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Every Media Streamer You Could Possibly Want Or Need

Every Media Streamer You Could Ever Need
Thomas Tamblyn
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Media streamers. connected set top boxes, internet boxes, streaming boxes. Whatever you call them, every company is trying to make us buy one.

Why? Well when you remove the obvious reasons (capitalism etc etc), you realise that they're actually quite handy. Able to stream a myriad of TV shows, films and music from every content provider under the sun they're the serious upgrade that your TV needed about three years ago.

The even better news is they cater for everyone so whether you're after something that'll just stream YouTube from your phone or you fancy a High Definition living room gaming machine it's all here.

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Apple TV for the smartphone generation, Xbox One for the gaming elitists or Roku TV for those who want TV back but without the hassle of actually having to be in at the right time.

Best Media Streamers
Apple TV(01 of08)
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Apple TV was arguably one of the first products to try and put internet-connected TV content into the living room. Now in its third iteration it's no less useful. Using Airplay you can stream content and games from your iPhone, iPad or MacBook while access to Netflix and Now TV should satisfy your need for films.
Price: £79
Chromecast(02 of08)
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Google Chromecast is forward-thinking technology at its simplest. Take an Android Phone or iPhone, connect it to the same network as your Chromecast and you can 'cast' iPlayer, Netflix and YouTube straight to your TV. The ingenious part though is that while your phone is in command, the Chromecast is actually streaming the content in HD removing potential connection problems between your phone and the TV.
Price: £30
Now TV(03 of08)
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Now TV is Sky Movies but without the Sky. It's Sky TV without the TV. It's a £9.99 internet connected box that'll give you full access to Sky's library of on demand content and live TV on a pay as you go basis. Want to watch the match this weekend? Grab a weekend pass for Now TV and you can. It's that simple, and that cheap.
Price: £9.99
PlayStation TV(04 of08)
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PlayStation TV will not stream films, TV or iPlayer. That shouldn't come as a shock though because that's not what it was built for. It's a PS Vita in set top form which means you TV now has access to hundreds of classic PS One, PSP and PS Vita games. You'll also be able to stream your PS4 games straight to this box over your home internet.
Price: £79.99
Roku 3(05 of08)
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Roku are arguably the most experienced out of the bunch and their Roku 3 is one of the best media streamers you can buy right now. It has a powerful quad-core processor beating at its heart that'll let you play mobile games and also happens to make it incredibly fast to use. It also has arguably one of the largest lists of compatible services including: iPlayer, 4OD, Demand5, Now TV, Netflix, ITV Player, Spotify and more. It's also Google Cast compatible which means it'll let you cast from your phone or tablet.
Price: £99.99
Amazon Fire TV(06 of08)
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Amazon Fire TV is probably the most introverted of the lot, it doesn't boast the same level of cross-platform compatibility that the others do but what it lacks there it makes up for in intelligence. Because it's so tightly integrated into Amazon Prime Instant it can learn your viewing habits and actually pre-load content before you've even selected it. It's probably the most powerful of the non-consoles as well running a myriad of HD Android games.
Price: £69
Sony PlayStation 4(07 of08)
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Much like the PS3, Sony has made sure that the PS4 is as capable of being your media centre as it is your games console. As such you get full access to the Sony Entertainment Network which means film rental, TV and more. You'll also be one of the only consoles to get a full Sky app so if you have Sky Go Extra then this essentially turns your PS4 into an extra Sky box. If that wasn't enough there's Netflix, iPlayer and Amazon Prime Instant Video.
Price: £349
Xbox One(08 of08)
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Last but not least, the Xbox One. As well as being an games console Microsoft has turned it into a fully-fledged set-top box. Plug in the Xbox One Digital TV tuner and you can watch Freeview through your Xbox One. Where things get really cool however is if you're watching TV you can pause it, switch into a game, play for a bit and then carry on watching, all without leaving Xbox. Naturally it also has Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer and more.
Price: £329.99
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