Streaming TV

[melmerby]

Hi all

I often stream the odd programme off the free TV streaming services but find it a PITA as most don't work on my "Smart" TV recorder (as the browser is too old and can't be updated), so I have to use the Laptop which is a bit of a fag.

I was considering some other means such as the Roku TV sticks, which seem well received (sic!).

 

Anybody familiar with them?

e.g. Can new services be added to them? Are they of reasonable quality?

 

Edit I might consider the occasional paid item as well.

 

 

Edited July 13 by melmerby

[Derekl]

I use a Roku stick. I have had it for a year or two. It gets occasional use, but seems reliable. I use it for IPlayer and sometimes ITV X. There is access to Netflix (and others) if you have a sub and an invitation to add anything else you like.

My slight reservation is that you have to register and when you do they take a card number. I keep an eye on the card statements, and nothing untoward has happened.

Overall, I would recommend it for ease of use, but that is for what I use.

[AY Mod]

We only have streaming (and live TV apps) via mobile broadband now; the Amazon Fire stick (not dissimilar to a Roku stick in content availability) is fine - used on the second telly. 

[Free At Last]

25 minutes ago, Derekl said:

My slight reservation is that you have to register and when you do they take a card number. I keep an eye on the card statements, and nothing untoward has happened.

Overall, I would recommend it for ease of use, but that is for what I use.

Long time ago now but I remember a card had to be used to register my roku acc but I was able to delete it later.

[montyburns56]

Just buy an Amazon Firestick. There's an Amazon Prime day on the 16-17th and they'll probably have some good deals on them.

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Just buy an Amazon Firestick. There's an Amazon Prime day on the 16-17th and they'll probably have some good deals on them.

They start at higher prices for similar features as a Roku stick.

 

I'm getting fed up with TV channels rescheduling programmes without warning.

Tonight the Beeb had Countryfile scheduled for 1740 on BBC1, that then changed, due to tennis, to BBC2 at 1740 but they actually put it on BBC1 at 1710 when the tennis finished early, the PVR couldn't keep up with the changes.

They did a similar thing last week and again the PVR missed it, I had to watch it later on iPlayer but I can't do that when it is recording something else.

[ejstubbs]

On 13/07/2024 at 16:55, melmerby said:

I was considering some other means such as the Roku TV sticks, which seem well received (sic!).

 

Anybody familiar with them?

e.g. Can new services be added to them? Are they of reasonable quality?

 

We have a Roku Express - not a stick, but a very small (about matchbox-sized) box that runs off a USB charger with a micro-USB cable and connects to the TV with an HDMI cable.  It handles HD streaming very well but doesn't have 4K if that's what you're interested in (we can get 4K iPlayer on our TV which is actually of a more recent vintage than the Roku).  So long as your wifi is strong in the place where you install it* then it's fine.

 

There is a plethora of streaming apps/services available for Roku.  Far more than we could ever even check out!  By being an early and independent entrant into the streaming client market Roku managed to establish an app ecosystem which is well supported by all the major players, and a huge number of niche services (some of which are very niche).

 

When you ask about quality, do you mean the Roku kit or the streaming services?  If the former then our Roku has been 100% problem-free. The picture and audio quality on the mainstream channels are exactly as you'd expect, and indistinguishable from that obtained on directly on the TV (apart from not doing 4K, as previously mentioned), and via our FreeView Play PVR.  The picture & audio quality some of the niche channels is less sparkling, but that's what you get with channels of that kind - it's nothing to do with the Roku.

 

I also use the Roku to stream content from my NAS.  Again, the TV can do that itself but I actually prefer the UI on the Roku's DLNA app.

 

* In our case, for some reason there's a wifi dead spot in the corner of the sitting room where the TV lives.  I have run a Cat 5 cable to that location from our main router and the TV and the PVR use that.  The Roku is wifi-only, though.  Happily, I had a TP-Link nano-router kicking around doing nothing so I was able to put that to use as a local hotspot for the Roku - and for the wifi audio streaming box that I have hooked up to my hifi system, which is in a different place to the Roku but was still struggling to use our normal wifi, but gets on just fine with the dedicated streaming SSID that the nano-router provides.

[melmerby]

Thanks all for the suggestions

I've decided to go with the Roku 4K stick, which seems to be about the same price everywhere (price fixing😃)

I've ordered one to pick up from Argos tomorrow AM.

 

At least I'll be able to stream iPlayer whilst the PVR is recording.

I used to have two ways to get iPlayer as I have both Freeview & Freesat HD PVR boxes, but the Beeb changed iPlayer and it wasn't compatible with the Humax firmware.

[montyburns56]

19 hours ago, melmerby said:

Thanks all for the suggestions

I've decided to go with the Roku 4K stick, which seems to be about the same price everywhere (price fixing😃)

I've ordered one to pick up from Argos tomorrow AM.

 

At least I'll be able to stream iPlayer whilst the PVR is recording.

I used to have two ways to get iPlayer as I have both Freeview & Freesat HD PVR boxes, but the Beeb changed iPlayer and it wasn't compatible with the Humax firmware.

 

I guess it's too late now, but as I predicted Amazon have sale on their Firesticks and their 4K one is currently £33.

[Classsix T]

Am I missing something here? Streaming TV means you should have access to the programme at will anyway, so why record it?

 

I'm aware third party services often take off programmes once the licence period is up (to be expected) but the likes of iPlayer, All4 etc should keep their own productions up more or less indefinitely, no?

 

C6T.

[melmerby]

52 minutes ago, Classsix T said:

Am I missing something here? Streaming TV means you should have access to the programme at will anyway, so why record it?

I'm recording another programme at the same time as streaming.

The recorder can't stream whilst it's recording.

[Classsix T]

30 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I'm recording another programme at the same time as streaming.

The recorder can't stream whilst it's recording.

Maybe I'm dense but I still don't see an issue with this. Stream later, it'll still be there.

 

C6T.

[melmerby]

2 minutes ago, Classsix T said:

Maybe I'm dense but I still don't see an issue with this. Stream later, it'll still be there.

Not all programmes are on streaming for long times, sometimes a week, sometimes a month, most a lot longer. I record them for later.

I once missed a programme that I was going to watch off iPlayer but went passed the "sell by date".

[melmerby]

A useful side effect of recording programmes off commercial channels, is that you gan skip the ads, you can't on e.g. ITVX

[melmerby]

Discovered some interesting channels.😊

 

One must've been a documentary, the women were so poor they couldn't afford clothes, you could even donate £2.50 to help them............😉

[MJI]

On 16/07/2024 at 14:34, melmerby said:

A useful side effect of recording programmes off commercial channels, is that you gan skip the ads, you can't on e.g. ITVX

 

We had to use Itvx recently, a horrible experience, involving me swearing at all the trailers and sadverts.

 

And no not every search wants some tacky reality show.

[GrumpyPenguin]

21 hours ago, MJI said:

 

We had to use Itvx recently, a horrible experience, involving me swearing at all the trailers and sadverts.

 

And no not every search wants some tacky reality show.

Some years ago I carried out some elecctrical work for a small(ish) specialist TV equipment company in the UK, they produced TV converter type equipment for the Chinese ! (usually under 5,000 units because that is apparently the point above where it's cheaper to produce in China).

I asked one of the techies why manufactures of set top boxes did not install software to "kill" the adverts & was told that it's technically possible but not allowed under various forms of licencing.

[melmerby]

44 minutes ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

I asked one of the techies why manufactures of set top boxes did not install software to "kill" the adverts & was told that it's technically possible but not allowed under various forms of licencing.

It's been like that for a long time, IIRC a manufacturer was going to introduce a recorder that skipped the ads but that got quashed.

 

Technically it's all in the signal stream which these days carries loads of info, not just pictures and sound.

If you were technically competent you could decode this info and do what you want with it.

[GrumpyPenguin]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

It's been like that for a long time, IIRC a manufacturer was going to introduce a recorder that skipped the ads but that got quashed.

 

Technically it's all in the signal stream which these days carries loads of info, not just pictures and sound.

If you were technically competent you could decode this info and do what you want with it.

I'm rather surprised that a manufacturere has not come up with some sort of interface box to do the same function.

[melmerby]

1 minute ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

I'm rather surprised that a manufacturere has not come up with some sort of interface box to do the same function.

It would be illegal under rights laws.

It's no different to those ways of circumventing the encoding on encrypted channels, which people did with analogue Sky in their thousands.

A lot less easy in the digital era.

[john new]

And if everyone skips the ads and the sponsors plugs (and I agree they are annoying) we would lose the content that the adverts pay for. 

[GrumpyPenguin]

2 hours ago, john new said:

And if everyone skips the ads and the sponsors plugs (and I agree they are annoying) we would lose the content that the adverts pay for. 

True, but the only effect advertising has on me is to make me tend NOT buy the advertised product, especially if I don't like the presenter.

[Classsix T]

My LG telly on start-up will display the homepage rather than the last selected input/channel (which appears in a window for rapid access) and there's a panel showing recommended or sponsored content availability. A thousand times out of 1001 it's not worth a second look but it has drawn my attention to the availability of The Last of Us to season purchase negating going directly to HBO/Sky Atlantic, the latter of which will never happen.

 

Anyway a couple of days ago it grabbed my attention immediately by plugging the 'tubi' streaming service with none other than the fabulous Coen Brothers Hail, Caesar! 

Intrigued I investigated further and yes it's free so has adverts but there is some cracking content on there, including Moonrise Kingdom which I've only seen once on terrestrial TV.

 

There is an incredible amount of junk on there too, which is easy enough to bypass, but as a freebie I'll take it if they play what I want to watch. I don't know yet how intrusive the advertising might be though is my only caveat.

 

C6T.

[GrumpyPenguin]

My Pioneer Surround sound shuts down after 10 hours and I cannot change it - a real pain as it always shuts down at the wrong time.

 

& no, I don't spend all day watching TV, although the TV is on during most of the day as differnt people watch their "own" programmes.