- What's the best streaming stick?
From Roku to Fire TV,
Chromecast, Apple TV,
and something for gamers.
I've got you guys covered
and the latest deals
on all these stream sticks
on MattsDailyDeals.com.
Hi, if you've never seen me before,
I'm the YouTube Deal Guy Matt Granite.
I'm here to not only advocate for you
and help you save as much
cash as humanly possible,
but if you're cooped
up at home and you are
trying to recreate that
movie theater experience.
More importantly, if you're
looking to cut the cord finally,
there are some great promotions available
and I'm here to show
you which ones are best.
So first things first,
I'm going to break down
each category for the
different types of individuals
that are watching right now.
And, subscribers, I know that
you are highly opinionated,
very intelligent and easily aggravated
by certain streaming
platforms so please feel free
to weigh in.
You guys can converse back and forth.
The one thing that I'll tell you right now
is the Chromecast is
one of the most popular
steaming sticks and also the
one that I just don't love.
My main issue with the base
level of the Chromecast
as I begin my breakdown of
the best streaming systems,
the Chromecast does not
have a remote control.
So your ability to use
this relies upon you
downloading an app, using it
on a smart phone or tablet.
And of course there are variations
of all sorts of products
but the base level of the
Chromecast and the base level
of the streaming sticks
is not my favorite pick.
Now, if you guys are unfamiliar
with how streaming sticks
works, I'm going to take
you through all of that,
but this is the Chromecast.
You plug this into the
back of your television
in an available HDMI port
and when that is all done
and powered you can
watch your favorite shows
from Netflix, Prime Video,
and we're going to talk
about which platforms are best
for which types of viewing.
But if there is one base
level streaming platform,
if you guys are unfamiliar with Roku,
more than a decade ago
when I cut the cord,
Roku was the first for
me, or at least the first
heavily advertised streaming stick.
And they keep reappearing
every year as one
of the dominant ways to cut the cord.
So the best beginner streaming stick is,
in my opinion, the Roku Express HD.
It's generally always $29
and unlike the Chromecast,
its base level comes with a remote.
Now the remote does have one downside.
It has the channel shortcut
buttons and this always
aggravates me on any smart
TV or any manufacturer
that decides they're going
to brand the buttons.
What if you don't watch Hulu?
What if you don't like Disney
Plus or Sling or Netflix?
You're forced into having
these shortcuts that should
otherwise be something that
you could program on your own.
The problem is, a lot of the
ways these streaming platforms
make money is they are
subsidized through agreements
with different services
and that's why they appear
the way they do.
Let's take a quick look
at the Roku Express.
You plug this in, you
get fast HD streaming.
This is, again, high definition streaming.
It's 1080p, it's not 4K.
Not only is this a good beginner system,
but if you have lower
bandwidth or slower wifi
in your house you're
probably not going to enjoy
the vast majority of the
4K programming available.
This would be your key to
getting it done for $29.
That is my pick as the
base level streaming stick.
As we move to the mid-level consumer,
the mid-level consumer
is probably going to go
beyond just something
that's plug and play.
You may need some additional
outputs for Dolby audio,
you might need something
that has a little bit more
of a responsive remote,
you might want a faster
processor, and of course,
you want access to that 4K.
So my favorite streaming system
is not the Fire TV stick,
that's the best base level,
but there is something
called the Fire TV Stick 4K.
That is the same $39 Fire TV stick
except it's $10 more when it's not on sale
and this gives you 4K HDR capabilities.
The Fire TV Stick 4K is
the Ultra HD, Dolby Vision
and also includes the
Amazon Alexa voice remote.
Unlike its $10 Fire TV Stick alternative,
this is 4K HDR, it's a
little bit better for gaming,
and it's a lot faster.
So this is how it's advertised.
The 4K Ultra HD and Amazon
calls it the most powerful
4K streaming stick that they make.
This does allow support for
a faster level of bandwidth
and wifi, and that 4K Ultra
HD streaming with that
same Alexa voice remote
brings you the true to life
picture quality that they are saying.
One additional benefit to Amazon,
if you guys are not yet
a Prime video member,
they do have access to many
free movies and TV shows
built into your Prime membership.
But what you guys might
not be aware of is you
can actually subscribe independently
to your favorite channels through Amazon.
So before we get to my favorite gaming
and then my favorite high
end streaming sticks,
on Prime Video, for example,
you can actually subscribe
independently to your favorite channels.
You do not need to go through
your cable or satellite providers.
So if you wanted to
watch Starz, for example,
or the Sundance Channel, you
can subscribe independently
to that, HBO or Showtime.
And instead of overpaying
for 10,000 channels
you don't want to get the
ten channels you need,
you're doing it all
through the Prime interface
where you can actually turn
your programming on and off,
based on whether or not you're using it.
Shudder is one of my
favorite all horror, thriller
and mystery networks where
I'm using a free 30 day trial
right now and rather than
subscribing independently
through Shudder.com I'm
doing it through Amazon.
This in tune sends all of my content
over to my Fire TV stick.
And of course it's a great
way to curate your content
so it's all on the same platform.
Generally, all of the streaming sticks
that I'm showing you have
access to Hulu and Sling,
and if you guys want to
know a full breakdown
of the best streaming services
I have that in a prior video
and you can look at
which streaming platforms
brings you the best bang for your buck.
But as a streaming stick you
want to be able to access
everything, and they all access Netflix,
and Prime Video, and so on and so forth.
The best streaming stick
for gamers, in my opinion,
is the Nvidia Shield.
Let's take a look at that.
The Nvidia Shield is an android TV system.
It is a 4K HDR.
It has a price match guarantee of $149
at the time I'm recording this.
And it works with Google Assistant.
It does have that shortcut button on it
through Netflix,
unfortunately, but I think
a lot more people subscribe to Netflix
versus Disney Plus, at
least at the moment.
This is a small product
where look are a little bit deceiving.
This not only gives you
a direct ethernet plug
that you can directly hook into here
without using an adaptor,
but it has a micro SD slot so
you can expand your storage.
Why is this better for gamers?
What secret does this hold?
This is powered by Nvidia's
Tegra X1 Processor.
And it is fast.
It also gives you access to Shield TV
which is a powerful android
TV streaming media player.
Gamers are going to find
the speed on this specific
product the best for gaming.
For whatever reason, it's
just tuned for gaming.
It has eight gigs of flash memory
so enough memory to not only
store basic system files
but additional storage if you need it.
But you can expand upon that
with a micro SD memory card
so if you are, for any
reason, downloading games
you've the ability to do so.
A cool bonus to the Nvidia
Shield is it also provides
access to Netflix, Prime
Video, and all of those
other platforms that I mentioned.
In addition to the Google
Assistant, and Alexa,
so you could use it with
the other members of
your household even if you
don't have one dedicated
gaming television.
So I do like that.
Now, let's move on from here to my next
favorite streaming stick.
As we discuss the best high end,
and then the best overall,
I have two that I want to show you.
I think the best of the high end platforms
comes down to the question of Apple TV
versus the Fire TV Cube,
and then I'm going to
show you my final answer.
The Apple TV 4K is a brilliant platform.
It's free of all of those
annoying shortcut buttons
on your remote.
It works in 4K.
It has Siri built in.
My only complaint is I actually struggle
a little bit using the remote.
It's like this, almost this
touch remote but not quite.
And I always struggle to
use it and I was actually
one of the first people
to have an Apple TV
when it was that white box
that sits on top of your
television and then it got
smaller and smaller over time.
Now this isn't really a streaming stick,
it's more a streaming box,
but I think that Apple
is charging way too much
money for it for $179.
So on the high end of this
I think you can replicate
these exact same features
for about 120 bucks
and that is where the
Fire TV Cube comes in.
My recommendation on the Apple TV,
if you stream a lot of content,
even a lot of video on
your iPhone or your iPad
and you do a lot of
screen sharing or you do
a lot of presentation,
100% buy the Apple TV 4K.
It's for you.
But if most of your content
is from other platforms
like Netflix and Prime Video,
and even Apple TV Plus,
which is their streaming service,
which you can still
access on Roku and Amazon,
I wouldn't get the Apple TV 4K.
I think that's just way too
much money for the $179.
So that is my take on that.
If you were going to go
to what I consider to be
one of the best of the high ends,
but not the best overall,
the best of the high ends,
I think the Fire TV Cube would be my pick.
The Fire TV Cube has a
hands free Echo basically
built into the 4K streaming.
Now I know I mentioned all
of the other streaming sticks
have the Alexa voice remote,
so that when you speak and
can say to the Amazon Alexa
voice service, open
YouTube, and she'll do that.
But you actually need
to hold the button down
for that to work.
The Fire TV Cube is
basically like always having
an Echo on where you can
control your television.
Let's take a look at this.
So this really is more of a streaming box
than a streaming stick but it does plug in
to the back of your television
through an HDMI port.
It's 4K Ultra HD and it is fast.
This also gives you some
additional support for
all of your programming needs.
The Fire TV Cube gives
you a way to control
a wide range of devices through the cloud.
Infrared and HDMI CEC,
what does that mean?
Well, there's a lot of
voice control capability
where you could use a soundbar with this,
you could use different Dolby
audio equipped platforms,
and then on top of that
this is a smart television
device control that will also
take care of your lights.
You can control your thermostats,
you can actually see what
going on on your doorbell
or surveillance cameras
by simply speaking that
and then this Fire TV Cube
which I said is basically
like an Echo and a Fire
TV Stick had a baby.
You're going to do really well.
This has a hexa-core processor
versus the quad-core,
so it's even faster.
It also has 16 gigs of storage on it.
This has double the storage,
it's Dolby compatible with Dolby Atmos,
and it is a really good product.
This will also hard wire to your ethernet.
It's $119.
I think it is better bang for
your buck than the Apple TV.
Now, if you're doing a lot of
storage for whatever reason,
your storing programmings or you want to
occupy a little bit more hard drive space,
you're gonna notice this just
has 16 gigs of flash storage,
and the Apple TV has 32.
But for the average person
that just relies upon
the output resolution, the
speed, the internal 2 gigs
of ram, you're going to do
really well with this processor.
It's fast, it's small, and
it is highly functional.
I also prefer the design
of this, personally,
compared to the Apple TV cube.
That, though, in my opinion,
is not the best overall.
For 100 bucks, or at least at
the time I'm recording this,
87, in my opinion, the best overall,
which takes into account
all of the characteristics
of speed, 4K capability,
and some cool add ons,
I'm going to with the Roku Ultra.
Why am I going to go with the Roku Ultra?
So first things first,
this gives you the 4K HDR,
and premium JBL headphones.
So if you don't want to disturb someone
and you want to watch
television, or watch sports,
or watch a scary movie and you don't want
all of that noise to
bother the many people
that are all at home
simultaneously in your household,
this remote comes brilliantly equipped
with a headphone jack.
I realize the Fire TV
stick and the Apple TV
and other platforms allow
you to wirelessly pair
bluetooth earbuds, but
the fact that you get
a wired connection that you can use
if you want is tremendous.
Now, this does have a branded remote,
but it also has a voice remote.
And then the ability to enjoy
true to life HDR programming.
Similar to the Apple TV
and the Fire TV Cube,
you get support for DTS digital sound,
Dolby Audio, Dolby Atmos.
You can really integrate
this into a stereo system
if you so choose.
And this also works with
both the Amazon Alexa
voice service and Google Assistant.
And, similar to the other platforms,
you can subscribe independently
to your favorite channels.
You can use their apps on
this and then enjoy your
channels through Roku
rather than your cable
or satellite provider.
So I think if I wanted to spend under $100
and I wanted to go high end
it's definitely the Roku Ultra.
If I had a lot of disposable
cash and I was heavily
invested in Apple's streaming platforms,
and I share a lot of
content where I want to
mirror it from my phone to the television,
Apple TV is a really good way to go.
Especially if you are a
heavy iPad or iPad Pro user.
And I think if it really comes down to it,
and I was just looking to
break into the streaming world,
the $29 Roku Express versus
the 39 you would have
to pay Amazon to get the
equivalent, is the better
way to go, in my opinion.
So, whether you spend $29 or $179,
at least on the higher end
of my streaming spectrum,
you're going to do well.
And you're going to find
that all of these platforms
provide access to
basically the same services
with different levels of
speed, bells and whistles.
The one distinction factor
that I really want to make
sure you guys are aware
of is there's two versions
of the Fire TV stick which
confuses so many people.
There's the $39 which is just 1080p
and then there's $49 which is the 4K HDR.
So one versus this,
which is just what I want to make sure of.
If you like the content you saw,
on MattsDailyDeal.com right
now I have a full breakdown
of these devices.
And if you do want to take
advantage of any of the deals
I have, a reminder I
do use affiliate links,
which means I benefit
monetarily by a few cents
if you are kind enough
to use any of my links.
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And until we meet again,
stay healthy, stay safe,
and happy streaming.
