Best Streaming Devices for 2018 - Comments Page 1

My bro-in-law has something he calls the Cube, but I can't find what he is describing anywhere. He says after a one time purchase of the device (

Which are the easiest to use? Apple's little remote is a real pain, and navigating around in the Samsung TV resident menu is confusing.

You know these services are still not going to give us real-time sports coverage, something my husband really wants and "needs." He's a junkie on NASCAR, baseball, football, etc. And the traditional cable and dish systems seem to have that but the others don't. We're not consumers of movies and hardly of series other than the reality type series on HGTV, DIY, Food Network, Cooking Channel, as well as some on Discovery and History, and Smithsonian.

Then there's the privacy concerns especially of the Alexa and Echo devices. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/alexa-privacy-fail-highlights-risks-smart-speakers-n877671

I am hoping that the cable providers and dish networks will get a clue -- their market share is going to continue to decrease -- most of my DirectTV channel lineup is made of shopping channels. For now I cannot buy a self selecting package of the channels I want and not get all the other junkola along with it. Cable is worse since they also charge a premium if you decouple your internet access from cable and phone services. If those outlets don't change their marketing and availability strategies SOON the millenials are not getting cable and dish packages -- it's only the older generation (of which I'm a part) that persists in using them. And we're gradually becoming a smaller and smaller part of the marketplace. They'll be phased out like landlines for personal phone service as mobile phones took over, like the buggy manufacturers when automobiles began prominence, and like many of the brick-and-mortar retailers such as Sears, Kmart, Toys-r-us, etc that failed to keep up with their market.

All that being said, I am hoping that sometime soon 1) I'll get FIOS access otherwise streaming isn't really going to work at my slow DSL speeds 2) the dish network will go to self-selection -- like "SLING", or 3) these streaming services will start offering the things we want such as real time sports and the HGTV, DIY, Food/Cooking/Discovery/History/Smithsonian content that we enjoy watching. I'm not holding my breath.

At the Roku website I noticed that you can live stream WABC-TV for free (as well as lots of other free programming). That sounds great, but that means it would be nice to have a DVR for live streamed programs. Does ANY streaming device have DVR capability?

Not sure how that went through without the rest of what I wrote...
(

Interesting I posted twice on The Cube and neither time did it go through. Censorship? Never happened to me in all the times I have posted comments here. Guess I'll just give up.

Perhaps he is referring to the Asus Cube which is an android streaming device

"Posted by: Kenneth Heikkila 29 May 2018: "My bro-in-law has something he calls the Cube, but I can't find what he is describing anywhere. He says after a one time purchase of the device."
Mr. Heikkila, that sounds a lot like Chrome OS, aka the Brick. Please check this out, or investigate further: >.

Re: Kenneth Heikkila. Here are some references, to Chrome OS, as well as Asus Cube.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS;
https://www.asus.com: Asus Cube: Home Entertainment O!Play Digital Media Player.

Re: Kenneth Heikkila. Here are some references, to Chrome OS, as well as Asus Cube.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS;
https://www.asus.com: Asus Cube: Home Entertainment O!Play Digital Media Player.

Bought a refurbished Roku in Jan. 2014. It's been a solid unit, I use it every day, free movies, news broadcasts, best $30 I've spent in a long time.

As far as I'm concerned services like Netflix and Amazon prime are shoot themselves in the foot with producing their own series. It started out as a service streaming movies and it should remain that way. I'm on the verge of cancelling my Netfix because all I'm getting is foreign movies and series. Definitely not what I wanted.

Bob, hate to burst your bubble, but Smellevision is here. Have you noticed how many of the broadcast shows stink?

By gooly, Ralph, you're right! Altho I think Stink-a-Vision might be more apropos. Thanx!

Some channels that are available streamed, you need permission from your cable TV provider to watch. Fox News is one, the Discovery channel would be another. When I had Spectum TV service, they would not provide that permission. Don't have any cable TV now, anyhow.

And, I subscribe to MILB for minor league baseball games. That is great, but can only watch it on a computer -- not on a TV. Haven't been able to cast it to the TV. Not sure how to turn that around.

The TV does have Roku built in, and that is truly fantastic.

Re: Bob K - "can only watch it on a computer"
Can't you hook your computer to your TV with an HDMI cable to watch?

Re: KD - The computer is about 50 foot (cable run) distance from the TV.

Computer is running Win 7, and haven't found yet how to watch MILB except with Firefox with Adobe Flash.

Maybe invest in a second computer to locate at the TV :-) ?

Hi Bob K. Makes no difference what o/s you are running. Just use the correct cable: hdmi, vga, or a special cable with different ends that will connect your computer and tv. In your computer go to video or display preferences and set up the tv as a second monitor. Enjoy.

Kenneth Heikkila was having trouble posting. He got cut off twice after posting the left side of a bracket (
- is that the cause of his getting cut off? Just wondering...

Bob & KD, that 50' run isn't much of a problem to overcome. You could go w/two 25' HDMI coupled or straight VGA & audio side by side. If the 50' VGA or HDMI is too spendy, go VGA over ethernet & audio side by side. If you choose the VGA over ethernet, use shielded Cat5e. I've successfully created the necessary cabling & run 75' ethernet without distortion or loss of signal.