29 Sep
Sony Bravia smart TV sets made in 2012 will no longer be able to show YouTube videos after 30. september, reported BBC news. The devices will not be capable of displaying videos from the site thanks to changes made by YouTube to the way it handles uploads.
In a statement posted to its customer support site, Sony said the television sets were not losing access because of a “failure” of the set. Instead, it said, recent changes made to YouTube “exceed the capability of the TV’s hardware”. The reason for this loss is due to hardware limitations of the models following a change to YouTube’s specifications. Google announced in August that YouTube would be moving all its traffic to HTTPS. The company warned that over time it would phase out insecure connections, which means some devices would lose access to YouTube.
Why this matters? This is a cautionary tale for any prospective TV buyer. Smart TVs are generally a bad buy, pure and simple, thought Ian Paul. While those apps look enticing, they are restricted by the rather expensive hardware that runs them and Smart TVs are often lower down the priority list for updates by app developers. Accessories such as an Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku, however, don’t cost that much and are easily replaceable once they fail or also hit the limits of their internal capabilities.
More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year. Operators, how will you enable your subscribers to watching YouTube on TV in the future? The same problem will happen if you offer STB solution.
Beenius not only supports Android TVs, but also Android STB. Do you still have a lot of questions? Get in touch with Beenius representative and learn how you can solve the expected concerns of your subscriber.
