Best thing to watch youtube and catch up

Macc

I've been with either sky or virgin for 20+ years so am a bit out of the loop on what else is available nowadays. Have cancelled sky and just want to be able to watch youtube and the terrestrial channels on demand stuff. I thought I'd be able to do that via my TV but all the apps seem not to work (TV is 10+ years old so I guess no longer kept updated now).

What would be best to go with? I've seen on amazon the firestick (?) seems like it does everything that I need. Is it really as simple as paying £35 and plugging it in your TV and that's it? No monthly charges? What is the picture quality like? Any other alternatives?

MikeJXE

Macc said:

I've been with either sky or virgin for 20+ years so am a bit out of the loop on what else is available nowadays. Have cancelled sky and just want to be able to watch youtube and the terrestrial channels on demand stuff. I thought I'd be able to do that via my TV but all the apps seem not to work (TV is 10+ years old so I guess no longer kept updated now).

What would be best to go with? I've seen on amazon the firestick (?) seems like it does everything that I need. Is it really as simple as paying £35 and plugging it in your TV and that's it? No monthly charges? What is the picture quality like? Any other alternatives?

I don't watch any live tv. I use YouTube and amazon fire stick thats simple and yes everything you might need even if you don't have a smart tv 

Farway

Macc said:

I've been with either sky or virgin for 20+ years so am a bit out of the loop on what else is available nowadays. Have cancelled sky and just want to be able to watch youtube and the terrestrial channels on demand stuff. I thought I'd be able to do that via my TV but all the apps seem not to work (TV is 10+ years old so I guess no longer kept updated now).

What would be best to go with? I've seen on amazon the firestick (?) seems like it does everything that I need. Is it really as simple as paying £35 and plugging it in your TV and that's it? No monthly charges? What is the picture quality like? Any other alternatives?

An alterative is Roku, same idea, plug & play but has access to more streams, not limited by what the Amazon or Google etc consider you need

Similar in price but more versatile IMO

Detail_Merchant

Similar to above replies, I think the big 3 options are:

Amazon Fire Stick - https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=&rh=n:22832775031
Chromecast with Google TV - https://store.google.com/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=en-GB
Roku - https://www.roku.com/en-gb/products/players

I went with Roku, because Amazon and Google have had arguments in the past, where YouTube or Prime Video weren't available on each other's hardware, so I thought Roku would be good as a neutral option, and wouldn't get caught up in that kind of thing.
But Roku did have an argument with Google for a bit and there was talk of YouTube leaving Roku back in 2021, but it was sorted.
At the moment everyone seems to be playing nice, so they are all probably good options.

DullGreyGuy

For completeness you can also add AppleTV https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-tv-4k/ but unless you are already in the Apple ecosystem it probably isnt worth the extra cost -v- the other mentioned devices and especially if going on a 10 year old TV. The only positive is they've never had Amazon or Google apps pulled.

Personally, have an AppleTV for home and have an Amazon Fire Stick that I take when travelling for extended periods as hotel or AirB&B TVs are not always great with english language TV options. Not a problem for a fortnights holiday but gets more irritating when working overseas for 6 months etc.

breaking_free

Bear in mind that YouTube rams in the TV ads - every 7-10 minutes I think (but don't quote me on that). You can upgrade to YouTube premum for £11.99 per month if you want to watch it ad-free.