BT TV Hub apps slower than Amazon Firestick - why?

[n1msr]

I have had a BT TV Hub as part of the household Broadband package for many years.  In the last two years approximately, the speed of the TV channel apps has degraded - some are now almost unusable.  Examples of the works ones are ITV Hub - now ITVX,  and Amazon Prime.  They are really really slow to navigate.

I bought a cheap Amazon Firestick and that is much more responsive - makes me wonder why I should keep the BT TV Hub box.  It has a recording facility (its actually a HUMAX device in "disguise"), but I have other HUMAX devices that I could use instead.

My assumption is that either the app software on the BT TV Hub is outdated or its the Hub itself.  I did a factory reset and checked I have the latest version of the apps concerned, but this has made no difference.  In fact I already had the latest app versions installed for these services.  It is not the bandwidth of my broadband because this is fine for other services (e.g. BBC's iPlayer).  Also, its fine for the Firestick apps.  So what is going on? 

On the Firestick I can get BBC iPlayer, ITVX as well as Netflix and Amazon Prime and others.  Admittedly the video on the Firestick is not as smooth - I assume this is the decompression/decoding power of the Firestick being less than that of other platforms such as my BT Hub.

TIA

[n1msr]

*"works ones" should read "worst ones"

[Weerab1983]

It seems like your BT TV box isn't the latest one and hardware gets updated over time and older hardware can't compete when new apps are developed/updated.

I would either stick with the fire stick for the apps as it will have a newer processor etc, or upgrade to the BT TV Pro. 

[NigelB72 · Accepted solution]

It'll be because your BT box is an older model and as Amazon etc improve their apps to deliver new features, older boxes will struggle with them. I've got a Pro Box and it works exceptionally well but I've found that the same apps on my new Samsung work better because of the higher processing power in the TV. 

[n1msr]

Thanks you NigelB72,

I spoke to someone at BT - the BT TV Pro box means I would have to buy a BT TV package, which I don't want.  (We used to have it but stopped using it).  Therefore its a legacy recording box now.

[zulu17]

Well @n1msr  you don't  yet have ITV X on your (Humax)  youview  box so you are really  comparing ITV Hub on that with ITV X on your Firestick.

[n1msr]

@zulu17 

Well-spotted.  I didn't get that detail correct, apologies.  The ITV [Hub] app is almost unusable now - many times the program stops, or needs repeated presses of the pause/play buttons.  Revert to Firestick.... 🙂