I wanted to watch something from Apple TV+ tonight but found I couldn’t stream it to my Chromecast. I’ll be needing an Apple TV box then.

Is there any reason one of the earlier, maybe 3rd Gen, ones wouldn’t do the job? I see they’ve got differing amounts of memory but if I just want to be able to stream to it then would the 8gb one do the job? Can get one under £40 from eBay by the looks of it.

Cheers

3rd gen will work on latest software, earlier ones won’t. No benefit to extra memory for streaming, just seems to be if you use games on it.

Most Roku devices will work too (including the <£30 Express) and the Amazon Fire TV Stick. https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-app/devices/

Amazon Fire TV Stick.

The new Firestick works. The older ones don’t in case you see any of those for sale

Cheers, didn’t realise Firestick would do the job. £20 for a new one too.

So anything I can stream to the Apple TV box can be streamed to the firestick in exactly the same way?

So YouTube, iPlayer etc and Apple specific stuff too?

Yep from memory I think you can do the others you mention too ( firestick currently upstairs where Mrs T is sleeping, so I can’t check).

On Apple + we watched The Morning Show, Servant and For All Mankind. I thought they were pretty decent but I got a year free as I bought a new iPad recently. Not sure I will subscribe once I have to pay as there isn’t much content on there at the moment.

Cheers. Yeah I’ve got the year free too so thought I might as well watch some of it while we’re stuck indoors, we don’t usually watch that much TV.

We have Prime & Apple TV+ at the moment.

And now I’ve just seen the Roku that Simon suggested, so another option to add to the list.

Apple TV on non Apple hardware doesn’t support Dolby vision (not sure about that hdr) if that’s important to you.

Don’t know what Dolby vision is, so guess it’s not important.

#off to google

Amazon Firestick 4K ordered, should do the job. It will replace the Chromecast.

Morning Show is very good and well worth a watch. Haven’t found anything else interesting on it

We’ve been using the fire stick and tbh not that useful for what we actually want to use it for. To get AirPlay to work you have to install an app, which is flakey at best. Everything else it does the same or slightly worse than the chrome cast.

It does work well enough with Apple TV, which was my original request, but actually AirPlay would be handy aswell.

OP – can’t help with your question as my Smart TV has and Apple TV app.

But as a thread hi-jack – does anyone know how to just show the free content on Apple TV? I got it a few weeks ago with my new phone but most of the promoted shows and films are paid-for content. Seems to be little free stuff on there.

OP – I recently went from the older apple TV to a newer 4k one. Airplay works the same (almost always reliable in both cases) but the array of TV apps is much better on the newer box. If all you want it for is airplay and apple TV+ then the 3rd gen will do the job, but if you want to watch other stuff (for me, iplayer and eurosport) then you might prefer a newer box (the HD and 4K versions run on the same OS).

I’ve got a 3rd gen in the bedroom and it’s close to useless these days. AirPlay cuts out a lot and refuses to work now on some TV apps.

4th Gen in the living room is much better.

@the-muffin-man If your phone is an iPhone with an AppleID. You can sign into the app with your AppleID and get a free year of all AppleTV+. While you’re setting things up put a calendar reminder in for a fortnight before the free subscription expires.

I’m hovering over buying a 4th Gen.

I’m a bit torn as compared to the Chromecast / Firestick which does 90% of what I want it’s a lot of money.

Apple Box bought. BT are selling 4K Grade B boxes for £130. Which is still £100 more than a FireStick but I’m assured it will work well and be supported for a long time yet.

I have one of the BT ‘grade b’ ones. Seemed good as new to me. Currently watching eurosport on it.

I got a refurb from BT months ago. Was in good order, just a few minor usage scratches I’ll never see from the sofa. Been really pleased with it.

Good to see some positive reviews of the BT ones.

As long as the remote isn’t scratched/damaged then it’s all good.

Using iPhone app is actually easier than the current Apple TV remote, especially the touchpad thing is bit vague. But Apple remote includes TV volume adjust buttons which app doesn’t.

Up and running. Apart from a dented box it looks brand new.

I guess it doesn’t really do anything more than the much cheaper FireStick *but* it’s all just a bit more polished and airplay actually works. 🙂