Chromecast v Roku v Fire Stick

KristeninChicago · ‎08-10-2011

I'm looking to buy one of the 3 above for my dad for Christmas. He lives alone and would like to be able to watch Netflix hoping that will help him get through the winter. He has an iPhone but I still wouldn't call him tech savvy so I am looking for something simple. An employee at Best Buy recommended the Roku over Chromecast because it had a remote but I think my dad could probably handle an app on his phone if needed.

Any recommendations?

thx

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

I have Roku3. Best of the bunch, according to the reviews/ratings I've seen. The Roku3 has stuff that the earlier, or more portable, versions don't have. Roku over all seems to be the best over all also.

Nuttmeg · ‎03-09-2010

Amazon had the Fire TV Stick on sale a October 27th for Prime customers for two day. I will receive mine about December 18th. I was looking online at a review. You should check out a YouTube. The ""Stick"" has more memory than the Roku. Your dad may not want to have his cell phone by his TV all the time. You may want to check different online places for a sale on the ""Stick"" and Fire TV. The Fire TV has a voice activated remote.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amadoudiallo/2014/11/28/roku-chromecast-or-fire-tv-which-streaming-stic...

Rabid1 · ‎12-10-2012

For the price neither the Roku 3 or the Chromecast can even touch the hardware of the Fire Stick.

Chromecast is a one trick pony, but if all you want to do is cast video it's great.

In a sense the Roku 3 is the same except it can play some games, but it is extremely limited by it's hardware. Roku has more "channels" but let's be honest, 90% of them are trash or media streams that are all connected to the same servers.

The Fire Stick can use the Amazon BT controller and most the the games the Fire TV does. 4 times the power of the Roku 3 at half the price.

VolvoGirl · ‎07-21-2010

This might be a stupid question but does your Dad have internet and a wireless router in his house? Does he use a computer? He needs a wireless internet connection to use that stuff.

KristeninChicago · ‎08-10-2011

On 12/3/2014 VolvoGirl said:
This might be a stupid question but does your Dad have internet and a wireless router in his house? Does he use a computer? He needs a wireless internet connection to use that stuff.

Yes, he does have WiFi.

KristeninChicago · ‎08-10-2011

I use Chrome and Gmail but I'm still not a fan of Google so that one is more likely out.

So it's between the Fire Stick and the Roku streaming stick. The techie reviews online say they are pretty much the same thing. He will be using my Netflix account and I also have an Amazon Prime membership so it probably makes sense to go with that one.

I kinda want one now but I have a TiVo that I use to watch Netflix, one less thing I actually need!