If you’re perfectly happy with your existing television but want to take advantage of the many online and on-demand services available to Smart TVs, there’s a much more affordable solution.
Usually referred to as set-top boxes, these small devices connect to your current television, as well as your wireless (Wi-Fi) network, though most also offer an Ethernet jack for those who prefer to use a wired connection.
You can then access Internet content from the comfort of your favourite chair or couch, be it social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, video-streaming services like YouTube and Netflix, photo storage sites including Picasa and Flickr, or on-demand news, weather, sports scores, stock quotes and other personalized information. Not all set-top boxes offer the same content, however.
In a recent Canada AM chat, I looked at three big players in this space – Apple TV ($109), Roku 2 XS ($109.99) and Western Digital’s WD TV Live ($109.99) – but the following is a more thorough synopsis of the pros and cons of each pick.
Apple TV
A tad bigger than a deck of cards, Apple TV is a small black box that lets you rent commercial-free movies and TV shows from iTunes; access various online video services (some for free, such as YouTube, while others are subscription-based, such as Netflix or MLB.com); and you can stream media from your home computer, such as music and video, as long as the files are being managed by iTunes.
Unlike the other set-top boxes, Apple TV supports Apple’s AirPlay technology, which lets you wirelessly stream content to your television from your Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch — to display photos or play music and videos on your big screen in real time. AirPlay also lets you mirror what’s on your smartphone or tablet screen, be it games, apps such as Facebook or Twitter, Web browser, email and more.
A small remote is included, or you can download a free remote app for your iOS device, to navigate through Apple TV’s features. The minimalist interface is clean and intuitive.
As for shortcomings, Apple’s box doesn’t provide as many apps as other set-top boxes e.g. games, nor does it support as many media types (codecs).
Also, there is no USB port to insert a thumb drive loaded with media.
Roku 2 XS
Similar to Apple TV, Roku 2 XS is a small, black set-top player you attach to your television via an HDMI cable (recommended, but not included) or those red, yellow and white component (RCA) cables, which are found in the box for standard-definition quality.
Once you’ve joined the Internet, wirelessly or with a cable, you can access more than 400 channels (apps). This includes streaming movies, TV shows and user videos from Netflix, Crackle, Disney and Vimeo (including support for 1080p HD video). You can access live and on-demand sports (from the NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL and UFC), music (Rdio, Slacker Radio and TuneIn Radio), photos and videos (from Facebook and Flickr) and news, weather and other info.
There aren’t as many apps and services here in Canada as in the U.S., but that’s just how it goes with licensing restrictions. And oddly, there is no YouTube on Roku (in the U.S. either). Plus, some of the user-made videos are low quality, including a handful of poorly produced cooking channels.
Like Apple TV, some channels are free, while some require a subscription, such as Netflix ($8 a month).
Along with a few interactive games, such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, the mobile game Angry Birds comes loaded on Roku 2 XS, where players use the remote to fling birds toward the evil pigs.
A USB port on the side of the Roku unit lets you insert a thumbdrive with photos, videos and music, plus there’s a microSD card slot at the back for additional game and channel storage, if needed.
WD TV Live
If it’s media compatibility you want, Western Digital’s WD TV Live is the set-top box to get. This small device will play virtually any file from your PC or Mac (wirelessly), networked hard drive or USB thumbstick.
At the risk of jargon soup, this product supports all kinds of videos (AVI, MPG, MP4, MOV, FLV, WMV9, MKV, TS/TP/M2T and others), many photo types (JPG, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG) and a variety of music files (MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF, PCM/LPCM, OGG, Dolby Digital and DTS). It even supports playlists and subtitles.
The Wi-Fi-enabled WD TV Live also houses a number of built-in apps, focusing primarily on media (such as YouTube, Netflix, CinemaNow, MLB.TV and so on), as well as others such as Facebook and some interactive games.
Similar to Apple TV, this set-top box comes with a remote, or you can control the content with the free WD TV remote app on your Apple or Android device.
While not quite as clean as Apple TV, the WD TV Live interface is attractive and easy to use, plus you can customize the background photo of your home screen just like you can on your Mac or PC desktop.
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