So could be a redundant query but a few searches in the community haven't helped. We are set up with Channels on Apple TV's and my iMac as server in my household. I wanted to set up one of our iPad for my wife to watch channels in the kitchen but turns out our iPads are too old. I really don't want to buy a new iPad just to watch tv and we don't use iPads very mutch any more anyway. My question is what are options for an inexpensive tablet to set up on my current channels account and to mount in the kitchen for news, etc.
How inexpensive? You can get a new iPad for $250 dollars on Amazon that is current and runs like a champ.
Apple iPad (Wi-Fi, 32GB) - Space Gray (Latest Model) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BTS2KWK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_E1l5CbT9T3VDV
If you need to go cheaper you can with Android but I can’t comment on the quality of experience on that platform. It may vary substantially depending on the tablet you get.
I suspect that an Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet would be sufficient. You can pick one of those up for $69.99 refurbished: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0794PD8NR
Even though the screen is only 8", it has a widescreen aspect ratio so the display should be comparable in size to an iPad display for TV viewing.
I'd avoid the Fire 7 -- the screen is very small and the built-in speaker is very weak and probably would be difficult to hear from across the kitchen.
You can cast to a google home display, but that only works with recordings for some reason.
I'd really like to see casting get more attention and have native support in the mobile apps, that would open up alot of possibilities.
I have a Fire HD 8 tablet and I would not recommend it for channels.
It does not seem to have enough horsepower. It's constantly pausing. Sports with lots of motion are particularly bad, with lots of lag. And if you try to skip forward or backwards, channels will pause for 10s of seconds sometimes before it resumes.
I also tried an inexpensive Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 and had a similar experience.
In comparison, my relatively new iPads have no problem with channels at all.
The Android app also works fine on my recent Chromebook.
I would be interested to know which Android tablets work well with channels, to determine how powerful a cpu is needed for good channels performance.