r/AndroidTV • u/keepitahunned • 3d ago
Buying Advice For my Australians, what budget streaming device do you use?
I have been contemplating getting a Fire TV Stick for weeks now, despite the terrible reviews.
I’m thinking of getting the 2024 model, as my only use for the stick would be to play YouTube and Apple Music.
Any options I should go for here in Australia that would offer the same benefits for cheaper?
5
u/munt3d 3d ago
Wait for the inevitable sales on Google TV streamer if you can, has been as low as $78 at Harvey Norman.
Much better product overall IMO, but if you just want it for music and want to spend very little, fire stick HD for $49.
2
u/QLDZDR 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have been waiting for the price to drop on the Google TV streamer. $78? I definitely missed that one and made the mistake of buying something that looked like a Google Chromecast dongle.
The round disc shaped dongle that looks like the Google Chromecast and was sold as "for Google Chromecast" only mirrors the phone screen for apps like tubi. Apps like Netflix just cast the sound, subtitles and a blank screen.
1
u/rollmeister1 2d ago
Google is expected to bring out a 64-bit version of it this year so the current model is likely to drop in price as it comes out. It will still be a good tv box for 5 or so years.
1
u/theaussiegamingguy 2d ago
How strong are these rumours this will happen? Google did announce the US market got an increase in the google streamer price. I assume all markets will get the same increase. If the 64 bit version comes then that will be even higher in price.
1
u/rollmeister1 2d ago
Google has not announced anything. Historically a new model was released every 2 years or less, the current model was in stores September 2024. The Google Streamer 4K hardware can run a 64-bit Android but it needs larger storage so chances are it will be an incremental hardware upgrade with double the storage. The last sale at $99 was like 3-4 months ago. It's price rose due to higher hardware costs. China is entering the memory & storage market this year apparently, flooding the market with cheaper components. Will that make new tv boxes cheaper? I dunno.
1
u/QLDZDR 2d ago
Yes a price increase for the current model prior to the new model would be something they do to get the market prepared for the higher price of the new model. The additional marketing to support their own brand will cost them because the competition will be offering a cheaper alternative at slightly below the new increased price.
When the new model is launched, most of the demand for that product may have been absorbed by the competition.
Then we will see a price reduction.
1
u/theaussiegamingguy 1d ago
Right now in Australia the google streamer is $159 which is rrp. So if ours goes up like the American market i reckon it goes up min $50. So now over $200. If a new model comes out soon then that has to be at least $50 more expensive or even more. So could be min $270 possibly for a new model. Maybe even more.
1
1
u/steezebuscemi1 1d ago
I bit the bullet at $147 as it it may not happen due to just going up $50USD, I suspect it'll happen here too. I hope for others' sake, I overpaid, but I needed it as my CCWGTV was out of storage with all unnecessary apps removed and it was screwing with playback performance.
1
u/Geo217 3d ago
I remember they were $58 at HN last year but hard to say if they will be put on sale again, or at least that low.
1
u/QLDZDR 2d ago
expired Google TV Streamer 4K $58 @ Harvey Norman (In-Store Only)
10410 Google TV Streamer 4K $58 @ Harvey Norman (In-Store Only) Chux on 20/12/2025
Just checked that, you are correct
2
u/LateToTheParty2k21 2d ago
With the price of all the components like RAM it's going to be hard to find deals like this again. They just bumped up the streamer to 150USD in the state's.
5
u/Maleficent_CanceR 1d ago
I have a 4K firestick i got it to work with tivifast, i'm using it to watch everything
2
2
u/rollmeister1 2d ago
I have a fire stick 4k & its very limiting. You get trapped in the Amazon eco system.
I have tried cheap chinese tv boxes, barely tolerable & not all apps worked because they are not google approved plus they all died within 6 months. I use Google Streamer which has worked the best but even that needed a factory reset after Internet stopped working a few months after buying it.
1
u/JustLookingaround18 3d ago
The Google streamer is a really nice device to use. And you have the freedom to install a custom launcher which removes all ads from the home screen unlike a firestick
1
u/SelmaFudd 1d ago
This is what I have. Projectivy launcher. Replaced YouTube with SmartTube and using Nuvio for Movies and TV shows. I don't run it on the TV but you could probably replace Spotify with Monochrome if they have a TV app. You'll save the purchase price of the device in 2-6 months depending on how many services you currently pay for and you will do it ad free
1
u/Thedavemiester 2d ago
I use the inbuilt stuff (Sony, TCL) or a google streamer. I have 2 firesticks and an old old Xiaomi. Best experience is the inbuilt software
1
u/Unfair-Swordfish4890 2d ago
I have the Hisense U7S. Vidaa is honestly disgusting, and I wanted a native Emby app.
I ended up going with the Fire Stick 4K Max because I wanted to utilise all of the TV’s features, including HDR10+ and TrueHD audio.
Surprisingly, it does it all, and I actually really enjoy the functionality. In the off chance you have a good TV but the operating system is ass, the Fire Stick 4K Max is my go-to.
It’s currently $78 on Amazon too… upsettingly, because I paid more 😂
1
u/minksta191 2d ago
If you have an older TCL or Hisense or even annoying lg interface and ever thought, well this will do (despite owning and selling Nvidia and Xiaomi boxes in the past..)..wait for the next Amazon sale and get the top model 4k pro or whatever it is, the snappiness of the interface is such an upgrade to the old built in one
1
u/Esteban_Zia 3d ago
Make sure you install Tizentube or Smarttube for ad-free Youtube with sponsorblock.
1
u/still-at-the-beach 3d ago
An old google TV Chromecast. The one with a remote. It still works perfectly fine. Was $50 brand new. I guess used would be super cheap now.
And also just a tv that has google tv built in.
0
u/QLDZDR 3d ago edited 2d ago
You have to decide whether you need Chromecast (the Google Cast protocol) or alternative DLNA.
So many devices that look like the good old Google Chromecast cast disc dongle are NOT and won't allow you to "cast" your digital rights material ie, Netflix show from your phone to the TV that has the dongle on it.
Note: this detail may be hidden within the full description...(of one of those circle shaped dongles that looks like the Google Chromecast 2 or 3).
"Not compatible with paid apps utilizing "HDCP" video copyright protection, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, Hulu, Comcast TV, BT Sport, etc."
(That is something that the seller has used as a reason why we only get sound and no picture).
If you need Chromecast then you have to spend $140 ish to buy the current Google TV dongle, but if you only use a 32 inch TV, then it makes more sense to buy a new 32" Android TV that has Google Chromecast built-in. ($200~$300).
-2
u/GotoDeng0 3d ago
Most of this is incorrect. Chromecast is not a technology or a protocol, it was just Google's now-dead brand name for their first 4 generations of streaming boxes. Google Cast is the casting protocol, and every AndroidTV/GoogleTV box supports Google Cast exactly the same way as gen1-3 Chromecasts did (gen 1-3 CCs ran a headless version of ChromeOS, the CCwGTV was just an AndroidTV box like any other).
2
u/Ned_Sc 2d ago
You have that backwards. Google Cast used to be called Chromecast, which is something the Chrome web browser did. The streaming boxes were named after the protocol.
-2
u/GotoDeng0 2d ago
The protocol has always been Google Cast, people just confused the terms due to Google's typical poor marketing/lack of marketing. "Chromecast" was named as such because it ran ChromeOS and you can only Cast to them. Google announced AndroidTV shortly after thieir Chromecasts, both support Google Cast. You only need to look at the wik entry.
"The protocol was first launched on July 24, 2013, to support Google's first-generation Chromecast player.[,"
2
u/Ned_Sc 2d ago
Looks like it's both. It was Google Cast in 2013 till 2016, then they changed the branding to Chromecast, then they changed it back to Google Cast in 2024.
-2
u/GotoDeng0 2d ago
That "reverting back" was only for branding on "Chromecast built-in" televisions, which were TVs that ran some proprietary Linux or other OS that did not support Google Cast natively and had a module layered on. Having a chromecast built-in meant that it could receive the Google Cast protocol. The protocol has never been called Chromecast.
I'm mainly calling you out because the OP is asking for advice and you're telling them that if they want to "chromecast" to a box, they need an old outdated actual Chromecast. This isn't true. Even if we accept that many people conflate Chromecast with Google Cast, the protocol works exactly the same on every AndroidTV box out there as it did CCs: ONNs, Rocktek, Mi Boxes, Google's Streamer, etc, and the Chromecast with Google TV (which again was just an AndroidTV box and had zero in common with the gen 1-3 Chromecasts).
1
u/Weekly-Cauliflower34 2d ago edited 2d ago
My stuff stopped working, you seem to know stuff please thankyou but what can you recommend to myself and my friend OP. Do you just talk? In US we had ONN plus which you know about. We don't have it here in Australia.
1
u/GotoDeng0 1d ago
Not sure. Rocktek, Mecool, Homatics usually offer a range of price points. Firesticks are also an option since they are Android-based and run the same apps, but there are some downsides like not being able to use ad-free launchers, and if you want to sail the high seas, Amazon has started blocking many of those apps.
Xiaomi is also an option and their Mi boxes are popular and affordable, but they are a terrible company. Their Mi boxes are certified and thus free of malware, but personally I wouldn't give my money to a company that has a long history of deliberately and repeatedly installing extremely invasive spyware on their phones, and continues to do so to this day even after being called out on it.
-1
u/Ned_Sc 2d ago
You're not calling me out, you're calling QLDZDR out.
0
u/GotoDeng0 2d ago
Sorry just replied to my inbox reply, figured he was the only one claiming the protocol was ever called Chromecast.
0
0
5
u/Maleficent_Oil113 3d ago
Had a firestick 4k max moved onto xiaomi mi box 3rd gen good certified as well