How to Watch Streaming Services on Older Televisions

Why an older television is still worth keeping

If the picture on your television is still sharp and the sound is still decent, the only thing that has really aged is the software inside it. A set bought a decade ago can have an excellent panel, and panels are the expensive part. What fails is app support: the streaming app built into a 2014 television may not have been updated for years, and eventually it stops working altogether or refuses to play the newest content. That is not a reason to spend several hundred pounds on a new set. It is a reason to give the television a new source of video.

Everything below assumes two things: you have a spare HDMI socket at the back, and you have a reasonably reliable home broadband connection. With those in place, you can bring modern on-demand and catch-up services to almost any television for less than the price of a family takeaway.

A streaming stick is the simplest upgrade

The easiest route is a media streaming stick or small streaming box. This is a dongle that plugs into an HDMI port and gives you a completely fresh, fully updated menu of apps, maintained by the manufacturer rather than by your television. Expect to pay somewhere between £25 and £70 depending on whether you want 4K or just full HD.

• Plug it into mains power rather than the television's USB socket wherever you can. Many older sets cannot supply enough current down that USB port, and the stick will restart every time you switch the television off.
• If the HDMI sockets are cramped or angled awkwardly, buy a short HDMI extension cable. Streaming sticks are surprisingly chunky and will often block the socket next door.
• Connect it to your Wi-Fi during setup. Cheaper sticks sometimes only support the 2.4GHz band, which is fine for HD but can stutter during peak evening hours. If your router is at the other end of the house, choose a model that accepts a wired network adaptor.
• Spend twenty minutes signing into each app once, with a phone or laptop beside you so you can type passwords on a proper keyboard. It is fiddly, but you only do it once.

Two settings are worth changing straight away. Set the display output to 1080p if your television is a full HD model, so the stick is not wasting effort upscaling to a resolution the screen cannot show. Then rename that HDMI input to something like "Streaming" and turn on the television's control-over-HDMI feature, usually labelled as one-touch play. That way, pressing a button on the streaming remote switches the television on and jumps to the right input automatically. In most households this makes the old set feel genuinely modern.

Using a games console you already own

If there is a games console under the television, you may not need to buy anything at all. Consoles from the last ten years carry a good range of streaming and catch-up apps, and they receive updates far more reliably than a television's built-in software.

• Check the console's app store before assuming a particular service is available; the list varies by model and region.
• Use a dedicated media remote if one is sold for your console, or pair a spare controller. Navigating a streaming menu with a games controller works, but it is clumsy for everyday watching.
• Consoles draw far more power than a streaming stick, so enable the energy-saving standby mode and let it switch itself off properly rather than leaving it idling.
• Set the console's video output to match your television, and disable any automatic HDR or 4K output if the screen does not support it, otherwise the picture can wash out.

Laptop, tablet or phone as a temporary source

For occasional viewing, a laptop connected by HDMI cable is perfectly serviceable, and it costs nothing if you already own the cable. Set the television as a second display, choose the correct resolution, and remember to route the sound to the television rather than the laptop speakers. If your laptop only has a USB-C port, you will need a suitable adaptor. Be aware that some streaming services block playback over certain cable and adaptor combinations as part of their copy protection, so test it before relying on it for a big occasion.

Screen mirroring from a phone or tablet over Wi-Fi works too, but it is best kept for the odd video clip rather than a full evening's viewing. Mirroring compresses the picture, drains the battery quickly, and is very sensitive to Wi-Fi congestion. Keep both devices on the same network, ideally the faster 5GHz band, and keep the phone plugged into a charger.

Sort out the sound and picture

Once the video side is working, spend a few minutes on the details that make the difference between "it works" and "it looks good".

• If you have a soundbar or amplifier, connect it using an optical cable or the HDMI socket marked for audio return. Older televisions often lack the latter, in which case optical is the reliable option.
• If speech and picture drift apart, look for a lip sync or audio delay setting on the television or soundbar and nudge it in small steps.
• Switch the picture mode to a cinema or standard setting and turn off motion smoothing. It makes films look like cheap video and is rarely what anyone wants.
• Check that subtitles appear correctly in the app rather than the television menu, as settings are usually stored per app.

What to buy and what to avoid

Before buying anything, count your free HDMI sockets and check your Wi-Fi signal strength at the television using a phone. A stick with a weak signal will frustrate you far more than a slow processor will.

Spend a little more for a model with a proper remote rather than one controlled only by an app, and make sure the apps you actually use are available in your region. If the television is a second set in a bedroom or kitchen, a basic full HD stick is plenty. For a main living room screen, pay the extra for 4K only if the television genuinely supports it. Finally, keep the old television's own tuner connected to the aerial. Free live channels remain the most reliable thing on it, and they will still work on the evening your broadband decides to have a rest.