[blackrobot]

What's the best external tv hardware box these days? It needs to be something easy enough for my non-technical family to use, that's also stable enough that I don't have to worry about upgrading or debugging it, and provides all of the popular providers controlled by a remote -- or is at least compatible with a universal remote.

Up until recently, my Roku ticked all of the boxes -- Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Now/Go, Plex, CNN, Hulu, all controlled by a Logitech universal remote. But as of August 1st, HBO has pulled their apps from Roku.

Is one of these a better option?

- Android TV

- Amazon Fire

- Apple TV (without other iOS devices?)

- something else?

[drewg123]

The nice thing about Android TV and firetv is that you can sideload apps like NewPipe (better YouTube client without ads) and Kodi. Android TV has been better than FireTV until now, as it has not had an annoying homescreen littered with ads, like the FireTV.

I'd switch to an AppleTV, if I could sideload things like NewPipe, but for now I'm sticking with my Nvidia Shield, which runs Android TV.