I have a love-hate relationship with my Chromecast. And my Roku, and my Apple TV.
The Chromecast works great for streaming from my Plex server. Except switching away from the Plex app or letting the device sleep often causes it to disconnect, meaning the Chromecast will keep playing but can’t be controlled. So I have to keep a dedicated remote control device around. I also have to disable CEC on my TV or the Chromecast will randomly turn the TV on in the middle of the night.
The Roku works great for streaming from my Plex server. Except when it doesn’t; sometimes it will stream too slowly and constantly buffer, for no discernible reason. It also puts out an annoying high-pitched whine through the speakers when no sound is playing.
The Apple TV works great for everything except streaming from my Plex server. It’s a 3rd gen, meaning no App store and no Plex app, and I haven’t yet broken down and shelled out $130 for a new one.
Is there any set-top box/dongle that doesn’t kind of suck?
YouTube has been actively making the Chromecast experience worse. I often get toasts saying there was an error (without saying what the error was), and it shows a banner over the lower part of the video telling me that I can start a Premium free trial to get rid of ads. That banner has a dismiss button on it, but Chromecast has no way to click on an on-screen button, and no corresponding button appears on the casting device. The level of UX incompetence on display here is simply mind-blowing.
I remain happy with an Xbox (Series X) as my centralized "set-top box", and haven't had a problem with any of its apps (which include Apple TV today), but I also game on the Xbox and it is hard to recommend for non-gamers.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 30.1 ms ] threadThe Chromecast works great for streaming from my Plex server. Except switching away from the Plex app or letting the device sleep often causes it to disconnect, meaning the Chromecast will keep playing but can’t be controlled. So I have to keep a dedicated remote control device around. I also have to disable CEC on my TV or the Chromecast will randomly turn the TV on in the middle of the night.
The Roku works great for streaming from my Plex server. Except when it doesn’t; sometimes it will stream too slowly and constantly buffer, for no discernible reason. It also puts out an annoying high-pitched whine through the speakers when no sound is playing.
The Apple TV works great for everything except streaming from my Plex server. It’s a 3rd gen, meaning no App store and no Plex app, and I haven’t yet broken down and shelled out $130 for a new one.
Is there any set-top box/dongle that doesn’t kind of suck?