Best Streaming Devices | Apple TV 4K vs Roku vs Fire TV vs Chromecast

My actual list: 1. Apple TV, for all the reasons I list in this video — and one I didn't. Apple Fitness+ is EXCELLENT on ATV. 2. Chromecast. It lives in my gear bag. Love it on the go. (For long stays I'll take my ATV.) 3/4: Roku and Fire TV, interchangeable. They're fine. They work great. They're not my favorites.

Advertisement built into hardware when I already paid for device and subscription that’s the real dealbreaker for any of these devices

For me, the Apple TV 4K voice commands make it as strong as a contender as the Nvidia Shield. Unfortunately the Shield’s upscaling is too good to not use for non-4k content

I have lg c9 and just got apple tv 4k and i am happy the picture quality is definitely better specially in dolby 👌🏼👌🏼 comparing to TV native apps

Initially I was a big Roku fan. The last few years I’ve been very sold with Android TV, leaving Roku unused. Recently I invested in the Apple TV 4K and was shocked that I like it even better than Android. Even my Sony remote works with it just as well as the Apple remote. I can play, pause, navigate menus, adjust volume with both remotes. The Apple TV connects to my AirPods easily. Great quality and fast.

I feel like I have to thank you for helping sound bar and tv shop. Since I didn’t use any affiliate links. I got a Vizio m512 for a great discount and then I needed a better tv, so I got a Sony X90k, for also a good discount. Thank you for the tv education and your review sold me on the sound bar for the discount it was on.

Hi Phil - I just wanted to let you know that I saw you for the first time today, and I really like your "down to earth" and "practical" review of these products. We need more tech reviewers like you. Way too many (most, actually) want to "show off" their IT specs knowledge on their channel to, I guess, impress people. But I like how you glossed over the confusing Acronyms and just got to the bottom line from your honest and frank perspective. I'm glad I found you. I'm a subscriber now!

I have the Apple TV, Roku Ultra and a Fire TV cube in my home. I do like the Apple TV the best for all the reasons you mentioned. We are on two eco systems in our family, Apple and Amazon Alexa. I am looking forward to seeing all the smart devices work well together and hope that Matter will make that a reality. Thanks for the video, it was very well done.

I love the Fire TV Cube because it acts like a universal remote to control my other AV equipment (or any smart home stuff if you have Alexa compatible stuff). It also has a browser for watching live sports "creatively". I also love using it with my recast (although sadly recast is discontinued and won't support atsc 3, which will take over all my local stations come 2025). Lastly, its voice search is really good, not sure how that features compares to other boxes.

As a mainly Plex user, nothing beats the Shield. Lossless audio support, ability to make it a server itself, and still the best upscaling algorithm to make 1080p content look the best it possibly can

Finally I hear someone say it about how much to spend! Spend about as much as you can because you get the most from your tech!!!

I've used all the devices in the video including built-in TV OS'es. Yes, some seems a bit snappier to use than others. But regarding the UI's, most people use these devices for streaming services, one only has to be able to navigate to the streaming app and hit play. I hardly know if there's an ad or not. Most modern TVs have most of the popular streaming service native if not, it may be in their app store. The main difference to me would be the hardware being able to pass along a great uninterrupted signal to the TV.

My first streaming was a 2018 Apple tv4K. Second TV was a Fire Stick. Third TV was a fire stick.... Both have been replaced with Apple TV4k's. One in 2020 and the other in 2022 - they just work all the time

Great budget option is TiVo Stream 4K, and it has the ability to cast and a microphone. Love the remote since it has numbers on it as well. Nvidia Shield is a great option for high end devices. To Phil's point about the lightning, always a good idea to surge protectors on devices... anything of value, I have to protect it. TVs, streaming devices, microwave, airfryer, fridge, laptop...

Thanks for the review. I liked the Apple TV as well BUT Can you get live TV or VOD without paying for an additional service?

Great info! Are you able to get 5.1 audio from YouTube TV on the Chromecast with Google TV device? 5.1 YouTube TV works flawlessly on a Fire TV 4K. (I'm using the same receiver, Yamaha RX-V481,and TV, Samsung S95B, for both) YouTube TV tech support says it should work (my cobalt version is new enough), but can't tell me why it does not. Their solution is to install the future updates when they come out and see if works then. I feel like I'm in a very small percentage of people that actual use 5.1 audio.

The Chromecast with Google TV does have an Ethernet adapter that can be purchased from the Google device store.

I have just upgraded from the previous Amazon cube to the new Apple TV 4K with ethernet. It costs a little more than the new cube, but blows it away with spec and performance and best of all no adds, i hope they keep it that way. Thanks for confirming that i made the right choice.

I moved to the Roku Ultra from the second gen Fire Cube because of the ads. I use a Pi Hole on my network, so I don't get ads on my Roku. Amazon hosts a lot of their own ad content which Pi Hole (as I have mine configured, anyway) cannot filter out. As soon as Shield comes out with a new version, I'll probably upgrade.

FireCube 2nd Gen and Nvidia Shield 2019!! and for a dongle a FireStick 4K Max works excellent.