If you know someone that hasn’t upgraded to a television with streaming apps or simply wants to upgrade an existing “dumb” television in their home, there are a ton of streaming media players that will get the job done.

In addition, there are a massive number of streaming media options available this year, with more coming next year. Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, etc…  If you want to stream everything, here are the best home theater, streaming media players for 2019:

Best Overall Option for Dolby Vision & HDR10+: Fire TV Cube

If you know someone that’s upgraded to a high end television that supports new formatting like Dolby Vision & HDR10+, Amazon’s new Fire Tv Cube (2019 model, MSRP $119) is your best bet. Utilizing a hexa-core processor (up to 2.2GHz), you can easily stream 4K content in Dolby Vision and HDR, HDR10+. There’s also support for the Dolby Atmos sound format on select titles on Netflix and Amazon.

Other cool features include the Alexa voice assistant, 16GB of storage, 802.11ac dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi, Ethernet support for hard wired connections and Bluetooth 5.0 support (longer range). The upgraded internals make is significantly faster than the previous model as well as faster than streaming stick options. If you are looking for a cheaper option, check out the Roku Ultra (which has equally snappy performance, but no Dolby Vision support; MSRP $99).

Check Price on Amazon

Best Option for Casting via Smartphone: Chromecast Ultra

If you know someone that lives their life with a smartphone in their face, consider getting a Chromecast Ultra so they can cast their streaming video from their phone to the television. The Ultra is 4K capable and includes support for HDR10 and Dolby vision. It also works with Google home, ideal for streaming content by voice commands.

If you don’t need 4K playback, consider the regular Google Chromecast. It provides an identical feature set, but limits resolution to 1080p at 60 frames per second. It’s half the price of the Ultra model and can be found as cheap as $20 on Black Friday.

Check Price on Amazon

Best Option for Tight Budgets: Roku Streaming Stick+

Definitely an awesome stocking stuffer, the Roku Streaming Stick is one of the better buys for overall quality and usability. I’ve tried all the smart user interfaces and Roku is always a step above the rest, which is why companies like TCL have adopted the Roku interface for their smart interface.

The Streaming Stick+ starts at $50, but Black Friday sales will drop it to $30 (page 5 of the Target Ad). It has a very small footprint (plugs into a HDMI port) and is extremely snappy. It supports 4K playback as well as HDR10 and Dolby Atmos. It also works with both Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.  FYI, there are also even cheaper Roku options (probably in the $20 range on Black Friday) is you don’t need 4K playback.

Check Price on Amazon

Best Option for Apple Fanatics: Apple TV 4K

One of the priciest options on the list, the Apple TV 4K is ideal for anyone that’s invested a considerable amount of money in the Apple ecosystem of products (iPhone, iPad) and digital media (iTunes). Sold at $180 for the 32GB model and $200 for the 64GB, the device offers 4K resolution, Dolby Vision / HDR10 support and Dolby Atmos functionality.

It allows users to access Siri for voice control and does include an Ethernet port for those who prefer a hardwired connection. Like many other Apple products, don’t expect a huge sale on the Apple TV 4K during Black Friday sales. It may fall to the $150 range for new models and $130 for refurbished models.

Check Price on Amazon

Best (Two) Options for Gamers

If you know someone into video games, getting them a new gaming console will offer them access to awesome games as well as streaming video applications. There are two standout options:

• The Console Gamer: Get the Xbox One S. Significantly cheaper than the PS4 Pro, the Xbox One S can handle 4K streaming as well as offer playback of Ultra HD discs. You can find plenty of $200 Xbox One S bundles during November as well as a $150 Xbox On S digital console (if you only want 4K streaming, no disc playback). The Xbox One S supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
• The PC Gamer: Get the Nvidia Shield TV Pro. Offering access to any streaming app that’s on the Google Play store, the Sheild Tv Pro offers a really snappy performance with the new Tegra X1+ processor as well as access to over 200 games on Android TV. The 2019 model supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby TrueHD with Atmos via Plex.  But one of the biggest selling points of the Shield is the ability to stream games from your PC to your television; ideal for anyone with a huge PC gaming library.

Check Price on Xbox One S / Check Price on Nvidia Shield Pro

Check Ben’s for the latest streaming media player deals

2019 Gift Guide: The Best Streaming Media Players

Plex is a popular multi-platform media player that works with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, set-top boxes like Roku, Apple TV 4 and Amazon Fire TV, smart TVs from Vizio and Samsung and NAS devices from popular brands like Synology, Drobo and QNAP.

Plex basically works like this: 1) set up your media on a Plex server on a PC or NAS and 2) stream the media to a mobile device, set-top box, game console, home theater PC (HTPC) or smart TV.

What separates Plex from something like iTunes—and why it has gained such a loyal following—is not just its platform- and format-flexibility but its eye-catching user interface and exhaustive (and frequently overwhelming) under-the-hood customizations.

If you’re using iTunes (and most people are), it’s pretty easy to transfer your library (or other music libraries) straight over to Plex. Plex will do all the transcoding (changing media into appropriate formats for streaming) on the fly and pretty it up in the Plex UI.

Apps or “channels” also make Plex more than a media server for user generated content. You can add popular apps like Apple Movie Trailers, PBS and Vimeo (no Netflix or Hulu, though).

While Plex is free*, you can spend $4.99 per month for Plex Pass ($40 per year or $150 lifetime) to get additional features such as mobile and cloud syncing, movie trailers, music videos, Gracenote music organization and more.

*Mobile apps are free with limited functionality, but there’s a $5 in-app purchase required to unlock full functionality.

Also, if you have Plex Pass, new features are frequently rolled out. In late December 2015, synchronized lyrics from LyricFind were added for Plex Pass subscribers, just in time for embarrassing holiday sing-alongs.

Plex Pass Subscribers now get synchronized lyrics

Let’s take a look at Plex Pass and what you get for $5 a month.

Plex Pass Movie Trailers

It might seem like a small thing, but having movie trailers play automatically before your movie is pretty cool.

Plex Pass will pull in trailers from new and upcoming movies in theaters and also Blu-ray (if you choose), and you can select the number of trailers that play (up to 5). You can’t select the exact trailers to play, but it does choose ones that are appropriate to the main feature.

Choose whether you want new or old movie trailers to play

Plex Pass Premium Music Library (Gracenote)

With Plex Pass, you have the option to set up a library with Gracenote metadata, which includes artist bios and reviews, as well as automatic playlists, similar to a Pandora-type radio station.

Gracenote Premium Library also includes a feature called “sonic fingerprinting” which is a fancy way of saying that it will figure out the metadata for a music file that has incorrect tags or none at all.

You have the option of downloading upcoming concert information for the artist as well as using existing tags and/or iTunes information like playlists, ratings, play count and original date added to library.

Gracenote metadata includes liner notes, reviews and upcoming concerts

Plex Pass subscribers also get music videos from Vevo automatically added to either regular music libraries or Premium (Gracenote) libraries. Videos appear next to tracks as a small display icon and also under the artist page.

Plex Pass Mobile and Cloud Sync

Your home network is where Plex normally operates, but if you want to access your media library outside of the home, then a Plex Pass is required.

Sync media for offline viewing/listening

Using Mobile Sync is easy. Similar to streaming services like Spotify, you find the track or album that you want to have for offline listening and press the sync button, either on your mobile device or the main server (via the web browser UI).

To play offline media on your mobile device, choose “Location” from the top navigation menu and select your mobile device instead of your main media server.

This is not much different from what you can do with iTunes and your phone, so if all you need is Mobile Sync, then free Plex is probably all you need.

Using Cloud Sync requires a little more work but it’s also fairly straightforward. First, you’ll need a cloud storage account from one of these providers: Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Drive, Box (paid version) and/or Copy. Second, link up one or all of your cloud storage accounts with Plex under Cloud Sync in Accounts (https://plex.tv/cloudsync/providers).

After you’ve done that, you can easily sync media to the cloud from the main media server. (You have to sync from Plex. Adding media files directly to your cloud storage won’t work.)

Depending on the limitations of your cloud storage account and your mobile data plan, Cloud Sync is probably one of the most powerful features of Plex Pass, basically allowing you to exceed your phone’s storage capacity and create your own streaming service a la Spotify.

Other Plex Pass Features

• Plex Home: Allows you to create multiple switchable user accounts that you can share libraries with and also set content restrictions for (i.e. for children).
• Camera Upload: Allows you to wirelessly upload photos from iOS/Android/Windows phones to your Plex server (no videos).
• Early Access, Free Apps and Forums: Allows you first dibs on new features, early access to apps like the new Plex Media Player (for HTPC setups like a Mac Mini) and access to the members-only support forum.

Plex Pass: Good Deal?

Plex Pass is a good deal if you have a large media library and plan to use Cloud Sync. For $5 a month, it’s cheaper than a streaming service like Spotify or Netflix and offers you both music and movies. However, unlike a traditional streaming service, your experience with Plex is heavily dependent on your own media library, aside from the very limited online content choices.

If you’re an avid buyer of music and movies or are simply satisfied with the media you already have, then Plex Pass is more suitable for you. If you’re not sure, you can still test basic Plex features mostly for free, and the Plex experience feels way ahead of something like iTunes, which seems stuck in time.

The best deal is the $150 lifetime pass, but then you’re banking on using it for at least 4 years (at the $40 / year rate). Over the past year, Plex has been introducing new features like Gracenote, Plex Media Player and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One apps, so a lifetime pass is a good investment in this maturing ecosystem.

Plex Pass Review: iTunes on Steroids

Announced today at Google’s Nexus press conference, the new Chromecast is a revision of the original model that offers up a faster Wi-Fi connection (5GHz 802.11ac) as well as data pre-fetching (basically loading content about movies / TV shows as soon as you launch an app).

The new Chromecast supports a barrage of new apps from Showtime and Sling TV as well as sports apps from the NBA and NHL. It also offers up greater support for mobile gaming—basically gaming on your smartphone or tablet while watching it on the big screen.

The new Chromecast also has a different design than the older model. Rather than using the USB stick mold, Google has opted for a round, puck-like design that’s available in three colors; black, red and yellow. It’s connected to your television via HDMI and will retail for the same price point as the last model: $35.

In addition to the Chromecast for your home theater, Google has created a second device in the Chromecast line, the Chromecast Audio. This device plugs into any speaker in your home, basically allowing you to stream music from your mobile devices. It also offers a guest mode, ideal for parties when guests want to stream their own music.

The Chromecast Audio isn’t limited to your own music collection either. You can stream music from Spotify to a Chromecast Audio device. Mostly identical in design to the new Chromecast, the Chromecast Audio will also be priced at $35. Both devices should be available today at retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart as well as the Google Play store.

Check Out the Chromecast on Google

Shut Up and Take My Money: The New Chromecast Devices