A:Answer That's a tough one Jonny. I think that between Roku, chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon TV, and the varying Android TV (like shield), it really depends on what you are looking at doing. When searching and comparing these items, you need to decide which apps you must have, what features you are looking for (like 4K), and what functionalities work best. Ideally, you would want to try out all these different options before you purchase one. Even a common app like Netflix, behaves very differently in roku than it does in shield.
In my case, I already have an Android phone and heavily use google based apps, I wanted 4k streaming, and something with open gaming. This unit made sense for that. I have Roku on a different TV in my house. I do not like it as much. It is not as responsive and the apps are simple to the point where it lacks some functionality compared to the shield.
I think Amazon TV box would make sense if you do not care about gaming and do not heavily use google based apps (like google music). Amazon does not support google apps well and the Android Shield does not support Amazon apps as well (like Amazon music, Amazon movies still works fine!).
