Need advice on streaming boxes

Psittac · September 18, 2024

My parent's are finally going to cut the cord on cable and I need to find the best streaming box for their needs. Everything is 1080p in their house and no HDR. (though one might switch to 4k soon and the main one might switch to 4k some day). I'm going to need to get 4 of them so price is important but not the end all be all. They are an android household if that matters but not tech savvy in the slightest.

What should I consider when selecting a streaming box such as RokuFire stick and Chromecast? (or others)

I am going to watch some video's to research but I find that the best advice comes from these forums most of the time. (this just isn't my avenue of knowledge because I don't even use a TV, PC or nothing)

*edit: oh Plex performance would be a bonus, I have a lifetime Plex server account but don't have my server on because no one uses it. Planning on upping my Plex game soon.

**edit: I just saw that the Roku Ultra has the option to plug headphones into the remote, this is HUGE because my dad is hard of hearing and my mom isn't. My question would be..... If I put an Ultra on one TV and a lesser model on another, will the experience be the exact same so far as user interface on both of them?

ChrisLoudon · September 19, 2024

12 hours ago, Psittac said:

**edit: I just saw that the Roku Ultra has the option to plug headphones into the remote, this is HUGE because my dad is hard of hearing and my mom isn't. My question would be..... If I put an Ultra on one TV and a lesser model on another, will the experience be the exact same so far as user interface on both of them?

I think you've probably answered your own question.

I was going to recommend the Roku as this is what I got my parents who are in a similar situation as they recently cancelled their Sky TV subscription. They did have an old Amazon Fire Stick but it was obviously quite old and very slow.

The Roko seems perfect for their needs and connects nicely to my Plex server (off-site) and more importantly, its quick and snappy.

The only other box I tend to recommend is the Nvidia Shield but this would only be for more advanced / power users.

The other option would be a Smart TV as this negates the need for an additional box. 1 TV, 1 remote, 1 set of streaming apps.

QuantumRand · September 24, 2024

A couple important things to consider if your Plex server isn't powerful enough to transcode in real time:

Will any of your Plex content be AV1 or H.256? You'll want to make sure the box supports those formats (AV1 is a little hard to find).
Is any of your Plex content exclusively TrueHD or DTS-MA audio? Make sure the box supports TrueHD and/or DTS-MA passthrough or add a backup audio stream to the content for compatibility.
Does any of your Plex content have Dolby Vision? Make sure the box supports Dolby Vision.

To be clear, you can still stream Plex content in those formats even if it's not supported, but your Plex server will have to transcode it. If any one thing in the chain isn't supported, Plex defaults to transcoding which puts a heavy load on the server and can considerable lower the quality of the video.

An affordable option is the Onn 4K Pro. It doesn't support TrueHD passthrough, but does support AV1 and Dolby Vision. And it's only $50 USD! Walmart probably collects a ton of usage data though.

Donut417 · September 28, 2024

On 9/18/2024 at 5:29 PM, Psittac said:

If I put an Ultra on one TV and a lesser model on another, will the experience be the exact same so far as user interface on both of them?

We have a few 4K units and from what I seen they all function the same. While technically one of them is hooked up to a 4K TV we dont have the data to support 4K playback AND I refuse to pay the premium for 4K video.

On 9/18/2024 at 5:29 PM, Psittac said:

Plex performance would be a bonus,

Plex Playback works fine, at least my folks dont complain. The only issue I have is our reception for OTA TV is kinda meh, so sometimes Live TV drops out. The only other issue is Roku doesnt seem to support the format that OTA TV is in so my Plex server has to do some transcoding.

On 9/18/2024 at 5:29 PM, Psittac said:

I just saw that the Roku Ultra has the option to plug headphones into the remote, this is HUGE because my dad is hard of hearing and my mom isn't.

They also have a sound bar model which might be better than TV speakers. My dad seems to like it.

On a side note. We have tried Fire Sticks and Roku sticks. My folks both of which are in their 60's prefer Roku. The interface is pretty straight forward to use. They also have some free content via the Roku channel.