I often feel at Christmas I have the perfect excuse to treat my parents. If it wasn't for me, my parents would never get any new tech. Do you find yourself having to help (or drag family members) into the future, otherwise they'd still be using their Sony Walkman and watching their B&W CRT TV's. 
My parents are like this. Elderly now, but they've embraced new things over the years, the smart heating, security cameras, video doorbell, etc. Lately though their home viewing experience has needed my attention. They are rocking (my hand me down) 6-7 year old 49" Sony LED TV (they even do a bit of streaming which is nice to see them embracing - but the interface is so slow it is painful even trying to load Netflix for example.) Past Christmases, I've managed to upgrade the sound for them, starting with the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini soundbar. Which they like. They also have a newer Manhattan T4R for recording their shows now. The other thing I've replaced fairly recently was their DVD player. All my films are 4K / Blu-Ray so that enables them to now take some and watch if they want to. I got them the Panasonic UB820 for that. (And then I had to do the HDMI cables as they were not up to scratch - doh)
This year, I thought I need to do something with the TV for them, as they are not seeing any benefit from HD or 4K content on it, and as mentioned, it is just so slow to use. So I managed to snag them a mid-range TCL. The Q7C in 55". They'll do the normal thing like most years, complain there is nothing wrong with the current TV, say I spent too much (£599 I don't feel is too OTT for a joint present), then once it is setup and working, they'll love it and wished they'd done something like this sooner.
Do you help any family or friends with AV/Techy stuff like this? I enjoy getting them things over the years to help. They do seem to get a lot of enjoyment from them, which is great.
My parents are like this. Elderly now, but they've embraced new things over the years, the smart heating, security cameras, video doorbell, etc. Lately though their home viewing experience has needed my attention. They are rocking (my hand me down) 6-7 year old 49" Sony LED TV (they even do a bit of streaming which is nice to see them embracing - but the interface is so slow it is painful even trying to load Netflix for example.) Past Christmases, I've managed to upgrade the sound for them, starting with the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini soundbar. Which they like. They also have a newer Manhattan T4R for recording their shows now. The other thing I've replaced fairly recently was their DVD player. All my films are 4K / Blu-Ray so that enables them to now take some and watch if they want to. I got them the Panasonic UB820 for that. (And then I had to do the HDMI cables as they were not up to scratch - doh)
This year, I thought I need to do something with the TV for them, as they are not seeing any benefit from HD or 4K content on it, and as mentioned, it is just so slow to use. So I managed to snag them a mid-range TCL. The Q7C in 55". They'll do the normal thing like most years, complain there is nothing wrong with the current TV, say I spent too much (£599 I don't feel is too OTT for a joint present), then once it is setup and working, they'll love it and wished they'd done something like this sooner.
Do you help any family or friends with AV/Techy stuff like this? I enjoy getting them things over the years to help. They do seem to get a lot of enjoyment from them, which is great.
