The presents have been unwrapped, the boxes carelessly and gleefully discarded, and the colorful paper (hopefully) properly recycled. Now, it’s time to fire up your new smart TV or streaming player and take it for a spin! Check out how to customize your newest device to make it truly yours, and start watching all your favorite services!

How to maximize your new streaming device or smart TV

Step 1: Connect to the Internet

Logging onto the internet with your new smart TV or streaming player is the obvious first step toward watching your favorite shows and movies without cable. Usually, a Wi-Fi connection is more than enough to stream video, but some players also allow for wired ethernet connections for even faster speeds.

Step 2: Get Familiar With Your App Store

While most devices come pre-loaded with many apps, you should take the time to customize your app lineup.

Smart TVs

On many smart TVs that use the Android TV or Google TV operating systems, you can find new apps in the Google Play Store. Find that tile in your device’s menu and click it to discover the apps available.

If you have a Roku-enabled TV:

• Press “Home” home button on your Roku remote
• Scroll and select Store
• Select Channels, then browse by genre, recommended, featured, top free, and other categories
• When you want to learn more about an app, press OK on your remote
• If the app is free, select Add channel; if the app requires a subscription, select OK to start a free trial or purchase a subscription
• The app will be added to the bottom of the list of apps on the home screen. If you prefer, the app can be moved higher up the list.

(See all the channels available for Roku here.)

To add an app on a VIZIO TV:

• Press the left arrow button on your remote when you are on the SmartCast input.
• A menu will appear on the left-hand side. Navigate down and select Apps.
• To search for apps highlight and select the App Search. Then type in the app you are looking for.
• To update your apps and input row, highlight and select Home Screen Apps. From this screen, you can quickly and easily update the apps that will appear on your SmartCast home screen.

All smart TVs offer some variation of this process. If you don’t see yours listed, search for an app store tile and begin browsing the apps you can download and start watching on that particular set.

Streaming Devices

If you have an Amazon Fire stick:

• Search for an app by going to “Find” on the main menu. You can also use the Alexa or microphone button on your remote.
• Select the app that you want to download.
• To download the app, select “Get” or the Shopping Cart icon.

If you have a Roku device:

• Press “Home” home button on your Roku remote
• Scroll and select Store
• Select Channels, then browse by genre, recommended, featured, top free, and other categories
• When you want to learn more about an app, press OK on your remote
• If the app is free, select Add channel; if the app requires a subscription, select OK to start a free trial or purchase a subscription
• The app will be added to the bottom of the list of apps on the home screen. If you prefer, the app can be moved higher up the list.

(See all the channels available for Roku here.)

If you have an Apple TV:

• Open the App Store app. (It’s a blue icon with a white “A,” just like what you’d see on an iPhone)
• Browse or search for the app that you want to download.
• Select the price or “Get” button. If you see the “Open” button instead of a price or the “Get” button, the app is already downloaded.

Gaming Devices

Gaming Consoles are not our favorite way to watch on-demand streaming services, since they usually don’t get the support that other devices do for top streaming apps. Nevertheless, you can watch Netflix and other streaming services with a PlayStation or Xbox console.

Xbox:

• Look on your Xbox’s home screen and click “Store”
• Download your chosen apps
• You can now find the apps in your Xbox’s “My games & apps” menu

PlayStation:

• Start up your console and head to the PlayStation store
• Press R1 to call up the Media menu, then scroll to the “All Apps” tile.
• Select the apps you want, then press ‘Download’ and install the app

Step 3: Choose the Right Apps

Live TV

If you don’t want to pay a cable subscription, you can watch nearly every channel you want over the internet. By choosing a live TV streaming service, you can pay month-to-month without a contract, and you’ll get a cloud DVR to record everything you want.

Want to be sure you’re getting all the channels you need? Put your favorite stations in our Service Matchmaker.

Our Picks for Live TV

DIRECTV STREAM

With more channels available than every other live TV streamer, DIRECTV STREAM is a dream for TV lovers. There are four main tiers of service, and it’s the best way to watch most regional sports networks.

Starting a $87 per month, you’ll get local channels, 31 of the top 35 cable channels, and access to the widest selection of regional sports networks including those from FanDuel Sports Network. You’ll also get an unlimited cloud DVR, and the option to have 20 simultaneous streams at home.

Sling TV

If you want to save money, we highly recommend Sling TV. It has two main channel lineups (called “Orange” and “Blue”), so you could choose one of those and pay just $46 per month to get around 40 channels per package. You could choose to pay $61 if you want to combine the two plans into the Sling Orange and Blue package and get all channels.

We use Sling TV to watch 27 of the top 35 cable channels. It offers important sports channels like ESPN, FS1, NFL Network, NFL RedZone, TBS, and TNT.

One downside to Sling is that local channels aren’t available in all markets, and customers who get ABC, Fox, and NBC have to pay an additional $5 per month. CBS also isn’t available with Sling, but if you have an over-the-air antenna you can watch all your locals with no subscription fees associated. You can also add Paramount+ with SHOWTIME for $13 per month to stream CBS live, and watch NBC live on Peacock Premium Plus for $14 per month.

Sling’s DVR is a bit more limited than DIRECTV STREAM, but it should work fine unless you watch a ton of TV. You can pay to upgrade it if needed.

On-Demand Apps

There’s a huge amount of on-demand streaming apps out there, from the most popular and well-known like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Max, to the more obscure like Acorn TV or Shudder. Hundreds of these apps are available to download and stream with separate subscriptions on your new smart TV or streaming device, and there’s a huge list of services that you can try free.

Here are a few we love in The Streamable offices:

Prime Video

Get a huge variety of entertainment in one spot. You’ll see acclaimed titles like “Reacher,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “The Boys,” “Invincible,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Fleabag.” Prime Video also plays host to a ton of major Hollywood movies. As a major bonus, you can watch this streaming service for free for 30 days as part of the larger Amazon Prime free trial.

One of the best things about Prime Video is the ability to add additional subscriptions and keep all your bills in the same place. Max and [Paramount + $] are two great add-ons, but the list is staggering. You can keep tabs on your favorite basketball team with NBA League Pass, delve deep into anime with Crunchyroll, or binge British shows with Acorn TV. Most add-ons even come with free trials so you can test out your new service thoroughly.

Disney+

Families with kids will absolutely love Disney+. Pixar titles like “Inside Out 2” and the new show “Dream Productions” call the streamer home, as does the huge collection of animated Disney titles stretching back decades. The Marvel and Star Wars universes also call Disney+ home, and viewers can stream content from National Geographic and much more there as well.

To supercharge Disney+, upgrade to the Disney Bundle, which gives you a major discount on Hulu, and ESPN+. Viewers can watch shows like “The Bear,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” and thousands of other Hulu titles within Disney+ if they’re signed up for the bundle, and live sports from ESPN+ are now available there as well.

Max

Max is the home of HBO titles like “The Sopranos,” “The Penguin,” “The Wire,” “Sex and the City,” “Succession,” “Game of Thrones,” “The White Lotus,” “Hacks,” and so many others. The streamer also keeps a great inventory of library titles like “Friends” and “The West Wing,” and features a huge selection of shows from Warner Bros. Discovery cable channels like Food Network, HGTV, and Magnolia Network.

The movie library is among the best in streaming, with a mix of blockbusters and critical darlings. You can see “Barbie,” “Fargo,” the “Dune” movies, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the Peter Jackson “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the Harry Potter films, “The Batman,” “Parasite,” “The Matrix,” “Moonlight,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Scream,” “Casablanca,” “Avatar,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Good Will Hunting,” and so much more.

Free Apps

To round out your streaming diet, it’s worth adding several free services. Most of these have commercials. Tubi has a surprisingly high-quality movie library. Pluto TV is great for “background TV” with lots of virtual “channels” that play comfort-food reruns of your favorite shows.

If you have a library card, check to see if your library offers Kanopy or Hoopla, and you’ll find a lot of good options to watch without commercials.

Conclusion

Once you’ve got your favorite apps downloaded and ready to go on your new device, you’ll have stepped into the world of streaming. Thousands of shows and movies will be right at your fingertips, ready to watch on the biggest screen in your house!

If you want to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and changes in the streaming world so you can continue to make the most out of your device, you can sign up for our newsletter below! Our experts will keep you informed on all the latest streaming news, so you’re never out of the loop!

Lastly, make sure you’re maximizing your entertainment arrangements by rotating through streamers if you need to! Even I have been known to cancel a streamer I wasn’t watching enough, and the month-to-month subscription nature of on-demand streamers ensures you can keep a service only as long as it has the content you want to stream often.