Is Now The Right Time To Buy?
At this point, it’s hard to say. Media
streaming devices are quite a niche product, and technologies surrounding them
are developing fast. So fast, in fact, that there might not even be any need
for them before much longer.
The thing is that modern TV companies –
terrestrial broadcasters as well cable and satellite providers – are aware that
viewing habits have changed. People like to watch TV on their own terms. That
means things like time-shifting and IPTV on-demand apps are increasingly common
features in standard pieces of hardware that, not so long ago, would have just
been glorified decoders.
At
this point, it’s hard to say.
So here’s the problem: media streaming
devices mostly sit in a niche that’s rapidly disappearing. Sure, you can’t copy
video you’ve downloaded onto your PC onto a Virgin media box, but you can
access massive back catalogues of movies and TV. You can’t use your Xbox to
stream media to other devices, but it’s already connected to your TV and plays
Netflix/Lovefilm videos. So media streaming devices are only really worth the
money if you don’t have access to a games console or existing smart-set top
box.
Furthermore, there are increasing
innovations in TVs themselves, some of which are capable of playing video off
external storage devices, such as USB keys. Again, if you can do that, is there
any need for a media streaming device that essentially does the same thing as
something you already own?
Now, that’s not to say there’s no place for
media streaming devices. They are still much more powerful than the average set
top box, with support for things like torrent clients and web video that other
hardware might lack. Those features might be especially desirable if the only
other computers in your household are portable devices - like smartphones and
netbooks. However, the fact is that media streaming devices seem to be a
stopgap solution to a problem that’s solving itself.
If you need one, it’ll do the job, but it’s
likely that the money would be better spent towards a TV (or PVR) that can read
USB sticks, or a Blu-ray player that supports streaming apps. They’re unlikely
to get any cheaper if you wait before buying one (and indeed, if the market
starts to disappear they may actually go UP in price), but be aware that if you
do buy one, it’s probably not going to be long before it’s as outdated and
unnecessary as a zip disk.
What Are The Technical Constraints?
Your primary concern when checking the
technical feasibility of adding a streaming media device to your setup should
be the network speeds available in your home. If you have a particularly old
wireless network or an aging router that can’t handle high throughputs, you may
encounter difficulties when streaming video. Similarly, if the wireless signal
is weak because the router is far away from the streaming media device, or the
signal is being obstructed or disrupted, you may be unable to reach the network
speeds required to watch TV over the network.
.
It’s important to remember that just because you have a 10Mbps Internet
connection, there’s no guarantee that you’ll have that much speed available to
play online video, as well.
While these problems shouldn’t apply to a
wired connection (even 100Mbps Ethernet is fast enough to stream HD video) you
do also need to be aware of how good your Internet connection is, or risk being
inconvenienced when it comes to online streaming services. It’s important to
remember that just because you have a 10Mbps Internet connection, there’s no
guarantee that you’ll have that much speed available to play online video, as
well. Poor Internet speeds will mean that the video quality coming from online
streaming services gets substantially downgraded, whether that’s because you
have a poor-quality line or high latency because other people in the house are
using the connection.
Also, while this shouldn’t apply to
streaming devices that have their own storage, if you’re running server
software on your PC, you will need a reasonably capable CPU. This is because
the software may need to transcode video from an unfamiliar format into one
that the streaming media device recognises. Transcoding is a very CPU-intensive
process, so if your hardware isn’t up to scratch it’ll mean that the video simply
can’t play!
What’s The Alternative?
As noted in the main article, there are
several alternatives that you can turn to instead of buying a media streaming
device, but crucially, buying a new TV or paying for a satellite/ cable
subscription are both substantially more expensive than buying a media
streaming device. So if you want to take advantages of the services they offer,
are there any alternatives that cost less?
Perhapss
the cheapest way is to just use your PC
Well, perhaps the cheapest way is to just
use your PC. You can attach your TV and computer using a standard video cable,
for example. The price ultimately depends on how far the cable needs to
stretch, but a 20-metre cable component video cable shouldn’t set you back more
than about $48, and if you use a laptop, you might only need a cheap 2-metre
HDMI cable - the kind you can pick up for $4.8!
It’s not as convenient, admittedly, but
it’s far cheaper than a media streaming device. Attaching your TV to your PC
will mean that your computer detects it as a second monitor, which you can then
use for playing media on. Most graphics card configuration software has an
option to make this easy (it’s sometimes called ‘cinema mode’) but even at its
most complicated, all you have to do is drag the video window onto the second
desktop, maximise it and hit play.
Alternatively, you can use a media
streaming server such as TVersity or PlayOn to turn your PC into a media
streaming device compatible with most consoles and portable computers. Unlike a
dedicated media streaming device, you probably won’t be able to play the signal
directly to your TV, but you will be able to stream over the web and to
TV-attached devices like an Xbox, PS3 or Wii, most of which are barely more
expensive than a media server themselves!
