re: Apple TV vs Roku 3 vs amazon fire tv - gifts

I don't have a firetv to compare. I own the most recent AppleTV and a Roku xds and 2xs (1st and 2nd gen, current for them is the third. The 2xs and AppleTV 3 are roughly equivalent generations).


So, there's another thread on the topic with similar discussion on the first page. Check it out for some fresh perspective from others. This is an interesting situation. To play Amazon Prime videos on an AppleTV, you'll need to use an Apple device (like the MacBook Air or iPhone, assuming it's new enough to support the Instant Video app and AirPlay) to access the content and send it over AirPlay to the AppleTV. Roku and Amazon Firetv both have dedicated Amazon instant video channels/apps that don't require anything more than the remote or the app-based remote to access.

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Would Apple TV be better being she'll want to stream from her laptop?

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If the question is literally "what's the best way to send content from an OSX laptop to a TV wirelessly?" Yes, an AppleTV is best. To better answer what your question probably is though, a little more detail would be nice. What kind of videos does she make? What format is she saving them in? How frequently is she wanting to view them on the big screen? Will she save everything locally, or is there any sort of Network Attached Storage (like a usb hard drive hooked to the router's USB port)? Depending on how these are answered, it could go several ways. If the videos are opened on the laptop and iTunes home sharing is set up, it's very easy to put those videos on the AppleTV compared to the other two. If you don't mind setting up any little server that will automatically update itself, the Firetv of Roku could work better (plex is probably the friendliest of all the available options, but there are at least a handful of other fully-capable and rather powerful services). If there's a NAS, it probably runs some sort of media server, likely DLNA compatible, and will probably play nicer with the two non-apple products.


If I were to dumb it down to a single question regarding how things are streamed to the TV (locally and over the web), though, it would be:
Would I rather teach Dad to open Amazon Instant Video on his phone and teach him to play to the AppleTV, or would I rather learn, myself, to setup a plex server and share the "home movies" folder (once your initial download is done, you spend about 10 minutes setting it up, and so long as she continues to safe everything under that one, main folder, everything should be available to stream to the TV fine)?
If the answer is the first one, AppleTV is the better option (I think you'll still need to set the home videos to be imported into iTunes, but this would again require that we know the type of video file and program she is using to make it. I'm not sure how browsing local Home Sharing content is on an AppleTV is, or if it even exists (may just be a receiver). Maybe someone else can help me out here).
If the answer is the latter, I can't tell you which device is better because I don't own a FireTV to compare. I like Roku as a platform a lot and have no qualms recommending them to anyone who wants a box that is great at streaming web content and decent at streaming local content, though it requires both 3rd party apps and a little setup.


Also, I don't feel like going back up to where it would fit, but again based on what type of file she's using, the Roku xds, 2xs, and 3 (top-tier of each generation) gets a USB port and MicroSD that may support playback of the home video files if that would be an acceptable way of getting the content to the devise. I cannot comment on firetv's media format or portable media rendering capabilities at this time.