whats a good streaming media player?

[FerrariEnzo]

Boxee Box / Boxee TV
WD Live TV
Roku
Apple TV

Boxee Box seems a little too much...

All the others are around $100 price range...
Boxee TV comes with antenna so if theres reception, you get some free channels...
Roku has some free channels... not sure

other then that, all requires subscriptions or tv connection to use...


What are peoples reviews/opinion on Apple TV alternative?

[GLOW]

i like the boxee box's control to allow you to do some simple browsing, but you are right, the price was too much for me. i ended up getting a logitech revue (dead technology) for $99 to allow me to play movies via usb and web browse at the same time. i used to stream anime and stuff but after an update flash on chrome kept crashing =/

[mos_skeeto]

I have a WDTV Live and an Apple TV.

I love the streaming on the Apple TV but you gotta make sure the filetype is in the right format and deal with iTunes. In short, for most people this is going to be a pain in the ass. You can hack XBMC on it and I'm sure the compatibility will be much better. Again, more work that you probably want.

I love my WDTV. I'm using a WDTV live and it's hooked up to an external USB drive. When I download a movie I transfer it to the harddrive wirelessly instead of streaming. I find this much more stable than streaming plus it gets all my stuff off my computer and onto a big 2TB drive.

[FerrariEnzo]

did you get an antenna with the LIVE TV and is it working to get some free channels?

how good/fast is the transfer rate from PC to Live TV over wifi?

[Cman333]

I'm using WDTV. Works well for me to stream from my PC.

[mos_skeeto]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

did you get an antenna with the LIVE TV and is it working to get some free channels?

how good/fast is the transfer rate from PC to Live TV over wifi?

Nope didn't get the attenna.

Transfer rate isn't great because router and device is at opposite ends of a cement walled condo. Takes about 5 mins to transfer a 300mb tv show.

[twitchyzero]

i've the 2nd gen sony google tv...free from credit card app
plays everything I throw at it
no XMBC hack supported yet though...and the remote is cumbersome (boxee box has great remote)

there should be a flood of these on craigslist...throw an offer $120 to one of the ads

Also...i personally have not looked into yet..but boxee TV is $99...i'm suspecting a lot of features/fcns are limited the USA though

http://www.boxee.tv/#home

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

i've the 2nd gen sony google tv...free from credit card app
plays everything I throw at it
no XMBC hack supported yet though...and the remote is cumbersome (boxee box has great remote)

there should be a flood of these on craigslist...throw an offer $120 to one of the ads

Also...i personally have not looked into yet..but boxee TV is $99...i'm suspecting a lot of features/fcns are limited the USA though

Boxee

the sony remote looked pretty badass...the boxee one is nice but seemed a little flimsy and i would have liked it better if the buttons were backlit...

how is the speed of the sony one? any lag?

[sean_latte]

I have WDTV I havnt hade any problems .

[Preemo]

WDTV direct connect to my NAS box. LOVE IT!

[!Aznboi128]

I got 2nd Gen Apple TV and I love it, XBMC to watch videos that I downloaded on my NAS and for those times where I just dont want to bother I can use Navi-X got some good 720p movies to stream

[Gh0stRider]

the wd live tv is 82.99 @ costco

might have to pick one up

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by GLOW

the sony remote looked pretty badass...the boxee one is nice but seemed a little flimsy and i would have liked it better if the buttons were backlit...

how is the speed of the sony one? any lag?

sorry for delayed response...I haven't really used it much since i got it but I didn't feel any noticable lag....although it's not as silky smooth as the newer android OS (4.2) on my phone..I believe it runs on 3.2

[JesseBlue]

i have the boxee box...there is some cool hacks available now....

i would suggest against the boxee tv...lots of bugs and issues...xios i think can have xbmc installed on it...

[.Renn.Sport]

I dont even bother downloading videos, I just stream everything off my iphone or ipad and airplay it on my tv using appleTV

if i want better quality, i just download the x264 1080P rip since they already work with itunes, if its not the right format, just use handbrake to convert.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by .Renn.Sport

I dont even bother downloading videos, I just stream everything off my iphone or ipad and airplay it on my tv using appleTV

if i want better quality, i just download the x264 1080P rip since they already work with itunes, if its not the right format, just use handbrake to convert.

Does Apple TV support 1080P?

[!Aznboi128]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Does Apple TV support 1080P?

yup

[JesseBlue]

the bbox has airplay too...hehe...

[fsy82]

Sorry for bumping up and old thread but a lot of people ask about XBMC and how to get it started. Well the link below is the most straight forward it will ever get. Literally your just clicking..lol. Enjoy. And if this is not allowed mods please delete my post

TVMC, a Cordcutter's Dream Come True

[Tim Budong]

anyone have experience with those TVbox things like Maige from China?

looking to pick one up

[ddr]

I want to cast video from my PC to a projector in another room. are these 'MX' android tv boxes recognized as a cast device if i.e. I google cast it from the chrome browser?

I realize I can simply get a google chromecast but I'm interested in paying a little more to get a box with kodi and other apps

[ZN6]

I've used all sorts of things that I wanted to use to stream stuff ever since I got my first 1080p TV 7 or 8 years ago. I've done everything from using a patriot box office (with wireless dongle), to WDTv, appleTV, Roku, PS3 for streaming, XBox One for DLNA streaming, android tv sticks. If I were to give my honest opinion, I would do it all over again and get a dedicated HTPC and call it a day. Save myself the damn hassle and money in the long run.

There is no device more versatile for a TV than an honest to god PC. NUC PCs are great with a tiny footprint. Yes, they are a little expensive, but for sure it will do whatever you want that you want to do with the chrome cast or android sticks or what-have-you cheap little devices sticking out of the TV.

They can be upgraded and it can be updated with the latest software whenever YOU are ready.Android sticks and boxes from china? Firmware rarely updates if at all. Shit, most of them are still running android 4.4.2. Range for pairing devices is horrible and antennas are shit for wifi and cuts.

I figure in the end, it's better to have one really good device rather than to have a history of cheap shitty little devices which I thought were going to be good but ended up disappointing me because of poor signal connection or some other bullshit limitation.

Do yourself a favor, don't fuck around with Cheap shit, and just build a cheap proper HTPC or if you care a lot about aesthetics, go for one of those barebones boxes that you can spec out to what you need it to do(can't really name one that doesn't come with wifi networking anymore) that is x64 ready. No, none of those current compute sticks from intel are worth it either with a shit 32-bit support and 2GB of ram limit. I will never again get another TV device that cannot be configured to the way I need it to run.

I hope that I can help others from my experience of these devices. If anything, at the end of the day, you can still hook up a NUC to the back of your monitor for a legit PC for doing actual work.

[Urrtoast]

https://www.google.ca/chromecast/tv/

[Urrtoast]

This is what I use.

https://www.google.ca/chromecast/tv/

[mos_skeeto]

Anything streaming... apple/chromecast/etc... depends on your network. I have a dedicated router 10 ft away from my tv to make sure it all goes well. If you don't have a decent network, it'll be frustrating.

I'm currently running android tv with KODI and streaming off a network drive.