Free Republic

Hello FReeper friends. For the first time in several years, I've got a few bucks to spare. I'd like to finally upgrade from my old CRT television to a flat-screen TV. I'm also investigating the various options for streaming video to the TV via WiFi. I'm looking at devices like Roku and Amazon's FireTV -- especially because Amazon is having a Black Friday deal on the FireTV stick. However, the TVs that I'm looking at all are WiFi enabled. So here's my question: unless I really, really want features specific to FireTV, do I really need it (or Roku) if...

Last week Apple sucked up most of the air in the tech press with its newest gadgets, which included a long-awaited, new Apple TV. This week, Amazon has some TV box news of its own. The e-commerce giant just announced a variety of updates to its Fire TV product line. The newest Fire TV set-top box, a flat, plastic box that plugs into your TV and offers a variety of internet video content, now supports 4K Ultra HD video, a claim that Apple can't make with its own set-top box. (You'll have to be watching 4K content, on a 4K...