I have been shopping for a few weeks now and I know there are all these reviews and guides for "picking the right player" but they really all seem to revolve around picture & sound - while all that is super important for most people I am just looking for something to give me usable Netflix and NAS streaming.
I had a basic little WD TV Live (cost me $100 CDN at Costco a few years back) and it did exactly what I needed:
- Netflix worked perfectly (even the handy remote had the start/stop/pause keys to make life easy for the kids)
- My NAS (WD MyBookLive) was accessible in 3 remote button presses and could play all my MKV's, my home movies, etc... (never an issue)
Now sadly my WD has left this world (thanks son for smashing it on the ground ...) and I am looking for an equivalent (or better) replacement.
I first wanted the Roku but the fact that I need a separate Plex Server was a huge turn-off. Then the Google Play (no longer sold in Canada). Took me a while but I thought the WeTek Core would be suitable, 2x the price of what I paid for my WD and air-mouse but seemed like a good compromise (and this still might happen - but the Canadian re-seller seems to be having issues). Then I jumped to the NVIDIA SHIELD, seems like it can do everything I want (real beast)... for 4x the price (because essentially I am buying a gaming console - which I don't need/want) and a controller instead of a remote (could get used to that)
So I am left with WeTek Core (if I can ever get my hands on one) or NVIDIA Shield (and get a 2nd mortgage on my house)...
Wife and kids have come to terms with maybe needing to use an air-mouse ...
Wife doesn't want 2 boxes (1 for Netflix like a Roku and one for NAS) but honestly this may be the best and cheapest answer ... get a Roku (Netflix) and some cheap Chinese knock-off Android box for my NAS ...
And now I am taking a last stab to see if maybe someone out there has a better suggestion ... I just want something to replace my 4 year old WD TV Live and give me the same features and usability for a similar price - or as close to that as today offers.
If you made it this far thanks for reading my non-nonsensical rant ... but my wife is going nuts having to get up to pause her FRIENDS on Netflix off the laptop I connected to the TV
Any comments, hints, help, suggestions would be great ...
I had a basic little WD TV Live (cost me $100 CDN at Costco a few years back) and it did exactly what I needed:
- Netflix worked perfectly (even the handy remote had the start/stop/pause keys to make life easy for the kids)
- My NAS (WD MyBookLive) was accessible in 3 remote button presses and could play all my MKV's, my home movies, etc... (never an issue)
Now sadly my WD has left this world (thanks son for smashing it on the ground ...) and I am looking for an equivalent (or better) replacement.
I first wanted the Roku but the fact that I need a separate Plex Server was a huge turn-off. Then the Google Play (no longer sold in Canada). Took me a while but I thought the WeTek Core would be suitable, 2x the price of what I paid for my WD and air-mouse but seemed like a good compromise (and this still might happen - but the Canadian re-seller seems to be having issues). Then I jumped to the NVIDIA SHIELD, seems like it can do everything I want (real beast)... for 4x the price (because essentially I am buying a gaming console - which I don't need/want) and a controller instead of a remote (could get used to that)
So I am left with WeTek Core (if I can ever get my hands on one) or NVIDIA Shield (and get a 2nd mortgage on my house)...
Wife and kids have come to terms with maybe needing to use an air-mouse ...
Wife doesn't want 2 boxes (1 for Netflix like a Roku and one for NAS) but honestly this may be the best and cheapest answer ... get a Roku (Netflix) and some cheap Chinese knock-off Android box for my NAS ...
And now I am taking a last stab to see if maybe someone out there has a better suggestion ... I just want something to replace my 4 year old WD TV Live and give me the same features and usability for a similar price - or as close to that as today offers.
If you made it this far thanks for reading my non-nonsensical rant ... but my wife is going nuts having to get up to pause her FRIENDS on Netflix off the laptop I connected to the TV
Any comments, hints, help, suggestions would be great ...
