Help with streaming from a tablet to TV

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Right off the bat I need to make it known I'm an idiot when it comes to tech. Building a mansion from the ground up, blind, would be simpler for me.

Having said that, here is where I need help. I've finally convinced Mrs. Sierra048 that cable, specifically DirecTv, is pretty much a waste of $100/month just so she can tape a few HGTV programs to watch at her leisure. Something called Sling TV seems to offer the few channels she does watch for like $20/month. And AT&T, who now owns DirecTV, are raising their rates, again. We just had our internet speed increased to 15Mb for free over the 6MB we received before. My son help set us up with Netflix with a Chrome Stick. We also have Amazon Prime with its offerings but have to use the tablet to watch which isn't ideal for us.

My problem is with Amazon Prime. Before we couldn't get it to play on the TV from our tablet, or phone, like Netflix does. Now I've read where Amazon Prime, or Chrome, I'm not sure which one, has made it possible to watch movies from Amazon Prime on the Chrome Stick with there being no drop off in quality or lagging. I for the life of me can't figure out how to get Amazon Prime movies to play on our TV. I've watched Youtube videos until my eyes started bleeding and googled articles that supposedly tell you how to do it. I just can't figure it out. The videos and artcles say it's really easy to set up, but not for me. My son also suggested that maybe a smart TV that had this built in might be the way to go but I don't want to replace a perfectlly good TV.

Can some generous soul here give me an idea how to do it so I can ditch DirecTV.
 
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Save the headache get yourself a Roku I use it for sling and Netflix and it’s flawless.
 
I've tried the ChromeCast device. At least when I used it, it didn't play well with Amazon.

My advice is to get a smart BlueRay player that has the apps built in, connect it to your TV and use it. That way you have apps for Hulu, Amazon, Netflix and most everything else.

I have no experience with the Amazon Fire Stick, so I can't speak for it.

I just think you have more flexibility with something like a Smart Blue Ray player that has the ability to install Apps for the various content providers.
 
I've heard good things about those too, but don't have any personal experience.

Originally Posted By: dave123
Save the headache get yourself a Roku I use it for sling and Netflix and it’s flawless.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
I've heard good things about those too, but don't have any personal experience.

Originally Posted By: dave123
Save the headache get yourself a Roku I use it for sling and Netflix and it’s flawless.


Not familiar with Roku. I'll google that.
 
Originally Posted By: dave123
Save the headache get yourself a Roku I use it for sling and Netflix and it’s flawless.

+1

And it works great with Amazon Prime Video as well. And it comes with its own remote, unlike Chromecast.
 
Hit WalMart.
Buy a cheap BluRay player with wireless. The Amazon app is in almost all of them, along with YouTube, Hulu, others. Check the box. Set it up for your network. Connect with a simple HDMI cable.
Added benefit, rent from Redbox if you want a movie night in.
Go to town.
 
Google and Amazon are in a pi$$ing contest. Best to get an Amazon stick/TV or Roku. Roku gives you more channels than anyone and it's my goto device. The cheapest Roku only costs $30 and is well worth it. Plus it's got a great smart phone app in case you lose your controller.
 
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The one time we used Amazon to buy or rent a movie, we did it through our bluray player...didn't have that app on our old smart TV for whatever reason. I would guess it's probably on our new TV, but I haven't looked for it.
 
Another vote for Roku steaming stick or box. Seems most of the apps work well with Roku devices. My Hisense TVs have the Amazon App on them, and work flawlessly streaming movies off of Amazon. My 55" Hisense doesn't play well with Plex, so I had to get a Roku steaming device that plugs into an HDMI port to make it stream better when using the Plex App. Amazon.com has many varieties of Roku sticks ranging from $30 to $80. Amazon also has their own device called the Amazon Fire TV stick.
 
Can you use more than one Roku at a time? We are on DSL according to internet provider and have 15MBS tops. Is this enough to use two at one time if allowed.

Also, there are several options for Roku players. From $29 - $99. Any opinion on which one would work best for us given what I have described? Thanks.
 
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Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Can you use more than one Roku at a time?

You can, but your specific streaming service subscription plan will dictate how many simultaneous streams you are allowed. Nothing to do with Roku itself.

I think the basic Sling Orange package only allows 1 stream. Sling Blue allows 3 streams.

Quote:
We are on DSL according to internet provider and have 15MBS tops. Is this enough to use two at one time if allowed.

Should be. Most services will say you need about 5 Mbps per each HD video stream.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Sierra048
We are on DSL according to internet provider and have 15MBS tops. Is this enough to use two at one time if allowed.

Should be. Most services will say you need about 5 Mbps per each HD video stream.


I should have mentioned, another thing to look into is what sort of monthly data cap your internet provider gives you. If you watch a lot of HD content on multiple devices, you could be bumping against your cap.
 
Thanks to all. We'll be reciving our Roku via Amazon today. Just hoping it's not too hard to hook up and use.
 
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Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Thanks to all. We'll be reciving our Roku via Amazon today. Just hoping it's not too hard to hook up and use.

It's pretty simple, but if you have trouble, post back in this thread - I'm sure people will be able to help you out.

Do you already have an HDMI cable or did you order one? You are going to need one to connect your Roku to your TV, unless you ordered Roku Stick, in which case you will not need a cable.

EDIT: I see some of the newer Roku players ship with HDMI cable included. That was not the case back when I bought mine.
 
Ok. So we received our Roku and I followed the directions as far as installing it. I got to the point where I went to The Roku Website to finish the process. They want you to enter the code they provide. After doing so it would come back with an unknown error message saying the code couldn't be validated. I had a technician call me back to help me. After checking, he told me there too many devices running on our network (16 total). I told him there should only be five: the Roku, two cell phones and two tablets. He said our network had been hacked and there were sixteen devices/accesses on our network. It had to be fixed in order for the Roku to work.

He said since it was not a Roku problem, it would cost $99 to clear it up so Roku would work. Man I felt I was getting hoodwinked but gave the go ahead to clean everything up and protect the network. Was I hoodwinked or was it a valid, necessary step. I have no clue. I'm still waiting for a call back to finish the Roku installation.
 
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