I am thinking of buying a new TV. I would like to use the TV to surf the net. Not sure whether Smart TV or Android TV dongle is better. One thing I certainly hate are Smart TVs running on proprietary OS like Samsung TVs. This is what pushes me to prefer Android TV dongles that turn non-smart TV into Smart TVs.
Any opinions for other forummers?
In terms of features, updates, and support, nothing can really beat a Roku hooked up to a TV. I avoid "Smart TVs" as they are generally unsupported. The TV manufacturer pays someone a one time fee to make an app for their TV, and thats it. If the app ever stops working (which happens a lot), you are out of luck.
wizdum:
In terms of features, updates, and support, nothing can really beat a Roku hooked up to a TV. I avoid "Smart TVs" as they are generally unsupported. The TV manufacturer pays someone a one time fee to make an app for their TV, and thats it. If the app ever stops working (which happens a lot), you are out of luck.
Can I stream from smart phone or laptop wirelessly with Roku? I looked at apple tv before. You can do that with apple products but that only makes 2 devices in my household 
liudr:
wizdum:
In terms of features, updates, and support, nothing can really beat a Roku hooked up to a TV. I avoid "Smart TVs" as they are generally unsupported. The TV manufacturer pays someone a one time fee to make an app for their TV, and thats it. If the app ever stops working (which happens a lot), you are out of luck.Can I stream from smart phone or laptop wirelessly with Roku? I looked at apple tv before. You can do that with apple products but that only makes 2 devices in my household
You can, but its sort of a roundabout way. Theres a Plex app for Roku that lets you play things from a Plex server. You can run the Plex server software on your computer, and stream to the Roku. Plex has its own list of apps that you can install from inside the Roku Plex App. You can't stream from a smartphone, but I don't know why you would want to. Streaming anything wirelessly is a bad idea
I have to say that the best smart tv I have used would be a Samsung! Why do you hate them? They have, few glitches, regular/quick up dates, and have good performance! The app store is also good. I would never by a smart tv that is not Samsung!
One thing I certainly hate are Smart TVs running on proprietary OS like Samsung TVs. This is what pushes me to prefer Android TV dongles that turn non-smart TV into Smart TVs
I have a Samsung Smart TV but access net content using a Sony Blu Ray player attached to the TV. Blu Ray players are quite cheap now and as long as it does the job I don't really care what OS it runs. A bigger problem is finding content worth watching.
So can you not stream anything wirelessly with Ruko?
Apple TV can stream wirelessly from iOS only but I tried it a couple times and it's pretty good.
liudr:
So can you not stream anything wirelessly with Ruko?Apple TV can stream wirelessly from iOS only but I tried it a couple times and it's pretty good.
I'm not sure what you mean by "stream wirelessly". Do you have content that only exists on your phone's internal memory that you want to push to the TV or something? You wont be able to do that, but I don't understand why anyone would want to. The Roku has a better internet connection, more processing power, and more storage than any phone. The Roku doesn't play VCR tapes either, but I don't really consider that a fault.
wizdum:
liudr:
So can you not stream anything wirelessly with Ruko?Apple TV can stream wirelessly from iOS only but I tried it a couple times and it's pretty good.
I'm not sure what you mean by "stream wirelessly". Do you have content that only exists on your phone's internal memory that you want to push to the TV or something? You wont be able to do that, but I don't understand why anyone would want to. The Roku has a better internet connection, more processing power, and more storage than any phone. The Roku doesn't play VCR tapes either, but I don't really consider that a fault.
Say you downloaded some digital content on your phone/laptop and want to present in front of more than two heads, you need that big screen. How do you do it with ruko? connecting your computer to it with a wire or without wire? I may be wrong to use stream but connect or something. With an apple TV and ios device, you press a button next to the video control and the content will show up on the bigger screen. Don't ask me how they did the impossible according to you but they have been doing it for quite a while outside your knowledge.
liudr:
wizdum:
liudr:
So can you not stream anything wirelessly with Ruko?Apple TV can stream wirelessly from iOS only but I tried it a couple times and it's pretty good.
I'm not sure what you mean by "stream wirelessly". Do you have content that only exists on your phone's internal memory that you want to push to the TV or something? You wont be able to do that, but I don't understand why anyone would want to. The Roku has a better internet connection, more processing power, and more storage than any phone. The Roku doesn't play VCR tapes either, but I don't really consider that a fault.
Say you downloaded some digital content on your phone/laptop and want to present in front of more than two heads, you need that big screen. How do you do it with ruko? connecting your computer to it with a wire or without wire? I may be wrong to use stream but connect or something. With an apple TV and ios device, you press a button next to the video control and the content will show up on the bigger screen. Don't ask me how they did the impossible according to you but they have been doing it for quite a while outside your knowledge.
Ah, now I understand. If you download some content onto your laptop that you want to play on the Roku, you can either stream it to the Roku over your network using the Plex app, or you can put it on a USB drive and plug that into the Roku. I don't know of any Airplay-like features that would let you stream something from your phone to it. You can control it with your phone, but I don't know of any way to send content from your phone to it.
The Roku is primarily an internet streaming device. They have very good apps for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, TWIT, Pandora, Crackle, and a bunch of other internet video/audio sources. If you primarily want to stream local content, you probably want something else, like a Raspberry Pi running XBMC.
How easy is it to set up XBMC on RPI, for a linux beginner? I just one RPI lying around that I can use for this kind of stuff.
liudr:
How easy is it to set up XBMC on RPI, for a linux beginner? I just one RPI lying around that I can use for this kind of stuff.
Last time I checked there was a precompiled image that you just dumped on an SD card. Couldn't have been easier. http://www.raspbmc.com/ It boots right to the XBMC GUI, so you don't really have to have any Linux knowledge at all.