There are hundreds of ways to get video content onto your TV. Admittedly, there was an easier time when the VCR was the only game in town when it came to controlling the "what and when" of the content on your screen. Now there's DVDs, Blurays, and all manner of devices to stream media, not to mention the services that deliver that media. This article intends to simplify the options and give a run-down of your primary options for delivering content to your TV. Before I move on, this article is an expansion of a briefly-discussed segment of my previous article on cutting the cord, but cord cutting isn't a requirement for the use of these devices. They can add to your existing cable or satellite TV subscription.
Optical Media
Physical discs are still a very popular way of watching movies and TV. It's nice to have a reliable collection and with Bluray the quality is almost always better than streaming video. Plus, these days DVD and Bluray players are cheap, with one of the most popular inexpensive Bluray players on Amazon only costing about $82. At this point, make sure you buy a Bluray player, as they'll all play DVDs.
Many Bluray players will also have the ability to deliver streaming video services. For the most part, this should work ok and is a good way to get an introduction to the various services that are out there. However, the software that runs on these devices - particularly the inexpensive ones - isn't very well made and can be very slow. For that reason I usually recommend getting a dedicated device for streaming video.
Streaming Video
The options really open up here. There are hundreds of devices out there from all variety of manufacturers. Many of these are poorly made and are limited in what they provide. However, when it comes to the most successful devices there's only a handful.
The first step is to think about what you want to watch with these things. If, for example, you're interested in Netflix, you can go with almost anything. At this point it's harder to find a device that doesn't play Netflix! But there are other considerations to make when looking at these devices.
I find that the easiest place to start is with the Apple TV. If your whole household has gone Apple (computers, phones, tablets), then the Apple TV is the device for you. It'll work with your other devices much better, and tie into your App Store and iTunes purchases. The newest Apple TV also has Siri, a touchpad remote, and the ability to play games with a controller. It's on the pricier end, though, and while the built in app store is getting more and more services, there are still some that haven't gotten there yet, like Amazon Video.
Roku is the device I recommend most often. They've been around the longest, but they haven't stagnated. Instead, Roku boasts the largest support for streaming media services, and there's very few services that you can't find on a Roku. Their newest model, the Roku 4, is $120, but unless you need ultra-hi-def 4K video (most people don't yet), the excellent Roku 3 is around $93. Their interface is simple and easy to use, and the best feature is the ability to search. One of the biggest challenges with streaming video is finding where to watch things. With Roku's search feature, you can search for a movie and see which of your installed channels are carrying it. You can also see how much it'll cost to rent or buy the movie. If you're a fan of a particular actor or actress, you can search for them and see most of the movies they've been involved with and where to see them.
The least expensive (but still great) media streamer is the Google Chromecast. For a measly $35, you can stream all the same content you can from these other devices. The reason it's so much less expensive is that it utilizes your phone or tablet to tell it what you want to watch, effectively offloading most of the interface to your mobile device. When you're in a video (or audio) app on your phone or tablet that's capable of sending video or audio to a Chromecast in your home, a little icon will appear at the top of the screen. Tapping that icon and then selecting the Chromecast will immediately send the video you're watching to your TV. All control of the playback is handled by the phone or tablet. This works with iOS and Android devices, and merely requires the app developer to add Chromecast functionality. Most of them have at this point. The main absence is Amazon Video. But again, the Chromecast is a winner because it does most of what its competition does, but at a third of the price. You can outfit your entire home for the cost of one Apple TV.
One of the less often considered options is the Tivo. I love the Tivo for its ability to treat streaming video content just like recorded DVR content. You can read more about that in a previous blog post.
The last specific device I'd like to mention is the Amazon Fire TV. This is a device very similar to the Roku 4, but more tied into Amazon's services for video and music. It has very good voice controls, and works with Amazon's Echo personal assistant device.
The Roku and Fire TV have alternate versions colloquially referred to as "sticks." These are usually devices that look like large flash drives, but instead of a USB plug on one end they have an HDMI plug. These are usually plugged into the back of a TV, with a power cord going into the other end. These devices usually have most of the features of their larger siblings, but are less powerful. I usually recommend these for secondary TVs like guest rooms and kitchens.
To round out the options, I should mention that all three major video game systems have access to the major streaming services. I won't go into detail here because it's usually best to consider these devices only if you're going to be playing a lot of video games.
Lastly, the most common media streamer is one that most TV owners already have: their TV! Most of the TVs sold today are "smart" TVs. Exactly how "smart" they are is up for debate, but the reason I rarely recommend that people use these smart TV features is that they're usually a pain. Most smart TVs have very slow interfaces, and the remote controls that come with them can make it difficult to navigate the interfaces. I prefer my TV to be a dumb monitor to which I attach the smart devices that make up my home theater. It can be nice to have everything built in, the experience might not be pleasant.
I discussed several streaming content services in my cord cutting article. The important ones are on all of these devices (except for iTunes, which is of course only on the Apple TV). My typical recommendation is to get a Roku, unless you've gone all-in on Apple.