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Author Topic: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?  (Read 1750 times)

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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #10 on: November 10, 2014, 09:34:43 PM »
Quest makes a good point about the ecosystem.  However, the upside to all that deep throating is that you have a well supported ecosystem.  Roku is like running linux, with a bit more polish.  It's the Wild West, which is fun and exciting... until you get a splinter and die of gangrene. 

With Amazon (or Apple), you have a single point of contact for support, a robust infrastructure, etc.  How much is that worth to you?

Roku is pretty good, though, so there's really no bad choice.
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ultrabike

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2014, 09:40:37 PM »
Quote from: cizx on November 10, 2014, 09:34:43 PM
Quest makes a good point about the ecosystem.  However, the upside to all that deep throating is that you have a well supported ecosystem.  Roku is like running linux, with a bit more polish.  It's the Wild West, which is fun and exciting... until you get a splinter and die of gangrene. 

With Amazon (or Apple), you have a single point of contact for support, a robust infrastructure, etc.  How much is that worth to you?

Roku is pretty good, though, so there's really no bad choice.

Disagree with the Roku to Linux comparo. Roku 3 has been very robust so far.
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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2014, 09:42:43 PM »
Linux is plenty robust... just not as polished as Windows or OS X.  Fire TV and Apple TV are more polished and provide a more cohesive UX.  That's all I meant.
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ultrabike

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2014, 09:45:52 PM »
I think with Linux it depends on your hardware and even then. Ubuntu worked for me for a while but not very well. On another laptop it just overheated and got slow. Had to reboot stuff with certain "supported" programs on either platform. Drivers can be a very limiting factor. I have yet to have a need to turn off or reboot my Roku 3 and it's been a few months now. Runs cool and smooth too.

It's proly fanboy talk, but can say I'm happy with the Roku 3 in terms of stability, content, UI and so on.
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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #14 on: November 10, 2014, 09:50:24 PM »
Yeah, pretty much an set top box is going to be like that... unless you roll your own with a NUC or ChromeBox or something.

Could always get an xbox one... that does Netflix and Plex.  :)p1
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Questhate

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #15 on: November 10, 2014, 09:50:58 PM »
Yeah, the UI for the Fire TV was really clunky last time I used it (it's been a couple of months). If you want to watch a Prime video, then you have to scroll through all the paid options to get to the free option. If you want to watch Netflix, you don't go to Movies (because that only includes Amazon Prime Movies), you have to scroll all the way down to Apps to use it.

It just seems like everything takes 5 clicks more than necessary to get what I want. I haven't found a way to pin specific apps to certain parts of the UI. Again, not a big deal if you're exclusively using Amazon services.

Roku, while not as pretty looking, is actually a lot more usable. And if you search for a movie, it will search across ALL available services to find it.

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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #16 on: November 10, 2014, 09:52:54 PM »
Yeah, the Amazon box is primarily a revenue generating consumption machine for Amazon...

I think Lifehacker wrote up a good comparison of the options.  Let me go find that.

edit: here we go
http://gizmodo.com/streaming-device-showdown-who-wins-the-battle-for-your-1537850412
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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #17 on: November 10, 2014, 09:58:14 PM »
Looks like they recommend Roku, too... but the Amazon does have voice search!

I'm sticking with my Apple TV and my convoluted method to get pirated movies to play.  Makes me feel like I'm working for what I stole.  :boom:
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DaveBSC

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #18 on: November 10, 2014, 10:01:01 PM »
Considering you can get a Celeron J based Windows 8 Asus netbox for barely over $200 now, that's what I would suggest. Vastly more power than any of these little boxes for not that much more money. Run XBMC or whatever you want on it, it's all up to you.

Cord cutting is fantastic, all I've had at home is broadband for a good 7 or 8 years now. The selection on Amazon and Netflix is pretty similar, though each has its own exclusives. I already have Prime for the shipping anyway, so I just treat their streaming service as a nice bonus. If you don't mind the commercials Hulu is ok too, though I wouldn't bother paying for the plus version. 
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cizx

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Re: Amazon Fire TV or Roku - advice needed?
« Reply #19 on: November 10, 2014, 10:03:06 PM »
I got the impression that Marv wants easy streaming stuff for the family... otherwise I'd agree that a full PC is the way to go.
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