Streaming Stick Showdown: Chromecast Vs. Roku Vs. Fire TV
After Google unveiled the first Chromecast two years ago, HDMI adapters have quickly become one of the best cheap ways to stream from the Internet to your TV. The competition is fiercer than ever. We compared the Roku stick, Fire TV stick, and the latest Chromecast to determine which one is right for your living room.
Applicants
Streaming keys are attractive because they are cheap, take up almost no space on your entertainment device, and, in some cases, allow you to stream videos from your phone or tablet to your TV. Here are the sticks we chose to watch:
- Chromecast ($ 35) Google’s original Chromecast streaming stick uses your phone or tablet as the interface and remote, not the menu on your TV. However, it supports a wide variety of applications and services right from your phone.
- Roku Streaming Stick ($ 50): The Roku Stick comes with a remote control and TV interface, so it works a lot more than its box. You can’t stream as many apps natively as you can with your Chromecast, but Roku makes up for that with its remote app for your phone.
- Amazon Fire TV Stick ($ 40): Like the Roku, the Fire TV Stick uses a physical remote and TV menu interface. Amazon also has a remote app, but it’s not as full-featured as Roku.
Today we are only comparing streaming joysticks, not their analog set-top boxes (like Apple TV or Roku). Streaming boxes are great and usually strive to offer a more robust feature set, but they are also more expensive. If you just want to stream videos from the internet to your TV, these streaming sticks are the cheapest way and we wanted to see how they compare to each other.
Setting them up
Setting up streaming can be trickier than it sounds. Just entering your Wi-Fi password can be tricky. Then you need to log into several online services to get anything on your TV. While it may sound simple, the three streaming sticks solve this problem in different ways.
Chromecast
Chromecast is probably the easiest to set up. You download the Chromecast app to your phone and then use it to connect to the Chromecast itself. From there, you enter your Wi-Fi password from your phone keyboard so the Chromecast can connect to the Internet. This invisible feature helps a lot . On other devices, you are limited in how you can log in before your device is connected to the Internet. Since the Chromecast doesn’t come with its own remote, this connection is the only way to connect to Wi-Fi, but it’s also easier than some of the alternatives.
Once you are connected to the internet, you’re done. Since you are using the apps on your phone as a remote, all of your accounts are already signed in. There is no need to log into Netflix or Hulu separately like with other streaming sticks. Just start watching something on your phone, hit the pop-up broadcast button and you’re done.
Roku streaming stick
The Roku Streaming Stick is only slightly more difficult to set up, but still pretty optimized. The first time you set up the Roku Stick, you will need to enter your Wi-Fi password using a physical remote that doesn’t have a keyboard. Predictably, this is a pain in the ass. Especially if you have a long Wi-Fi password. Fortunately, the remote is pretty fast, so the only annoying thing is that you use the navigation pad to enter each letter.
Once you’re connected to the internet (and probably install a system update), the Roku Stick will direct you to a website where you can connect all of your streaming accounts. You will need to create or sign in to a Roku account and then enter your passwords for things like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, but this should be much easier on a laptop or phone. If you’re using a password manager, you can log in as usual instead of manually entering passwords with the Roku Stick remote.
Fire TV Stick
When it comes to customization, the Fire TV Stick is arguably the worst of them all. As with the Roku, you first need to enter the password from the on-screen keyboard using the supplied remote. In my initial tests, the remote suffered from some pretty severe lag (which I’ll talk about later), which made it especially painful. You will then be prompted to enter your Amazon account details. At this point, you can switch to the remote Fire TV app on your phone, but Fire doesn’t tell you. I highly recommend connecting the app as soon as possible, as typing on your phone’s keypad is immeasurably easier than using a tiny physical remote control.
Once you connect, Amazon will present you with a four-minute video. Fortunately, you can quickly skim this over, so this is just a brief annoyance. From there, you will need to log into your various accounts. Amazon doesn’t have a mechanism to do this from a computer, which means you’re stuck with a remote app on your phone. To make matters worse, you’ll need to download most of the major apps like Netflix or Hulu on your Fire TV Stick before you can even launch them. While it makes sense for some small apps, preloading some of the more popular ones like Netflix would probably be a safe bet. Instead, it’s another step in an already complex setup process.
Winner: Chromecast
Chromecast easily wins here by a big margin. Once your device is connected to the Internet, virtually no configuration is required as everything else happens in your phone’s apps. In second place is the Roku Stick, but you still have to tinker a bit with the remote. The Fire TV Stick can be nice when you use it, but you don’t need to set it up.
Using the interface
Only two of the three devices we use have their own interface out of the box. While the Roku Stick and Fire TV Stick still work mostly like set-top boxes, your phone has almost the entire Chromecast interface. Here is a comparison of the different types of interfaces.
Chromecast
Most of the time, you do n’t actually interact with the Chromecast. You press the broadcast button on your computer or phone to send something to your TV, and you will use the controls in the app on your computer or phone to play, pause, and otherwise interact with the video. Given that, and the fact that the Chromecast does so well with the initial setup, you’d think daily use would be pretty slick.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Since your apps are your remote, this means that the control of the TV depends on your phone. For example, if you have an Android phone without a ton of RAM, the system might turn off Netflix in the background while you watch a movie. An hour later, when you want to pause, you’ll have to restart the app, reconnect to the Chromecast, hoping it’s not crashing, and pause the video. This is much more difficult than just pressing pause on the remote control.
In my experience, crashes were unpleasantly common. Sometimes when using Plex, if I lost connection and needed to reconnect to get my controls back, the movie would stop. I also found the Chromecast to be picky about which devices can keep streaming even after they are turned off. If I start a Netflix movie on my phone and turn off the display, it continues to play. If I try to do the same on my laptop and close the lid, the movie stops.
Of course, these problems are not universal. Some people have had a much more reliable experience than me (after all, I’ve been using Chromecast since 2013). It’s worth knowing, though, that things like your phone’s RAM can affect how well your Chromecast performs.
Roku streaming stick
Unlike the Chromecast, the Roku Streaming Stick has a full menu interface on your TV, so you can find stuff to watch without your phone. On the home screen, you’ll find a collection of apps (or “channels”) like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video that you can watch. You can also get a stream of custom video suggestions and view a selection of additional Roku channels. The interface is pretty fast, with little time delays when opening the app.
The physical remote that comes with the Roku Stick connects wirelessly, so you don’t need a line of sight to use it. In addition to the usual things like play, pause, and navigation bar, the Roku Stick remote also has dedicated buttons for Netflix, Amazon, Google Play, and Rdio, so you can jump directly to those apps without having to navigate menus. …
Of course, you can also use the remote Roku app on your phone. You can use this app to quickly launch more apps like Sling, Vudu and Plex, or browse the Roku Channel Store. It has voice input as well as a virtual keyboard, which makes finding a show much easier than slowly typing in a show name using the navigation bar.
Fire TV Stick
Amazon’s interface is very similar to that of the Roku Stick, only with a few missing features. You will be presented with a menu of apps and channels that you can use to view your content. In addition to the apps, you will also see the Movies & TV section. They are naturally filled with offers from the Amazon store. If you’re good at Amazon’s content ecosystem, this will be great for you. If you prefer to rent or buy digital movies somewhere else, it’s a waste of time. (Of course, it’s safe to assume that if you’ve bought a Fire TV Stick, you’ll want to use Amazon.)
In my experience, the Fire TV Stick’s menus were particularly slow. It was a little annoying when navigating the menus, but became unbearable when trying to enter text (like a Wi-Fi password during setup). In most cases, you can avoid entering text directly with the Fire TV remote app, but when I had to use a physical remote to enter text, I often got double letters, missing letters, or just an excruciatingly slow cursor. The included physical remote only includes basic navigation, but you can buy a separate remote for $ 30 that adds this admittedly cool voice search button thatAmazon loves to advertise . To be honest, it seems to me, like a milking grab, that this one button is not included in the main remote, but perhaps the voice control buttons are just very expensive.
However, if you don’t want to buy a remote, the free Fire TV Remote app includes this feature as well. There is a voice icon at the top of the app that you can drag down to perform a voice search. If you really don’t like pressing a button for voice commands, you’re probably better off downloading this app than spending almost all your money on the stick itself just to add one button.
The rest of the Fire TV app is pretty straightforward compared to the Roku. There is a virtual navigation bar that serves the same function as the physical remote (ironic, since the D-pad is probably the part you want to avoid the most). You can also tap the icon to open the virtual keyboard, which makes it easier to enter text. But that’s all. There is no menu to quickly launch apps like Netflix or any other useful features.
Winner: Roku Streaming Stick
With a physical remote control, fast interface and robust mobile app, the Roku Streaming Stick takes the crown here. While Chromecast’s attempt to make its interface as invisible as possible works in most cases, the fact that you can’t pause video playback without connecting to your Chromecast is a huge disadvantage and will likely confuse some users who are used to simple point-and-click remotely. A simple and cheap remote might fix this, but Google doesn’t offer one. Meanwhile, Amazon’s interface styling is the same as that of the Roku Stick, but not quite as well executed. The app lacks basic features like launching channels, and the physical remote lacks useful voice commands, unless you spend some extra money.
Looking for material to watch
Finding something to watch is a rather subjective experience. Some people already know what they want to watch when they sit down, others like to browse the library. Apparently some people like to just watch what’s going on ? (I know this is weird to me too.) Each streaming stick has a unique approach that may appeal to different people.
Chromecast
The Chromecast app received a major update this week that puts content in the spotlight. If your phone has Chromecast-enabled apps, it will show you a selection of videos, shows, or movies that you can watch from those apps. You can also search for a specific show or movie and the app will show you all the places where you can stream, rent or buy it, even if you don’t have those apps installed.
Of course, this is only one way to find content. Since Chromecast is basically a receiver for apps that support it, finding something to watch is as easy (or just as difficult) as finding it in the service’s app itself. It can be a double-edged sword. If you can’t find something interesting to watch on Netflix, you’ll need to switch to another app to continue your search. The Chromecast app only gives you a few suggestions for each service, so you can still spend a lot of time switching between apps looking for something to watch.
Roku streaming stick
Like the Chromecast, the Roku Streaming Stick has universal search, so you can type in the name of a show or movie and see which services offer it. With the Roku Stick, however, you can search on both your TV and your phone (although you’re still better off using a remote phone app to enter text, so that’s a bit different).
Roku also has a huge list of channels that you can explore to find more stuff if Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and Sling somehow fail to satisfy your entertainment need. You can search for new channels like Comedy Central, Crunchyroll, Starz and many more on your phone or on your TV itself. You can even set up private channels . The Roku Feed allows you to keep track of upcoming movies and notify you when they are available to stream through your services.
Fire TV Stick
If you really love the Amazon ecosystem, the Fire TV Stick is your best bet. The main interface has sections for movies and TV shows, but these are completely filled with Prime content. You can open, say, the Netflix app to search for movies on that service, but Amazon won’t show you any suggestions on the home screen other than its own library.
The search box on the Fire TV Stick works in a similar way. If you search for a show or movie title, Amazon will show you all the ways to watch it through Prime Video (that is, including subscription, rent, or purchase on Amazon). The slightly misleading “More Ways to Watch” button seems to indicate that it might show you how to watch shows on Netflix or Hulu, but that only leads to more Amazon options.
In all fairness, this makes finding new content pretty awful unless you are investing heavily in the Amazon world. You cannot search for any other services through the Amazon remote app or through the TV’s main interface. Even searching Netflix on a TV is more difficult than just opening an app on your phone and finding a show to watch.
Winner: Roku Streaming Stick
Both the Roku Streaming Stick and Chromecast offer useful versatile search functions so you can see which services have a particular show or movie. However, the Roku Stick hardly benefits from the huge library of channels that you can watch from your phone or TV. Technically, tons of content support Chromecast – you can even stream from many websites! – but Chromecast won’t help you detect it to that extent. Fire TV’s focus on Amazon Prime content only makes finding content from anyone else pretty pathetic.
Available content selection
You don’t have to choose which streaming stick to use depending on how you want to watch your movies, but apparently we live in a stupid world . Fortunately, this silly rivalry makes it very easy to determine which device is the best.
Winner: Roku Streaming Stick
It’s so easy that we don’t need to do a breakdown. Amazon refuses to support Chromecast on its Prime Video app. There’s no Google Play app on the Fire TV Stick either (it’s unclear if Google tried to create one, or Amazon didn’t endorse it, or some combination of the two). The Roku Streaming Stick has both of these services. There are even dedicated hardware buttons for Amazon and Google Play on its remote.
For almost all other big names – like Netflix, Hulu, Sling – all three sticks have almost the same support. The Fire TV Stick lacked a few key players like Vudu or even the official YouTube app. Regardless of who is to blame, it is clear that petty squabbles between the giants do not benefit buyers here. It is better to side with the independents who are friends with both teams.
Showdown Champion: Roku Streaming Stick
I must admit, as a longtime Chromecast user, I expected him to win. While the Chromecast is a great device that kicked off the streaming trend, the Roku Streaming Stick has added a ton of additional features that make it stand out from the crowd. A physical remote comes in handy when you need to pause a movie, while the remote app still lets you use your phone to control most of the action if you don’t like clunky TV interfaces. Add that to a huge library of channels and universal app support, thanks to the lack of disputes with other companies, and it becomes clear that Roku offers the most flexibility and content on one device.
That said, the Chromecast was still around, and it’s a pretty competent device. If you can live without Amazon Prime Video and don’t mind using your phone as a remote, it’s hard to go wrong with a Chromecast. While browsing multiple apps on your phone can be a hassle, you probably already do it anyway. In this case, being able to stream video from your phone to your TV is much more enjoyable than searching through the menu on your TV. While the Roku Stick provides access to tons of great content out of the box, you can only stream a handful of services to it. Meanwhile, Chromecast support can even be added to random websites, and it’s still the most popular device, which means you’ll probably find a lot of Chromecast support.
The Fire TV Stick occupies a weird space that’s really only useful for Amazon Prime fans. The Roku Stick can play Amazon Prime videos just fine, but the Fire TV Stick does it better. The problem is, the Fire TV Stick makes everything else worse. The remote (physical or mobile app) is not as full-featured, the app interface is clunky and lacks basic apps like YouTube. Some of these problems could be solved if Amazon and Google learn to put up, but until the pigs fly that day, we’re still stuck with a poorer quality product for everyone but Amazon Prime fans.