Smart TV and other Smart Devices like Roku, Google Chromecast, AppleTV and more (cable tv, sitcoms)
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There are different Roku sticks for sale, but this one is the latest version and, of all the Roku sticks, runs the fastest. By fastest, I mean that the menus load faster and the initial streaming is quicker. However, it's $50 - the slower ones are cheaper.
Keeping in mind that even the fastest of the Roku sticks are slower than the Roku 3 or 4.
A Roku 3 or 4 is a box not a stick? That is why it's faster?
IDK what y'all even mean by speed. The slower ones buffer while watching? My Smart TV never does that.
The 3 and 4 are stand alone units. There's only so much performance you can cram in a little stick.
We mean performance of the box itself, switching menus, loading channels. Also the network connection. The stick is wi-fi only, not sure if they are dual band or not, while the boxes can be hard wired, which will provide a better network connection.
Someone told me that the other day. How does Kodi work? He said you get everything for free, which would be great, but sounds too good to be true.
Nope, whoever told you that is correct. Kodi is a free app that you sideload onto the firestick. You add repositories to the app and then click on the respository and search for the movie or tv show you want to watch (kind of looks like Netflix). When you click it, it will search the repository and find every instance of the movie and then rank them from best to worst quality. Click the link that you want to watch and voila. Movies on.
One thing to be mindful of...... SOME apps that work within Kodi use P2P servers (think torrents) and will ask you to download something. DON'T use those, or you're likely to get a DCMA letter shortly thereafter. Stream, but don't download.
It also has live TV. We use it to watch baseball games and other sporting events that may be blacked out in our area.
I sold all 4 of my Roku boxes and threw my Chromecast in the trash when I got the Firestick. For whomever says that the Roku has the most content... you haven't tried a Firestick/Firebox. There is MUCH more available content on those than the Roku.
The Amazon firestick has a quadcore processor in it, so loading times are slightly longer than the Firebox, which has an octo-core processor in it. But honestly, the stick has served very well so I haven't pulled the trigger on a box just yet. But it's coming.
For the small difference in price, I'd go with the 3 vs. the 2. The voice search is really cool. I don't see paying extra for the 4, especially if you don't have a 4K TV.
Oh really? Well then which of the boxes are the best one's? I was thinking of getting the cheapest one.
That's subjective really.... depends on your intended use, the tv you have, etc....
For use on a non 4k tv (that is 1080p), a Roku 3 will probably serve it's purpose for you. A Roku 2 only goes up to 720p.
None of this equipment is expensive in the grand scheme of things. What I have found through trial and error was that I would have come out cheaper in the long run buying the best one I could up front. First I set up a pc in the living room, then I had an original Sony network box, a Roku, a Roku 2, a Roku 3, and a Chromecast before moving on to the Firestick. I pretty much threw all that away when I got the Firestick.
There isn't much difference in the price of a Firestick and a Roku box. Get the one that fits the purpose you want it for. Roku's are nice boxes. But they won't run Kodi. Hence, the reason I ditched them.
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