We have 3 Roku's hooked up to TV's to supplement the functionality of the TiVo's connected to them. Being that the Roku's can't run Channels DVR, I'd like to know of a suitable replacement that could while providing close to the user-friendliness of the Roku without breaking the bank.
What are the choices I should consider?
I have never used these. But members on forum have talked about them. They are both low end android TVs
Not a replacement, but a workaround. I run a Jellyfin (free and open source media server) on my network and point the live tv portion to my Channels DVR server. I can watch live channels from Channels DVR on the ROKU Jellyfin app. I use the my android phone or a webapp to select recordings on Channels.
I bought one of the Tivo Stream devices when it first came out, but I don't use it anymore. I've been very happy with the Amazon Firestick 4K. Another Amazon Prime day is coming up in October and the Firesticks are usually heavily discounted then. Look for either the Firestick 4K or the Firestick 4K Max.
About a year ago I replaced my 3 Roku devices with Amazon Firestick 4k TV Max devices. I like them just fine, especially the remote. My family had no problem switching from Roku to FireTV. I was able to get them for $35 each. The Channels developers do a good job of supporting them, but their favorite is the Apple TV.
I have also tried the Chromecast Google TV. I like the new Google TV interface. I think it may be even better than the Amazon FireTV interface, but overall, I still like the Amazon Max devices.
All these lower end devices suffer from low storage memory, which limits the number of apps that can be installed.
On my secondary TVs and for travel, in the interest of cost effectiveness, I use the Firestick 4k Max and it works great. The other Firesticks models are ok, but really you will be better off spending just a few extra dollars on the 4k Max.
As @reneg mentioned, maybe wait for the next Prime days and you can get even more excellent deals (their non-sale price is still very attractive). Though I have not seen anything confirmed yet about a second 2022 event in October, there are a lot of rumors. Even if there isn’t a second Prime Days event this year, Black Friday is just around the corner.
Pretty much the same for us. Recently switched from Roku's the FireTV 4k Max sticks, everyone has made the switch pretty easily. I too have the Chromecast Google TV and like it, but like the FireTV just slightly better for most of my family.
I’ve had the best success with the Onn devices for low cost android devices.
another vote for the onn streamer (not the stick) i don't like the firestick interface and i think the onn has the best remote among the android devices. and it's only $20.
I'm very happy with the Chrome Cast with Google TV at a cost of about $50 for the older 4K version. There is a new version that costs about $30 for HD (1080).
I tried the Amazon Fire Stick and found the favoritism to Prime Video as well as the limits of what Android apps can be loaded very annoying and returned it.
Eric one of the developers said he has had great success with the Onn so I would go with his recommendation.
The TiVo Stream 4k Android TV device is nice because it has a number pad. If you use channel numbers to change channels, it's worth considering. Its a pretty good device for basic streaming.
We had mostly Roku and it worked great. Also had an Apple TV, but hated the remote.
Have now switch all TVs to Firestick - mostly the Max.
Love Channels with it.
We have the VERY SAME REMOTE on every tv. No picking source. No figuring out which remote.
HAPPY WIFE - HAPPY LIFE.
I have a TiVo stream. It worked fine for awhile, but now the streaming stick constantly crashes when using the channels DVR. I may just suck it up and buy another Apple TV. As others have said it’s far superior to any other streamer.
Chromecasts have worked well for us. Wait for Google's new product announcements Oct 6.
I like my Onn's also BUT it lacks Volume Leveling and Speech Enhancement.
My Firestick 4K's have both of these.
And IF you use Channels DVR's m3u capability to feed Tivimate for Multi-View during football season,
that Volume Leveling is almost a must as the volume level varies quite a bit on Networks.
Thanks to the developers for that m3u capability.
Avoid the TiVo Stream at all costs. We thought they looked great on paper, but they are a train wreck. Horrible interface. Yes, you can also use the main Android interface, but the TiVo interface keeps coming back even after you disable it. And we used to be able to sync more than one of their remotes to it, but that quit working. Tech support is virtually nonexistent, and TiVo is rumored to be abandoning this product. We ended up switching to Fire TV Sticks, and we haven't looked back.
TBH, we are weighing whether to keep our Channels DVR server, as Fire TV has a good Live TV interface that works with services like Sling, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. So the experience is somewhat similar without needing a separate server.
I've heard good things about the ONN streaming devices too, they have an Android streaming box for like $20. It's a loss leader for them in hopes you buy content from Vudu or whoever.
This has not been my experience.
That's a shame. The Fire line of devices are simply poor underpowered devices used to shove Amazon content down your experience ...
The "Live" experience with Fire (and Google) devices is based upon a corporate-held whitelist. Regardless of whether an app/ecosystem properly registers with the TIF, the platform can still exclude compliant apps.
While they may have advocates, I have personal qualms with Walmart devices in my home.
Ive used ONN Box, TIVO Stream, ATV4K and a couple different Firesticks and TVs. Of the android boxes the ONN Box is my favorite with the Tivo being second. Neither approaches the ATV4K but if I hadn't received it as a present, I wouldn't have paid that much extra for it. I hate the Firesticks, other people on here must know how to get more out of it than I can because it seems to have some real support on here. My wife liked the TIVO stream because of the numeric keypad on the remote. I've always had some minor issues with the android boxes, doesn't usually bother me much...