Streamlining switching between streaming apps and satellite on a TV when TV Wi-Fi is not an option (1 Viewer)

[OrganizedChaos]

My in laws have been living with us for the past year. They are in mid to upper 80s and were at the point they really could not manage being on their own so we moved them out from Florida and got them a pretty nice setup in our house. We have one room set aside where they can sit and watch TV by themselves and for which they have a 60 inch LG TV. Therein lies the rub. We have Directv which works fine. We also have Amazon Prime but had not yet set it up on their TV because we weren't sure they could manage switching between the two. However, with NFL Thursday night games (big NFL fans - especially Packers) going to be on Amazon Prime (and there are a lot of shows/movies they would like) wanted to finally try it. Well the WiFi on the LG TV won't work. Says it is turned off but there really is no place to turn it on or off. After doing a lot of research it appears that is an issue with the WiFi module connection and caused a lot of time due to the wires being crimped inside the TV. Had all of the screws off the back of it yesterday before finding out they have clips inside as well. I was not prepared to try to disengage those and break the screen in the process so now to my current dilemma.

SInce WiFi does not work, I looked at other options and Amazon Fire Stick seems to be a good one ( have never used/needed one so I have no personal experience with it). However, if I understand it I will need them to switch input on the TV from the HDMI port for DIRECTV back and forth with the one to be used for the Fire Stick as they move between the two options. Honestly, not sure they can keep that straight and I'll be called on a lot to fix it.

Need the setup and use to be as straightforward as possible. Don't really want to replace an otherwise good 60 inch TV.

Are there any options I am not considering?

Trying to hook up a tuner seems overkill and not sure it would solve it. If it came to that might prefer just a new TV.

 

[Poke_4_Life]

I think they will have to switch HDMI inputs, no way around it.
What I have done for my in-laws it make a word doc with screen shots for instructions. Make the font big enough they can see, then print it in color. I'd suggest one page for going to the fire stick and then to Prime and one page for going back to the DTV input. Have them keep the printed pages near their sitting area. Oh, and include pics of which remote to use when.
It may not solve your problem and you'll still get called for questions, but it should help cut down the questions. I'd also be proactive if you know there's something they want to watch, like a Packers game on a Thursday, go in a few minutes before the game and make sure they are set up.
Good luck.

 

[GoBears84]

My in laws have been living with us for the past year. They are in mid to upper 80s and were at the point they really could not manage being on their own so we moved them out from Florida and got them a pretty nice setup in our house. We have one room set aside where they can sit and watch TV by themselves and for which they have a 60 inch LG TV. Therein lies the rub. We have Directv which works fine. We also have Amazon Prime but had not yet set it up on their TV because we weren't sure they could manage switching between the two. However, with NFL Thursday night games (big NFL fans - especially Packers) going to be on Amazon Prime (and there are a lot of shows/movies they would like) wanted to finally try it. Well the WiFi on the LG TV won't work. Says it is turned off but there really is no place to turn it on or off. After doing a lot of research it appears that is an issue with the WiFi module connection and caused a lot of time due to the wires being crimped inside the TV. Had all of the screws off the back of it yesterday before finding out they have clips inside as well. I was not prepared to try to disengage those and break the screen in the process so now to my current dilemma.

SInce WiFi does not work, I looked at other options and Amazon Fire Stick seems to be a good one ( have never used/needed one so I have no personal experience with it). However, if I understand it I will need them to switch input on the TV from the HDMI port for DIRECTV back and forth with the one to be used for the Fire Stick as they move between the two options. Honestly, not sure they can keep that straight and I'll be called on a lot to fix it.

Need the setup and use to be as straightforward as possible. Don't really want to replace an otherwise good 60 inch TV.

Are there any options I am not considering?

Trying to hook up a tuner seems overkill and not sure it would solve it. If it came to that might prefer just a new TV.

With the Fire Stick you can add the DirecTV streaming app. Then all they have to do is switch back and forth between APPs instead of HDMI inputs. Not quite as clean as using DTV directly, but still feasible.