chromecast / Amazon Fire stick etc?

[Magic_x_uk]

Hi, just doing some moving around in the bedrooms and curious about the following.

We are putting tv's in the bedrooms and wondered what would be the best.

Be it, Chromecast or Amazon Fire stick.

We want something in the our room (adults). I do presently have a Sky Magic Eye and cable connected to that TV but was thinking about one of these other devices.

Then a tv in the little girls room (8). If we have Chromecase / Amazon on that one, is there enough parental controls to control it for us.

We also do have a HTPC running XBMC/Kodi hidden in a closet that is used on the main TV in the lounge for films/ TV Shows etc.

Many thanks.

Just unsure of these devices.

 

[dbmzk1]

Depends what you're after really. Chromecast needs another device to control it, like a mobile or tablet and depends on that for it's content, where as the Fire stick is a stand alone product with apps (including Kodi, though it needs a little messing about to install it works fine) for content and its own remote.

 

[SKILL]

I've got both, like mentioned the Chromecast needs a phone/tablet for control (although I personally prefer that), so whatever parental control that has really.

The Fire TV Stick I'm not sure what parental control options it has but it's essentially a full Android installation (without the play store/google apps), it is laggy though, once playing something it's fine but in the menu's it's laggy and inputting text via on-screen keyboard is painful compared to using a phone/tablet keyboard.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

I've got both, like mentioned the Chromecast needs a phone/tablet for control (although I personally prefer that), so whatever parental control that has really.

The Fire TV Stick I'm not sure what parental control options it has but it's essentially a full Android installation (without the play store/google apps), it is laggy though, once playing something it's fine but in the menu's it's laggy and inputting text via on-screen keyboard is painful compared to using a phone/tablet keyboard.

Okay, thanks.

The little girl does have iTouch & a Amazon Kindle as well. So not sure if they can be used along side it as a form of controller.

 

[SKILL]

Is an iTouch the same as an iPod Touch? e.g. an iPhone without the modem bit

If so then yeah, afaik the Chromecast can be controlled pretty well from iOS, essentially it's part of the apps (such as Netflix etc) that detects the Chromecast on the network and gives the option to cast to it.

Also worth noting support I guess, by and large both Chromecast and Fire TV sticks support the same apps, the main difference being the Amazon and Google media stuff as appropriate. Also the Fire TV stick as mentioned can run Kodi which the Chromecast can't (as it doesn't run full apps per se)