Roku style thing, but with ethernet

JonJ678

JonJ678

JonJ678

Soldato
Joined
22 Dec 2008
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Location
England
Hey. Home cinema doesn't sound quite right so please move this to somewhere more appropriate.

I've lost patience with a smart tv and amazon fire sticks. Largely blame wifi for this and would like to change to ethernet. However, Roku seem to have given up on selling non-stick devices in the UK and Google suggests a number of £30 boxes from brands I don't recognise.

What's the standard product for:
- ethernet
- remote (with volume, since some inexplicably don't include that)
- netflix
- prime video
- iplayer
- ideally dlna streamer
- no fans

Possibly apple tv? I don't have any other apple products, but superficially it looks likely to work.

Thanks!
 
The latest 4k Roku stick (5ghz wifi mode) is actually faster than most streaming boxes, with just Ethernet, as they are limited to 10/100. I have no issues streaming 4k 50 mbit video from my plex server via direct play (no transcode). I had a Roku Premier plus ( import from US) and had issues with high 4k bitrate video. Turns out it was Ethernet port NOT being GIGABIT. Used 5ghz wifi. Perfect. Have the 4k Roku stick aswell. No issues (assuming you have a good 5ghz wifi router not a trash isp freebie)
 
They do an adapter for the fire sticks to allow Ethernet. I currently use the Amazon Fire 4k Stick for my 4k films on Plex, on 5ghz wifi it works mostly fine, sometimes does drop. I plan on waiting a couple more days till Prime Day comes around, usually Amazon items have some discount and I will be buying 2.
 
Apple tv is not a direct dlna device though there are apps that can act as a crude way of delivering this content but it's not ideal.

There is also the vero 4k which has all of the above but netflix, amazon require some basic terminal script work to install the required repositories as they are not available by default.
 
Fire Tv stick 4k and ugreen gigabit network adapter used here and its great and with the fire 4k being £24.99 today cant go wrong.

firestick 4k. with a usb c adaptor the the ugreen network card. I used the blow around)

UGREEN USB Network Adapter, Gigabit + JAVONTEC USB C to HDMI Adapter with USB 3.0 Port and USB-C Power Delivery (the JAVONTEC is a bit over kill as you cant use the hdmi bit but i had it laying)


 
wandgrudd said:
fire 4k being £24.99 today cant go wrong.
Click to expand...
yes at half the price of roku ..
but the fire does have 5ghz wifi like roku(i uses ss+) so additional expense of usb seems large,
I assume you don't get usb local storage too ? missing until you get to shield level.
afaik youtube not yet there, but webm codec probably supported so you could download and then play.
 
I bought a Roku from Amazon US delivered to me in UK that does ethernet and 4K. Only downside is that BBC haven't approved it for iPlayer, so that doesn't work. Everything else is great.
 
jpaul said:
yes at half the price of roku ..
but the fire does have 5ghz wifi like roku(i uses ss+) so additional expense of usb seems large,
I assume you don't get usb local storage too ? missing until you get to shield level.
afaik youtube not yet there, but webm codec probably supported so you could download and then play.
Click to expand...


Youtube came back last Friday in a new official app, the wifi is fine but "jonj678" said he had poor wifi so i was listing an option that doesn't rely on the wifi but still has good speed.
 
Last edited:
barmyllama said:
If you're prepared to pay the premium price the Nvidia Shield ticks all of your boxes and more.
Click to expand...
I picked up an Nvidia Shield the other week, fantastic little device, pretty silent running and plays everything thrown at it, with some light gaming also thrown in with the controller, so much more than just a TV box, they are bringing out a new version later this year i hear, but it didn't stop me picking up the existing version as it ticked all the boxes for what i need, bluetooth mouse/keyboard setup on it and haven't looked back :)

Link to the specs - https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/specs/
 
As already mentioned, you could get a 4k fire stick with the ethernet adaptor but it is limited to usb speeds and some user reviews seem to think that its actually slower than using WiFi but it might give you the stability you require.

I'd look for a 2nd hand Roku 3 or version 2 of the Amazon fire tv box.
 
amazon.uk doesn't sell a product competing against it's firestick .. anti-competitive !
(they also prioritize their search results how they like ... not sure if they also create fake brands .. there was a program recently talking about them now manufacturing clothes !)
 
The shield does look good. Ended up replacing the WiFi and using a 5ghz Roku stick, which so far hasn't fallen over. I'll upgrade when it does. Thanks all :)
 
I use a compute stick (m3) with a USB ethernet adaptor for my projector - plugs directly into the HDMI port. I then use and app called remote mouse pro on my phone to control it - a fantastic remote with mouse, keyboard, volume etc. works a dream with Netflix, plex, iplayer etc, and is a usb size stick.

will do everything you want, and be a windows pc, but not the cheapest option.
 
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