Quote:
Originally Posted by muppetman11
You could pretty much say the same about Virgins Broadband packages over the 100mb mark.
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I used to think that, but with our use of wi-fi now, the demands of the V6s, tablets, mobiles, all being used at the same time, I'm rather glad of my superhub!
If you are a gamer, I believe it is essential to have plenty of Mbs!
---------- Post added at 17:41 ---------- Previous post was at 17:41 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckeye
A Windows box is the closest to an all in one box however there are still some limitations.
I've been using a Windows HTPC for around 10 years for much of my media consumption.
Any x86/x64 hardware whatever OS its running would always be my first choice for Kodi, imho once you've run Kodi on any semi decent PC all other variants seem inferior.
All the various streaming services do run on Windows but as I said there are some limitations that may annoy some people, I'll try and list all I can remember.
For a start there is no native BBC Iplayer or Sport apps for Windows so both have to be run through a browser in a mouse environment rather than with a remote control, and even on my quite powerful and expensive HTPC these don't run that great (frequent drops in bitrate despite my 200 meg connection), for this reason I prefer using Iplayer through the Kodi addon but there is the odd occasion that stops working when the BBC change their website and the addon author has to catch up, and I view their sports content on the Sport app on one of my devices.
The same is true of Amazon video in that it only works through a browser but without the bitrate drops and you also lose 5:1 DD sound via this method.
Netflix does has a Windows app and it has 5:1 sound but is only mouse friendly.
Netflix via the app or a browser has a serious bug though, if you have a Windows box that only has a HDMI 2 port but your TV is not 4K you will get an error telling you that your TV is not HDCP 2.2 compatible and the only way to get out of this is to pull the power to your Windows device (luckily my HTPC has two HDMI ports 1.4 and 2 so I have to use the 1.4 port to get over this bug).
Now TV also has a Windows app, this works reasonably well, but even though it works a bit better with a Windows remote than Netflix you still need to use a mouse for full control of it.
As I said the Now TV Windows app works reasonably well but it does suffer the occasional bitrate drop that my Now TV smart boxes don't do.
Eurosport player again is a browser and mouse only environment, this is the best I've seen of this combination though, the picture is always spot on in HD and if you prefer to use a remote then there is a very good Kodi addon for it.
For US content I use ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, HBO, Fox/FX, NBC, ABC and CBS, apart from ESPN and Fox Sports I've given up on using the others on Windows.
The NBC Sports app on Windows doesn't include Premier League Football (even though the awful browser version does), most of the others don't have a Windows app or are just better on my Apple TV 4.
My Windows machine does allow me to set up a virtual VPN router for my US content though which fools my Apple TV 4 into thinking its in the US and I pretty much use the ATV 4 device exclusively for when I want to use US services (its awful for British content though)
I know everyone can't afford to do this or even have the inclination or know how but for the reasons I've listed above I have several devices,
it would be nice to have one to do it all but the one that does do it all is a jack of all trades whereas I prefer to have the best viewing and user experience for each thing I'm watching.
If we were in America there's quite a few devices that would cater for our streaming needs all on their own but we're not and maybe one day one device will do it all well but that day hasn't hit the UK yet.
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Thank you for taking the trouble to explain this, buckeye. I am not sure I could cope with all that!
I hope the complexity of getting all of your watch lists in one place finally demonstrates to those who seem not to understand the problem that led me to conclude that if Virgin offered as many streaming services as possible, this would be attractive to subscribers and could be their USP.
I think this may bring forward my migration from pay tv to streaming services, but I'll bide my time for now.
LG's veto is seriously disappointing and lacks vision.