Captain Bowie
Registered User
- Jan 18, 2012
- 27,139
- 4,414
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.
=========================================================================
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!
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.
=========================================================================
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!