# Should I buy a 4K Stream or a Roku?



## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

I need a streamer and the TiVo 4K Stream is on sale for $39. Should I buy it?


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## WVZR1 (Jul 31, 2008)

NEED or the $$$ interest you?


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

I have a preference towards android tv. But that's me. My Roku has collected dust for ages. 

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## xberk (Dec 3, 2011)

UCLABB said:


> I need a streamer and the TiVo 4K Stream is on sale for $39. Should I buy it?


Buy it. I paid $10 more and love my TS4K .. I have Google TV Chromecast too .. TS4K is better.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

What do you plan to watch with it? I used Roku until last week switching to Tivo. My reason was Locast integrates with Tivo 4k. I also use Netflix and HBO max, both of which work in my shows. So for me Tivo works better.

I tried Tivo4k last summer and stopped using it because I had cable and Roku could use Xfinity app. But now I no longer have cable.


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## davidg716 (Jan 20, 2015)

Don't buy it if you're planning to use YoutubeTV, there is currently a bug that makes it freeze.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

davidg716 said:


> Don't buy it if you're planning to use YoutubeTV, there is currently a bug that makes it freeze.


Can't you just cast it from your phone until it's fixed?

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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

We need more information before advising you. At minimum we need to know what apps you plan to use.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> We need more information before advising you. At minimum we need to know what apps you plan to use.


I have cable and plan to keep it.

I use Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Paramount+ apps on my TV, but it doesn't have HBO Max and I need that. Right now I can only cast HBO Max from my iOS devices and I really don't like that much.

One other issue. I use the Reelgood app to track what I want to watch and it does a fair job of redirecting me to the appropriate streaming app on the TV. Can I still use that with 4K Stream, or does the Stream handle that?


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## fattymcbuckles (May 21, 2020)

dbpaddler said:


> Can't you just cast it from your phone until it's fixed?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk


Never thought of that idea. May have to try it.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

UCLABB said:


> I have cable and plan to keep it.
> 
> I use Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Paramount+ apps on my TV, but it doesn't have HBO Max and I need that. Right now I can only cast HBO Max from my iOS devices and I really don't like that much.
> 
> One other issue. I use the Reelgood app to track what I want to watch and it does a fair job of redirecting me to the appropriate streaming app on the TV. Can I still use that with 4K Stream, or does the Stream handle that?


Well OK, they both have HBO Max, but Reelgood offers an Android TV app that will work on the TS4K and does _not_ offer a Roku app, so that may be your deciding factor. I would normally get into a discussion of how Roku is the more stable mature platform while the TS4K is a work in progress, but if Roku can't do what you want then that's that. (I chose Fire TV over Roku myself for a similar reason: there is no Channels DVR app for Roku.)


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

Yeah, I remember a bunch talking about using Reelgood with the TS4k when they didn't want to use the Stream app. 

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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

fattymcbuckles said:


> Never thought of that idea. May have to try it.


Figure that's better than panning the device because of a temporary glitch.

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## fattymcbuckles (May 21, 2020)

dbpaddler said:


> Figure that's better than panning the device because of a temporary glitch.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk


I agree. It's been a pretty decent streaming device for the most part,especially after I de- tivoed it. Eventually they'll push an update to fix YouTube TV . In the meantime,I have other options I can use for YouTube tv.


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## scottchez (Dec 2, 2003)

I would check out the FireTV with the brand new GUI. it also support viewer profiles.
The TIVO Stream is better but right now way too many bugs. HBO and Youtub TV and it locks up. 
Plus most wont de Tivo it as they dont know how or just dont want to.

The TIVO Stream would be the best on the market soon, bug fixes a coming. Then I hope they dont break it gain.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

scottchez said:


> I would check out the FireTV with the brand new GUI. it also support viewer profiles.
> The TIVO Stream is better but right now way too many bugs. HBO and Youtub TV and it locks up.
> Plus most wont de Tivo it as they dont know how or just dont want to.
> 
> The TIVO Stream would be the best on the market soon, bug fixes a coming. Then I hope they dont break it gain.


HBO Max works pretty well for me. Been watching Raised by Wolves over the past few weeks. And just watched the Snyder cut of Justice League as well as some of the DC series stuff.

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## crackers8199 (Dec 9, 2020)

dbpaddler said:


> Figure that's better than panning the device because of a temporary glitch.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk


temporary glitch? there have been multitudes of issues reported with the latest release and there hasn't been a single peep from tivo about it, or about when it would be fixed. it has been over a month and they refuse to even acknowledge there are any issues.

that's hardly a "temporary glitch," and it's not just youtube.


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## Foogie (Mar 23, 2021)

crackers8199 said:


> temporary glitch? there have been multitudes of issues reported with the latest release and there hasn't been a single peep from tivo about it, or about when it would be fixed. it has been over a month and they refuse to even acknowledge there are any issues.
> 
> that's hardly a "temporary glitch," and it's not just youtube.


Actually technically it is a glitch when people say the problem with regular Youtube or YoutubeTV can be *corrected *by reloading the stream. Also it has been confirmed in the other threads that the YoutubeTV glitch happens on multiple different devices including the FireTV. Those people who contacted CS note YoutubeTV and TIVO support have both acknowledged the problem with YouTubeTV.


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## Eddie501 (Jun 4, 2004)

If you want something that is actually usable, I would go with the Roku. If you want something that makes you want to beat it with a hammer each time you use it, I would go with the TS4K. It's a good concept, but it has more bugs than any piece of electronics I've ever owned.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Several of you have said that the TiVo Stream is the best in the market. Where does it excel over other streaming devices?


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

crackers8199 said:


> temporary glitch? there have been multitudes of issues reported with the latest release and there hasn't been a single peep from tivo about it, or about when it would be fixed. it has been over a month and they refuse to even acknowledge there are any issues.
> 
> that's hardly a "temporary glitch," and it's not just youtube.


Yes, because tivo is known to be that proactive when things get broken. Please.

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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

waynomo said:


> Several of you have said that the TiVo Stream is the best in the market. Where does it excel over other streaming devices?


I wouldn't call it the best on the market. And I think you might mistake people saying it's the best for them. I have fire, Roku, ccgtv and TS4k's. Never even opened the 4k fire (have the old 1080 one I used briefly.). The Roku has never been opened either.

For me... I like the separate power and usb-c on the TS4k. I don't need hubs to add things. I have a flash drive on one and others have a simple Ethernet Adapter. No pass through powered hubs needed. The one with the USB drive actually has the chromecast ultra's Ethernet charger if I choose to run a cable over to it.

The peanut remote for my dvr needs is the best out there of the stock remotes. Though I do use a harmony/hub in my living room setups and have both TS4k's in there working off a single hub. One is for a projector and the other a TV. The TV can actually use the peanut remote for everything though. My bedroom setup is that way. Nice only having the one little remote to do it all, and that's with an amp and 3.1 setup on both tv's.

I use the ccgtv in my theater room through a harmony/hub. I lose the dvr button functionality. I deal with the aggregated rows of crap of Google tv's home screen. And navigating around, for me is about the same. I don't see any appreciable difference in speed and use between the two devices.

I do need a hub on the ccgtv because of the single usb-c. So I have to have a powered pass through hub with Ethernet to get a wired setup.

I don't really think anyone has it up on a pedastel. And the only device that would be appreciably better than sub $50 streamers mentioned above would be the Shield. But if you don't game, don't do plex type things, you're paying 3x the cost for a little more speed you probably don't fully appreciate unless you're AB'ing. You don't need dongles to add things since it has a slew of ports. And that's about it.

There really isn't much in between, but some no name devices have come out that bridge the gap, but you're turning to China and Europe for them. Tmo's has a newer chipset but their UI is annoying from what I've read. Of course you could sideload a home app and disable theirs. Think Verizon or someone else came out with one too, but I'm still getting my morning coffee on and don't really care to dive deeper to remember at the moment.

None are really perfect. All are pretty much advertising money making devices for the respective companies at our expense now, so you find the one that best suits your needs and go with it.

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## driverseven (Oct 11, 2007)

UCLABB said:


> I have cable and plan to keep it.
> 
> I use Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Paramount+ apps on my TV, but it doesn't have HBO Max and I need that. Right now I can only cast HBO Max from my iOS devices and I really don't like that much.
> 
> One other issue. I use the Reelgood app to track what I want to watch and it does a fair job of redirecting me to the appropriate streaming app on the TV. Can I still use that with 4K Stream, or does the Stream handle that?


I bought a Tivo Stream because I wanted HBO Max and couldn't get it with my Tivo Bolt. It's worked out well; I like the way the Tivo Stream works and prefer using it over the Tivo Bolt for watching Netflix and Prime Video. (My wife prefers using the Tivo Bolt over the TS4K but we have both so it's not an issue). I also added the Discovery+ app and that works fine.

There were a couple of times when it froze but it was fixed by un-plugging and re-starting. And I should add that I don't use YouTube with the Tivo Stream so I haven't experienced the problems others are reporting.


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## dbpaddler (Sep 25, 2004)

On another note as I just replied to a Reddit thread where someone suggested spending $50+ on a usb-c hub for a $50+ streaming device. You are now getting closer to Shield territory in price. So if you have plans of adding dongles and such, you might as well look into the Shield as all the ports are built in. It has much better innards and is pretty solid on support. I bash Shield owners who blanket suggest it regardless of a person's use case, but when price difference becomes less of a factor, I know I'd find it easy to spend a little more for the better device with known excellent support. 

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## Vm19 (Feb 10, 2021)

Please do not get the stream 4k, massive disappointment, so many bugs


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

I have and like the stream 4k. Having said that I also own Roku's and the Roku is much more stable than the Tivo 4k. It could be Tivo's fault or just that Android itself is an unstable platform.

Tivo is nice because of the remote. I like having power and volume on the remote. This is Roku's weak spot.


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## wendlan (Apr 21, 2002)

I've also purchased at least six Roku's over the years and have been happy with all of them. I strongly recommend Roku Ultra because it has an ethernet port built-in, and has the fastest processor and most RAM. It's also quite stable and has a simple interface (too simple for some I guess) - rows of apps, pick the one you want, and go. It's often $79 on sale.

It also includes a headphone jack on the remote, which is also RF so it doesn't require line of site. As a bonus, the Ultimate also accepts IR - so old school IR universal remotes work as well.


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## crackers8199 (Dec 9, 2020)

Foogie said:


> Actually technically it is a glitch when people say the problem with regular Youtube or YoutubeTV can be *corrected *by reloading the stream. Also it has been confirmed in the other threads that the YoutubeTV glitch happens on multiple different devices including the FireTV. Those people who contacted CS note YoutubeTV and TIVO support have both acknowledged the problem with YouTubeTV.


i haven't seen any of these reports of this happening on any device other than the ts4k, so genuinely curious where these threads are.

as for the problem with the youtube app being corrected by reloading the stream, that has absolutely not been my experience. i have to either factory reset the device or uninstall/reinstall updates on youtube to get any video working again. every single time.


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

crackers8199 said:


> i haven't seen any of these reports of this happening on any device other than the ts4k, so genuinely curious where these threads are.
> 
> as for the problem with the youtube app being corrected by reloading the stream, that has absolutely not been my experience. i have to either factory reset the device or uninstall/reinstall updates on youtube to get any video working again. every single time.


Go to the YoutubeTV Reddit. There are posts of it happening on the Samsung TVs and I saw one yesterday about the freezing video happening on a fire tv.


```
https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubetv/comments/mps7tq/video_keeps_freezing_but_audio_is_fine/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
```


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## Foogie (Mar 23, 2021)

crackers8199 said:


> i haven't seen any of these reports of this happening on any device other than the ts4k, so genuinely curious where these threads are.
> 
> as for the problem with the youtube app being corrected by reloading the stream, that has absolutely not been my experience. i have to either factory reset the device or uninstall/reinstall updates on youtube to get any video working again. every single time.


Sometimes I have to reload stream several times to fix streaking bars on (regular youtube) live streams sometimes it does not glitch but recently ads have been annoying me more than this glitch and am trying alternative youtube clients to block these all too common unpredictable ads.


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## omelet1978 (Mar 7, 2006)

I'd just get a Roku Streaming Stick and they are on sale for $39 as well. 

I've run into a lot of bugs with the Tivo Stream 4k and eventually just switched back to Roku. The final straw for me was everytime I watched SlingTv the $5 a month Locast service was shoved in my face. That might have been fixed but after having issues like my Tv turning on in the middle of the night and a few other things I decided enough was enough.


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## 241705 (Mar 9, 2010)

I've been running two TS4K's since September, 2020 and have had few problems, so they've been pretty solid devices. That being said, at around a $39 you really could buy one of each and try them out for a short time. Return the one you don't like. These are cheap devices, not a major investment.


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## gregftlaud (Jun 16, 2004)

Can't use a VPN on Roku---that's a deal breaker for me.


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

Until/unless Tivo 4K allows for streaming from a Tivo (like the Tivo Mini), I'd go with either Roku or Fire Stick. I have both. I like the Roku now as it supports Air Drop, so I can "drop" from my iPhone/iPad to the Roku (nice when I've downloaded/saved netflix/etc on my devices when traveling). If you have a Fire tablet, you can "mirror" or whatever to the firestick as well. I find the Roku to perform faster, although I have the cheap-o Firestick TV that seems to get constipated every now and then. I also have a Fire TV.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

I would add to the decision making process is how fast does that streamer box get updates or even app releases for that matter.
Apple TV while expensive compared to the others tends to get apps pretty fast.


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## superflysocal (Nov 26, 2009)

I think it depends on what price point and Roku products you are talking about. The tivo 4k has gone down to as low as 30 recently, and at that price point, the Roku comparable would be the Roku Stick. i would pick the tivo over the roku stick. The Roku ultra is 70 when on sale recently, but that is still over twice the price. 

As for apps, i would give that edge to Tivo (Android). Since they are also based on the most popular mobile OS, they will always get apps during day 1, with very few exceptions. Remember how long it took for Roku to get HBOMAX?


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