Need help choosing a media Device

ISP cash cow said:
what i am looking mostly for and why I was considering the Roku is because I want to watch Hulu and Netflix, but if I am wanting to load other things such as HBO or something else (from even say ITV from the UK) later on I just want to know I can download APK's or apps for those specific things. I am just worried that things like Hulu (which you cannot get the App on the South African store) won't be able to be side loaded.

Thanks for the input
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OK - I get what you're saying now. The downside to the Roku is that some of the apps are region locked. If you install from the US app repository you'll get channels like HBO, Hulu, Amazon, the upcoming Apple TV+, etc. If you install from the UK store you'll get channels like NowTV, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, etc. Apps like Netflix are available on both. I've upgraded a few of my Rokus over the years so I've got a second Roku dedicated to the UK store.

At $29 a pop having two Rokus is affordable and, assuming you have enough HDMI ports available, relatively painless.

EDIT: it's $39 if you're looking for a 4k model.
 
bwana said:
OK - I get what you're saying now. The downside to the Roku is that some of the apps are region locked. If you install from the US app repository you'll get channels like HBO, Hulu, Amazon, the upcoming Apple TV+, etc. If you install from the UK store you'll get channels like NowTV, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, etc. Apps like Netflix are available on both. I've upgraded a few of my Rokus over the years so I've got a second Roku dedicated to the UK store.

At $29 a pop having two Rokus is affordable and, assuming you have enough HDMI ports available, relatively painless.

EDIT: it's $39 if you're looking for a 4k model.
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Didn’t know Apple+ would be on Roku. Must het my VPN sorted again
 
I'd go with a mi box, I have a roku ultra, MI box and Chromecast and the mi box would be best suited for you. If roku could run the apps you mentioned then it would be the best, but alas it doesn't support those apps.
 
bwana said:
It's nice and all but for the price of one 4k Apple TV you can get 4 Rukus.
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Seems you pay for the support and "it just works", I dont have an Android TV player but they do seem to require lots of tinkering, then things work then they dont.

AppleTV just idles along with little interference.
 
Hemps said:
Seems you pay for the support and "it just works", I dont have an Android TV player but they do seem to require lots of tinkering, then things work then they dont.

AppleTV just idles along with little interference.
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It doesn’t get much simpler than a Roku.
 
Roku does look interesting, just the wifi only thats puts me off but it does seem close to apple tv like in operation.
Like the remote, ATV4 remote gets on my nerves sometime.
But having iphones, ipads, Macbook in the house, I should maybe stick to Apple.
 
bwana said:
Roku doesn't have Showmax or DSTV Now, FireSticks are a pain to set up.
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Have 3 firesticks and 1 fire TV.... found the setup easy peasy. Works really well especially for my use case having an Alexa enabled smart home. Added benefit of somewhat saving costs of having an echo device in the rooms my TVs are
 
Michaelbro said:
like how much of a pain.
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Not as hard as it seems, I have a firetv cube, running netflix, showmax, dstv now as well as plex player.

I gave up on amazon tv as it is frustrating (advertises things you can't watch in SA, most of the content is not available but they don't even bother to hide that content so you end up spending more time digging through unavailable content than watching anything).
 
MEIOT said:
Have 3 firesticks and 1 fire TV.... found the setup easy peasy. Works really well especially for my use case having an Alexa enabled smart home. Added benefit of somewhat saving costs of having an echo device in the rooms my TVs are
Click to expand...

Oh and I have Kodi setup on all of them too
 
AstroTurf said:
Not as hard as it seems, I have a firetv cube, running netflix, showmax, dstv now as well as plex player.

I gave up on amazon tv as it is frustrating (advertises things you can't watch in SA, most of the content is not available but they don't even bother to hide that content so you end up spending more time digging through unavailable content than watching anything).
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On Android you can download from Showmax for offline viewing. Can you do the same on the Fire TV?
 
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