[Closed] Which streaming device to replace my sky subscription?

Not massively up on the whole streaming media thing, but I've been impressed with our Amazon Fire TV Stick. People I work with who do know about this stuff rate them as well.

Bump

a little android streaming box would do the trick - you can stick Kodi on it and away you go

Or if you like a bit more tinkering then a raspberry Pi

Netflix and iPlayer etc on android kodi app is pretty hard to fault in my opinion.

AVForums has some good reviews on the android box options

[url= https://www.avforums.com/review/minix-neo-x8-h-plus-review.11345 ]https://www.avforums.com/review/minix-neo-x8-h-plus-review.11345[/url]

Just got one of the Amazon fire tv sticks. Netflix, you tube, BBC iplayers, stv, 5od etc. You can load other streaming apps onto it as well if you Google it. Got ours for £19 through prime so it was a great price.

Oh yeah it also allows screen mirroring through it so you can view stuff off your mobile phone.

yeah we have a little android telebox things, think its called MBOX?

i got it off my mate and all he showed my how to use was Kodi, which is fair enough as ive not needed anything else. i wasa bit meh about it all at first but tbh I dont think ive watched terrestrial since! every single episode of the simpsons at your fingertips, even with big colourful icons and episode synopsis - ive started on Parks and Recreation from the beginning too.

I've got a Roku, same size as the Now TV unit (and made by same people). Very pleased with it, it just works. Good range of different services - Netflix, Google Play, Now TV, Sky Store, BBC, ITV, 4OD, Amazon Instant (but not Prime) etc.

Also has Sufferfest subscription service!

They also do a stick version (like Chromecast/Fire TV form factor).

Thread hi-jack...

Is there anything that can record as well (series link etc)?

My broadband isn't great and streaming can be a bit of a pain so we always download first (on Sky), and watch later.

Current TV licensing says you don't need license for online streaming but that is about to change and you will need a license to watch catch up TV etc

Seems fair enough - there's no difference between recording a program and watching it 3 days later and just streaming it 3 days after it was broadcast.
Why people try to avoid paying the licence fee is beyond me.

Plugged in my Android Box yesterday with Kodi on, not sure it'll replace my Sky subscription just yet but still getting use to it.

we looked at this but have ended up sticking with Sky HD, plus Amazon Prime. Not cheap but with a big new Smart TV it makes everything very simple. We dont ever watch tv through the digital aerial and the Sky HD picture is so much better anyway.

The kids love the Prime stuff particularly 🙂

I binned Prime last week as really wasn't using it.

I may give Sky a ring see what they have to offer as my ISP is with BT and they are doing a promotion which would save me some cash and get pretty much the same channels.

Now TV is Sky's streaming service. No subscription though you do have to pay for Sky content.

Prime and Netflix all depends on whether you're interested in the stuff on offer. Netflix you can't see what's on easily or watch anything at all without subscribing. Amazon you can pay-per-view without subscribing, or get Prime for a selection of content inclusive. Prime also gets you their music service now and the next day postage.

Note that Prime & Netflix content expires. If you sign up to watch a long TV series, watch it fast as it might disappear before you've had a chance to finish it.

TV licence is required if you have a mains wired device capable of receiving terrestrial over-the-air broadcasts. Doesn't matter if you don't use it. Though you can argue your case. Generally licences are enforced based on a list of who hasn't got one rather than a detector van.

For HD, yes, Sky HD picture will generally be the best. I've got Prime though keep thinking of cancelling, and the Amazon app on the Smart TV. It's still pretty good in HD though variable quality depending on the film or show, plus the app sucks and stutters or crashes at times. Also a lot of SD content is hideous. Some old films on Prime are even taken from VHS!

Another thing with streaming SD content, if considering to replace DVD, many modern players do a better job of upscaling to HD than the TV. Streaming apps often do very poor or no upscaling.

I find the same even if I rip DVDs to stick on my NAS and stream them on my network (I use Plex for this). The quality isn't as good as playing from DVD, mainly because of the upscaling. Unless I rip and upscale, store in HD but then it's taking a lot more disc space.

Very pleased with Now TV - all the Sky stuff I actually want at a cheap price, and decent bit of kit kit for using for iPlayer etc...

I looked at Sky the other week. We've always been a licence fee + freeview/sat kind of house but thought I'd look. £75 a month for the full sport&film package - do people really pay that!?! You'd have to really be wearing a dent in your couch to justify that much a year.

TV licence is required if you have a mains wired device capable of receiving terrestrial over-the-air broadcasts. Doesn't matter if you don't use it. Though you can argue your case.

No, you don't. You require a licence to watch or record as-broadcast television. What equipment you own is irrelevant.

Generally licences are enforced based on a list of who hasn't got one rather than a detector van.

That's because detector vans are a myth.

Think I'm gonna go for the Minix android box and a fast unlimited broadband plan. Not looking to pay anything for TV now. I'll just watch what's available to stream for free.

Sorry to derail the thread a little - those of you that are streaming stuff what kind of broadband speeds are you working with. Id love to ditch sky but we only have 4-6Mb broadband, fiber is a ways away i am told as we are somehow direct from the exchange 3 miles away.

Fibre Optic here but I only get about 38Mb on a good day as I'm about 1/4 mile from my box.

to clear up the battery/portable device confusion...

if you have a battery powered device outside of your home then your home TV licence covers you while it is powered by battery. As soon as you plug it into mains while away from home you need a separate licence to cover it. Unless you are in a vehicle or vessel (car, train, boat etc).

is anyone using Netflix with Kodi?

I've got an old laptop that i was thinking of using as a Kodi box. It works fine to stream films and music from other computers, but from what I've read Netflix is a right royal faff and the plugins aren't really that reliable.

for the sake of having something that's just fit and forget, i'd be tempted to get google chrome or appletv or something. Unless it can be made reliable?

As soon as you plug it into mains while away from home you need a separate licence to cover it

That [i]address [/i]needs a licence. So, if you were round at a mate's and they had a licence, you wouldn't need an additional one.

I cancelled our Sky subscription this morning. Half price deal ended and it's not worth full price. We're going back to Freesat (no terrestrial tv signal at our house) with this set up to cover the Sky boxsets feature:

http://matricom.net/g-box-midnight-mx2/

Loaded with this:

http://kodi.tv/

With the genesis add on:

http://addons.tvaddons.ag/show/plugin.video.genesis/

I tested Kodi with Genesis on the laptop last night and I couldn't think of a movie or box set that we would want to watch that isn't available. The quality seemed pretty good.

Farewell Sky+.

What's Genesis when it's at home?

I have a [url= http://www.droidsticks.co.uk/shop/combo-t8-aml-v2-amlogic-s802-android-4-4-mini-4k-tv-box-s77-pro-keyboard/ ]T8 Droidstick[/url] box that together with Kodi and all its plugins (including free Sports Donkey subscription), like Genesis, gets me pretty much everything I want.
Its a little awkward to use at first and finding a live stream can be difficult, but the IVue tv guide/epg has helped. Outside of Kodi, on the Android interface I'm using Showbox which is bl**dy marvellous for films and series. Also installed Plex to share with mates

A lot of talk about Kodi and Sky, I find the quality is extremely poor for any Live TV through Kodi add ons.

What's Genesis when it's at home?

It's a add on for Kodi that shows movie/TV series, similar to Icefims or Popcorn time.

 

So just cancelled my sky TV subscription. They offered me a great deal to keep phone and broadband with them which was happy to do. Will save 90 quid a month.

Cougar - Moderator
No, you don't. You require a licence to watch or record as-broadcast television. What equipment you own is irrelevant.

I've always based it admittedly on long long ago when you used to need a TV licence to use a Teletext adapter with a BBC Micro because it was capable of receiving broadcasts 😀 . Though even then really yes it's because you're receiving a television broadcast to get the teletext.

Anyway, checking what it says these days...

"You need a valid TV Licence if you use TV receiving equipment to watch or record television programmes as they’re being shown on TV. ‘TV receiving equipment’ means any equipment which is used to watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. This includes a TV, computer, mobile phone, games console, digital box, DVD/VHS recorder or any other device."

Clarified on the [url= http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/ss/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=content-type&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1370006210037&ssbinary=true ]No Licence Needed[/url] document...

"Note also that “received” means receiving a TV programme as it is being broadcast on TV. It does not include receiving programmes by means of a DVD or the on-demand elements of services such as i-Player."

Reality is though, if you don't pay for a licence they'll be pestering you as to why not regardless of equipment. File the No Licence Needed claim and you may still get a visit asking you to prove it.

That's because detector vans are a myth.

Ah, not according to The Young Ones 😀