Old TV + New Streamer Question

[ryanosaur]

I have an old tv that doesn’t like to process streaming data anymore. It’s a Sony Bravia 850C from 2016. Incoming data via Ethernet will not load or cause freezing of the app and often we will see buffering lag and complete crashes. Our newer TVs do not do this.

We have retired this 850C, but a friend wants it.

Can anybody answer if something like a Roku will act as the streaming device and just send an AV signal to the TV and bypass the TV’s own streaming processing?

Does USB input matter or should it be HDMI only?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

I don’t see why a Roku box wouldn’t work, since it’ll be doing its own processing. If you had things connected to the TV’s HDMI inputs before and everything worked, seems all the more likely that a Roku would work, too.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Alex2507]

Can anybody answer if something like a Roku will act as the streaming device and just send an AV signal to the TV and bypass the TV’s own streaming processing?

I have 2 smart TV's and and old Panny Plasma dumb TV that all have streamers. In particular a Roku Ultra goes to the Panny Plasma. The smart TV's have a NVidea Shield TV and an Amazon Fire TV.

I thought that's what the streamers were for: to add the smart feature or improve upon an existing smart feature.

 

[ryanosaur]

Not gonna lie... never used an external streamer!

The Lady kicked me off that 850C a long while back which was when I set up in my own room. I was always able to use the TV for Streaming and had everything else connected as sources through the AVR prior to that.

Never had an issue with any of the HDMI while I was using it, and she never plugged anything else into that TV.

I just wanna make certain if she drives this 2hrs to help our friend with a broken foot that it won't be a for naught.

Thanks guys!

 

[flyboylr45]

Yes. Something like a Roku stick or the likes will work as you intend. We used those in our dumb tvs before they were updated. Worked just fine.

 

[Eppie]

I also have a Roku stick plugged into an HDMI port on my old Panasonic plasma. It's been working fine.

 

[highfigh]

I don't like the Stick if the TV is between it and the router or access point- some TVs block RF signals very well, so I use and recommend the Premier, which isn't much different in price.

The TV should be fine with the signal from the Roku- none of my TVs with a Roku are newer, one is 720p and the other is 1080p- the smaller one (720p) looks great, even when the message in the upper left corner shows 1080p.

 

[Cos]

I use Apple 4k TVs on pretty much all my TVs. Android is a good app on TVs, but it can crash often. I had the 850C which was a good TV at the time, but Sony does not put a lot of CPU power for streaming in their TVs apparently. I have good luck with recent models like the Bravia 7 in my game room.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

We stream on a few things. Xbox, nice experience, but the controller is not elegant lol. Sony x700 UHD player. GUI is good enough, and quick enough. Maybe a little clunky.
Roku premier, interface is cheesy, but solid and fairly quick.
Apple TV 4K. By far the best streamer I’ve used. It’s quick, looks great, super smooth and very responsive. Tv apps have always felt clunky, and slow. Some are limited in functionality and audio support too.
RynoDino, I would recommend ATV4k all day.

 

[ryanosaur]

We stream on a few things. Xbox, nice experience, but the controller is not elegant lol. Sony x700 UHD player. GUI is good enough, and quick enough. Maybe a little clunky.
Roku premier, interface is cheesy, but solid and fairly quick.
Apple TV 4K. By far the best streamer I’ve used. It’s quick, looks great, super smooth and very responsive. Tv apps have always felt clunky, and slow. Some are limited in functionality and audio support too.
RynoDino, I would recommend ATV4k all day.

I think our friend uses Roku. Uncertain which one, but she confirmed it is hdmi. Unless something died while hdmi wasn’t in use, it sounds like she will be fine.

If it were me, I’d go ATV and not look back.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I really appreciate the assist!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I think our friend uses Roku. Uncertain which one, but she confirmed it is hdmi. Unless something died while hdmi wasn’t in use, it sounds like she will be fine.

If it were me, I’d go ATV and not look back.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I really appreciate the assist!

Hey, just glad to see you’re still around here buddy. Here’s something for you. The current view out my back window. Got a bit of a winter storm. I know you’ll appreciate this.

It’s not horribly cold at about 32°, but it rained and froze, and then snowed on top.
More annoying than anything, especially considering how nice it’s been.(a couple days near 50° lol). The lake had about two inches of water sitting on top of 2-3’ of ice. Gross…
Enjoy the bay!

 

[ryanosaur]

Hey, just glad to see you’re still around here buddy. Here’s something for you. The current view out my back window. Got a bit of a winter storm. I know you’ll appreciate this.

It’s not horribly cold at about 32°, but it rained and froze, and then snowed on top.
More annoying than anything, especially considering how nice it’s been.(a couple days near 50° lol). The lake had about two inches of water sitting on top of 2-3’ of ice. Gross…
Enjoy the bay!

Our super-nice January weather broke hard and left town this week. But for a midwestern boy, it’s still shorts and sleeveless tee weather! Only 34° when I went for coffee this morn, but now a pleasant 40°.

Got caught in a flash hailstorm yesterday... only pea-sized, but that sh!t hurts when you are just taking trash to the curb and not protected!

 

[highfigh]

I think our friend uses Roku. Uncertain which one, but she confirmed it is hdmi. Unless something died while hdmi wasn’t in use, it sounds like she will be fine.

If it were me, I’d go ATV and not look back.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I really appreciate the assist!

One of the reasons I prefer Roku is the cost- if one dies or goes obsolete, it costs far less than an ATV and as I found when I was trying to change some universal remote settings, the ATV completely went unresponsive and other than being told that it had taken that opportunity to lose its mind, which was billable time, it took a really long time to find someone in AppleCare who could explain how to restore it to factory so I could have the customer reload the apps and be able to use it. With a Roku, it might be $40, with ATV,, it's at least $100.

BTW- it has been a very long time since Roku had analog outputs.

 

[ryanosaur]

BTW- it has been a very long time since Roku had analog outputs.

I wasn't certain if they were USB or HDMI. If the signal were coming in over USB, I would still have concerns the 10yr old TV wouldn't handle it.

One of the reasons I prefer Roku is the cost- if one dies or goes obsolete, it costs far less than an ATV and as I found when I was trying to change some universal remote settings, the ATV completely went unresponsive and other than being told that it had taken that opportunity to lose its mind, which was billable time, it took a really long time to find someone in AppleCare who could explain how to restore it to factory so I could have the customer reload the apps and be able to use it. With a Roku, it might be $40, with ATV,, it's at least $100.

For myself, I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem. Also, I've never met a universal remote I didn't want to smash within 5 minutes.

 

[highfigh]

I wasn't certain if they were USB or HDMI. If the signal were coming in over USB, I would still have concerns the 10yr old TV wouldn't handle it.


For myself, I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem. Also, I've never met a universal remote I didn't want to smash within 5 minutes.

They have a USB port, but only intended for connecting while iTunes is open, to set it up or restore to default (I had never used this for setup and it was the only unit I've needed to restore).

It wasn't the remote's fault, the ATV's white LED only blinked when I used the OEM remote, too. I called the day it puked and was told that it had gone obsolete, apparently while I was working with it and at that point, after restoring, it will work, but there are no updates for it and apps can no longer be added.

Which universal remotes have you used?

Universal remotes work great if:

They have a good database for commands and the code is complete with no missing characters.

The programmer understands what the equipment needs and what the remote system can do. WRT delays, a good example is Denon's need for a delay of 5 seconds or longer between Power On and any input command for their older AVRs (correctly timed delays have been a part of this, going back to about 2000). Once they made it possible to use an inpuit command to turn on the AVR, that went away. Other devices (like cable boxes) were still a problem because they didn't use discrete commands for Power On/Power Off. The boxes could do it, but the cable providers removed it from the command set.

 

[ryanosaur]

Which universal remotes have you used?

Admittedly it’s been quite a while since I played with them. Well over 15yrs! So I’m not the best source and only meant it for passing conversation.
My main gripe was incomplete codes for linking equipment. I always seemed to have 1 or 2 pieces that weren’t compatible. *shrugs