The article author compares many aspects but forgets one very important one, i.e. Roku still boasts the best search in the business, trawling hundreds of services, to bring you not only the exact show, movie or actor you're looking for, but the best price as well. Unified searches on streaming players have been around for a few years, and they've come a long way in that time. The Fire TV Stick has every channel you could want, plus a good, but not great selection of games. It still has thousands of channels and even a few games. The Chromecast lagged behind the other two, as it's long lacked support for Amazon Video without some cumbersome work-arounds - but that issue will be solved in the coming months as Amazon and Google have stopped their bickering. Roku's paltry gaming selection is best left untouched. You've already seen a lot of them on your Android or iOS phone, but playing Shovel Knight or DuckTales: Remastered without a dedicated gaming device is pretty cool. The only major difference between the two is that the Fire TV has an eclectic, but still pretty decent selection of casual games. Cable replacements, TV channel apps, music services - you're totally covered on either platform. Each one has more than 5,500 options, from big names like Netflix and Hulu to niche channels for horror movies, fitness content or entertainment of a more risqué nature. When it comes to sheer, unparalleled variety of channels, Roku and Amazon offer a pretty similar selection. No one buys a streaming player because of how beautiful its menus look people buy these devices to watch stuff (and, occasionally, to listen to stuff, or play stuff). The Roku has a beautiful interface, but the Chromecast has almost no interface whatsoever, and there's nothing easier than that. You'll eventually get to what you want to watch, sure, but unless you're in the mood for whatever movie or TV show Amazon recommends next, you'll have to skip through a few obtrusive menus to get there. The Fire TV Stick also lets you customize app placement, but clutters up the whole experience with a disproportionate focus on Amazon content. If you don't want to futz around with your phone while you're watching a program, the Roku's remote gives it an advantage overall, but you'll still have to learn the ins and outs of a new OS. There's very little between you and what you want to watch, aside from a few extra menu items and some (admittedly intrusive) advertisements for other channels. You can organize channels any way you see fit, placing them into neat rows and columns. The Roku Stick takes a close second, because it lets you customize your own home screen. It's hard to see how the process could be any simpler. (If not, you're at least intimately familiar with it well before you ever plug a Chromecast into your TV.) To use the Chromecast, you simply load up apps you already know how to use, then press a single button to cast the content. Once again, the Chromecast's interface is only as good as your smartphone or computer - but there's a good chance that this interface is very good. While the setup process for all three dongles is very easy, the Chromecast's is almost foolproof. The Roku lets you enter your username and password through a smartphone or computer the Fire TV stick doesn't, which is a feather in the former's cap. The Roku Stick and Fire TV Stick both have more-traditional setup processes, which require you to sign in, at which point the devices will sync your existing accounts. (You do need to download the Google Home app on Android or iOS, or a similar extension on Chrome, but you don't need to use the app for anything except modifying settings.) There's nothing to "set up," really, aside from getting the Chromecast connected to your network. Since it doesn't have a navigable OS of its own, the device is dependent on your smartphone or computer, and all the menus you're already familiar with. There's no denying, though, that the Chromecast has the easiest setup of the three. (If more than 10 minutes goes by between you removing the streaming player from the box and watching your first show, something has gone grievously wrong.) All you need is a Roku, Google or Amazon account and a Wi-Fi network. The Chromecast is not only the most attractive of the three devices, but it's also suitable to the widest variety of HDMI ports.Įach of the three devices is easy to set up. That you can either let it dangle or clasp the wire magnetically to the device's body means it's suitable for a wide variety of setups. The device's circular shape is attractive, even though you probably won't see it much, as it stays hidden behind your TV. The Chromecast, on the other hand, not only comes in a couple of different colors, but also attaches via a flexible HDMI wire by default.
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