No nonsense easy to use streaming media player (esp YouTube)

[raksrules]

We are going to mostly change our Internet as MTNL is not giving full speed no matter what. My N number of parallel lines is probably to blame.
So after the internet change we will get 1 Mbps or 2 Mbps plan.
Now I am looking for a no nonsense and super easy to use streaming device especially which can flawlessly play YouTube.
I would expect the YouTube stream to adjust as per the bandwidth to avoid stuttering and buffering.
Now I do not want any experiment devices which do half baked job. The device has to be fool proof and work as expected OOB.
Chromecast is a cheaper option I believe but it still requires us to initiate the YouTube stream from a separate device. This may be a deal breaker but not sure yet.
What other options do I have for such a device.
Playing local media through HDD or so is not really required as I already have a box which does that. The box actually has YouTube but it is massively broken. Very unusable.

 

[singenaadam]

you can get any of the media players like WD, Asus O, indian brands like Amkette. YouTube would be fine on any of them.

 

[raksrules]

you can get any of the media players like WD, Asus O, indian brands like Amkette. YouTube would be fine on any of them.

Yes buy i want to buy quality product which will work well out of box. Also I have zero idea about streaming media players.
For wdtv I have read about some issues with YouTube app.
Also I don't know if it is possible to have something which can play from websites like put locker etc. I don't expect it to use It a lot but good to know if there is something out there capable of doing it.

 

[blr_p]

you can get any of the media players like WD, Asus O, indian brands like Amkette. YouTube would be fine on any of them.

There was a post here some time ago where the complaint was asus o player could not handle youtube.

The problem with these online sites is dedicated devices require firmware updates to remain compatible. Unless those updates arrive you might find yourself buying another device in a couple of years just because the company pulls support from the earlier device. And these devices can be up to 10k.

So people consume youtube on mobiles, reliable but no big screen

 

[raksrules]

I know Apple TV may be over kill for the requirement but can that be considered ? How about amazon fire tv ?
I am mentioning stuff on amazon.com since I will mostly order from there. Have amazon GC balance which i can use.

 

[singenaadam]

I have WD TV Live player, the YouTube app works fine, though I don't use it regularly (prefer the desktop).

When you play a movie, it even retrieves the rottentomatoes.com ratings & poster. WD is very active in updates. This happens in auto, if you permit it.

 

[blr_p]

I know Apple TV may be over kill for the requirement but can that be considered ? How about amazon fire tv ?
I am mentioning stuff on amazon.com since I will mostly order from there. Have amazon GC balance which i can use.

For how long is it acceptable not to buy a new player for you ?

is two years too short.

 

[raksrules]

For how long is it acceptable not to buy a new player for you ?

is two years too short.

Didn't get what you meant.

 

[blr_p]

If you buy a streamer then how long do you expect it to work ?

Say after two years the streamer company pulls support for your model and youtube makes some changes then your streamer might not stream youtube videos properly anymore meaning you have to buy another one (!)

is that acceptable or do you expect it to work longer than two years.

 

[raksrules]

@blr_p

Does that happen ? If yes then that is pretty stupid. I believe that the core functionality which would have come with the streamer should work forever sort of. I expect the streamer to work always even 5 years down the line.
Neve considered the point you raised. In that case a mirroring thing is better ? As the source device should always be able to play the vidoes. But then it also means the source device is occupied at the time of watching the stuff.
Chromecast may be a better option there I suppose. Since it is from google I expect the streaming of YouTube will work always.
Yesterday I saw a demo video of YouTube on Apple TV and it was very simple to use. And totally independent of PC or any device.
Chromecast is less than half its price and it provides you the natural website way to search YouTube and cast it.
May be I can give Chromecast a try. Anyways I am going to a member's home mostly next week who uses Chromecast and will see it in action.
Ordering from amazon US will cost $50 shipped to India.
Also amazon US is not shipping Apple TV to India.

 

[Crazy_Eddy]

Say after two years the streamer company pulls support for your model and youtube makes some changes then your streamer might not stream youtube videos properly anymore meaning you have to buy another one (!)

What is this based on? There are millions of 'smart' TVs floating around from the last couple of years, and I'm pretty sure someone would've noticed if youtube suddenly stopped working. Not to mention most TVs never even have their firmware updated after they leave the factory.

 

[raksrules]

Just found the thread about Teewe dongle which is like Chromecast with better features and made by Indian company. I have bumped that thread but has anyone used it ? Seems it went on sale just few days back or so.

 

[Crazy_Eddy]

Someone mentioned in another thread that the teewee doesn't have screencast as yet.

 

[raksrules]

Someone mentioned in another thread that the teewee doesn't have screencast as yet.

But seems it will probably get that. Still for just exploring I downloaded the app on my iPhone and it is actually very good. This thing is like India centric and it has indexed the things very well. Like If I want to watch CID season 2 (don't ask) then it is indexed as how many episodes and such.
Seems very promising and price Is not bad either. Hopefully we will see some video review to see this thing in action. Screen cast will be simply awesome.

 

[blr_p]

What is this based on? There are millions of 'smart' TVs floating around from the last couple of years, and I'm pretty sure someone would've noticed if youtube suddenly stopped working. Not to mention most TVs never even have their firmware updated after they leave the factory.

It's a suspicion/doubt that i have. How much functionality is lost when websites change their formats or add 'features'.

Needs to be confirmed. what has hte evolution of youtube apps been and whether there have been any major changes to protocols that break things in dedicated devices other than pc or mobile.

Firmware on these devices tends to be fixed, plain web browsing is fine but youtube specific needs to be update-able. The player is downloadable on a pc and youtube app is updated for mobile so this problem is almost invisible on these platforms, nobody even thinks about it. What about devices where such isn't available or comes with limited updates.

Looked at these devices a year back, concluded the wifi abilities were rubbish unless you lived in a one room studio. Then there was availability of the device itself and quality and finally whether the device could keep up with the times. They don't just offer youtube there are other web streaming services you can get too. These ones tended to be fiddly. Leading me to conclude that streaming services require a player with flexibility.

 

[archish]

How old is your TV? If its not a smart TV does it support DLNA?
If bandwidth is not constant/stable it might be better to use app like tubemate to download the video and stream it to TV via DLNA apps like localcast/allcast.

 

[raksrules]

Downloading defeats the purpose. My dad would never be able to do such things. Also some videos on YouTube are not downloadable, I have tried all possible ways but it just doesn't download.
Also my TV is not smart TV and I think it doesn't have DLNA too.

 

[blr_p]

@blr_p

Does that happen ? If yes then that is pretty stupid. I believe that the core functionality which would have come with the streamer should work forever sort of. I expect the streamer to work always even 5 years down the line.

I don't know if it happens but i cannot guarantee you that it will never happen eventually with a dedicated device. So if anybody wants to do that go ahead.

Neve considered the point you raised. In that case a mirroring thing is better ? As the source device should always be able to play the vidoes. But then it also means the source device is occupied at the time of watching the stuff.

Right, because now an 'smart' device is doing the heavy lifting. but it requires an extra smart device. A more costly solution.

Chromecast may be a better option there I suppose. Since it is from google I expect the streaming of YouTube will work always.

Yeah, a cheaper more fiddly option. whereas the ideal solution is a stand alone device that can keep up with the times.

Yesterday I saw a demo video of YouTube on Apple TV and it was very simple to use. And totally independent of PC or any device.
Chromecast is less than half its price and it provides you the natural website way to search YouTube and cast it.
May be I can give Chromecast a try. Anyways I am going to a member's home mostly next week who uses Chromecast and will see it in action.
Ordering from amazon US will cost $50 shipped to India.
Also amazon US is not shipping Apple TV to India.

The thing with chromecast is the setup, if this is for your dad its not really a workable option. Have always viewed chromecast as a sort of hack, better than others for now. A proof of concept and affordable. But usable or user-friendly in the long term ? hmm.

US devices are not really applicable here as they have other services like netflix, hulu and whatever. roku is big over there but its useless in India.

Apple's devices work best in an apple eco-system, since you have that it might work better for you but it wasn't an option for me.

 

[raksrules]

Yes my dad will use for watching Gujarati dramas over YouTube or some random movies which can be streamed. He also likes to watch Hindi series like 24 etc at a stretch.
I am really liking this teewe dongle as it has option of Indian tv programs. I don't care about netflix and all but this option of having Indian tv programs is really good. Couple of screenshots attaching here.

 

[smnrock]

Have you considered xbmc solution based on rpi or something like that? I know it's not oob, but once you complete the initial setup... Everything should be very easy for everyone... In fact the complete system can be controlled by regular TV remote provided your tv has hdmi cec.