What's your main media playback device?

So, my Nexus Player bit the dust after 3 years (it had a good run, and I got it super cheap, so I can’t be mad at the little thing).

Since then, I’ve been using my PS4 as my media device just for ease of use. It has Netflix, Plex, etc. But, it’s kind of annoying that it doesn’t have any casting or DLNA type stuff. It does have YouTube but it’s not easy to navigate using a PS4 controller, so often I’ll switch over to a different input which has a Chromecast plugged in to it. That pretty much covers most of my media playback needs but I’m looking at improving the setup.

We’re coming up to Black Friday, and my TV is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, so I’m considering holding out for a new TV that has Android TV built in to it. Alternatively, I used an NVIDIA Shield at my cousin’s house when I was in Mountain View earlier this year, and I was really impressed with it.

Someone suggested a ROKU, but I have no idea how that works to be honest.

So what do you all use? (suspect a few answers will be Apple TV haha).

NAS which is DLNA

Smart TV’s for Amazon Prime, YouTube etc

Virgin TiVo for YouTube

I have Apple TV’s but don’t really use them as much as I should/could

Looking to get new TV’s sooner or later will defo be on the 4K train but I refuse to pay for Sky Q etc so really I’m in no rush.

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Don’t have a TV at the moment (using my laptop for everything), but if I did I’d probably get an Apple TV to go with it.

I have an Nvidia shield. It’s not perfect but it just sits there and works + it acts as a chromecast when needed. It has the google assistant too if you’re into that kind of thing (I’m not… I find it quicker to press buttons on the remote than shout at it…)

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Apple TV 4K. Works really well though i just use it with Plex and Netflix.

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Apple TV. My new 4k TV doesn’t even have any ‘live’ inputs from terrestrial or sattelite/cable, only my Apple TV and PS4 so everything is streamed.

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I would suggest Roku. Has all the main catchup services, Netflix and Amazon Prime, plus you can chromecast to it.

The HD stick is around £30-£35 or the 4k one can be had for around £60.

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My new 4k TV doesn’t even have any ‘live’ inputs from terrestrial or sattelite/cable

The people at TV Licensing must love these kinds of TVs. :joy:

I love Google Assistant.

Quite like the idea of having it on the TV! (It did roll out to the Nexus Player before mine bit the dust, but the device was already slow as molasses at that point).

Is it always listening or do you trigger it? I suppose I don’t need it to be, as it’ll be in the same room as a Google Home.

Does it support 4K?

Amazon 4K FireTV

I use it for plex, Netflix amazon, plus BBC, and C4

No Youtube though (at least currently)

no sadly there isn’t. I do find Firefox is OK for most things “YouTube” if a little cumbersome

It’s quite easy to access YouTube via Firefox or Amazon’s Silk browser though. I have Firefox set-up for YouTube so when I open Firefox it will bring YouTube. Also if you cast from phone to Fire TV it will automatically open YouTube in Browser so it works fine

Is it always listening or do you trigger it? I suppose I don’t need it to be, as it’ll be in the same room as a Google Home.

Either… you can set always listening or there’s also a button to activate the mic if you want to do it that way.

Does it support 4K?

4K + various UHD modes (yuv 10 bit etc.). Also 120hz display since the last update (although few TVs can handle both 4K and 120hz simumtaneously).

4K netflix looks great.

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I’ve had firesticks, roku, chromecast and now using Apple TV’s.

So far, I’d say:

  1. Apple TV
  2. Roku
  3. Chromecast
  4. Firestick

Pretty much just the apps on our Samsung TV - Plex, Netflix, iPlayer, 4od, Amazon etc is all played direct from the Samsung apps

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I tried Apple TV. I wasn’t massively impressed; partially that was because when I tried it you needed to subscribe to many of the services offered through it, or pay to buy/rent stuff from the Apple Store. Rubbed me up the wrong way somewhat they after shelling out for the Apple TV I’d still have to spend more money to make it usable.

Then I tried Chromecast. I quite liked that, particularly being able to stream stuff from my phone or desktop and ‘cast’ it to the TV. That I found pretty useful.

Lastly I tried a Fire Stick, in combination with Amazon Prime. Key advantage of that one is not having to be sat at my computer to watch Prime Video stuff.

Almost all my TVs have Netflix and iPlayer integration as standard, so I disregard those when considering devices.

Broadly speaking, I would say that a Chromecast is probably the best device to go for. But if you have Amazon Prime then you might want to consider a Fire stick.

I haven’t tried Roku. Literally the only thing I know about Roku is that Ellen likes giving Roku TVs away to her audience.

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I have a Roku but it’s so slow. Fire stick is much quicker / slicker, but still not 100pc there…

(Actually, slowness may be down to iPlayer - but it’s noticeably better on non Roku devices)

Our main tv has a Chromecast and PS4 connected.

Chromecast for sheer convenience (Google Home voice control FTW) but PS4 gets used mainly just because it’s often convenient to have physical buttons to play/pause quickly.

Upstairs TV only has a Chromecast connected.

I have a 10 year old tv connected to a Chromecast, absolutely perfect for us. I’m just about to start building my raspberry pi to be a plex server and that’ll be us I think