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Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Amazon Firestick 4K

I’ve learned that if you don’t use their power supply, you will have problems. Also, don’t bother with the Ethernet adapter. Wireless is faster.

We became Amazon Prime members and downloaded Hulu with Disney +. We told Cox Communications to cancel our TV, their silly Homelife and we are not sorry in the least. It’s a bit of work getting to your programs, but worth it. I also have a subscription to Hulu’s DVR, although you really don’t need it.

I’ve not heard back from Cox, which surprised me. The last time I cancelled the TV service and went to DirecTV, they came to me with offers that would have kept me, but they were too late. This time they said nothing. No calls with special offers, no letters in the mail. Apparently, they just no longer care.

I switched because Cox sent me a notice that my package was moving from $250 per month to $300 per month. I now pay $92 for 500Mbps Internet, $8.25 paid annually for Prime and $72 for Hulu & Disney+. I figure $172 per month beats the heck out of $300 per month.
Is Hulu included with Amazon prime?
I like your plan btw
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Again though the 2 sites I mentioned are not subscription based they are Free.. I really like free...

Correct you are accessing a website with questionable legality to watch content. Since you can only install apps on a Roku from their store on the devices, and they keep those pretty locked down, a Roku is the wrong tool for your job. Other devices where you can install 3rd party apps are where you need to be looking.
 
Correct you are accessing a website with questionable legality to watch content. Since you can only install apps on a Roku from their store on the devices, and they keep those pretty locked down, a Roku is the wrong tool for your job. Other devices where you can install 3rd party apps are where you need to be looking.
I was just curious about other things out there. I'm fine using what I have though. It works. And the only apps I have on the fire stick are from the Amazon store. It just so happens that one of the apps let's you browse the web and bookmark other sites
 
I spent many years trying to sell logistics services to Roku -never managed to get them on board, but had a steady stream of "friends and family" deals so I'm fully in the Roku ecosystem. (One of the benefits of being in the Bay Area is proximity to tech companies, great for getting your hands on cheap hardware!)

These days my TV is a Costco-bought 4k TCL Roku TV somehow only costs $300. Had a couple Chromecasts over the years (friends at Google discount :) , liked the concept but having built in casting on the TV itself is so much easier.
 
Apple TV 4k on a Sony Android TV, Britbox on my iPad and Mac, and Nord VPN so we can watch BBC iPlayer. ITV Hub won't cast to the TV though, nor will Britbox. Up to yesterday we also used Mobdro but that seems to have died, pity.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
I have owned and used all of the streaming devices. Been a cord cutter for years. The most solid device for a brainless cable-box-like experience is Roku. It just works. And it supports just about every streaming service now. My only complaint is that they make you load a credit card even if you don’t buy any channel through them. But I’ve been with them since the very beginning and have not had any charges from them ever.

Fire stick can be wonky. Apple TV is only good if you live in that apple ecosystem, which I don’t. Raspberry Pi is great to get your nerd on. But it takes fiddling to get everything humming. I mostly use it to play old arcade games on retropie.

I also keep a massively powerful i9 based RTX 2080 gaming PC connected to my main TV. That allows me to stream Kodi and any browser based streaming content in style. I also use blue stacks android emulator to run a bunch of streaming apps on my TV that are only available on Android. That works well.

The one to watch is the Xfinity Flex box. If you live in a Comcast area and get xfinity internet service, they will send you a flex box for free. It is very much a cable box type experience, and supports most apps. The UI is great, and performance has been super. And they give you peacock premium for free. It’s a no brainer.

I’ve owned and tried a ton of other devices, like nvidia shield, razor forge, google tv, and a host of Android based tv boxes with not much luck. Roku has been the best, and it’s what I use the most.
 
Is Hulu included with Amazon prime?
I like your plan btw
Hulu is not included. I have Hulu with no commercials plus Disney+ and I pay about $74. I can’t recall exactly what I pay, but it’s within a couple dollars of $74.

I didn’t think I was getting much with Amazon plus, but now I wouldn’t be without it. I get free shipping on everything that Amazon ships, and most deliveries are next day. I also get to watch some killer movies and series’ that are not available anywhere else. Jack Ryan was the first series I watched and we loved it. Now I’m watching The Expanse.

I really like to watch all of the above on my eyePad. It makes the treadmill less of a chore.
 

Messygoon

Abandoned By Gypsies.
Apple TV 4K. No tips or tricks or issues. It just works.
Us too... the current Apple 4K. Incredible remote (thumb mousepad, lightening cable to recharge), crystal clear 4K on our high-end Sony. Spectrum app provides cable content, stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and 1year of free Apple+. We no longer use the Sony‘s Android system. Amazon Fire Sticks sit in a drawer. Highly recommend.
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Hulu is not included. I have Hulu with no commercials plus Disney+ and I pay about $74. I can’t recall exactly what I pay, but it’s within a couple dollars of $74.

I didn’t think I was getting much with Amazon plus, but now I wouldn’t be without it. I get free shipping on everything that Amazon ships, and most deliveries are next day. I also get to watch some killer movies and series’ that are not available anywhere else. Jack Ryan was the first series I watched and we loved it. Now I’m watching The Expanse.

I really like to watch all of the above on my eyePad. It makes the treadmill less of a chore.
Thx I didn’t think it was. I agree on prime. There’s also music and photo backup that’s great but once they got you they have you.
 
Thx I didn’t think it was. I agree on prime. There’s also music and photo backup that’s great but once they got you they have you.
Careful with the photo backup. They compress the files and you lose a little bit of resolution when you download it. I also don’t think you can upload anything other than JPEGs. I shoot RAW, and need to back those up as well, so I use Smugmug for photo backup.

here is a link to my public photos.

 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Careful with the photo backup. They compress the files and you lose a little bit of resolution when you download it. I also don’t think you can upload anything other than JPEGs. I shoot RAW, and need to back those up as well, so I use Smugmug for photo backup.

here is a link to my public photos.

Thanks I’ll check that out. I use Amazon to back up only phone pics. I started back to playing around with photography this year and with my camera I shoot raw. I don’t have that many shots even worth to go off site or to worry about backing up right now. I have a 1 t memory and a separate hard drive to back up but haven’t used that yet. Mostly my learning process of shooting and editing in Lightroom.
 

shavefan

I’m not a fan
Another Apple TV 4K user here. We had a 1st gen for years but recently upgraded to the 4K version. We love it, its fast and easy to use. Great remote. Supports all major apps/services, 4K UHD, Dolby Vision, Atmos, etc. It makes our 4K LG OLED picture look phenomenal. We love it.
 
Thanks I’ll check that out. I use Amazon to back up only phone pics. I started back to playing around with photography this year and with my camera I shoot raw. I don’t have that many shots even worth to go off site or to worry about backing up right now. I have a 1 t memory and a separate hard drive to back up but haven’t used that yet. Mostly my learning process of shooting and editing in Lightroom.
When you get further along in your photography and want to securely backup your photos Scott Kelby recommends to keep one set on an external hard drive, another copy on a second external hard drive and a copy in the cloud.

The first hard drive you keep at your computer and store new photos and your edits on that drive. Do not keep photos on your computer’s hard drive.

You then set your cloud backup to automatically scan your drive and upload changes and new additions.

The second hard drive is kept offsite somewhere. Your office, a bank deposit box, or a friends house.

Then periodically, you bring home the second drive, copy the first drive onto the second drive and then take the first drive offsite.

It’s a pain in the derrière, but it insures that no matter what disaster might strike, you have a safe copy of your photos.

The hardest part of this process is picking a cloud service and then uploading the photos. I have close to 50 GB in photo files. My upload speed is about 12 Gb per second. So you can see it takes a long time for the initial upload to complete. Some cloud services allow you to send them a hard drive with your photos on it. The then copy the photos to their drives and ship yours back.

Apologies to the OP for derailing this thread. Hopefully it will get back on the rails now.
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
When you get further along in your photography and want to securely backup your photos Scott Kelby recommends to keep one set on an external hard drive, another copy on a second external hard drive and a copy in the cloud.

The first hard drive you keep at your computer and store new photos and your edits on that drive. Do not keep photos on your computer’s hard drive.

You then set your cloud backup to automatically scan your drive and upload changes and new additions.

The second hard drive is kept offsite somewhere. Your office, a bank deposit box, or a friends house.

Then periodically, you bring home the second drive, copy the first drive onto the second drive and then take the first drive offsite.

It’s a pain in the derrière, but it insures that no matter what disaster might strike, you have a safe copy of your photos.

The hardest part of this process is picking a cloud service and then uploading the photos. I have close to 50 GB in photo files. My upload speed is about 12 Gb per second. So you can see it takes a long time for the initial upload to complete. Some cloud services allow you to send them a hard drive with your photos on it. The then copy the photos to their drives and ship yours back.

Apologies to the OP for derailing this thread. Hopefully it will get back on the rails now.
Thanks fantastic info. Much appreciated and apology to the op.
 
I have a couple smart TVs and 2 Roku’s set up on a couple other TVs. The Rokus are a few years old and have been flawless.

Prior to the Rokus I tried a couple versions of the Amazon Fire TV devices. Never again, they are junk.
 
I have a Roku Ultra (the earlier version, not the latest one), a Fire Cube, and a Chromecast Ultra. They all do a good job of streaming, even in 4K.

I rarely use the Fire Cube as I hate the way the interface pushes Amazon content, even though I do watch Prime Video and listen to Prime Music HD. Amazon Fire Cube limits music streaming to DVD quality, you cannot go over 48 kHz which is a disapointment.

I use Chromecast Ultra primarily for streaming YouTube.

I love the Roku menu system. It focuses on channels and allows you to rearrange them as desired. It is my go to device for streaming Netflix, Prime Video, and Acorn TV and occasionally for other free channels. I could easily live with Roku only, but wanted to see how the other devices worked.

I do have earlier versions of the Roku, Fire Stick and Chromecast products which I use occasionally on other systems. One of my favorite products, however, is the Chromecast Audio which will allow music streaming at up to 96 kHz as long as you have a good DAC to convert the optical out to analog.
 
We cut cable 11 years ago, and for the longest time used mainly Roku in the master bedroom and living room, and Xbox in the basement.

I bought a smart TV about the same time, and hated the functionality so much that I've returned it to the store and actually made a point to avoid them ever since.

However, last year we've upgraded our family room TV, and the new smart TV is actually very decent (responsive, good streaming quality) just as Roku started developing some issues.

We've also been streaming a lot more from other devices directly to TV using Bluetooth. The image quality is the same (HDMI, we don't do 4K yet).
 
Amazon Firestick 4K

I’ve learned that if you don’t use their power supply, you will have problems. Also, don’t bother with the Ethernet adapter. Wireless is faster.

We became Amazon Prime members and downloaded Hulu with Disney +. We told Cox Communications to cancel our TV, their silly Homelife and we are not sorry in the least. It’s a bit of work getting to your programs, but worth it. I also have a subscription to Hulu’s DVR, although you really don’t need it.

I’ve not heard back from Cox, which surprised me. The last time I cancelled the TV service and went to DirecTV, they came to me with offers that would have kept me, but they were too late. This time they said nothing. No calls with special offers, no letters in the mail.

I switched because Cox sent me a notice that my package was moving from $250 per month to $300 per month. I now pay $92 for 500Mbps Internet, $8.25 paid annually for Prime and $72 for Hulu & Disney+. I figure $172 per month beats the heck out of $300 per month.

for some reason I thought Hulu and disney plus were much cheaper than that ? I think we pay like 5 - 6 bucks a month for Disney and the same for Hulu ? The one that doesn’t seem worth the money right now is Netflix.


we don’t have cable but pay for

hbo
netflix
hulu
amazon prime
disney plus


Even with that and gigabit fios it’s far cheaper than internet and cable tv
 
I have 2 nvidia shields. 1 for lounge and 1 for bedroom TV. Fast reliable and run all the apps I need. Not watched live TV for quite a while.
 
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