Discussion of films, telly etc makes me wonder how you all stream content to the TV? We have an aging smart TV but a more flexible Amazon Fire Box which is starting to suffer from missing apps (BFI, though you can get it via Prime). If I’m in bed ill or on hols I might download stuff to the tablet. You?
Streaming telly
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We bought a new tv a few years ago just to get everything on one remote control. The old set was moved to another room. Now, I’d probably just buy a Firestick rather than a new tv.
Apple TV mainly but I also have an Amazon Firestick and TV has Roku built in. I have Smart DNS set up on Apple TV for UK stuff
Don’t own a telly. Everything via computer connected to projector, projected onto living room wall. Hey presto, living room becomes a cinema.
I just bought a popcorn scented air freshener – does the same job..
Genius. Wish I’d thought of that.
Haven’t you read the rules? You’re supposed to buy a new smart TV every couple of years! Obviously you’ll also be wanting/needing the latest Sky Q box as well.
Apple TV. The Sony TV is smart, but we really only use it as a monitor.
Same here. Samsung 4K smart TV, but I use the much better Xiaomi MI box to access apps for streaming: t’ Flix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, YouTube, etc.
I have an Apple TV box but don’t use Apple TV. The box is more responsive than the Amazon Firestick, although I use the Firestick as well. Mrs B uses Netflix but I’m more likely to stream via Prime Video. We have two modestly sized Sony TVs, both of which are smart, but so old now that hardly any of the onboard apps still work.
We have a NowTV box attached to our (dumb) Freeview tv. Box at least 5 years old, Samsung tv even older. NowTV is a rebadged Roku. We only use it to watch iPlayer/All4/UKTV catchup. Very pleased with it.
The BT HDR runs most of the apps we need. It didn’t support Now when I wanted to watch Game of Thrones so I got a wifi Now stick. It does now (Ho Ho) but I keep the now stick because the HDR doesn’t have YouTube.
Bar three shows we get FTA, everything is streamed via an Apple TV box.
Kayo Sports, Disney+, BritBox, Acorn, SBS, ABC iView, Stan are the main culprits. Sharon has a couple of shows that she gets via US websites on her Mac/iPad.
Apple TV box for me which has the apps for Netflix / Amazon / Disney and can stream stuff on my NAS drive (e.g downloaded iPlayer stuff).
We have a smart TV and pay monthly to get a range of channels on a mini-hub. You also get Chromecast. So we can have apps on the smart TV and on the hub. We have Netflix, HBO, SVT Play (equivalent of BBC) plus 4 Play. The hub gives you catch up service on all channels plus Sky Showtime, films you can rent and Viaplay which includes various series and films. So whereas we used to just pay for a licence, now we pay for licence, plus monthly: the hub, Netflix and HBO. I have apple TV but it doesn’t really work well as I have an android phone and have to mirror the screen of my phone to the TV. It’s a bit jerky so I shall cancel that. Also had Disney briefly for Get Back. It’s kind of crazy all that we pay for. Ultimately maybe less than 10% of streaming services are worth watching, you pay to get a bit here and a bit there. To be honest, we use the state funded channel catch up app most, often because there are good UK programmes on SVT. Makes you wonder about the wisdom of the whole approach.
Mac mini attached to a very old Panasonic plasma TV.
Apple TV. Works a treat.
Fire Cube (wired Ethernet, as wireless Fire Stick kept dropping out) attached to very old non-smart 720 (same as Freeview HD) Panasonic plasma TV.
LG 4K OLED with built-in everything, attached to non-4K Panasonic BD player, in the den. Very pleased with it but I prefer the picture quality of the plasma (and I preferred the 625i Sony Trinitron CRT it replaced).
You’d have loved the Sony Profeel Steve. They even had their own external speakers. The 27” was unbelievably heavy. I nearly got killed carrying one up a steep flight of stairs but managed to stop myself falling backwards
http://www.ukvac.com/forum/gone-sony-kx27ps1-pro-feel-monitor_topic371579.html
Mine was a 28″ with Freeview built in, one of the two widescreen Trinitron models they ever made. It started to flash over occasionally then didn’t like moving house and blew up in a shower of sparks and flames on our first day here.
My stepdad bought the 32″ version. It was absolutely absurd, a three-man lift with what felt like a cast-iron frame inside.
625 lines better than 4K lines? Interesting
Well you can’t watch Jazz 625 on anything else. Or in Dobly, come to that
I used to work developing TV broadcast equipment. If everyone could see uncompressed SD (27Mb/s) there would be no need for 4K, it’s the MPEG-2 encoding that ruins it. Those end-of-CRT-era Sony Trinitrons were the closest domestic sets ever got to studio monitor quality.
There’s an argument to be had that 4K is snake oil, unless you live in a cinema.
The HD signals (not 4k) I get over the air using an antenna look incredible. Way better than SD.
Bush monochrome portable. Fourteen whole inches if you please. Keeps me up to date with what the black and white dots are up to. The soundtrack is very progressive.
625 or 405?
Oh you’ve got me there. I’d pick it up and look at the label on the back, only the Bakelite burns my fingers.
Hurr…
Almost everything is watched/streamed via Sky Q. Use Fire TV cube for anything with Atmos sound as Sky Q doesn’t support this for Netflix/Disney/Apple streams.
Sky Q sounds like some terrifying alliance between Murdoch and insane conspiracy theorists. I suppose this has already happened, really.
LG Smart TV, one remote, works a treat.
PS5 – somewhat overspecced for streaming but does everything very well plus Blu-ray and dvd, as I Inch my way forwards on Last of Us 2.
We have an ageing but still excellent Phillips TV (sound and picture are great), and have had Sky for years. Went to Sky Q about 18 months ago and it really is very good – all the streaming services have their own apps, and I subscribe to Disney +, use my daughter’s Netflix and have Amazon Prime anyway. Only downside is occasional flakey broadband in Devon.
Panasonic Smart TV. The year I bought it, (2019,) MLB TV stopped Panasonic from displaying their app, which meant I had to get a Firestick to watch the baseball. It’s a pain as it has to work off wi-fi as our broadband comes into the house upstairs. The signal drops out constantly but I can’t bear the thought of having to wire through the house from the upstairs, down to the TV.
So, I have double Prime and Netflix, Sky HD and Sony DVD/Blu Ray player. I watched a lot on Netflix and Prime when I first got them, but much less so now. I’m a sucker for the long form detective documentary which the Americans do so well, (Making A Murderer, The Staircase, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc) but there hasn’t been any really good ones for a while.
43in Sony telly, 6 or 7 years old now, I’d guess. Freeview, iPlayer, Netflix using my brother’s account and Youtube from time to time. Anything else I grab off the interwebby (getiplayer or eel market or 4Kdownloader and suchlike) and stick on a 6Tb drive upstairs, then I stream it to the Sony using Serviio. Telly can even boot up the upstairs PC remotely if necessary, and Serviio comes up as an option in the Home:Devices menu. Seemples.