MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The Apple-TV nut of Steve Jobs

wizwor · 04-10-2014, 12:33 AM

My first streamer was a lowly Insignia BD player. Besides playing blu-ray discs and doing a nice job up-converting standard DVDs, it streamed Netflix, Pandora, and CinemaNow AND played files off an attached usb disk. You could queue up files in a playlist. I was getting these as refurbs from Cowboom for ~$50. Still have three of these plus two I've loaned out. Mostly these were used for Netflix and Optical media.

I replaced these with Sony SMP-N200s. These were pretty amazing. Each had wired and wireless ethernet, composite/component/hdmi out, optical out, and usb in. Definitely the best usb player I've ever had as it would play do continuous unattended play of all the files in a folder without intervention -- so sw1, sw2, sw3, sw4, sw5, and sw6 would play one after another with no user intervention. These also streamed dozens of 'channels' including Amazon Prime, Netflix, CinemaNow, Crackle, Flixster, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and Vudu. These were also about $50 via ebay. I had four and all are out on loan. Mostly these were used for Netflix. I used the usb media player a lot.

I have a chromecast which is very cool, but I almost never use it.

Right now, we mostly use Rokus. I have three Roku LT and three Roku 2 XS streamers. I got my first Roku 2 XS as a $70 refurb. It streamed all of the channels the SMP-N200 streamed, but had less outputs. Notable among the new channels were 'cable news' apps, PlayOn and PlayLater. Less notable were hundreds of religious channels, dozens of crappy movie apps, and a bunch of really terrible games. The R2XS played files off the USB port continuously using an app called Nowhere TV. I got one LT with my PlayOn subscription and added two more for $37 each from Amazon and a couple more R2XS refurbs. This is really the only choice if you want to do Aereo, Simple (DVR), tablo, etc. I have five Simple DVRs.

I've used Apple TV (someone else's for one weekend). Noble Netflix streamer, but the owner really used it to play stuff located by an iPhone.

We also have a PS3, an Xbox 360, and a WII all of which stream. We switched to steam/PC gaming last year. My youngest and wife also play games on the Kindle Fire.

Until recently, the streamers were little used. We still rely primarily on broadcast television. When we are not watching live television, we are watching timeshifted television on DTVPal DVRs (which are awesome).

We cut the cable five years ago. In the last two years, other family members have discovered and embraced Netflix, PlayOn, and Plex. My wife also listens to music. I am very happy that the Roku 2 XS has analog out -- she was running a 50" plasma all day to listen to TuneIn!

I was very excited about Mohu Channels, but bailed on the Kickstarter project earlier today. I am still excited about the DVR+. What I like is 1) PSIP guides that require no internet access or service, and 2) mash up of OTA and OTT services in a single guide. You can do this with a Roku if you have a Simple DVR, but the Roku interface is so primitive, you would not want to.

I have a Fire TV coming tomorrow. I'm hoping Simple integrates nicely (and that Simple does not go out of business) and that Amazon does for streamers what they did for ereaders and tablets.

A lot of stuff, right? For this to be something other than a science fair project, I needed to insulate the less technical from all the technology. I do this by making all the TVs (we have nine) work the same -- same remotes doing the same things. I limit the channels to really compelling stuff and add them one at a time.

04-10-2014, 12:33 AM	#36
wizwor Wizard Posts: 1,068 Karma: 23867385 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: kindle, fire	My first streamer was a lowly Insignia BD player. Besides playing blu-ray discs and doing a nice job up-converting standard DVDs, it streamed Netflix, Pandora, and CinemaNow AND played files off an attached usb disk. You could queue up files in a playlist. I was getting these as refurbs from Cowboom for ~$50. Still have three of these plus two I've loaned out. Mostly these were used for Netflix and Optical media. I replaced these with Sony SMP-N200s. These were pretty amazing. Each had wired and wireless ethernet, composite/component/hdmi out, optical out, and usb in. Definitely the best usb player I've ever had as it would play do continuous unattended play of all the files in a folder without intervention -- so sw1, sw2, sw3, sw4, sw5, and sw6 would play one after another with no user intervention. These also streamed dozens of 'channels' including Amazon Prime, Netflix, CinemaNow, Crackle, Flixster, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and Vudu. These were also about $50 via ebay. I had four and all are out on loan. Mostly these were used for Netflix. I used the usb media player a lot. I have a chromecast which is very cool, but I almost never use it. Right now, we mostly use Rokus. I have three Roku LT and three Roku 2 XS streamers. I got my first Roku 2 XS as a $70 refurb. It streamed all of the channels the SMP-N200 streamed, but had less outputs. Notable among the new channels were 'cable news' apps, PlayOn and PlayLater. Less notable were hundreds of religious channels, dozens of crappy movie apps, and a bunch of really terrible games. The R2XS played files off the USB port continuously using an app called Nowhere TV. I got one LT with my PlayOn subscription and added two more for $37 each from Amazon and a couple more R2XS refurbs. This is really the only choice if you want to do Aereo, Simple (DVR), tablo, etc. I have five Simple DVRs. I've used Apple TV (someone else's for one weekend). Noble Netflix streamer, but the owner really used it to play stuff located by an iPhone. We also have a PS3, an Xbox 360, and a WII all of which stream. We switched to steam/PC gaming last year. My youngest and wife also play games on the Kindle Fire. Until recently, the streamers were little used. We still rely primarily on broadcast television. When we are not watching live television, we are watching timeshifted television on DTVPal DVRs (which are awesome). We cut the cable five years ago. In the last two years, other family members have discovered and embraced Netflix, PlayOn, and Plex. My wife also listens to music. I am very happy that the Roku 2 XS has analog out -- she was running a 50" plasma all day to listen to TuneIn! I was very excited about Mohu Channels, but bailed on the Kickstarter project earlier today. I am still excited about the DVR+. What I like is 1) PSIP guides that require no internet access or service, and 2) mash up of OTA and OTT services in a single guide. You can do this with a Roku if you have a Simple DVR, but the Roku interface is so primitive, you would not want to. I have a Fire TV coming tomorrow. I'm hoping Simple integrates nicely (and that Simple does not go out of business) and that Amazon does for streamers what they did for ereaders and tablets. A lot of stuff, right? For this to be something other than a science fair project, I needed to insulate the less technical from all the technology. I do this by making all the TVs (we have nine) work the same -- same remotes doing the same things. I limit the channels to really compelling stuff and add them one at a time.