When asked why i device per lo streaming come Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick o Year stop working, the short answer is: simply because, as happens with every electronic device, sooner or later they do destined to break oa become obsolete.
Clearly it is not that simple and there are many variables to consider that influence the correct functioning of our devices.
Often it depends on the age of these instruments, other times on the lack of updates or maybe fromuser carelessness. The fact is that sooner or later our faithful media center is destined to pass away and it is appropriate to analyze the reason for this, above all to understand if it is possible to understand the onset of problems in advance and act promptly.
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1. Video codecs are obsolete
To work properly our streaming devices need a codec which makes sure that media files can be coded e reproduced clearly.
In recent decades, many codecs have been developed, intended for different uses, including obviously streaming.
However, things change and technology evolves rapidlylooking for increasingly efficient solutions to transmit quality audio and video but without reaching exaggerated dimensions.
Of course new codecs can significantly improve the streaming experience, but they may need to latest technologies and, with them, tools that can guarantee greater performance.
In this sense it is clear that a tool that is too old will not be able to meet the most recent requirements and, consequently, will stop working properly and, sooner or later, will no longer be usable.
One of the most striking examples is the AV1 video format which offers more than 30% better compression than previous formats.
However not all devices are capable of playing it and generally need to rather specific technical characteristics and quite high-performance.
Today there are several processors that can count on AV1 decoding but, despite being a very efficient system, it is still not used universally precisely because compatible hardware It’s not that widespread yet.
And this is exactly the right example to understand why codecs influence so much the functioning of a streaming device: because if a device was not compatible and was unable to use the codec in question, it would be unusable and therefore to replace.
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2. Network problems
As is well known, it is not possible to stream video without one Internet connection working.
Clearly also i protocols and the technologies used for connections have changed in recent years, although not so suddenly as to cause problems for users.
However, it is also true that if a device is quite old, even if still functional, it may no longer be compatible with the modern internet protocols and consequently it would not be able to reproduce multimedia contents, let alone surf the web smoothly.
Usually manufacturing companies guarantee several updates before disposing of a technology, however, for example an old PC with Windows XPalthough it can still be used for various functions, it will still not be able to access Apple TVfor example, ora Netflix.
The same goes for streaming stick and, therefore, thinking of using one of the first devices of this kind (which is now starting to be more than a few years old) is practically impossible, even though, as just said, it may still seem to be working.
So if a media center is no longer updated by the manufacturer, i integrated certificates sooner or later they will expire, ending up interrupting services and applications.
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3. Problems with software updates
As happens with any electronic device, even streaming devices (such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick and Roku) sooner or later will no longer receive operating system updates.
This brings us back to the discussion on older hardwaresui web protocols no longer in use or perhaps the disposal of old servers. Whatever the reason, the result does not change: the media center will shut down and will no longer work.
To be honest, many of these tools, especially in the past, guaranteed a very long term support which could have lasted for many years.
Let’s say that for particularly lucky users, one streaming stick can last five or seven years, ten in the best case scenario and this regardless of use.
Clearly it is a question of low prices and devices older than two or three years are unlikely to fit into our homes, also thanks to a extremely affordable price which leads to a very frequent turnover.
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4. Breaks in the device
As mentioned at the beginning it is normal that any streaming device, whatever the manufacturer, from Roku to Amazon Fire Stick and through Apple TV, they are destined to wear out.
Wear often corresponds to breakages oa damaged parts which will inevitably limit the functioning of the media center until there is nothing left to do.
In a nutshell, nothing lasts forever, and even if you take the best care of it, sooner or later the plastic cover or some electrical component it will start to cause problems and at that point, you will generally have to dig into your wallet and buy a new streaming device.
To know more: How Netflix works
