Smart tv going dumb. How best to restore?

Withbellson

thor said:

Neil_Jones said:

USB functionality shouldn't be affected, the only things you'll lose will be the apps like Prime, Netflix and YouTube.  USB media viewing isn't part of the smart TV experience.

This is what I was hoping. However, I would still like to know if firestick is capable of playing media files from drives connected to the tv because it may allow me to play other different video formats.

I bought an Android box , as it was cheap and suitable for my usage. I splashed out £20. It has two USB-A ports
Though if you are savvy, there is often no need to download to storage. You can leave it in the cloud and stream it from there.
That way you can stream your media to any device; anywhere with an Internet connection

another_casualty

As a person who has a non-smart tv , could someone pleaee explain how the OP's tv will cease to be smart  next month ?😬
I thought  that since purchased , it should be straightforward that everything would work as is until it eventually breaks down . 

Is it a copyright issue or something ? ..

debitcardmayhem

I would guess it stops receiving updates for the “smart” apps , some probably down to memory constraints or cpu, some down to security concerns which the manufacturers aren’t willing to invest the time and effort to fix, but basically they want to sell new TVs🛟

another_casualty

debitcardmayhem said:

I would guess it stops receiving updates for the “smart” apps , some probably down to memory constraints or cpu, some down to security concerns which the manufacturers aren’t willing to invest the time and effort to fix, but basically they want to sell new TVs🛟

Aaah, thank you @debitcardmayhem😼
That all seems to make sense now . 

Neil_Jones

another_casualty said:

As a person who has a non-smart tv , could someone pleaee explain how the OP's tv will cease to be smart  next month ?😬
I thought  that since purchased , it should be straightforward that everything would work as is until it eventually breaks down . 

Is it a copyright issue or something ? ..

All Smart TVs go "dumb" after about five years (if that sometiems).  It usually means a major upgrade to the integrated Prime/Netflix/YouTube apps is needed to keep it working on that TV/range of TVs but either the TV can't handle the upgrade (lack of memory/space/whatever) or the usage base of that range is so low that the time required to make the upgrade work isn't worth the effort.

The firestick on the other hand, all the apps support it going back to the 2nd generation at least (some even 1st generation, but 2nd gen is a minimum for most)..  Its no different a situation than your mobile phone which at the budget end will often see sod all in the way of updates, and most others only get one or maybe two new Android rollouts.  Further down the line apps require minimum Android versions and you'll just get left behind if you're stuck on Android 6 (for example) and 95% of apps want Android 9 as a minimum.

another_casualty

Neil_Jones said:

another_casualty said:

As a person who has a non-smart tv , could someone pleaee explain how the OP's tv will cease to be smart  next month ?😬
I thought  that since purchased , it should be straightforward that everything would work as is until it eventually breaks down . 

Is it a copyright issue or something ? ..

All Smart TVs go "dumb" after about five years (if that sometiems).  It usually means a major upgrade to the integrated Prime/Netflix/YouTube apps is needed to keep it working on that TV/range of TVs but either the TV can't handle the upgrade (lack of memory/space/whatever) or the usage base of that range is so low that the time required to make the upgrade work isn't worth the effort.

The firestick on the other hand, all the apps support it going back to the 2nd generation at least (some even 1st generation, but 2nd gen is a minimum for most)..  Its no different a situation than your mobile phone which at the budget end will often see sod all in the way of updates, and most others only get one or maybe two new Android rollouts.  Further down the line apps require minimum Android versions and you'll just get left behind if you're stuck on Android 6 (for example) and 95% of apps want Android 9 as a minimum.

Thanks _@Neil_Jones 😼
Great info there . 

I have Apple TV thankfully, and also Freesat box which surprisingly covers all bases also . Not watching much TV it’s easy to forget the apps on that ..