I
ran across a discussion on Reddit last week about the right time to
upgrade an older streaming device.
It seems someone with an older Amazon Fire TV stick was wondering about the advantages of buying a new one.
This hit home with me, because I had just that week purchased a new Roku streaming box for a TV in my mother-in-law’s living room.
My mother-in-law had cut her cable TV service several years ago, and she has two TVs. Her main TV is in her bedroom and I put a Roku streaming stick on it two years ago.
The TV in her living room is rarely used, and one of my relatives put their old Roku stick on it and it was used to let various grandkids watch cartoons.
We’ve been spending more time at her house, and I wanted to log into my DirecTV Stream service in the living room.
The second-hand Roku device was not new enough to run DirecTV Stream. It simply did not show as an available channel to load.
This brings me around to the original question: When is it time to upgrade your older streaming device?
My experience would tell me the time to look at upgrading an older streaming device is when it is no longer compatible with the content you want to view.
I would also add that you should be looking to upgrade to a newer model if your existing streaming device is exhibiting slowness to respond to input commands and switching from app to app.
It might also be worth mentioning that if you have an older smart TV, one that still works but perhaps one that hasn’t kept up with adding newer streaming services, you might just want to abandon the built-in streaming in favor of a newer streaming box from Apple or Amazon or Roku.
A quick trip to Walmart in East Texas found a Roku LE that does everything we need for that TV. It’s amazing how much of a technology bump you can get by spending $20. The TV in my mother-in-law’s living room is an older 720p Panasonic plasma. If I had a need for 4K, I would have opted for the Roku Express 4K+ for $30.
©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
It seems someone with an older Amazon Fire TV stick was wondering about the advantages of buying a new one.
This hit home with me, because I had just that week purchased a new Roku streaming box for a TV in my mother-in-law’s living room.
My mother-in-law had cut her cable TV service several years ago, and she has two TVs. Her main TV is in her bedroom and I put a Roku streaming stick on it two years ago.
The TV in her living room is rarely used, and one of my relatives put their old Roku stick on it and it was used to let various grandkids watch cartoons.
We’ve been spending more time at her house, and I wanted to log into my DirecTV Stream service in the living room.
The second-hand Roku device was not new enough to run DirecTV Stream. It simply did not show as an available channel to load.
This brings me around to the original question: When is it time to upgrade your older streaming device?
My experience would tell me the time to look at upgrading an older streaming device is when it is no longer compatible with the content you want to view.
I would also add that you should be looking to upgrade to a newer model if your existing streaming device is exhibiting slowness to respond to input commands and switching from app to app.
It might also be worth mentioning that if you have an older smart TV, one that still works but perhaps one that hasn’t kept up with adding newer streaming services, you might just want to abandon the built-in streaming in favor of a newer streaming box from Apple or Amazon or Roku.
A quick trip to Walmart in East Texas found a Roku LE that does everything we need for that TV. It’s amazing how much of a technology bump you can get by spending $20. The TV in my mother-in-law’s living room is an older 720p Panasonic plasma. If I had a need for 4K, I would have opted for the Roku Express 4K+ for $30.
©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
