Looking for a streaming box (Roku or similar)

You’re still going to run into HDCP problems where applicable, which I expect will include HBO Max

Damn.

Well, buying a $250 TV is simply not an option, so I’m getting the sense I’m screwed here. That’s idiotic, by the way - everyone knows HDMI ports burn out at the drop of a damn hat. This all just reeks of forced obsolescence.

I just saw a youtube video where a guy claims you can get an HDMI → VGA converter, then plug that into a VGA port (if you have one).

The converters are < $10, so maybe that’s an option?

[note: I hate learning this sort of stuff from videos.]

We do indeed have a working VGA port on that TV, it’s how the laptop had been connected. I will look into that, thanks for the idea!

Right? Why is the lowest information-density media format suddenly the only one anyone can be bothered with?

My wife (e-learning specialist) could probably weigh in on that. Something something different modalities of learning.

More likely, you can monetize youtube videos easily, so why bother with a web page?

I bet she’s suddenly even busier than usual - this remote teaching stuff is killing me.

Yup.

So just to verify, Roku IS working with HBOMax now? All models?

I’ve never even heard of this phenomenon. I believe you, it just points to how out of touch I am with how people use their electronics. I plug in a new HDMI device maybe once every couple years - I’m not sure how it would get burned out at that rate.

I don’t know anyone that has a TV older than 5 years that doesn’t have at least one dead HDMI port, and none of us is switching cables often. The things are just flimsy, apparently.

Do the TVs with a built-in Roku ever get their software updated? The reason I ask is because my few years old Vizio has a built-in Chromecast function that in the past few months has become inoperable since Google updated something (I guess). The tv doesn’t have any option for updating the software. (None that I can find anyway).

Again, it may “work”, but anything that involves converting from HDMI will not play HDCP content. It needs to do the HDMI handshake with the TV.

Well, whatever, I’ll take what I can get. At $30 it’s worth it even if it only works with some services, and the ones it doesn’t work with can lose my business. No streaming service is worth its own price plus that of a new TV (plus all the hassle involved).

That’s a perfectly reasonable position (save that it really sounds like the TV would be a justified purchase regardless of streaming services), but I would really check which services do in fact use HDCP before you buy, otherwise you’re just throwing money at it for nothing.

Basically all of them.

I really can’t properly express how fucking angry I am right now. If I could actually get to a party that was responsible for this decision making I’d cheerfully spend an hour screaming my head off at them, but of course I’d just get some poor front-line phone worker who has no control over anything and there’s no satisfaction to be had abusing innocent people.

Seriously, fuck this shit.

So it’s a $250 TV I don’t need for any other reason, or its nothing. So it’s nothing. Thanks anyway, folks.

Edit: And sorry for getting a little heated there, TV tech has always struck me as an abusive con game. Don’t even get me started on 4K.

We bought a pair of inexpensive TCLs about 2 years ago. They are updated regularly; it took about a week, maybe two weeks (?) after the Roku/HBO Max thing was settled for us to get the HBO Max app available on our TV.

YMMV once the TV is 4-5 years old, of course.

Isn’t HDCP in place to prevent pie-rats from man in the middle perfect stealing of content (note: it happens anyway, so it’s only good at stopping people who don’t care to put in effort.)

…and, of course, legit customers with older TV’s. But then copyright protection is always a bigger problem for legit customers than for pirates, isn’t it?

Now you know one! Decade old bargain RCA unit with all four still functional, including several full moves of the TV and rehooking everything up from scratch over the years.

I mean I wouldn’t get an older one. Fewer updates and the ones that are 2-3+ years old no longer work with at least the latest Netflix app, maybe more. But anything current generation works with basically all the major services.

That’s positively amazing, lucky you! It speaks well of RCA’s build quality.

Well, if you want to go cheap I googled it and Walmart has a 32 inch Roku TV for $108.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-32-Class-HD-720P-LED-Roku-Smart-TV-100012589/314022535

Don’t know anything about the brand but if it lasts you two years you will have paid $9 a month for it.

Also, if you’re using it primarily to stream, your wife can pick up and move a 32 inch tv quite easily to any room she wants. It just needs an outlet for power.