7 tvs currently on directtv. We are thinking about going to 2 boxes probably roku 3 and mirroring a couple of the tvs. The kids dont watch tv in their rooms so it would be.

The living room that is mirrored to the master bedroom and the theatre room mirrored to the garage.

Any help on what would be the most user friendly box that would have the ability to run good programing including hbo go.

Thx. Boise

I've had all the major boxes (Fire, Roku Stick, Roku Box, Chrome, Sling Box) and Roku seems to be the fastest and has the best interactive menus/screens. It runs all the big time apps including HBO Go.

What has been your experience with streaming boxes. How much do you spend etc. We are looking at upgraded internet which will add about 20 per month.

How long did it take to get used to, and have you found yourself missing things.

Anyone heard or know anything about the Infinity box? (not Comcast)

Heard it plays everything...sports, HBO, PPV everything. Wouldn't need Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Sling etc...

Seems too good to be true, which it probably is.

Roku will run you around 80 a pop but the 3 is well worth it. It is really easy to get used to. I like the menu layout and how quick it is to switch between apps. Upgraded internet will be a wash with the money you're saving cutting the cord. I miss watching the news and live sports but if you have Netflix and a buddy who has cable you can easily trade your Netflix/Hulu logins for his/her cable net logins and you'll be fine. Just go for it. You'll never look back.

What types of pay apps do you use. Hbo go is a given she'd melt down if she misses GOT.

Depends... do you want legit pay sources, or do you want to pirate?

My friend has this box.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...oads/image.jpg

A friend of mine bought a jailbroke fire box. I'm waiting to hear back on his review of it. Not that I'd buy one as they're probably illegal. Anyone else have a friend with a box like this?

It depends on ease and liability. I currently pay 160 per mo to direct tv. I can stand to pay as long as it doesnt add up to a bunch. I haven't even looked at what the pay apps cost.

Technically, you don't "Jailbreak" an Android device. The term is "Rooted" for admin control of Android devices. Regardless, the Amazon FireTV doesn't need to be jailbroken or rooted to run an app that will give you every movie/TV show you'd ever want to watch. It's called KODI. There are lots of existing threads here in the Multimedia forum regarding this. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I can tell you how to do just about anything possible with any Android streaming device...

Well ease and liability leans toward a pirating solution. Nobody in the US has been arrested for streaming movies or TV. So you're safe there. The only way you run into issue there is if you were hosting a movie for others to download/stream. There are pay solutions available for most stuff if you feel ethically inclined to do so. But there are free solutions available as well. KODI with plugins....

We ditched cable a few months ago.

HD antenna for OTA. 2 firetv boxes and a couple of fire sticks. We have netflix, hulu and amazon prime and then for now I also wanted to use Sony Vue streaming service, the most basic one. Thanks to Fish and the tutorials that are provided here in the media center installed KODI on both fire tvs.

Ive had the Roku boxes before, they are good, just prefer the fire tvs is all, that part is gonna be preference and what you want from it.

Their really isn't anything I can say I miss though. Once you get used to it you will never look back and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Searching kodi and fire tv now

Thanks. I've seen the Kodi threads but really had no idea what they were about so haven't gone into them. I will be checking them out now that I know what they are about.

Was curious on your opinion of which device you think is the best: Roku 3/4 or Fire stick/tv?

I have been keeping up with the Kodi thread and am thinking about testing this out on one of the tvs, but want to get something easy enough for kids and wife to use as well.

Do any of the current devices have a web browser?

Depends..

Roku is for the most part completely legit legal sources. So you can find lots of content, but lots of the good stuff has a waiting period before you can access it through Roku. Some content is simply not available. Especially when you completely cut cable, as many of the Roku apps for TV channels require you to subscribe to cable to access. Like ESPN. You can use the ESPN app for Roku only if you also subscribe to a cable package that includes ESPN. But Roku shines in being very easy to navigate and use, with little that can go wrong.

FireTV runs KODI. Which is essentially an app that you can add custom plugins to, which scan pirate sources on the internet for movies/TV/sports/concerts/etc, and presents it all in a nice Netflix looking manner. You'll be able to stream almost any movie/TV after it's been released. It usually takes a matter of hours after it airs for popular shows. But because it uses pirate sources, it can sometimes be confusing, or it might show some sources but none of them actually play, or it might start to play and then buffer for 10 minutes. All of which is easy to overcome, but it's different and can frustrate wives/childrens who've never used it before. Usually just explaining that to them and letting them use it for a bit is all that it takes. Admittedly it's not for everyone. But once you get it configured, you can customize and simplify it as much as you'd like. You can even "Subscribe" to your favorite shows, and it will automatically add new episodes of your shows when they're available. You can then turn on the TV, and view your list of shows to see what all new stuff has aired. Once you actually watch it, it will mark the show as watched and remove it from your new episodes list. You can also view all your subscribed shows and watch every episode of every season. There's also addons for streaming live sports of all kinds. And with FireTV, you can add links in KODI to other Android apps like Netflix/Pandora/Amazon Video/Hulu/etc. So you can jump directly from KODI to those native apps and watch content there, then jump right back to KODI and continue there. It's pretty slick once everything is configured. But again, much of the meat of it is relying on pirate sources and an open source community driven framework. So you have to accept what comes along with that. It clearly works great for lots of people. Plenty of support if you know where to look. I've become very familiar with KODI on a range of different platforms, and can answer just about anything you want to know.

:toast:

Yes but they mostly suck unless you upgrade your input device with like a gyro mouse and keyboard.

Another cool plus with FireTV... the voice search. It's Amazon's Siri. It doesn't work for input in all apps and stuff yet. But it's really cool. You just hold down the button and ask it literally anything. You can search Amazon video using voice search, but it doesn't work for KODI. But you can be watching a movie in KODI, and quickly ask it what the score of the game is, or what movies are playing at your theater, or who the actress is in the movie you're watching, and then go right back to watching your movie. It's nifty...

I use the firestick with Kodi in my main tv watching area and it's been great(except the most recent Chiefs game still isn't showing in the Pro-Sport archive).

I use Chromecasts in most other rooms and they are great for streaming things like Netflix, etc. The kids can use them with basically no maintenance whereas I need to do updates here and there on Kodi. Nothing all that hard though.

Listen to Fish. He's giving you great info. I have two sticks and one firetv box. I loaded everything on the box myself and it works like a dream.

As fish stated, it takes a while to become accustomed to the issues you might face in wanting to see an episode of your favorite show "right now". But for the most part it's easy.

It took the wife a month or before she understood how to use it. Now, we dumped Hulu and Netflix and I watch everything from KODI. Plus ,my outlay was about 200 bucks total. I cut the cord right after the World Series and have saved about 2000$.

I watch less TV now but still watch whatever I want in any category. The learning curve seems difficult at first, but you catch on and pretty soon you'll customize your own set up using Fish's information.

Curious how good of quality the live sports are.... HD quality? Hit and miss?

Also, is there a reason to get the FireTV over the Stick?

Quality varies. Last year NFL streams were very good. HD quality or close. With bandwidth constantly increasing these days, streaming is getting better quality all the time. Sports streaming in general has improved quite a bit over the past 2 years.

I would highly recommend the FireTV box over the Stick. The hardware differences are pretty considerable. The Stick can be overwhelmed with some HD streaming codecs, that can cause choppy playback. It also doesn't have enough RAM/storage to properly cache enough video for smooth playback allowing you to pause playback without needing to restart the stream. The box will play pretty much everything.

Haha I guess we are already basically a streaming house. I was checking on upgrading our internet and found last month we used 1455.5g thru century link. The highest that the cable one offers is 500g.

Netflix, Twitch, Hulu, HBOGo. All the others are shitty knock offs and you can get SHO on Hulu for an extra few dollars a month.

Fish - any recommendations on where to start with sideloading Kodi? If you recall, I did this awhile back, but I sort of fell off for a bit and am now going to have to completely restart. Is TVMC still a thing?

There's multiple methods of getting apps to your FireTV. I'd highly recommend the adbLink(formerly adbFire) method:

https://www.tvaddons.ag/install-kodi-amazon-fire-tv/

TVMC is no longer a thing. Technically it still exists, but they abandoned Android support at v14.2. It's been replaced with what's called FreeTelly, but they don't have an Android version and don't plan on developing one. Getting it on the Google Play store turned out to be too much of a hassle, so they bailed.

Once Kodi is installed, then add the tvaddon.ag Fusion source, per instructions here: https://www.tvaddons.ag/fusion-installer-kodi/

Then install the Addon Installer, per instructions here: https://www.tvaddons.ag/addon-installer-kodi/

Then you can run the Addon Installer(FYI it's a program addon as opposed to a video addon), and install any/all addons you want that way. It will install any necessary dependencies and such. The Featured section has pretty much everything you need to get started.

That may look a little confusing, but there's step by step instructions for all of it. Let me know if you have questions.

the best streaming box - is you all's moms! Thank you thank you!

I'm a big fan of my Roku's - I have three of them - but I stick to legal sources for the most part (with some exceptions to getting around local blackouts here and there).

Word. Thanks for the info again! You continue to be my go-to in these situations. Suuuuuper appreciate it!

Fire boxes are here Kodi installed per instructions. Stayed up late playing with it.

Any recommendations for add ons for regular tv ie.
History channel
Discovery
Tnt
Etc.

I cut the cord 4 months ago. I spent 40 bucks on an adapter that lets me plug my Iphone into an HDMI cable. Traded Comcast login with a buddy for my Netflix login. I can watch anything I want live for the most part. $169 cable bill down to $39.99 internet bill. You get used it pretty dang quick. Picture looks just as good on my 60" as HD cable.

As some know from the Sunday Ticket thread on the front page, I recently cut the cord -- dropped ST and DTV, am now running Playstation Vue thru my PS4 and getting broadcast channels thru a Leaf antenna. So far, so good.

Now I'm looking at finding a way to stream Chiefs games. I assume I need Kodi and then a sports addon. So what do I need to do next? What's the best option?

I've been looking at a dedicated Kodi box rather than a set top device like Fire Stick, Fire TV or Roku, but don't want to spend too much. Would this be sufficient:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...A3PESAO1AT0VNM

Is 8 GB sufficient for streaming football, or do I need 16 GB?

Or are there cheaper/easier ways to accomplish what I want?

None that are worth using...

I know. This thread title is misleading and did not contain what I'd hoped for.

For that matter, is 1 GB RAM sufficient for streaming football, or do I need 2 GB?

For streaming Chiefs games, you'll want to install KODI, then ProSport and Castaway.

Regarding the box..... ehh.... it's OK for the price. Nexbox isn't real popular though. They do their own interface using Android, so not all normal Android apps are going to be compatible from the Google Play store. If you plan on just running KODI and Netflix/Pandora, then you should be OK. But other apps who knows. KODI is pre-loaded too, and that usually presents problems. They install all kinds of worthless crap you don't want. And who knows if it's configured to update properly. The ethernet port only allows 100M connection, not 1000, and that sucks if you plan to hardwire it. The wifi is only 2Ghz too, so either way connection isn't going to be great.

I'd probably bump up to this model with double the storage and double the wifi speed. Especially if you plan on using it with wifi.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J2W8UKI?psc=1

These cheapo 3rd party KODI boxes are usually kinda finicky. They work OK for a tinkerer type who knows Android and KODI well and can overcome the crappy development and configuration that comes with it. If you're a total noob, I'd probably recommend a FireTV box instead. They've been on sale for a while now at $85. But if you want to save some money, and can deal with some potential minor issues, the above should work.

The two memory numbers refer to RAM and ROM. RAM is the active memory used for running apps. ROM is flash storage, essentially the hard drive.

For streaming, by default, the box will only use your RAM as temp storage for the video it's downloading. For stuff like sports streaming, 2GB of RAM is perfectly sufficient. You also have the option of using ROM to store(cache) video as well. This is good for really high definition stuff like HD/4K movies. Because streaming really high def stuff requires more space than the RAM allows for.

It's complicated depending on what you're watching. The specs here will work, and won't bottleneck the experience. But more ROM, like the 16GB model, and telling KODI to use the ROM for video cache storage, would be the best experience.

Outstanding, exactly the advice I was looking for. Thanks!

Again, thanks very much!

So this is not a question about a streaming box, but a smart tv. I have a Vizio D39-D0 (https://support.vizio.com/s/article/...el-Information) that says it supports wireless b/g/n. The problem is it won't recognize my 5ghz channel that is running mixed n/ac. I online chatted with Vizio support and they told me the tv only supports 2.4ghz. So does it truly support wireless-n? Doesn't n support both 2.4 and 5ghz?

Short answer: it is indeed possible to have an 802.11n device that is not 5Ghz compatible.

Just got the Amazon Fire TV | Streaming Media Player...good choice?


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It's got some annoying quirks where they try to lock you in to the Amazon ecosystem, but aside from that, it works just fine. It's also a little more flexible than others in terms of being able to install Kodi on it if that's your thing.

Love my Roku and Hulu. Had it since September. Have an antenna to see local games.

I'm a huge Kodi person.



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We use a Roku, love it.

I have a Roku and a Amazon fire, the Amazon one is far better for what it can do.

Anyone try infinity box?

Got a Roku Premiere box for xmas. I have Direct TV. What other uses are there for it if you already have cable or satellite? I know you can buy Sling TV etc, but I already paid for Direct TV so don't need it. Can I use Kodi or whatever to get some extra channels?