Streaming TV in the Garden

Billy69_uk

Billy69_uk

Well-known member
Just had a summer house built in the bottom of the garden and am looking for pointers and advice on the best solution to stream tv down there.

I dont fancy hooking up a laptop via HDMI, and using it to access iplayer, ITV hub etc, and it seems that I cant use the Virgin Go App to cast from an ipad to the TV, and it seems that the skysports channels arent accessible via the Virgin app anyway.

Whats the general thoughts around Android TV boxes/sticks? are they still a viable thing? Are they useful and reliable or do you still need to know a bloke down the pub that can hook you up (which doesnt sound great to be honest)?

Suggestion, ideas, or general do's and dont's would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.
 
Billy69_uk said:
Just had a summer house built in the bottom of the garden and am looking for pointers and advice on the best solution to stream tv down there.

I dont fancy hooking up a laptop via HDMI, and using it to access iplayer, ITV hub etc, and it seems that I cant use the Virgin Go App to cast from an ipad to the TV, and it seems that the skysports channels arent accessible via the Virgin app anyway.

Whats the general thoughts around Android TV boxes/sticks? are they still a viable thing? Are they useful and reliable or do you still need to know a bloke down the pub that can hook you up (which doesnt sound great to be honest)?

Suggestion, ideas, or general do's and dont's would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.
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You can get ITV hub on a firestick. Not sure what your wi fi signal is like in the garden though. It may also be a few seconds behind the TV in the house, so if England score, your neighbours will let you know before you see it on your TV.
 
The_Tiler said:
You can get ITV hub on a firestick. Not sure what your wi fi signal is like in the garden though. It may also be a few seconds behind the TV in the house, so if England score, your neighbours will let you know before you see it on your TV.
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That's what has put me off doing this!
 
The_Tiler said:
You can get ITV hub on a firestick. Not sure what your wi fi signal is like in the garden though. It may also be a few seconds behind the TV in the house, so if England score, your neighbours will let you know before you see it on your TV.
Click to expand...
We have just switched to Virgin after years of crappy Sky wifi and unreliable internet connection. It was one thing getting booted off Zoom calls for work, but it was quite another thing when it started negatively affecting my COD performance.

I have switched the Virgin hub to modem only and installed a mesh wifi router and extenders, so am getting about 500Mb in the summer house.

We have gone from something like 8 to 9Mb in the house (with the internet dropping out 10+ times a day) to now getting 800Mb of fibre optic goodness.
 
Get a Nvidia Shield if you can afford it. Great machine. :)

But if you're on a budget consider Roku or Firestick like has been mentioned. I'd lean towards the Firestick just because you can install a lot more apps on it than you can with a Roku.
 
Jan_Aage_Fjortoft said:
Get a Nvidia Shield if you can afford it. Great machine. :)

But if you're on a budget consider Roku or Firestick like has been mentioned. I'd lean towards the Firestick just because you can install a lot more apps on it than you can with a Roku.
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Thats spooky, I am just reading the product reviews of the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro on Amazon.

Looks impressive, but wondered if it was maybe overkill? (much as I love overkill)
 
Billy69_uk said:
We have just switched to Virgin after years of crappy Sky wifi and unreliable internet connection. It was one thing getting booted off Zoom calls for work, but it was quite another thing when it started negatively affecting my COD performance.

I have switched the Virgin hub to modem only and installed a mesh wifi router and extenders, so am getting about 500Mb in the summer house.

We have gone from something like 8 to 9Mb in the house (with the internet dropping out 10+ times a day) to now getting 800Mb of fibre optic goodness.
Click to expand...
This is the exact advice I give all of my mates who are on Virgin and complain constantly about dropouts.

Virgin would do well to start giving people decent routers because all of my mates are considering leaving its that bad. I just wish I had virgin where I live
 
I got one of those freeview digital aerials for about £15 from Amazon. They look like a flimsy mouse pad and the reviews are mixed. I was sceptical as I didn't think I'd get a great signal and we have a lot of trees etc but it works a treat. 100+ channels and in hd. If you go for it get one with a booster.

P.s. I couldn't get wifi signal in that part of my garden hence trying this out.

It's basically this but think I bought it on Amazon....

www.geargeek.co.uk

HD Indoor Antenna Aerial & 50 Mile Amplified

HD Indoor Antenna Aerial & 50 Mile Amplified receive more channels than ever with this ultra lightweight indoor antenna.
www.geargeek.co.uk www.geargeek.co.uk
 
The Tiler has mentioned the salient point: whatever solution you go for make sure the wifi is up for it. You can have the best streaming box or smart tv in the world, if it can't get decent wifi it can't stream a thing.
 
Jan_Aage_Fjortoft said:
Get a Nvidia Shield if you can afford it. Great machine. :)

But if you're on a budget consider Roku or Firestick like has been mentioned. I'd lean towards the Firestick just because you can install a lot more apps on it than you can with a Roku.
Click to expand...
I have a Shield that was bought on the spur of the moment and is just collecting dust. I also have a firestick which seems more than adequate for my task of streaming. What does the Shield do that my stick can’t?
 
Jimmy_Salmon said:
I have a Shield that was bought on the spur of the moment and is just collecting dust. I also have a firestick which seems more than adequate for my task of streaming. What does the Shield do that my stick can’t?
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Ethernet without a dongle
Usb media/ SD cards
Android apps
DTS-x audio
AI upscaling (depending on model)
Faster & more powerful so more future proof
cloud gaming

Tbh for most people a fire stick 4k should be fine but the shield, especially the shield pro, is the better device in terms of specs and connectivity

I watch everything over Ethernet and couldn’t have an uncompressed 4k Blu-ray rip with Dolby Atmos audio over WiFi as the bitrate is too high. But fir Netflix and iPlayer etc WiFi will be fine so depends on what you use it for p
 
Emmersons_BrazillianDong said:
This is the exact advice I give all of my mates who are on Virgin and complain constantly about dropouts.

Virgin would do well to start giving people decent routers because all of my mates are considering leaving its that bad. I just wish I had virgin where I live
Click to expand...
It’s what I tell people too. Virgin get loads of complaints about connection issues but in my experience it’s almost always a WiFi issue. I have a mesh system in my house and it’s rock solid 24/7.
 
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