Hulu+ has a phone app that allows you to cast as well.
You can cast HBO through HBO Go with Chromecast as well.
The more I tinker with my Chromecast to cast and stream media from various resources the better I like it. It is an amazing little device, and much more useful than Roku because of its ability to stream literally any media to your TV that will play in your computer’s Chrome browser.
Casting from my 10 inch tablet to my 50 inch TV is awesome. I haven’t tried streaming from my tablet to my TV yet, but streaming from my laptop to my TV presented no problems at all.
I’ve used three devices to stream Netflix (and HBO GO) extensively. The PS3, Roku, and Chromecast. They each have their strengths and their weaknesses.
I imagine that there are BluRay players cheaper than the PS3, but I don’t think any of them work as well as the P3 does when combined with it’s excellent Netflix application. Now that the PS4 is out, PS3s are going down in price. If you have an even middling interest in playing a game, look around for a bundle. That will get you a discounted console and a couple of games. The Netflix application is perfect on the PS3. It’s easy to search for new things to watch. And, if you are hunkering down for a TV Show marathon it skips to the next episode for you (it even skips over “Last week on Clowny Town…” things that some shows have to catch you up, if you are watching in a row). Interacting with Netflix with the PS3 controller is great, but the $17 (or so. I got lucky and picked it up for $12) PS3 remote control is even better for media.
BluRay playing on the PS3 is excellent, as well.
I don’t use it as often, but the PS3 offers Amazon Prime instant streaming, as well. Sadly, HBO Go is not an offering.
I think the PS3 is around $200 at this point.
I got a Roku HD for my Mom in 2010. It started life on an SDTV and worked flawlessly streaming Netflix for a couple of years. She upgraded to an HDTV and it still works great. I am a big fan of Roku and their devices. The interface for the Roku HD is slow and klunky, I believe that is a factor of it’s age more than anything else. From what I understand Roku’s newer devices have a netflix User Interface that is identical to the PS3s. In any case, I still like it a lot. I think it would suit your needs quite well. It, too, has Amazon Prime. It also has HBO Go. And, a million other little video apps that you can try out.
A midrange Roku player can be found for 50 bucks, and it will do what you want just fine.
I just got the Chromecast recently when there was a sale for it. You really need an Android or iOS device to make using a Chromecast make much sense. I mean, I am sure you can use your laptop as a remote control, but I find that inconvenient. If you have the device already, I think the ChromCast is a really neat piece of equipment. You pick out what you want to watch on your phone/tablet/chrome browser, and choose the ChromeCast to stream it to the television. I’m assuming it works by having your device tell the ChromeCast “Hey! here’s the address at Netflix for the thing this couch potato wants to watch. Stream it up for him, please!” Something like that, anyhow. Because, the battery on the device doesn’t get dinged too badly after streaming starts on the ChromeCast, as it would if you were actually watching on the device. So far, I’ve watched an HBO Go show, a couple of YouTube videos, and some Netflix shows on my ChromeCast and they worked great. The ChromeCast’s power use is miniscule. There are no moving parts, and one light to show that it is working. It does rely on having apps on a device that works. If the HBO app on your phone refuses to talk to the ChromeCast? You’ll be watching True Blood on a tiny screen that night.
The ChromeCast costs $35.
Which is best for you? I don’t know. Just going by the description in the OP I would suggest the Roku. It’s simple to set up and use. There are a lot of streaming options available through it. It comes with a remote control; you don’t have to rely on some other device. It’s not even that expensive.
Reading the thread it appears as if I should try out streaming from my browser to see how well it works. I don’t really care that much about it, so I haven’t bothered yet. Simply because my computer is in another room, and having to walk into another room to pause is a bit of a pain. I stand by my suggestion of the Roku, though, since the OP said he is not a hardware techie.
Tell me more about Chromecast please.
Just got one and we set it up last night… my wife accessed it effectively from her laptop as did my daughter from her phone.
I had issues with two older devices of mine…
- a netbook running XP…it took me a while to even install Chrome on it. I was able to cast a couple things but they had buffering issues that my wife and daughter didn’t
- an older Kindle Fire… I can’t even install Chrome on it at this point.
Well, Google’s official stance is that casting video from XP is not supported so the fact that you got it to play anything means you’re already a step ahead. I’m not familiar enough with the kindle fire to know what you should do.
If you find that the TV is in a bad spot for Ethernet and Wireless, look into Ethernet over Powerline to get you there. My TiVO network lives on it just fine.
Do you need to be running the Chrome browser? The Chrome, YouTube and Netflix logos are on the box which suggest to me that they all have some direct casting capability.