How to turn dumb TV smart in a rental?

[Brother D]

Not sure if anyone has done something similar.

Auntie owns a place she occasionally rents out (currently staying there atm). She has a big (dumb) TV and it's a hassle connecting up the laptop every time we want to watch/stream Prime/Netflix/Youtube etc.

Any recommendations on a box to provide that functionality? Roku/Firestick etc? Only thing is - I want to leave the box in place so anyone else can use it, but obvs don't want to leave a box that I'm signed into for other people to see what filth I watch such as engineering mathematics or numberphile.

Or are roku/fire the only solutions?

TIA

[untakenname]

Chromecast can be casted to by anyone in the WiFi network

[crofty1984]

Yup. You need to get your Chromecast on.

[Murph7355]

Firestick.

[RizzoTheRat]

Chromecast with Google TV, similar to a firestick but works better in my experience.

[anonymous-user]

Amazon firestick. Works better than most smart TV's in my experience!

[Condi]

Chromecast, but be aware the new ones have iPlayer/Netflix etc installed so could be left logged in. The older versions were just for casting to, so no logins were saved (iPlayer ran off the laptop and casted to the screen, rather than running on the Chromcast itself.). Hope that makes sense.

[geeks]

Another vote for the Firestick, voice commands on the remote are helpful as well

[Brother D]

Thanks all - I'll give the firestick a go

[OutInTheShed]

Our Humax hard disk recorder also functions as a 'smart' set top box, FWIW.
Advantage over a firestick is that it can use ethernet and was IMHO easier to use.
But both it and my Firestick are ages old now.

[techguyone]

Brother D said:

Thanks all - I'll give the firestick a go

Get the 4k Max version, even if you don't have a 4K telly, it's got more RAM/better CPU so it's a lot more snappy than lesser models.

[PushedDover]

Slight tangent -
We have a cottage we airBnB.
The back bedroom for the kids has a boggo TV, and one of our Firesticks in, but then that is linked to our accounts and profiles (Netflixs, Amazon etc)

When I have stayed in Hotels one has often seen on the TV' that you can log in to ones own accounts easily by scanning a QR code or two time authentication via a mobile etc.

Any recommendations on a Stick, or a small TV I can put in that would do the same, so guests are on 'their' iPlayer accounts and like ?

[littleredrooster]

Brother D said:

Thanks all - I'll give the firestick a go

Roku or Firestick? Having had two of each over the past few years, I'd go for the Roku; much less prone to freezing/locking up/needing to rejoin network.

[the-norseman]

I've got FireTV devices (Firesticks and Firebox) and also have Chromecast with Google TV now. I prefer the Google solution much smoother in operation etc.

The only downside is UKTV Play app cant be installed on Chromecast at the moment.

[nd0000]

Brother D said:

Thanks all - I'll give the firestick a go

You probably want to make sure that you factory reset it after each guest: otherwise you'll find people will accidentally leave behind their accounts logged in.

[dundarach]

nd0000 said:

You probably want to make sure that you factory reset it after each guest: otherwise you'll find people will accidentally leave behind their accounts logged in.

Yep, it's always nice to airbnb and find one logged in

[.Adam.]

BT TV box would do it. You don't need a BT subscription, and you can get them quite cheap second hand as well. Some models allow you to record as well.

[Brother D]

nd0000 said:

Brother D said:

Thanks all - I'll give the firestick a go

You probably want to make sure that you factory reset it after each guest: otherwise you'll find people will accidentally leave behind their accounts logged in.

Just an quick update, after trying the firestick there was a deal on a 4K roku stick ($23) so thought would be worth to try that - and when you configure it as Guest mode, a new client arrives and they set their leave date on the start up screen, so it automatically clears the logged in apps for the next guest (removing the worry of someone else's account remaining logged in).

The firestick looks like you would have to factory reset each time which is a bit of a hassle and data security issue, so I returned the firestick and left the roku.

Anyway appreciate the feedback and suggestions