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"...You see, despite still being on sale as recently as September, Best Buy announced that it will be switching off Insignia's servers on December 1st. Upshot - all your Insignia Smart Devices bork into Insignia Dumb Devices...."
This is exactly why I only buy Roku TV's or devices. I trust Roku not to go anywhere soon and even if they folded tomorrow the devices don't rely on Roku server for continued functioning.
This is exactly why I only buy Roku TV's or devices. I trust Roku not to go anywhere soon and even if they folded tomorrow the devices don't rely on Roku server for continued functioning.
Roku's do rely on Roku servers though, you wouldn't be able to install the channel apps without them, but I don't see them turning out the lights any time soon. I try not to buy anything that relies on a 3rd party service to work, and if I must I make sure they've already been around a while and are a known brand, but that doesn't ensure these services won't be discontinued at some point.
The last such thing I bought was a Honeywell wifi t-stat a couple years ago, it will still function if the servers are ever turned off, I'd just lose the remote access and alerts.
Roku's do rely on Roku servers though, you wouldn't be able to install the channel apps without them, but I don't see them turning out the lights any time soon. I try not to buy anything that relies on a 3rd party service to work, and if I must I make sure they've already been around a while and are a known brand, but that doesn't ensure these services won't be discontinued at some point.
Any existing apps will continue to work. So unless Roku said "we're going dark: NOW!" we could still load up our apps before they shut off the lights and keep using them. I can also sideload apps to my hearts content.
Any existing apps will continue to work. So unless Roku said "we're going dark: NOW!" we could still load up our apps before they shut off the lights and keep using them. I can also sideload apps to my hearts content.
So glad to hear that any existing apps will continue to work. I was worried about articles like these:
It isn't just streaming that is a problem. EOL support on software can suck. I used to use a Serif product to make flyers and lay out some graphics. They moved on and "depricated" their support. As the software had been "upgraded" to have to talk with their servers, it died. I dug around and finally found one older version in my CDs that still works.
I'll probably always have one computer running XP. Even back then it was a problem though. A music for midi program I have used one of the ancient fonts and no longer worked when I changed from Win 95. It was a fantastic program too.
This is exactly why I only buy Roku TV's or devices. I trust Roku not to go anywhere soon and even if they folded tomorrow the devices don't rely on Roku server for continued functioning.
If the hardware or the software no longer supports any changes to the services you are toast. Even if it can still work the app vendors may not update the app.
Still true in regard to what we are discussing. That's a different scenario you are referencing.
The original article and this post are all about making the entire 'widget' not work. You are referring to ONE company dropping ONE app from a Roku. If Roku shut down, Netflix will still work on any Roku that Netflix supports. As will Hulu and Crackle and Philo. You aren't using Roku's "network".
Still true in regard to what we are discussing. That's a different scenario you are referencing.
The original article and this post are all about making the entire 'widget' not work. You are referring to ONE company dropping ONE app from a Roku. If Roku shut down, Netflix will still work on any Roku that Netflix supports. As will Hulu and Crackle and Philo. You aren't using Roku's "network".
I can speak more for the fire stick which is what I use. If your internet is down for whatever reason, you will get no "home" page which to the common person IS the whole widget. No home page, no apps. Yes, they are still installed and can still run them, you just don't get the nice user-friendly screen that people are used to. I doubt Amazon will go under any time soon but if they do you could go to settings, manage installed applications and launch the apps from there. I am sure Roku has a similar set up. Not much use for the device (Fire TV) without internet except Kodi with which you can view your own saved content.
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