Amazon Fire TV v Chromecast

Terry98

I was thinking of getting the Chromecast but now I think I will wait to see what people think of this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26850634

InsideInsurance

Do you want to be in the Google, Amazon or Apple ecosystem?

How important are games to you?

Next gen of AppleTV which is also expected to have more app capabilities is anticipated in the next couple of months (probably sooner than Fire will be here) just to keep the decisions up in the air

RumRat

As the Amazon fire will be more open and more powerful than the other two, I'm thinking Amazon is at the top of my list.

P_McGoohan

Am I correct in thinking that the Amazon Fire box connects directly to your TV via Ethernet, whilst the Google Chromecast dongle receives programmes from your mobile, laptop or tablet.?


There is a video on the Amazon US site.

InsideInsurance

P_McGoohan wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking that the Amazon Fire box connects directly to your TV via Ethernet, whilst the Google Chromecast dongle receives programmes from your mobile, laptop or tablet.?

No, it connects to your TV with HDMI.

The difference is that it can fetch content directly from the internet like the AppleTV can in addition to being able to stream to it like all three can

almillar

Chromecast can also go directly to the internet, but is controlled solely by your computer, not a remote like Fire and AppleTV - if you ask it to show a YouTube vid - it'll get it from the net, no your laptop. That's for supported stuff like YouTube, there's not much of it yet, but more will come (iPlayer just launched for example), everything else wil go from your computer to Chromecast, and from net to computer to Chromecast if appropriate.
Chromecast is simply 'put what's on my computer screen, onto my TV, without wires'.
The other two are more standalone.

bod1467

IIRC, Chromecast can be controlled via an app on your phone, so you don't have to use a normal computer to control it - the phone acts like a remote.

Terry98

Does anyone know if any of these new devices has the ability to steam content like Apple TV.

Apparently AirPlay lets you play content from iOS devices (for example personal content like photos or home videos)? I am not into games but something like this for under £50 would sway it for me.

ciderboy2009

Terry98 wrote: »

Does anyone know if any of these new devices has the ability to steam content like Apple TV.
.

Chromecast can - I'm actually streaming some personal video on mine at the moment.

Terry98

ciderboy2009 wrote: »

Chromecast can - I'm actually streaming some personal video on mine at the moment.

Thanks, I thought it was a definite no no. Does it work well?

I have just found this http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-stream-to-tv,news-18335.html

'Chromecast functions are built into select apps, such as YouTube, Netflix and HBO Go. Rather than beaming video from the mobile device to Chromecast, the apps instruct Chromecast to go online and access the same content that the apps are playing. Chromecast works with Android and iOS devices, but with only a handful of mobile apps.'

[Deleted User]

I can cast/stream videos from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using an app; works quite nice with mp4s. I think it can also grab the files from my NAS using the same app, but i've not tried that yet.

It was suspiciously easy too. Not quite as easy as DNLA (since that's built into my phones video player, and my smart TV) but it means I can use the ChromeCast to stream films to non-smart TVs wirelessly.