Assessing My Entire Tech/Entertainment Set-up

[Captain Bowie]

Hello Geeks,

I am hoping some of you can help me out here. I have recently been thinking about my entertainment set-up and the tech I have available to me. I want to optimize it as much as possible given my interests and entertainment preferences, and I'm hoping some of you will be able to help me.

Let me start with what I currently do and have, then what I would prefer to be able to do and have.

TV:
Watch nearly every Canucks game - Currently using online streams from reddit, or CBC.ca on HNIC.
Watch occasional additional NHL games - same as above
Watch nearly every BC Lions game - Online streams from reddit
Watch NFL every Sunday - have a DAZN account I use
Netflix - on AppleTV or Smart TV
Amazon Prime - Only watch it on my laptop currently, would like a better method.
YouTube - Both on my laptop and smart TV.

Gaming:
Play my PS4 occasionally. I am not a big gamer, I used to buy the NHL and Madden games religiously every year but not so much lately. Those games have honestly gone downhill. Not too interested in playing many of games on the PS4, though I go back and fourth but it's not regular.

Equipment:
Vizio 42" Smart TV - Apps for Netflix and YouTube (livingroom)
32" non-smart TV (bedroom)
2 Apple TV's, older generations (i didn't purchase them, were given to me)
PS4
Macbook Air from about 2014.

What I do now if there is a game on that I want to watch, I find a stream and then use apple AirPlay to project it onto my TV. This is an OK solution, but as many now it's not always easy to find a good quility stream the first time, and the extra connection from the mac to the appletv can make it worse, and I like to use my laptop while watching the game as well, whether its browsing HF or something else, it really can slow down both the stream and my other browsing. Other than that I am usually watching YT or Netflix on the TV when I am home relaxing in my livingroom.

In terms of gaming, I am more interested in games I can play casually while watch the game or TV or whatever. I try to find iphone games that satusfy this, but they usually don't capture my attention for very long. In terms of computer games I haven't tried much but when I have it doesn't go well, my mac is pretty old without any great capabilities for gaming, it is a baseline macbook air from 2014. There are a lot of games that I see or hear about that I would love to play but I don't know if they will even work on my machine. For example Cities Skylines is a game I really want to play, but read it would be terrible on my machine. I loved SimCity as a kid and desperately want to try this game.

I am not loaded by any means, but am willing to spend a bit of money to optimize my whole entertainment set-up. I am generally pretty cheap, and don't really spend money on this stuff unless I can convince myself I will get the full benefit of the item and really get my monies worth. Otherwise I wait until something NEEDS to be replaced and do some research at the time, or just buy the quickest, cheapest option available.

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So, what are the suggestions the geeks have for me? One thing I have thought about getting is grabbing a Amazon Firestick, so that I can better take advantage of my Amazon Prime account which I currently don't, because I can only watch on my mac, and then I can't do any other browsing while I watch TV.

I have thought about getting another device like an iPad, Microsoft Surface, ect. to play games and browse on, while my macbook is streaming sports and airplaying onto the big TV.

Suggest away!

Click to read more...

 

[HansonBro]

I suggest both world of tanks and world of warships on your ps4. Both free downloads

 

[Jovavic]

Amazon Prime is on PS4, as is that Cities Skyline game

 

[Captain Bowie]

Amazon Prime is on PS4, as is that Cities Skyline game

Game Changer.

 

[Beau Knows]

I'd look into Kodi. It makes it easy to watch movies, TV shows, stream sports and play games. There's add-ons that stream NHL games from NHL.tv and one for DAZN as well that I haven't tried.

I've only used Kodi on an HTPC setup, but it is possible to run Kodi on many other devices. I've heard it works especially well on a 4k Firestick, but it can also be installed on things like Android TV boxes and older Apple TVs.



As for gaming while you watch TV, the Nintendo Switch might be perfect for that. A portable only, lower cost version was just announced yesterday. That system has got an excellent library of games.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Kodi for streaming is horrible, just hook a windows (or mac) laptop up to your tv with HDMI and buy a Logitech k400 keyboard to surf the internet from the couch. A million times better experience than the buggy mess that is streaming on Kodi.

However, as an actual Media center with everything stored locally, it is extremely fast, responsive and pretty reliable.

Much better media player that Plex, but plexcan do stuff like streaming from outside you local network.

 

[Beau Knows]

Kodi for streaming is horrible, just hook a windows (or mac) laptop up to your tv with HDMI and buy a Logitech k400 keyboard to surf the internet from the couch. A million times better experience than the buggy mess that is streaming on Kodi.

However, as an actual Media center with everything stored locally, it is extremely fast, responsive and pretty reliable.

Much better media player that Plex, but plexcan do stuff like streaming from outside you local network.

What kodi add-ons are you using that streaming is horrible?

The (unofficial) NHL.tv app, Netflix, Amazon and Youtube have all worked perfectly for me. For other sports where something like the NHL add-on doesn't exist I have the advanced launcher add-on set to open the best websites for those and can just open those links using the airmouse on my remote. When I'm done watching that stream I just hit the close button on the remote and I'm back into the kodi interface. No keyboard needed and everyone else can use the thing even if they aren't "computer people".

 

[Knave]

Sorry for stealing your thunder but anyone with a Firestick: can you get Prime Video alone? I'm fine with my TV package and it would be nice to have an easy option to stream Prime Video stuff on my TV as well.

 

[PK Cronin]

What kodi add-ons are you using that streaming is horrible?

The (unofficial) NHL.tv app, Netflix, Amazon and Youtube have all worked perfectly for me. For other sports where something like the NHL add-on doesn't exist I have the advanced launcher add-on set to open the best websites for those and can just open those links using the airmouse on my remote. When I'm done watching that stream I just hit the close button on the remote and I'm back into the Kodi interface. No keyboard needed and everyone else can use the thing even if they aren't "computer people".

Dealing with updates and whatnot was always a hassle to me with Kodi when I messed with it. It reached a point where finding workarounds was more time consuming than just getting everything I wanted legally. Maybe it's improved since the last time I dabbled, but basing all of your entertainment needs around Kodi doesn't make sense to me because of the headache it can cause when it stops working.

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I use a Roku Ultra for my streaming needs on my television and it's been wonderful. It's cheap and has nearly every legitimate streaming app you'll need. I use YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Go, Amazon Prime Video, NHL.tv, MLB TV, etc. and I've never had an issue. I don't have any Apple products, but I'm not a big fan of using a phone or computer to connect to my television to stream something. Occasionally there are some things I have no choice for (prospect games, pre-season games, etc. that aren't televised). The easiest way to cut down on costs is to share accounts with other people if you can (one of you pays for Hulu while the other pays for Netflix).

My objective when setting things up is to make it as painless as possible for other people to use. This has been the most streamlined and easiest for me. I've messed around with Kodi before, and I also set up Plex with torrents, etc. Going legit has made things easier for me for sure.

 

[Beau Knows]

Dealing with updates and whatnot was always a hassle to me with Kodi when I messed with it. It reached a point where finding workarounds was more time consuming than just getting everything I wanted legally. Maybe it's improved since the last time I dabbled, but basing all of your entertainment needs around Kodi doesn't make sense to me because of the headache it can cause when it stops working.

I've been using it for about a year and no issues so far. But I only really watch NHL which has an amazing add-on (no dealing with blackouts too) and tennis which has no paid service that allows you to watch the slams.

 

[Captain Bowie]

I've been using it for about a year and no issues so far. But I only really watch NHL which has an amazing add-on (no dealing with blackouts too) and tennis which has no paid service that allows you to watch the slams.

Do you use the NHL app with a Center Ice subscription?

 

[Beau Knows]

Do you use the NHL app with a Center Ice subscription?

No, there's a kodi add-on that streams it for free. I can't name it here, but check your pm's

 

[aleshemsky83]

Dealing with updates and whatnot was always a hassle to me with Kodi when I messed with it. It reached a point where finding workarounds was more time consuming than just getting everything I wanted legally. Maybe it's improved since the last time I dabbled, but basing all of your entertainment needs around Kodi doesn't make sense to me because of the headache it can cause when it stops working.

----

I use a Roku Ultra for my streaming needs on my television and it's been wonderful. It's cheap and has nearly every legitimate streaming app you'll need. I use YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Go, Amazon Prime Video, NHL.tv, MLB TV, etc. and I've never had an issue. I don't have any Apple products, but I'm not a big fan of using a phone or computer to connect to my television to stream something. Occasionally there are some things I have no choice for (prospect games, pre-season games, etc. that aren't televised). The easiest way to cut down on costs is to share accounts with other people if you can (one of you pays for Hulu while the other pays for Netflix).

My objective when setting things up is to make it as painless as possible for other people to use. This has been the most streamlined and easiest for me. I've messed around with Kodi before, and I also set up Plex with torrents, etc. Going legit has made things easier for me for sure.

I've been using it for about a year and no issues so far. But I only really watch NHL which has an amazing add-on (no dealing with blackouts too) and tennis which has no paid service that allows you to watch the slams.

Every addon is extremely buggy. The nhl addon you're using is most likely just scraping reddit, which is full of good links. Thats why I say just having a windows laptop or small formfactor pc plugged into the tv through hdmi with a k400 keyboard is 100 times easier and smoother experience. Its a huge headache to fiddle with that stuff.

I like kodi as a media center and actually do use it for my locally stored content (along with plex but as a pure media player plex is super slow, i use it for the streaming capability), but I stick with netflix for binging and reddit for streams. The actual sites some of the addons scrape almost always work better just going to them with chrome/firefox with a blocker turned on.

 

[Beau Knows]

Every addon is extremely buggy.

Weird, no issues here.

The nhl addon you're using is most likely just scraping reddit, which is full of good links.

No that's not how that add-on works, it streams directly from NHL.tv. You can even watch old games and highlights. But I do have a link to that subreddit in kodi as a backup in case that service goes down but it hasn't yet. Those reddit streams are of much worse quality and stability.

I like kodi as a media center and actually do use it for my locally stored content (along with plex but as a pure media player plex is super slow, i use it for the streaming capability), but I stick with netflix for binging and reddit for streams.

Kodi has a Netflix add-on.

The actual sites some of the addons scrape almost always work better just going to them with chrome/firefox with a blocker turned on.

Are you talking about add-ons like Exodus? Yeah those add-ons are trash since they stream videos from crummy sites, similar to reddit NHL streams. In kodi I use Netflix, the NHL.tv add-on and local content. The only thing I have to use those kinds of streams for is tennis and for that I have kodi set to open the best streaming site I know of for it and just use the air-mouse on the remote to click play.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Weird, no issues here.



No that's not how that add-on works, it streams directly from NHL.tv. You can even watch old games and highlights. But I do have a link to that subreddit in kodi as a backup in case that service goes down but it hasn't yet. Those reddit streams are of much worse quality and stability.



Kodi has a Netflix add-on.



Are you talking about add-ons like Exodus? Yeah those add-ons are trash since they stream videos from crummy sites, similar to reddit NHL streams. In kodi I use Netflix, the NHL.tv add-on and local content. The only thing I have to use those kinds of streams for is tennis and for that I have kodi set to open the best streaming site I know of for it and just use the air-mouse on the remote to click play.

Fair enough, but for those official streams, i preferp to just use regular apps and/or cast from a phone or tablet

 

[Pay Carl]

Assuming you’re a Canucks fan, do you live in the viewing area? If not I say go for NHLTV account. I don’t know the cost now, but’s it’s gone down in price since the GCL days and there are even multiple options

If you’re a big hockey fan, and obviously you are, just spend the money you need to watch your team in HD and not on some crappy streaming site. It’s worth it