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Roku vs Android box


GiGo

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I'm thinking of getting either a NowTV stick or Roku Stick as the father in law keeps telling me that "NowTV is great" and says we are welcome to use his subscription. 

I realise that the Nowt app doesn't work on my current Android box and only works on mobile devices and some Samsung TVs. 

So for emby purposes which is better, Android or Roku? Or shall I get a NowTV stick as they are cheaper? I assume I can 'side load' the Emby for Roku app onto the NowTV stick? 

TIA. 

Edited by GiGo
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45 minutes ago, GiGo said:

I assume I can 'side load' the Emby for Roku app onto the NowTV stick? 

No, you would not be able to do that at this time.

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Gilgamesh_48
1 hour ago, GiGo said:

I'm thinking of getting either a NowTV stick or Roku Stick as the father in law keeps telling me that "NowTV is great" and says we are welcome to use his subscription. 

Do NOT get a "stick" type device unless you have to. A NowTV device is not Roku although it is mostly based on Roku. The only apps that can be loaded on a Now TV box is what you find in their app store most others are explicitly blocked and the "trick" of using a code to load an app does not work on the NowTV boxes.

If you are set on a stick type device there is no reason you cannot get both. Sticks are quite cheap and very few TVs do not have at least two HDMI ports. Do not plug the stick directly into your TV. Get a short HDMI extension cable to get the stick somewhat away from the TV. TVs are quite noisy and they cause interference with WIFI quite often.

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You can sideload the Blue Neon Night application on an Now TV.

This was a community driven application with more features and abilities. Because of time some features in this application are broken. This application can no longer be updated.

 

You can get an Roku Streaming Stick+ 4K model and these are quite capable. I am impressed by how fast this thing is.

I have an Roku Streaming Stick+ 3810RW and it is what Roku expects developers to use to test their builds. They also want you to have an 4640 Roku Ultra and 3900 Roku Express which I also have. They also expect you to have an Roku TV 4K model which I do. The point is using all these I can tell you that If you just need a reliable Roku the Streaming Stick+ beats the Express any day of the week. If you must future proof a Roku purchase and want to save money get the Streaming Stick+.

 

Also... https://www.tomsguide.com/news/why-roku-beats-every-other-streaming-device

Edited by speechles
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Thanks all for the replies, a NowTV stick is a no then. The Roku express is currently at £25 in ASDA so was thinking it might be worth it as that's cheaper than the last Android box I got and having NowTV installed would be a bonus. 

I'm not fused about UHD, I'm more than happy 90% of the time with 720p and plus my current TV only does 1080p anyways. 

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7 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Do NOT get a "stick" type device unless you have to. A NowTV device is not Roku although it is mostly based on Roku. The only apps that can be loaded on a Now TV box is what you find in their app store most others are explicitly blocked and the "trick" of using a code to load an app does not work on the NowTV boxes.

If you are set on a stick type device there is no reason you cannot get both. Sticks are quite cheap and very few TVs do not have at least two HDMI ports. Do not plug the stick directly into your TV. Get a short HDMI extension cable to get the stick somewhat away from the TV. TVs are quite noisy and they cause interference with WIFI quite often.

I have a small HDMI extension so might get a longer one. 

Can I ask why you say don't get a "stick" type device?

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Gilgamesh_48
4 hours ago, GiGo said:

I have a small HDMI extension so might get a longer one. 

Can I ask why you say don't get a "stick" type device?

I dislike "sticks" mainly because they are wireless only and because they are often compromises because of trying to keep size and power consumption as low as possible. I have had several sticks and only the one I currently have (a Fire 4K stick) has worked well enough to actually use. Sticks are subject to all the issues of using wireless for streaming. Wireless is great for most activities but it can be too problematic for streaming. A few dropped packets at the wrong time and the stream can break badly enough so that the software cannot recover without at least bad artifacts.

I do not really recommend a regular streaming box if it is used wireless either but, generally, a box is better than a stick. Except for my Fire 4K stick I do not use any streaming devices wirelessly. Every device I have is rock solid when streaming but when I tested my Roku Ultra or my Shield wirelessly they both sometimes have glitches.

Wired is always better than wireless particularly for streaming. If you can connect your devices wired your performance and reliability will be greatly enhanced and your streaming performance will be a LOT better. Sticks are wireless only and that, for me, is a huge drawback.

Over the years sticks have become a LOT better than they were at first but they still glitch a lot more than their wired counterparts.

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The new Roku Streaming Sticks come with a bridged antenna in the USB power wire. It also includes an amplifier to improve gain reception and lock onto frequencies better without drift. There is also an HDMI extender that comes with them to push the unit out from the television better to improve reception. They also support full Wifi AC using the 5ghz band which should improve throughput. They have dual antenna so can support either 2.4ghz or 5ghz. It isn't the old sticks which were prone to winding up in a trash can. These new Streaming Stick are actually somewhat faster since AC Wifi can go faster than 100mbit ethernet. The Roku Streaming Stick+ buffers faster than my Roku ultra on ethernet. The Roku Streaming Stick+ has faster bandwidth on 5ghz Wifi than the Ultra on ethernet. This much I know. These are facts.

Edited by speechles
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I've got a Roku Express turning up tomorrow, £25 from ASDA.

Will see what I think of it.  For the last 5 years or so I've always used Android Boxes.

@Gilgamesh_48 I agree, Ethernet was always my prefered method of connection, if I was in a house I was building from the ground up I would run CAT6 throughout and put ports in every room, but alas I live in a 200 year old house with thick brick walls covered in horse hair plaster so it's a bit of a no go unless I literally start knocking holes in all the walls 🤣
This year I invested in a Mesh System, which really has improved everything in the house, no dropouts and with an ethernet over powerline back bone, which does work great.

I'll report back after I've had a play tomorrow what I think of it.

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pwhodges

My Roku Streaming Stick+ doesn't put a foot wrong.  Admittedly the wifi access point is only about four feet away (it's actually a powerline connector as I couldn't sensibly run ethernet to that room).  It's also dead handy when travelling.

Paul

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Gilgamesh_48
1 hour ago, pwhodges said:

My Roku Streaming Stick+ doesn't put a foot wrong.  Admittedly the wifi access point is only about four feet away (it's actually a powerline connector as I couldn't sensibly run ethernet to that room).  It's also dead handy when travelling.

Paul

Your Roku stick has feet? That must be an enhancement I have not heard of. Does having feet improve WIFI performance?

Actually I know I implied that WIFI is never reliable. I tried not to make that implication but, on rereading what I posted, I failed. My intention was only to say that wired is better than WIFI and WIFI is has potential problems that do not exist for wired connections. My Fire 4K stick is also rock solid but I also have solid interference free WIFI for the most part. When I had streaming problems with WIFI there were interference issues that no longer exist. However, when there was interference, connecting wired eliminated the problems.

The cleaner your WIFI signal is the more reliable your streaming will be if you are using WIFI.

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30 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Your Roku stick has feet? That must be an enhancement I have not heard of. Does having feet improve WIFI performance?

Actually I know I implied that WIFI is never reliable. I tried not to make that implication but, on rereading what I posted, I failed. My intention was only to say that wired is better than WIFI and WIFI is has potential problems that do not exist for wired connections. My Fire 4K stick is also rock solid but I also have solid interference free WIFI for the most part. When I had streaming problems with WIFI there were interference issues that no longer exist. However, when there was interference, connecting wired eliminated the problems.

The cleaner your WIFI signal is the more reliable your streaming will be if you are using WIFI.

I think most users will not encounter such as issue with WiFi, a stable realiable Wifi is only needed for 4k/8k+ files as you need the speed to keep up with the streaming, but for the most part 'normal' people are probably only streaming 1080p, I am probably completly wrong here.  I know everything I stream is only 1080p and most of my own collection is 720p as I personally can't see a great improvement in quality, it could just be my failing eyesight tho 🙃

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