Cut the Cord with an Android TV Box, Fire Stick, or Fire TV
Posted by: Timothy Tibbetts on 04/10/2017 05:20 AM
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More people than ever before are "cutting the cord," in other words, dropping their cable television provider. Companies like Dish are trying to capitalize on this with lower costs and pay for what you want TV packages. While I'm not ready, I know people who have and the day may come for me as well.
I've used Chromecast for many years now allowing me to stream from my computer, phone or tablet but Amazon has stepped up to try and give everyone a solution with competing products. Both offer limited live TV and sports from AMC, HGTV, ESPN, FOX, and more. With a subscription, you can get more channels as well. Of course, it helps if you're an Amazon Prime member as that gives you access to a lot of content, plus free overnight delivery, for about ten bucks a month. I signed up for Amazon Prime just for that, and it pays for itself, something you can't say about cable television. Of course, cutting the cord means you have to choose from the many available monthly services to get what you want and still reduce your costs.
The Fire Stick with voice remote and Fire TV with streaming media player would be great choices if you didn't want to go with one of the many Android-based TV boxes. AmazonFire Stick prices start at 40 bucks and setup is a piece of cake. Best of all you can use them with your current service and see if you like it or can live without cable.
Speaking of Android-based boxes, these can also be had cheap. My experience has been that they are typically not as intuitive, lack any support and also look to sigh you up for subscriptions. But, it is an option. They have funny (obviously) Chineses names like GooBang Doo, WoSung, Dolamee, and Fxexblin. Android TV boxes suffer from the Linux problem; there are thousands of them that all do the same thing and at a very similar price. If I was to pick one, I might look for the best interface. I've used a few that I wanted to throw against the wall.
Here are links to the Fire Stick and Fire TV. Note that we use an affiliate link, so if you click the links, go to Amazon and buy a pair of underwear, we still get a small referral fee. We appreciate that!
I've used Chromecast for many years now allowing me to stream from my computer, phone or tablet but Amazon has stepped up to try and give everyone a solution with competing products. Both offer limited live TV and sports from AMC, HGTV, ESPN, FOX, and more. With a subscription, you can get more channels as well. Of course, it helps if you're an Amazon Prime member as that gives you access to a lot of content, plus free overnight delivery, for about ten bucks a month. I signed up for Amazon Prime just for that, and it pays for itself, something you can't say about cable television. Of course, cutting the cord means you have to choose from the many available monthly services to get what you want and still reduce your costs.
The Fire Stick with voice remote and Fire TV with streaming media player would be great choices if you didn't want to go with one of the many Android-based TV boxes. AmazonFire Stick prices start at 40 bucks and setup is a piece of cake. Best of all you can use them with your current service and see if you like it or can live without cable.
Speaking of Android-based boxes, these can also be had cheap. My experience has been that they are typically not as intuitive, lack any support and also look to sigh you up for subscriptions. But, it is an option. They have funny (obviously) Chineses names like GooBang Doo, WoSung, Dolamee, and Fxexblin. Android TV boxes suffer from the Linux problem; there are thousands of them that all do the same thing and at a very similar price. If I was to pick one, I might look for the best interface. I've used a few that I wanted to throw against the wall.
Here are links to the Fire Stick and Fire TV. Note that we use an affiliate link, so if you click the links, go to Amazon and buy a pair of underwear, we still get a small referral fee. We appreciate that!
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