Are these streaming boxes any good for smart Tv's

imtdub

Hello folks,

I recently bought a Samsung Smart Telly and it has built in apps like Netflix, Spotify, Youtube, Rte Player etc. It also has a built in web browser and I'm able to watch filmon and the likes of project free tv.

My question is are any of these streaming boxes like Apple Tv, Roku, Now TV, XBMC any good for smart TV's, do they offer any thing extra which the smart TV doesn't (if these sound stupid, please forgive my ignorance :P)

Thanks

Flippyfloppy

Just bumping this for you because I'm interested in these boxes as well.

I too have a samsung smart Tv, as far as I know the android etc tv boxes are better as you can stream off of websites, smart tv's just have typical RTE player etc.

Nemeses2050

The web browser on the telly is very slow and lots of streams don't work on it. Also you can't download anything. On another thread somebody posted about a XBMC box, May be i'll give it a try.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057115203

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190923886316

White Heart Loon

Smart TV up to now is a marketing gimmick to sell TVs, a separate box will usually have more features and be a better option. Smart TVs will get better though, there are now some TVs starting to ship with Roku built in and Samsung have bought out Boxee for theirs.

sfag31

there are three significant apps that all smart TV's need and that is Netflix, BBC iplayer and some way of playing your own films.
You can install the bbc i player (enquire on google) and you can also install plex for your own films.
You dont need extra boxes - most offer less.

White Heart Loon

"Are these streaming boxes any good" is about as vague as asking if cars are any good

Nemeses2050

White Heart Loon wrote: »

"Are these streaming boxes any good" is about as vague as asking if cars are any good

Read the fe**in post not just the title...

TireeTerror

sfag31 wrote: »

there are three significant apps that all smart TV's need and that is Netflix, BBC iplayer and some way of playing your own films.
You can install the bbc i player (enquire on google) and you can also install plex for your own films.
You dont need extra boxes - most offer less.

Name me one box that offers less?

XBMC literally laughs in the face of all of the current so called smart TVs.

I have xbmc installed on pretty much every device in my home. It has a Live PVR function which allows me to control my Sky tuner in the living room. I can scroll through the EPG and choose any channel I want, HD or otherwise, it then changes channel on the sky box and streams it over my router (not the internet with average quality) to any device I have in my house in 100% perfect HD quality. As I have more than one tuner on my sat box in the living room, it doesn't affect anyone in the living room watching tv there, they wouldn't even know that I was controlling the box. I can also send a message to the other TVs in the house, requesting a cup of tea or whatever!

Smart TVs are so basic and so limited that for anyone tech savvy, they really are just a gimmick to shift new sets to unsuspecting members of the public.

White Heart Loon

Nemeses2050 wrote: »

Read the fe**in post not just the title...

I did, this wasn't my first post in the thread. XBMC is available for many different types of devices, from an Android stick to a desktop pc which will give varying features and performance.