So How Do You Get Started?

So judging from a few responses I had in the comments from my first post, I thought it might be prudent to get into the basics before going any further.

I figure that the best place to start would be at the beginning of course. I’ve used each of these the following devices so I thought a brief pros and cons of the three most prevalent technologies would a great place to start.

Chromecast

Pros:

• From what I’ve been able to find this is the cheapest device on the market.  Prices range from low $20 to just under $40.
• For ease of use you can’t really go wrong it

  

  is literally plug and play, into the HDMI port in the back of your TV.  (If you’re wondering which one is the HDMI port, it’s the socket that fits the end of the device)

• Allows you to stream the popular apps to your television, including Netflix, Shomi and YouTube.  As well as a few other music apps like TuneIn and Google Play.

Cons:

• You need a smartphone using either an Android or iOS platform.  The device only works by streaming what’s operating on your phone to the Chromecast.  You’ll need to keep an eye on you battery as well as your connection strength.
• The selection of what you can play isn’t that great.  Aside from the apps I mentioned above I can’t remember too many other apps that I could play on the Chromecast.

The Chromecast was good for what it was.  Which was a cheap and small device to allow me to stream Netflix to my television.  However a number of times the signal from my smartphone to the device would drop, which meant my TV watching suffered.  Google has a lot to do to fix this problem as well as expand the number of Apps available to stream before it would fully replace a tradition set top device.