2018 Fall Streaming Dongle Choices

Of late, I've gotten into streaming devices.  At this point, I think I own one of everything.  Figured I might as well collect my thoughts.

I'm on the road a lot.  After a while, I'm tired of watching random push entertainment, and long to do some on-demand video.  In other words, I want to get caught up on Doctor Who, or I want to watch The Martian.  However, these two random examples illustrate the challenges I have.  Is there one streaming option that lets me do both, while remaining trivially portable?

My travel tends to circle around flying or motorcycling, or both together.  Portability is critically important to me.  I want it small enough that even if I don't bother to use it, I never compromised on space from carrying something else.

I have streaming subscriptions and purchased content across several services.

Streaming Services

1. Netflix
• Useful around the world
2. Crave (nee. Crave TV) 
• Home to TV series including The Expanse and past seasons of Doctor Who
• Only useful in Canada 
• They're talking about creating a premium service, and are only doubling the monthly subscription price.  Only.  I don't know if some current content will become premium-only content.
3. Amazon Prime
• Home to TV series including The Grand Tour 
• Useful in Canada and the US (apparently off my Amazon Canada account), at least.
• Awesome, because it also includes free shipping.  Nice add-on that!
4. The Roku Channel
• A late entry.  So far, unless you're an old western buff, not a lot of content.  Except they have ReGenesis!  
• Roku only.
5. Tubi TV
• Another late entry.  Long Way Round and Long Way Down, free!
• Roku, Sony TV, Apple TV.

Purchased Content providers (with a couple examples each) 

1. Apple iTunes
• National Geographic content including Mars (currently in seasonal broadcast) and Genius (Einstein season)
• Babylon 5 series
• lots of movies including The Martian and The Big Short
2. Google Play Video
• Doctor Who season 11 (the female doctor, currently in seasonal broadcast) 
• Chosen to test Google Play Video in my life.

 Other Content

1. Plex app
2. sideloading Android apps 
• I used to run a streaming TV app on a cheap Android STB, briefly on my Sony TV, and very briefly on my Amazon stick.  Then that service went away.  Not important to me now, but the sideloading option does speak to its flexibility.

Why not just plug my laptop into my hotel TV?

While this would be a great option, I've tried and I find it cumbersome.

On the motorcycle, carrying around long thick HDMI cables is a pain.  I've tried the Redmere thin HDMI cables, but compatibility is too often a showstopper, as is cable quality; I've gone through several.

Devices in Play

I've included all the streaming options I have, including my TV (for illustrative purposes).  As you can see, nothing is 100%, but the Apple TV comes the closest in functionality, but doesn't meet my portability desires.

Sorry, this table will be infantile; I'm not a web developer, and I have no interest to figure out if I can stuff pretty CCS into this, whatever CSS is.

Device	Form Factor	Vol	iTunes	Netflix	Amazon Prime	Crave	Plex	Google Play Video	Tubi TV	Chrome Cast	Sideload Android Apps
Roku 4k Stick - Canada	Stick	Y	n	Y	Y	n	Y	Y	Y	n	n
Amazon Fire TV stick - Canada	Stick	n	n	Y	Y	Y	Y	n	Y	n	Y
Apple TV 4k	STB	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	n	Y	n	n
ChromeCast	Dongle	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	Y	n
Sony X900F TV, Android TV	TV	Y	n	Y	Y	n	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Roku 4k Stick

Everyone loves the Roku stick.  Easy to use, lots of options.  I'd use it more, except Crave has yet to come out with an app for it.

There might be a way to get Crave onto the Roku, using VMedia.  However, it seems it needs you to sign up with Crave from your VMedia account, and pay Crave's fee through VMedia.  Not sure I entirely understand how that works, and it isn't something I can just *try* with my current Crave account.

Does 4k, not that I need that often.  I also have the older not-4k stick, but its lack of volume control makes it uninteresting to me.

Usually worked when powered from a TV's USB port, though it does urge you to feed it 1A over USB.

Amazon Fire TV stick

My current go-to travel stick.  Lacks volume controls, not 4k, no Alexa.  As a travel stick, it is okay.  I'm tempted to upgrade to the new Fire TV 4k stick, if it goes on sale.

It really needs more than 500mA, and I've never had it properly function running off a TV's USB port; usually starts to boot, then restarts its boot, ad infinitum.

It is likely the new 4k Stick would end up becoming my best travel streamer, if I picked it up.

Apple TV 4k

This is my secondary streamer at home, usually reserved for all Apple content at home and Crave.  (My X900F TV is my primary streamer.)

Its remote is pretty full function, and can even control the TV's volume.

Nifty-neat comment; I can control this through my TV's remote.  I can even seem to power it on by switching my TV to the Apple TV HDMI input.

But this does not meet my portability requirement.  Apple, please, for the love of all that's holy, release an Apple TV Stick!

ChromeCast

Then there's ChromeCast.  It doesn't have any local content itself; it relies on some computing device like a laptop or a handheld device to feed it content.  And it favours not-Apple platforms.

As a Mac user, ChromeCast is a bit of a problem as many apps and streaming sites didn't seem to support it through a Mac, and the Mac OS itself doesn't have direct support for ChromeCast. 

There is another personal problem with ChromeCast, Airplay, and other wireless screen-mirroring options; my laptop is almost always on my corporate VPN, and as such, it cannot connect to local network devices like the ChromeCast.  So wired HDMI or bust.

It is possible that Mac support is better now and if I can find my ChromeCast, I will try to reevaluate it.

Sony X900F TV

I recently got this TV, and it is awesome.  Of course, it isn't portable, but I added it for colour, as my streaming woes don't stop when I get home.

The Sony does lots of things well, but of course it doesn't handle my iTunes media, and it doesn't have a Crave app.  The Apple TV rounds out all my needs giving me 100% coverage, when I'm at home.

Wrap-up

I'm not really going into detail about audio and video support, beyond 4k, as these are typically not a big deal when you're on the road and subject to whatever random TV is in your room.