Streaming devices lead the way to smart TV

Most television sets are dumb, for now. They do a good enough job handling the signals coming through an antenna or a set-top box, but to take advantage of the wealth of programming available through online services and apps, you generally need to attach a streaming device to the TV.

Many of the new sets on display at Wal-Mart and Best Buy already do. But until all TVs get smart, it falls on the backs of these streaming devices - most of them handy, but none of them yet perfect - to help a staid TV dip a cord into the future.

The Gamers

Millions of Americans already have a streaming device connected to a TV. Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Wii video game consoles offer streaming video options and are among the most popular ways to tap into Internet TV.

With a few simple clicks, the consoles can download apps for services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Downloading them is free, but many require a paid subscription to actually stream video.

The consoles’ controllers make navigating through lists of TV shows a breeze. And with the Xbox and PlayStation, there is also the option of buying an individual episode or season of a show through the Xbox Video Store or the PlayStation Store, in case it is not available on one of the streaming services.

The Beamers

A problem with the gaming devices is that they tend to take a couple of minutes to boot up. (And with all the video available, time is of the essence. After all, there are hours and hours of “The Walking Dead” to catch up on.) That is not the case with a couple of other popular options, including Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast, that can also beam videos from a phone or laptop to the TV screen.

Why “beam”? You might start watching a YouTube video on your iPhone and decide that you want to show it to your family - in that case, you would click a button on a smartphone and stream it on the TV set. Or you might be curious about a concert streaming live on YouTube. You can find the live stream on a laptop and push it to the big screen.

When it comes to Apple TV, probably the most powerful of the beaming devices, the name can be misleading. It is not a television set or a cable channel or a full-blown competitor to Netflix. Rather, it’s a sleek black box, shaped like a hockey puck, that connects to a TV set. Not surprisingly, given Apple’s penchant for design, Apple TV is probably the most attractive of all the Internet TV adapters on the market.

Apple promotes the device’s $99 (Rs 6,258) price, but it is actually more expensive - you will need to buy an HDMI cable to connect the box to the back of your TV. And the device’s AirPlay beaming function works only with Apple phones, tablets and computers, so it’s not as appealing if you are not in the Apple family already.

The newest way to “beam” comes from Google’s $35 (Rs 2,212) Chromecast, which looks like a flash drive and plugs into an HDMI port on your TV. Using your home Wi-Fi, it will project on the TV whatever you are watching on your mobile device or computer. Google Android, Apple and Microsoft Windows devices are all welcome here. But Chromecast does not come with video apps the way Apple TV or the video game consoles do, so it is entirely dependent on the second device that you are using to find TV episodes or films, which can make it feel too constricting.

On the other end of this plug-in spectrum are boxes like the Roku, which can be found online for as little as $40 (Rs 2,528), and the slightly more expensive WD TV Play from Western Digital. These boxes have apps galore, even for streaming services you’ve never heard of.

The future

Of course, truly smart TVs with Internet connectivity will increasingly negate the need for special adapters. But in the meantime, the adapters are the best window into the television revolution.

After a short while with Netflix via Apple TV or YouTube via Xbox or Hulu via Chromecast, you might wonder why anyone pays for cable or satellite television anymore. But the truth is that many of the best, freshest TV shows and films are still protected behind cable’s high walls. All the evidence until now suggests that for most people Internet streams are a supplement to cable, not a replacement. But they’re a really useful supplement - they provide convenience that cable can’t currently match.