Online tv: roku, now tv, chromecast.....

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 04:03

I am currently having my house ripped apart and re-assembled, so have the luxury of waiting a few months before settling on how to distribute uk tv, music, Netflix etc around the house. But I would like to get it settled in time to build in any necessary wiring, switches etc.

In particular, there seems to be a number of new and "emergent" techniques to get a signal onto a proper tv screen, as my title implies. I have been a user of Apple TV plus an ipad/iphone/iPod touch up to now, which works pretty well but has the disadvantage of tying up an "Idevice", or a computer, and remembering to keep it charged.

So I'd be very interested in reports from users of this other kit - and in particular reports if and when it starts to do the things it can't do yet (like itvplayer on a roku box, or anything useful at all on a chromecast) but is rumoured to be about to do "soon". I know that there are android boxes which might help me, but am sufficiently non-geek to prefer something a bit more pre-digested, if it exists or soon will do.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 09:45

If you are having your house rewired put in Ethernet cable from where your TV will be to where your router will be and anywhere else that you might want internet TV or radio. Also put a cable anywhere that your wifi might not reach.

If you want to watch live TV then you need to be able to watch Filmon

There is however no 'Perfect' solution.

The iPad/Apple TV solution comes close but you can't mirror 4OD or Sky Go to an Apple TV.

As you point out Roku and Now TV don't offer ITV player, nor do they offer Sky Go or Filmon, so you can't watch live TV on them.

A year ago Android TV boxes seemed the solution but they are very hobbyist and apps that work one day, sometimes don't work the next. They are however excellent for watching Filmon and BBC-iPlayer, you also have a massive choice of additional media with the XBMC add on.

Currently only Netflix and YouTube work with Chromecast on the iPad.

The most complete solution is probably a PC, mirrored to a TV using Chromecast. With that combination you can watch all the catchup services, Filmon live TV, pay per view Movies (e.g. Lovefilm, Netflix and Blinkbox) and Sky Go. The downside is that you tie up a PC and changing channels is a bit of a pain.

The most elegant solution is probably one of the new Samsung Smart Blu-Ray players. Obviously you can use them to play Blu-Ray disks but you can also watch Filmon Live TV, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand 5, Netflix etc but not Sky Go.

A Sony PlayStation 3 can also do most of the above.

If you have a Sky Plus account then Sky's programs are likely to still be available on smaller dishes and BBC, ITV, 4OD and Demand 5 are available on their catch-up service.

All of the above of course relies on you having a decent internet connection

Nigel · Post by **Nigel** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 13:05

Allan...can you please expand on the point you raise re Samsung Smart Blu-Ray player

malcolmcooper · Post by **malcolmcooper** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 14:41

I'm very happy with my Sony Playstation 3 set up.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 15:15

Nigel wrote:Allan...can you please expand on the point you raise re Samsung Smart Blu-Ray player

Samsung have been producing 'Smart' devices for a while now.
I bought a Samsung Smart TV last year which in addition to being a TV, incorporates something called the Smart Hub. This has a number of 'apps' like you would get on a tablet, it also has a web browser.

Out of the box, I could watch UK TV via Filmon on the web browser and connecting it through a VPN I could watch all the UK Catch-Up services.

The Smart Hub has now been incorporated into a number of Blu-Ray players which effectively turn your TV into a Smart TV.
An example is the Samsung BD-F6500 €149 from Darty or £99 from Amazon.co.uk

Other manufacturers offer similar facilities but Samsung seems to be the current market leader. In the Android environment they have done deals with all the TV companies to offer their services on tablets and phones so I guess they have some clout with them in ensuring compatibility.

malcolmcooper wrote:I'm very happy with my Sony Playstation 3 set up.

Nothing wrong with the PS3, particularly if you want to play games as well. In my opinion Smart TVs and Blu-Ray players are a bit more elegant but it comes down to personal choice.

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Fri 31 Jan 2014 15:47

We have bought a small wireless remote Allan so when the netbook is connected to the tv we can change channels from our seat.

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Sat 01 Feb 2014 03:34

Thanks for all this. I have experience of a samsung box elsewhere and found it a pain to use given my very limited viewing. I don't really care about the itv channels, but do care about easy and good-quality BBC radio. It goes against the grain to buy a gaming console which would never play games. And it would be tiresome to stream from a computer, given where my only computer is going to live.

My ideal solution is a cheap and easy gizmo plugged into the tv which can, but need not be, operated using an Idevice and/or an android phone, preferably both. A roku seems to tick most of my boxes, and I should confess to having already bought a roku 2 while in the US (it has the added gimmick of a remote controller which doubles as a wireless headphone driver, which could be useful to me). But I will not have the chance to play with it while my rebuild is in progress.

So I would be especially interested in experience of a roku - in particular how well the wireless connection works on those, like mine, which are wifi only.

blackduff · Post by **blackduff** » Sat 01 Feb 2014 04:57

Martyn
I cannot say much about the other hardware posted but don't forget the G-Box Midnight. It's just a small box under the TV and will give you lots of viewing. This box has 3/4 USB connections, HDMI connection, Ethernet connection and a few other "things" to plug.

I bought mine in the UK via Ebay or Amazon.

To a great extent, I'm only using the box for the Filmon. But, it's possible to do much more. Laziness keeps me from doing more. I just bought a tablette (Google Nexus 10) and it runs a Jellybean 4.2, similar as the G-Box. I'm learning about the G-Box from using this tablette.

This G-Box did one thing though. It allowed me to stop using a Laptop for the Filmon TV. I have a remote (wi-fi) keyboard for the Box as well as a wi-fi mouse.

Good luck for your search.

Blackduff

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Sat 01 Feb 2014 07:08

blackduff wrote:Martyn

Good luck for your search.

Blackduff

Not really searching just now - as I've said, I have a sort of enforced lay-off for the next few months. I just hope to profit by other peoples' experience as it develops. I don't watch much tv at the best of times, and almost none recently for various reasons. And I'm not missing it, though I still listen to "the radio" a bit (which is to say, mostly World Service through various things, none of them radios). So I want something really simple to operate - as much for family, guests and potential tenants as for me, though I don't mind some initial effort in setting it up (I know from experience that I quite enjoy that, even if I never much use the end result).

Ideally, somebody will update the sticky at the top of this thread round about July this year, with something even more helpful and comprehensive.

russell · Post by **russell** » Sat 01 Feb 2014 11:42

I've been using a G-Box Midnight (the early one not the MX2) since last spring and after the initial setting up it works well with Filmon. XBMC is a bit unreliable and occasionally crashes requiring a power off / power on reboot. I can use a VPN such as iPortal to get iPlayer but it needs to be set up again after every time the unit is powered off.

I have just taken delivery of a Droidbox iMX6 which is the same as the G-Box Midnight MX2 and comes out of the same factory. It does however come with more apps and XBMC Add-ons pre loaded so doesn't need so much setting up. In fact it comes with too many Add-ons which is confusing for the user and means that it spends more time updating them so it is worth removing those you don't need.

One problem with the Droidbox though is that I can't set up the VPN. I think it is a software problem and I am in discussion with the supplier about it.

Russell.

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Sat 01 Feb 2014 15:00

I have a second hand laptop (£120) with hdmi connection to the tv. It's set up with Smart DNS (£3.12 pcm) from overplay and all the player/demand sites, filmon, netfix and the freeview tv guide on the desktop. It sits under the tv and the desktop is put onto the tv screen. I just then use a remote keyboard with touchpad (£15) to operate the thing. It all works fine, decent picture quality and sound. If you want live tv filmon is very easy but it's better to use the "watch now" on the demand/player sites because the picture is nearer the filmon HD quality. You an also use it as a smart tv for email, web browsing etc. Overplay allows any number of devices at one site so we have the normal laptop to use if you want to watch in another room. Cheap and effective.
P.S. I would recommend 4MB of RAM in the laptop, a cheap upgrade if you have 2MB

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Online tv: roku, now tv, chromecast.....

Online tv: roku, now tv, chromecast.....