Im planning on buying a new TV (maybe the first one in maybe 15 years), and I'm trying to find some site benchmarking different models and vendors for the best Android TV experience, or at least some information about which processor they have etc? Like I'm using to when buying computers or phones. I really don't want a laggy experience.
But I'm having trouble finding some good resource or benchmark site like this. Any recommendations?
The game has changed in the last year or so regarding Android TV running on Sony’s.
The 2019 Sony X85G / X95G / A9G and 2020 mid tier and Premium Sony’s all have much better, more powerful MediaTek 5893 chipsets in them vs anything that has come before. Also included are great ARM Mali-G71 GPU’s.
The pick of the bunch is the X95G which has the same internals vs the more expensive 2020 ”H” models. You can even run “H” Firmware on a 2019 ”G“ model.
Everything is now faster and noticeably snappier when running the Android TV OS v9.0 Pie.
Sony in the last year have definitely picked up their levels of bug fixing Firmware support as well.
Google Project Treble is actually bearing fruit too and you are now seeing much quicker Android OS upgrades vs anything experienced in previous years.
You are not going to get a faster Smart TV running Android TV anywhere.
Would you like me to talk about Pictures Processing and Upscaling ?
Maybe just read this post for some background info on the excellent Sony X1 Ultimate Picture Processor:
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/92knym43
You are NOT going to get Superior Picture Quality from any Apps running on any external Android TV media player vs what you will get from Apps inbuilt into the Sony TV’s mentioned above.You cannot even get 4K HDR support from YouTube or Google Play Movies on a shiny new 2019 Shield. It does not support HLG HDR either.
Sony X1 Ultimate Picture Processing is superior, Non 4K content AI Upscaling is superior with no limitations, Colorspace switching SDR / HDR / DolbyVision has no problems, and Motion Handling is definitely superior, especially with Varied Framerate YouTube Content.
And for those that rabbit on about HD audio like Atmos from Bluray Rips, well there are better, cheaper devices than the Nvidia Shield for that running a Laser focussed Linux OS called CoreELEC, that has far less bugs vs anything Android:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916
Grab one of those and you will have 99% of video streaming usage cases covered.
If you want Games Emulation then consider a Nvidia Shield.
@ ul1984 I was in a very similar position to you last year and did a lot of research. My main requirement was premium 4K HDR DolbyVision Picture Quality.
And at the time Premium Sony's had problems with their Darker than normal 4K HDR Tone Mapping (which has been recently rectified) - vs the competition which resulted in me buying a stellar 2019 GZ Panasonic OLED.
I would have gotten a Premium A9G Sony OLED otherwise, because I knew all about the excellent tech they were packing under the hood.
Be aware as well the 2019 Nvidia Shield has DolbyVision color output problems, see the links here:
The Sony X900H that was just released has the fastest SoC in any AndroidTV based television on the market. The MT5895 it uses is 25-30% faster than the MT5893 found in many other Sony TV's such as the X850G, X950G, X950H, A9G, Z9F and Z9G. So if you want the absolute smoothest AndroidTV experience from the native OS then the X900H is king. Anything from Sony featuring the MT5893 would be second.
Benchmark Comparison: https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/compare/14598033?baseline=15446436
The Shield TV is still the fastest AndroidTV device but the differences between the MT5893, MT5895 and the Shield TV from a user interface speed perspective is pretty negligible though, they are all very well equipped to handle current versions of AndroidTV.
I bought a HiSense Android TV. It's backlit LED screen is gorgeous. The integrated Chromecast is super easy to use as well. However that's the extent of the good I think.
There have been no OS updates at all. The TV OS seems to have a memory leak, and needs frequent rebooting otherwise it stops responding to the remote control. Sometimes I have to unplug it and then plug it back in to clear the lock ups.
Support from the company sucks. Their response to my complaints was "well do a factory reset and try again". Well with no OS updates how is that supposed to help?!
I got an Android TV because I didn't want to manage external devices. But now I with I had gotten a non-Android TV and kept my Roku and Chromecast devices.
The tv manufacturer won't update it probably. Better to buy whatever tv you like + nvidia shield
I’ve got a Philips set which is very fast and smooth, my old Philips set was very laggy but the P5 processor they use in newer sets is very good and everything is nice and snappy. With that said, if you are after really good performance and support the Shield is the way to go. Once my set either bogs down or is far behind on updates, I will probably go for a shield. I imagine the upcoming chrome cast device that runs android tv will be pretty stable and should stay updated for a while. Rumoured to be pretty inexpensive too.
I have the Sony 900f, which i bought new in 2018, it's been perfect. I only stream (quit Cable over a year ago) and my Home Theater set up, anchored by the 900f, has my friends envious that i spent a few dollars more than they did in 2018.
I knew when i bought my TV in 2018, that paying extra would benefit me in the long run since i do keep TV's longer than most as long as they perform just as fresh as when i first bought it.
I would get a non-smart a TV with high resolution and good picture quality + an Nvidia Shield.
Don't buy a TV for its OS find a TV that fits your budget and wants then add an android tv device like the shield.