Best TV streamer for my needs

[munchuhmunchuh]

Hi there, I have a TV that Ive always needed a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter to watch movies on through my receiver for my speakers. I am using a macbook air. I was wondering if there's a TV streamer like a Roku, firestick, chromecast etc. that I can use to cast from both my Iphone as well as my mabook air. Some devices like the roku only allow casting form certain android phones as I've learnt as well as certain apps on other phones. Just want something cheap and wireless I can basically "mirror" my laptop (and hopefully) Iphone to as well. (Also hoping these don't include a voice assistant as I don't want something constantly listening)

Thanks in advance

[invaderSnarf]

If you have an iPhone and are already using a Macbook, an Apple TV would probably meet your needs. I don't have mine hooked up now, but when I did I was able to mirror my macbook to it as well as my iphone, and if I was watching something on my mac there was a good chance I could just cast it to the Apple TV to view it on the TV.

[munchuhmunchuh]

34 minutes ago, invaderSnarf said:

If you have an iPhone and are already using a Macbook, an Apple TV would probably meet your needs. I don't have mine hooked up now, but when I did I was able to mirror my macbook to it as well as my iphone, and if I was watching something on my mac there was a good chance I could just cast it to the Apple TV to view it on the TV.

Expensive though. But yea that might be my best bet to buy a used one.

[Commodus]

15 hours ago, munchuhmunchuh said:

Expensive though. But yea that might be my best bet to buy a used one.

Keep in mind some newer third-party streaming devices support AirPlay 2, like the Roku Streaming Stick 4K. But if I were buying a streaming device now, I'd get an Apple TV 4K (new if possible, refurb if not). I got the original Apple TV 4K over five years ago and I'm actually using it more than ever. It's fast, supports a wide range of HDR formats, and probably has the widest app selection of any dedicated streaming device.

[rikitikitavi]

1. If you have a library of videos and not some random videos that you 'download' and then 'delete' after watching once, then you can use free services like Plex or Jellyfin that create a media server on your MacBook Air (pc or rpi) that can be accessed from other devices. This way you can get the cheapest firestick, download the client side app on it and access your whole library.
2. If you want to stream a random video file to your tv, get a device supporting AirPlay2 or GoogleCast*, and use Beamer (https://beamer-app.com) on your MBA. It basically acts like a video player (i.e VLC) that streams the video, so no need for mirroring that adds extra lag and compression. Of course you can use option#1 (i.e. Plex) for that too, but it is less convenient than opening a file in a Beamer in two clicks.
3. Latest AppleTV is very nice, but pricy if you only ever use it to stream a video once in a while. It also does colour calibration, but don't expect miracles.

 

* I've used Beamer only with a very old AppleTV, but according to the website they added GoogleCast support.

[An0maly_76]

On 2/23/2023 at 4:50 PM, munchuhmunchuh said:

Hi there, I have a TV that Ive always needed a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter to watch movies on through my receiver for my speakers. I am using a macbook air. I was wondering if there's a TV streamer like a Roku, firestick, chromecast etc. that I can use to cast from both my Iphone as well as my mabook air. Some devices like the roku only allow casting form certain android phones as I've learnt as well as certain apps on other phones. Just want something cheap and wireless I can basically "mirror" my laptop (and hopefully) Iphone to as well. (Also hoping these don't include a voice assistant as I don't want something constantly listening)

Thanks in advance

Use Plex through Roku and record / rip your DVDs / Blu-Rays to storage. Plex has a media server setup that works through wifi. Works great, I'm serving my collection of 300 DVDs over the home wifi so the relative I live with can watch anything I have.