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I'm old and can't get modern TV to work

Started by Colin YNWA, 05 February, 2020, 09:28:48 PM

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Colin YNWA

Help me hive mind your my only hope.

So I finally joined the 21st century and got an Amazon Prime account to watch Amazon Video. All good. I can watch Amazon Video via wi-fi at home on laptop and my 12 inch tablet - lovely but YUCK - that's no way to watch tv and films these days. So no problem we watch iPlayer without a problem via by plugging the laptop into one of the TVs HDMI slots ... but that doesn't work with Prime on the same device and HDMI slots, a few minutes after doing so the picture breaks up and after a while becomes almost completely static and is unwatchable.

Okay thinks I its not the wi-fi speed as I can watch on other devices.

Okay thinks I its not the HDMI slots on the TV cos I can watch iPlayer through those...

...hhmmmm so thinks I maybe its some combination of the two (or three). Each not realllllyyy working well (our wi-fi isn't great just done a quick online test and I'm getting 24.7 mbps which I don't think is great, but my wife is tapping away on the other sofa) and so some lose from both that and the HDMI connection means that I can stream a lower bandwidth iPlayer (is it???) but not lovely shiny Prime via HDMI?

So anyway take a gamble and get a Fire TV stick to see if that improves things and... it doesn't. Plug it in all working fine. All set up and about 5 minutes in things start to break up and 10 minutes in its all but gone. Weird.

Tried different HDMI slots on the TV (both of which work on the laptop into TV with iPlayer). There is the option it seems to go for an ethernet adaptor for the new shiny Fire but don't want to shell more cash if I'm just being daft and missing something. Or not going to have a chance.

Any ideas am I just being thick and missing the obvious. Is it just my wi-fi connection is pants - we do have old phone cabling and we're not on the direct phone plug point as there's on power near the port into the house?

Any ideas, is an ethernet cable worth a shot?

maryanddavid

Woul it be anything to do with the amount of devices you have amazon prime on? I think that can be a problem with Netflix depending on what plan you are on.

Colin YNWA

Actually sussed it. I've not yet downloaded the Netflix app as I don't have Netflix BUT through the fuzz and the flicker I searched the menu items and found that I could manually select the resolution settings and when I've selected a lower resolution it seems to work fine. Its an old(ish) tv and lo and behold it seems to work. The automatic setting was going for 1050 60hz and I'm guessing even though the TV claims to be HD ready that was killing it? Though why it would work at first escapes me but I'll not try to pretend I understand these things...

...anyway fingers crossed.... lets see if this sticks...

Colin YNWA

What this has highlighted to me is while 'Plug and Play' on all sorts of device and things is great I do miss a manual that tells me what the options are on any given device.

Last night I all but gave up on this, as had plenty of things to do and after a search on the Internet most things suggested an ethernet cable, which as it turns out wasn't going to work (well I don't think anyway). So after admiring my new lego Dewback (I'm so busy!) I'd finished my 'cores' and thought I'd have another think about the Fire issue. It was only by deciding to rumage around between the frequent bursts of static that I spotted the 'Setting' options and fought my way across those to find the manual resolution settings.

When searching online there is a manual - though the full manual takes a little digging and I got from Argos site in the end! That doesn't do the simple thing of letting you know a full list of options and setting and there are LOADS. Curious this morning I tried a few more targeted searces and found a site or two that tell you what options are available - from none Amazon pages and finally I see the manual adjustment of resolution settings - though it does say leave this at 'auto' as it will find the best option for you! What this also revealed was a load of settings that allow me to change notifcation, privacy and data sharing - which I think I'll look into more later tonight.

Anyway the cynic in me thinks that's probably why they don't openly advertise the full range of settings in an easy to find manual. After all its not for Amazon to drive you somewhere to allow you to not share your data with them now is it... is it...

Plug and play is great for a dum lazy old goat like me and to be honest almost every other time its worked a treat. But the things exposed to me by this minor, very middle class inconvenience, is that I miss a manual and I wonder how many other devices I should be doing more of a dig around about to see what I really should be understanding about the devices I use.

Mind if I play with the big boys I pay the devil his due I guess.

shaolin_monkey

I feel your pain.  The older I get, the more electronics slip further from my grasp.

IndigoPrime

I would point and laugh at the old person. But despite the fact I write about tech for a living, I'm still baffled regarding our telly's communication (or sometimes lack thereof) with the Apple TV that's plugged into it.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 06 February, 2020, 12:31:37 PM
I would point and laugh at the old person. But despite the fact I write about tech for a living, I'm still baffled regarding our telly's communication (or sometimes lack thereof) with the Apple TV that's plugged into it.

Trust me you don't want to know what the focus of my job is at the moment. This would make my ineptitude all the more potent!

Professor Bear

Do you have any consoles plugged into the tv?  Anything with an online store should have streaming apps available to download, though if you navigate to the tv/video section of your dashboard you should find the major streaming services already waiting for you to open your wallet.