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If live TV isn't important, you could tell your friends to only use the login for "TV anywhere apps", e.g. WatchESPN, WatchABC, etc., instead of the main Sling app. Those don't tend to have sharing restrictions. Although, PS Vue might be better for this. When I was on Sling it didn't support too many apps. Vue supports most.
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Jul 2, 2016 20:21
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My Fire TV box died and I'm in the market for a replacement. Before I just re-order it, are there any other equivalent TV boxes that can do Netflix, Plex, Amazon Video, Youtube, Vimeo, and HBO Now? I have a Chromecast but it can't do Amazon Video. edit: I had a Roku a long time ago but the UI always felt like it was from 2004. Is it still that clunky? withak fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jul 3, 2016 |
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Jul 3, 2016 15:47
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withak posted:edit: I had a Roku a long time ago but the UI always felt like it was from 2004. Is it still that clunky? Are you talking clunky in aesthetic and appearance or clunky in responsiveness? I've used a Roku 2 XS and 3 fully updated and think they're okay in those regards. The newer ones seem to work faster.
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Jul 3, 2016 23:41
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withak posted:My Fire TV box died and I'm in the market for a replacement. Before I just re-order it, are there any other equivalent TV boxes that can do Netflix, Plex, Amazon Video, Youtube, Vimeo, and HBO Now? I have a Chromecast but it can't do Amazon Video. The Roku still doesn't have the most modern looking of UIs but it's gotten a little better in the looks department and is much more responsive then it used to be. Apps on it tend to have simpler layouts than on other devices (Netflix, etc.) and if you do a lot of local streaming with Plex or Emby they will transcode the videos more often. All that said: it works. I have a Roku 3 for my guest bedroom, it's perfect for that in my house. I prefer the Shield TV but it doesn't do Prime video. Luckily my Sony TV also runs Android TV and does support Prime video. In your case since you are used to the Fire TV I'd just get another one unless you hated it for some reason. The Roku will probably feel like a step down to you and they both support the same apps you mentioned and cost around the same.
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Jul 4, 2016 14:10
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My 2 cents. I love love my Roku 3 and use it for tons of stuff daily. I defend it every chance I get because I'm so passionate about it. That being said, I was on my ps3 last night using the wwe app for the first time and I was blown away how drat nice it looked compared to the Roku. Not getting rid of my Roku any time soon but it was worth noting.
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Jul 4, 2016 16:47
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Tyson Tomko posted:My 2 cents. I love love my Roku 3 and use it for tons of stuff daily. I defend it every chance I get because I'm so passionate about it. Have you ever spent any time with a Fire TV? I suspect that might change your mind. At one point I had a Fire TV, Roku 3 and Apple TV 3rd Gen hooked up to my TV. The first one to get disconnected and sold was the Roku, and I only keep the Apple TV around for Airplay.,
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Jul 4, 2016 17:16
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I'm probably just going to get another Fire TV, I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't something else out there better or that Roku hadn't made some great leap forward in the last few years.
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Jul 4, 2016 17:19
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Zogo posted:Are you talking clunky in aesthetic and appearance or clunky in responsiveness? Mostly appearance I think. Switching from a Roku 2 SX to a Fire TV a year or two ago felt like switching from WIndows 3.1 to Windows 10.
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Jul 4, 2016 17:20
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I had a roku 3 and swapped for a fire TV, the swapped back to roku. After spending significant time with platforms my opinion is that the Roku 3 interface is vastly superior. The fire TV was pretty in some ways, but not actually that user friendly I found. It's busy, and it is designed to promote Amazon's content above everything. If your big into that ecosystem, that's fine. I use it, but only some. I also found that many apps, for example, hbogo were extremely sluggish, I had a first gen though. As a note, I do not use kodi at all. The roku interface is for sure not as eye catching, but I find it extremely easy and fast to use. Many apps have similar not amazing layouts, but they don't hinder actually finding the content. The universal search is excellent and provides results from everything, not just Amazon. I have also found the ability to follow specific content to be useful, simple and fast. So to sum up, after time with platforms I think the roku is less flashy but much more functional.
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Jul 4, 2016 17:25
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Because streaming devices are so cheap and I have a thing for gadgets, I've owned (and currently own) them all except Apple TV. Right now I have. Roku 2 XS Roku 2 (2015) Roku Streaming Stick (2016) FireTV Stick FireTV 2nd Gen Chomecast(s), both 1st and 2nd gen Nvidia Shield Android TV Tivo Bolt (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, Vudu, Amazon) The Roku 2 XS really isn't used anymore, but it's handy if I have to hook up to something with analog inputs. I originally bought the Roku 2 (2105) when the Google Play store debuted on it. I thought to myself "Finally, I can have it all in one streamer!" only to find that Google Play didn't have multichannel audio which made it useless for Google Play. Still, I used it for other streaming and used the Chromecast for Google Play. I bought the FireTV stick for my bedroom TV because it had native Slingbox support. I got tired of casting Slingbox to that TV because casting functionality was always finicky. The native app on FireTV would allow me to connect to the slingbox without using another device, so that was nice. I enjoyed the interface for FireTV a lot so when I got wind that they were doing a 2nd gen FireTV, I kept my eye on that. I replaced the Roku 2 in the living room with the 2nd Gen FireTV since the only service that I regularly used at the time that I would lose was Google Play and since it didn't have multichannel audio, I used the chromecast for that anyways. That's the way things stayed for awhile and then they released the new Roku Stick. It was faster than the 2015 Roku2/3 and was cheap so I was intrigued. Then they announced that they finally brought multichannel audio to Roku for Google Play so I decided to pick one up on a whim. It worked as advertised, but drat that interface is still so old and clunky. My biggest issue with the Roku UI is information density is so low. All standard system assets (like the scrub bar or settings overlays) are just horribly low resolution. About this time I kept hearing on how the Nvidia Shield kept getting better and better. I had a Nexus Player for 2 weeks when it launched before I returned it due to it really being limited, but it seemed like Android TV was coming into its own finally. The game streaming made a ton of sense as well since I had an extensive steam library and it would have been nice to stream some of the more casual games to my TV and play from the couch. Then the announcement was made that the upcoming 3.2 update would bring Netflix HDR and Vudu 4k with HDR so I decided to make the leap then. I don't have a 4k TV yet, but I'm probably not too far off from one at this point. The Vudu update is what pushed me over the edge as that's the one thing I was missing from the FireTV that I wished I had (though I could still use Chromecast and my Tivo.) I've been really pleased with what AndroidTV has evolved into since I owned a Nexus Player. It's caught up a lot to the Roku in app selection and while it doesn't have all the niche things that Roku has, it's nearly parity with other streaming apps. Performance is fantastic and the ability to just fire up VLC and play pretty much anything in existence with no fuss is really nice. It's not without its warts though. HBO Go, inexplicably , only does 2 channel PCM rather that Dolby Digital Plus like it does on most other platforms (including chromecast.) It also can't do Amazon video unless you sideload the app and use a mouse and keyboard for navigation. For now though, I can use my Tivo to stream those two services without much fuss. That's a huge wall of text without much definitive conclusion. If you want one box to rule them all, Roku is the only way to go right now due to the inclusion of both Google Play Movies and Amazon (though it does lack Play Music which would require me to have a Chromecast anyways.) Shield TV is the way to go if you want maximum performance/flexibility along with the best 4k support out there, you just need something else to run Amazon (and HBO Go if you want 5.1 audio.) So, you can pair that with either a Roku Stick or a FireTV of some sort. I'm really hoping the HBO Go issue is something that will eventually be resolved. Oddly enough, you can't even get HDR on Amazon's flagship 4k streamer right now. I like the FIreTV interface, but I get this feeling over the past few months that the platform is dying. There's been no new significant app or functionality adds in over 6 months. The same can be said with Amazon's add on subscription service.
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Jul 4, 2016 19:02
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I'll probably be going with TiVo Bolt + Mini's to keep the same functionality that I'm going to lose when we ditch DirecTV. After a year of the initial cost, I'll start saving money monthly than if I were to rent the DVR box + digital boxes from Time Warner. Even with monthly TiVo fee and cablecard rental. Cord-cutting isn't really an option because, for our area: Playstation Vue covers almost everything except it doesn't have CBS (automatically makes it a non-starter), and ABC/NBC are the on-demand versions. Need kids shows, local networks, TNT/TBS/AMC and sports. A lot of other stuff isn't an option and I don't want to have to deal with maintaining stupid sports poo poo like MLB/NBA/NHL/whatever and a DNS to get around local blackouts.
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Jul 5, 2016 16:40
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Weird post. If cutting the cord isn't an option, why post here about your cable dependent setup? Why can't you use Netflix for some kids shows? What shows must you watch on those networks and how many of them air concurrently? What antennas have you tried to get broadcast channels? Sports seems to ruin it for everyone unless you care about a non market team or only one sport. But some of these issues seem easily solved?
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Jul 5, 2016 16:52
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You probably just need the right antenna. Antennas can reach for 100+ miles when setup correctly.
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Jul 5, 2016 19:10
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sellouts posted:Weird post. If cutting the cord isn't an option, why post here about your cable dependent setup? It's true. This is the first post ever someone has posted in this thread regarding cable dependent setups. Post is kind of a mess though since I've edited it multiple times while at work. Doctor Butts fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jul 5, 2016 |
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Jul 5, 2016 21:43
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Tivo box is a surprisingly good experience for as close to an "all in one" box as you can get, though, even if you just use an OTA antenna. Especially if you're looking for a multi-room setup. Not exactly the cheapest thing, though.
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Jul 5, 2016 22:09
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emocrat posted:The universal search is excellent and provides results from everything, not just Amazon.
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Jul 6, 2016 01:24
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Roku search is supposed to include both netflix and amazon.
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Jul 6, 2016 01:56
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angryrobots posted:I bought a roku 3 for mostly this reason, but no one seems to point out that the search feature does not include content on Netflix or Amazon prime. Or (I'm assuming) other pre-paid content services. So, that struck me as incorrect, so I litteraly just now tried it. Using voice search on my roku4 I am accurately getting results from Netflix, Amazon prime and HBO GO.
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Jul 6, 2016 01:57
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Don Lapre posted:You probably just need the right antenna. Antennas can reach for 100+ miles when setup correctly. Nah man, impossible *spends 100s on Tivo Bolt* *saves 10/mo over directv by paying time warner*
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Jul 6, 2016 03:05
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I need to get some advice because I have a few different options. My mom is looking to cut out Cable because it's costing her a ton ($100\mo). The problem is, she doesn't want to part with her Football or stuff like Discovery, Nat Geo, whatever channel that Gold Rush stuff comes on. I could get her a Roku 2, sign her up for Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, NFL Network. My other alternative is maybe a Slingbox but I've got 0 experience with those to know how she might handle it. Either option is tough because she occasionally forgets how to change inputs so I want to make this as easy as possible for her. Help?
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Jul 6, 2016 13:49
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Irritated Goat posted:I need to get some advice because I have a few different options. SlingTV or Sony Vue have ESPN and may or may not have local channel options for her area. However if she has trouble remembering to change inputs I'm thinking that route, which involves a streaming box and streaming apps - which provide a very different kind of UI from regular grid-style cable/Sat TV - are going to be a problem. Not saying she's stupid, just that we all have family members who can't be bothered to remember this poo poo or break old habits when it comes to TV and the end result is you are on permanent TV tech support detail and she's going to be frustrated. Especially when it buffers/etc. - and the live TV streaming services buffer a lot more than on-demand stuff like Netflix, etc. Call her cable company, say you are cancelling, get a much better rate for a year. Then do it again next year. It's the American Way. Ixian fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Jul 6, 2016 |
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Jul 6, 2016 14:40
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I gave up on SlingTV after my free week. I've just gotten used to not having cable after 6 months. I can't really say I liked the channels they offered either. Outside of History or Food Network, there was nothing that I really used to watch. It was mostly just odd channels, and I was disappointed that so many of them weren't actual live channels but rather a selection of on demand programming.
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Jul 6, 2016 15:42
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If she wants football, you can't subscribe to NFL Gamepass without using a DNS spoofer to appear to be outside of the US, either. It's certainly do-able, but not mom-level stuff.
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Jul 6, 2016 15:59
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Unless all she does is watch tv she will forget about a lot of those lovely reality shows she watches on cable.
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Jul 6, 2016 16:03
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Don Lapre posted:Unless all she does is watch tv she will forget about a lot of those lovely reality shows she watches on cable. It's really all she does.  Ixian posted:SlingTV or Sony Vue have ESPN and may or may not have local channel options for her area. However if she has trouble remembering to change inputs I'm thinking that route, which involves a streaming box and streaming apps - which provide a very different kind of UI from regular grid-style cable/Sat TV - are going to be a problem. Yeah, I may see if she hasn't done that yet. I can easily do it for her since I'm on the account for tech reasons.
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Jul 6, 2016 16:13
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On a somewhat related note, the Logitech Harmony remotes are a godsend for tech-illiterate family members. You can program the remote for whatever activities you do so it's as easy as hitting "Watch TV" or "Watch Netflix" and it will power on devices and switch inputs in the correct order as necessary. Initial set up definitely requires a lot of tech savvy but after that it's seamless for anyone to use.
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Jul 6, 2016 19:41
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Teeter posted:On a somewhat related note, the Logitech Harmony remotes are a godsend for tech-illiterate family members. You can program the remote for whatever activities you do so it's as easy as hitting "Watch TV" or "Watch Netflix" and it will power on devices and switch inputs in the correct order as necessary. Very true, I have Harmony's for each TV in my house and have set them up for family members too. Most of the time you can provide a seamless "remember one set of functions for every service" experience and be done with it. Like the back button for example. It's got to work the same way across Kodi, Netflix, HBO Go, Direct TV, etc. in my house or chaos reigns. My wife is the kind of person who gets super annoyed if I even change skins in Kodi - she doesn't clutter up her brain with this poo poo and I don't blame her - so yeah, worth the money. Pair it with FLIRC for devices that can use it (I even use mine with the Shield TV because it emulates a keyboard and I can assign a lot more functions than the regular Shield remote, good as it is) and you are even better off. All this said, if Irritated Goat has the kind of mom where he/she is already on the cable account as a tech backup, I'm thinking the better route is to dicker with the cable company. You can probably cut her bill by a third and get some free premium stuff thrown in on top of it. I pay for my in-laws cable and go through this charade every year with Time Warner, believe me I know.
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Jul 6, 2016 20:07
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It would be amazing if there was a harmony remote that included a mic that replaced the shield remote mic.
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Jul 6, 2016 20:11
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For the past few weeks, we have not been able to receive a large portion of our DirecTV content since a neighbor's tree has grown to block out the signal. DirecTV techs are unable to find a mounting solution anywhere else on our house to get a better signal. Neighbor isn't doing anything with the tree. Our DirecTV setup has been maxed in recording more than a few times, so we would need a 4 tuner DVR at the least. We have the Genie receiver in living room, and 2 mini's elsewhere in the house. Wife watches a bunch of crime procedurals and some other random stuff. All major networks needed, plus CW, TNT/TBS/USA and probably some others that I don't know of. Kid watches stuff on Nick Jr. Disney Jr. and most of the stuff the kid is into isn't on Netflix. Haven't checked Amazon Prime. I watch a show or two on regular and cable channels, but also need access to our RSN since sports team(s) I watch aren't on broadcast. Looked into other solutions and Sling doesn't provide the right selections (even with add-ons) for either its orange or blue packages, plus orange is only single stream. Playstation Vue doesn't have CBS, and it's offerings for the other local channels are all whatever is available 'on-demand' and of course this time of year all of the on-demand stuff is blank. Vue's 'cloud' DVR doesn't keep things indefinitely, either. Have never tried receiving antenna in this house, though for main channels plus PBS it seems like reception could be OK. If I cut the cord and wanted the same functionality as I get with my current setup, I figure I'd need something like a 4 tuner Tablo, an antenna, the requisite external hard drive, and 3 Roku's all wired into our LAN plus I believe Playstation Vue's middle package for RSN and TNT and stuff. If I were to switch to cable, I'd probably either get a TiVo Roamio or Bolt, plus two Minis. Since the Tivo stuff is MoCa, I could just use the existing Coax cable used by the DirecTV setup instead of having to route more ethernet. And unless there's stuff I'm missing, that's what I think my options are. I'm also leaning towards the Tivo option since it is easier to set up and more than likely easier to use. Doctor Butts fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Jul 6, 2016 |
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Jul 6, 2016 20:30
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Doctor Butts posted:For the past few weeks, we have not been able to receive a large portion of our DirecTV content since a neighbor's tree has grown to block out the signal. DirecTV techs are unable to find a mounting solution anywhere else on our house to get a better signal. Neighbor isn't doing anything with the tree. You have two options - try harder to find a better place for the dish (I haven't seen it but having done a number of them over the years I find it hard to imagine there isn't some way you can extend it - look in to mounts that are made for RVs, which is a big market believe it or not and offer a lot of creative solutions for mounting dish's on poles, etc.) or learn to accept change. You won't find a set of streaming services that provide the same content/functionality. If such a thing existed in the US everyone would be using it, or at least a large percentage of people. Learn to live without the channels you just can't get, enjoy the new ones you can, and be happy knowing you aren't paying for hundreds of poo poo channels you never watched anyway. Also get used to a new interface paradigm. Lots of people have but it depends on you, really. Kids I know adapt to it quick, poo poo most of them think the way Netflix, etc. works is how TV is anyway.
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Jul 6, 2016 20:43
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Doctor Butts posted:For the past few weeks, we have not been able to receive a large portion of our DirecTV content since a neighbor's tree has grown to block out the signal. DirecTV techs are unable to find a mounting solution anywhere else on our house to get a better signal. Neighbor isn't doing anything with the tree. Not sure what kind of tree it is: http://forestry.about.com/od/forestinsects/p/con_ins_worst.htm http://forestry.about.com/od/forestdiseases/p/hdw_dis_worst.htm A guy I used to work with had a neighbor's tree that would drop leaves all over his yard. It was on the fence line, so it's roots went under into his property. He dug them up and applied herbicide directly to them just about every day. I don't remember if this worked. You could also construct some kind of microwave HERF gun and aim it at the leaves you want eliminated and it may cook them. It may also disrupt air traffic or violate a number of laws.
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Jul 6, 2016 20:49
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FogHelmut posted:Not sure what kind of tree it is: Disappointed you didn't also add "flamethrower" or "kill your neighbor, cut down his tree, and burn his house with it" to that list. Kreiger avatar is perfect 
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Jul 6, 2016 20:58
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Spending the 75-100 on the Harmony hub with included smart remote and macro buttons was a great investment. Seamlessly switching between inputs and powering off and on devices was the only way to get my aging parents into using things like Amazon Prime.
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Jul 6, 2016 23:44
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tonic posted:I was able to enter a different zip code when signing up and it gave me the channel package for that area. Lots of areas still don't have local channels, so I wouldn't think it would be hard to trick the system. That worked but when I tried to pull up the app on my phone at work today it said it wasn't on my home network so useage would be restricted. And it was restricted, restricted as hell, basically useless even on channels that worked fine if you logged into their apps.
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Jul 7, 2016 01:24
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emocrat posted:So, that struck me as incorrect, so I litteraly just now tried it. Using voice search on my roku4 I am accurately getting results from Netflix, Amazon prime and HBO GO. Well, dammit. I'll mess with mine again, but I swear on multiple search queries it only gave me pay options, when the show in question was on Netflix, or listed the sale price on amazon when it's a Prime listing. I hope mine will work, it's the main complaint I have about the thing. Ixian posted:Kids I know adapt to it quick, poo poo most of them think the way Netflix, etc. works is how TV is anyway. For kids shows, there's a ton of stuff on YouTube. And the Nickjr app has a bunch of full episodes on rotation, even without a login. angryrobots fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Jul 7, 2016 |
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Jul 7, 2016 05:26
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On the subject of spoofing location via DNS to improve online sports services, is that really all it takes? I'd be willing to pay for NBA League Pass if it didn't black out nationally televised games (which means most of the best games all season and the entire playoffs). For some reason, I thought it would require a VPN. Vaguely, connecting to the stream through the VPN and then switching the VPN off to improve the data rate. Seemed like a lot of hassle and not quite a sure-thing solution for me to risk $150. I've also heard about using a proxy. Now DNS might also be a solution? Do any of you have experience signing up for NBA League Pass International? How would you suggest I do it for this next year?
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Jul 7, 2016 20:28
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duodenum posted:On the subject of spoofing location via DNS to improve online sports services, is that really all it takes? That's really all it takes. I don't have any experience with the NBA, but I do this for NFL Gamepass and NHL.tv. Check out AdFreeTime.
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Jul 7, 2016 20:31
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Comcast/Xfinity just upped me into some level where I'm not longer ok paying. And of all timing coincidences, my wife the TV junkie (*mostly Netflix and Amazon Prime) agrees that most of the offerings are crap and has encouraged us to just drop it. For me, my primary concerns are local news, and PBS. Secondarily, a smattering of Science channel "space shows" and Comedy Central and a random movie here and there that I'd either go to Netflix or Amazon for or buy a Blu-ray. My wife's primary concerns would be LogoTV. Secondarily, she'll watch the bullshit "picker" shows. But she mostly watches Netflix and Amazon Prime. We have an aging Roku 2 that we use for Netflix and Amazon. Of the two of us, I'd say she's totally prepared for a total "on-demand" like experience. I'm mostly used to it but my biggest barrier is probably laziness. For the shittiness that is Xfinity, I find it an advantage that if I spend 5 minutes and can't find what I want to watch, I'll turn it off instead of switching to Roku. Based on that, it sounds like we could go with SlingTV and an HD antenna? Sound reasonable? Any recommendations for HD antennas? Dumbass Bonus Question: Any good Roku (or other platform) channels for the BBC in the US? I'm specifically interested in stuff like both Look Around You series.
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Jul 7, 2016 21:00
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duodenum posted:On the subject of spoofing location via DNS to improve online sports services, is that really all it takes? You can ask this in the NBA N/V thread in SAS. There are people there that do this kind of thing and would know the exact details.
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Jul 7, 2016 21:23
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A little info that may help (for Cheesus): That American Pickers show is on the History Channel, and also available on Hulu. PS Vue recently put out a Roku app, but it doesn't seem to have the History Channel (but it does have some sort of DVR-ish capabilities).
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Jul 7, 2016 21:33
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