The Best Devices for Streaming TV

Streaming music, films and TV programs is the most popular way to view anything. High Street stores that sell CD’s and DVD’s are disappearing as streaming overtakes buying the physical items. There is more than one reason for this including the fact that they are cheaper to buy and instant, no matter what time of day or night you want to watch them. You can even stream things from other countries, although you may sometimes have to use a VPN to achieve this.

Just as an example, Netflix, which is one of the largest streaming platforms, has a library for each country. If you are a member of Netflix UK and want to watch something from Netflix US, you would need a VPN to fool Netflix into thinking that is where you are located.  Whatever platforms you are watching, what can be more important is the device you are using. Like with everything in this life, there are some that are better than others.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K – Voted Best Overall

It seems that the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is rated the best by the experts and by consumers who buy more of this item than any of the other streaming devices. It lets you view more than 500.000 movies, TV shows from the likes of Netflix, Hulu and HBO, watch live TV, stream music and access sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

It also features Amazon Alexa, which is capable of many things including helping you to choose what to view. Team this with a good laptop and you can stream good quality programs, films and music wherever you are. Laptops such as Lenovo ones, which are durable and reliable, are great for this purpose, but it could be that you have never owned this sort of device before. Then you may want some expert advice on laptop buying, and this is available online. Do your homework and you won’t be disappointed.

As well as streaming, owning a laptop means that you can play games, shop, handle banking transactions and do many other things while on the move.

Chromecast Ultra – Best For Smartphones

If you are looking for the best way to stream things on your smartphone, the Chromecast Ultra could be for you. It offers streaming in HD and HDR as well as 4K Ultra. It plugs into your TV’s HDMI port and will then work with iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

Among the things you can watch or listen to are more than 30 million songs, 200.00 movies and TV programs, sports, radio games and more. Chromecast users can also put websites or their smartphone screen onto their TV.

Roku Ultra – Most User-Friendly

This is a great choice for streaming fans looking for lots of features. The very user-friendly menu is easy to navigate. Just speak the name of a film, TV program, actor or director into the controller mobile app and it will search them out for you. It has a night mode that will tone down loud noises such as explosions, so that you can watch late at night without disturbing the rest of the household.

The Ultra supports both 4K and HD streaming and with ones of the largest selections of things to watch, it has to be well worth considering.

Apple TV 4 – Best Apple Streaming

Although not the cheapest, Apple TV 4 does have the polished interface that you would expect from an Apple product. It has voice search with Siri and an excellent selection of films, shows, music and anything else you want to view. What will put some people off buying this item is that you have to be part of the Apple ecosystem for it to work at its best.

A notable omission is Google play, but that should not really be a surprise with the Apple versus Android war.

TiVO Bolt OTA With Antenna

This device has been developed for consumers who do not have connects via cables to their TV. It is wireless with antenna so that you do not miss out in all the free programmes from the normal TV channels. It has a memory of 1YB that will let you record up to 150 hours of HD content and can also stream all the services such as Netflix and Hulu.

To benefit the most from this, you have to purchase the box and then pay for the TiVO services, but if you love live sport and network shows, this could be the solution for you. One of its biggest advantages is that you only need one device for everything, although the pricing may deter some people.