The Apple TV is designed primarily to run as a standalone streamer. But if all of your media lives on a tablet or cell phone, how do you get your media easily onto the big screen? Simple: you plug one of these devices into your TV, and it wirelessly bridges the gap between the new world and the old. It's the biggest screen in your home, and the most comfortable place for watching. We may be living in the era of near-omnipresent streaming media, but there is still something to be said for sitting down in front of the Tee Vee every now and then. In this month's high/low review, we compare two devices for casting your media from a mobile device to a HDTV, the $35 Google Chromecast and the $99 Apple TV. Is it worth spending extra on high-end gear, or do you get what you need with cheaper models? Every month, we'll look at some of the cheapest and most expensive products in a given category, testing each to see what their limits are and help you figure out when you can cheap it out, and when to plunk down some extra cash to get what you need. It also happens to be the question this recurring feature tries to answer. What do you get for your money? That's the question everyone looking to buy a piece of tech asks themselves.
