Hardware:
Roku has a ton of stuff you can do with it but it is the least intuitive and the stick version is slow slow slow. Some services, like HBOGO, will not be authorized through certain providers (Comcast, for instance) even though it works fine on other devices.
AppleTV is most intuitive, with a simple remote. Feels slightly dated as it hasn't had an update in a while, but still zips through the menus. Works great with iOS devices, so if you have an iPhone, I would start looking here. No Amazon Prime built in, but you can airplay from iPhone/iPad. Remote is wonderfully simple BUT it is a line of sight remote, unlike most of the rest.
FireTV is super fast and pretty easy to use. My wife prefers to the others. Voice search works really well too but doesn't search some plugins (like Netflix I believe). No HBOGO but coming soon. Best gaming system at the moment. Did I mention it was fast? Smart too. Knows what you want to watch and pre-buffers in the background so it just starts when you hit play.
Software:
When people talk about watching ESPN or HBO on these devices, they generally have a login for a cable/satellite account that is paying for these in order to stream them through the device. Live sports will be the toughest thing to cable cut. Having the login to someone else's account (to authorize your streamer) helps a lot.
Netflix- kind of the king of streaming content. Some original content as well, and high quality to boot. Don't expect movies right when they come out of theaters, though you can usually pay to rent them through whatever device you are using.
Hulu- a lot of TV shows with access as they air... but they stick commercials in there. Really pisses me off.
Amazon Prime- consider it a secondary benefit to prime's other features, such as 2nd day shipping, music streaming, book checkout, etc. Plenty of content if you are not picky.
HBOGO- HBO has announced they are bringing a standalone service without a cable/satellite sub soon. No idea on the price. Could be the death knell of cable as we now know it, and open the door for some of these other channels to be offered a la carte.
Built in purchase/rental service- most of these devices let you purchase or rent new movies.
Other- there are other sources of content that work through these streamers, with varied levels of legitimacy, but sometimes they require a higher level of technical knowledge. They certainly don't work as easily as those above.
If you have a strong interest in a particular sport (MLB, NHL, etc), check the devices for a channel specifically for those, as you may be able to watch those live sports through it. Also ESPN3 does have free content, typically stuff not airing on ESPN/ESPN2.
z6joker9 wrote:
