Best Media Streamers for VPN Users
A lot of countries enforce different levels of censorship, whether you live in China behind the great firewall, or you live in Australia–a place that has a limited Netflix library. It can be very frustrating to have access to the internet, but not have access to the sites and services that you want. Sometimes these services even extend outward to products that you may be interested in.
Streaming devices are quite the rage right now. Leading companies are pushing out newer and newer products that are smaller, and more powerful. They come in the form of sticks and small little square boxes that give us hundreds of TV shows and movies–and now, even games!
So what can you do about it? Thankfully TorGuard VPN sells pre flashed VPN routers with bundled VPN services that let your streaming devices access content that otherwise might be blocked. With a VPN-equipped router, you can have full access to the web with our top 5 streaming devices.
The Amazon Fire TV is one of the most robust streaming devices around. Unlike other devices, you can connect Bluetooth or USB controllers and play games from the Amazon games available or custom load apk files onto the device to play emulators.
Besides the robust gaming abilities, the Amazon Fire TV also comes with all of your streaming needs like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Amazon bundles the Fire TV offerings with a month free of Amazon Prime so people can try out their version of Netflix–Amazon Instant Video.
While the Fire TV already has a great set-up, it’s also coming out with an updated version with 4K video support, Alexa integration, 8GB storage, and microSD support.
While Amazon, Apple, and Google have stolen some of Roku’s streaming limelight with their sticks, Roku is still a worthy competitor. It uses a channel system with over 1,500 channels, and it’s remote control has motion control for games (the Apple TV will soon have their version coming soon, this fall). The controller also has its headphone jack for quiet nights, a great interface, and a powerful search tool. Surprisingly enough, it also features voice search.
Apple TV is great for Apple fanatics who love the idea of streaming photos, videos and mirroring their phone to tvs equipped with the slender black Apple Tv box. While it’s great for Netflix use, renting videos, and some channels–it’s a bit outdated compared to competitors. The new Apple TV coming this fall promises to capture some attention with a focus on gaming and applications which will make it stand out from competitors. It also has a powerful touch and motion sensitive controller built-in with Siri voice support.
The Chromecast is known for it’s cheap price and great integration within Chrome devices. You can install it on virtually any browser to stream web pages, and video content with a simple “drag and drop”.
While it doesn’t offer any streaming applications, you can use applications on smartphones and tablets to stream content. Android devices can even use mirror features to play games on larger screens. Like the Apple TV, the Chromecast is due for an update receiving faster internet capabilities.
The Western Digital TV is a more basic solution, but still a practical one. It’s mostly used as a media player that lets you connect an external device like a USB drive to its port. From there you can watch your media or view your photos.
Check out some of TorGuard’s VPN routers, so you can be well on your way to enjoying some of the hottest TV shows and movies around, anywhere in the world.
What’s your favorite streaming device? Let us know in the comments below.