I'm in the market for a new budget TV and deciding between a Roku or Android TV interface. This brought me here, where consensus seems to be that the experience on models like TCL and Specter suffer with Android TV. Is that accurate? Would I be better off getting a basic TV and adding an external Android TV box to it?
I think that the only pro of having built in android is that you watch cable/antenna TV or someone in your family (like an elder parent) finds it easier to use the TV app without having to switch inputs.
Get a TV with the best picture quality that your budget allows, smart or not. It's easy enough to add an Android TV device later on if you find the built-in OS lacking.
Built-in software will be outdated and abandoned by the manufacturer in less than 3 years. Good picture quality will last your TV's lifetime.
I recommend to buy any TV you want (basic or smart), if it's smart, then ignore that part and add a certified android TV box, once its cycle ends, you will keep the TV while you get a new TV box, and when the TV is no more, you will keep your current ATV box while you get the new TV, therefore I recommend these ATV devices:
Certified Android TV devices WITH Netflix and Prime Video certifications:
- AirTV Mini
- Nvidia Shield TV
- Tivo Stream 4K
- Verizon Stream TV
- Xiaomi Mi Box S
- Xiaomi Mi TV Stick
Certified Android TV devices with Netflix ONLY certification:
- AT&T TV
- Ematic Jetstream
- JBL Link Bar
Certified Android TV devices with Prime Video ONLY certification:
- Mecool KM1 (Available at mecoolonline.com )
- Mecool KM3 (Available at mecoolonline.com , where you can also download the NEW firmware update to Android 10 for this model)
Certified Android TV devices WITHOUT Netflix and Prime Video certifications:
- Channel Master Stream Plus (with built-in ATSC dual tuner)
- Minix Neo T5
For more info about all certified Android TV devices, head over to Android TV Guide website.
If you want the real android TV experience, get a shield pro. A cheap mibox will give you a taste but it has short comings.
I have a Sony Bravia with Android TV and an Nvidia shield. The built-in version on Sony Bravia was awful so I bought the Nvidia shield which has been great. The Sony Bravia is still on Android 7 as Sony stopped supporting updates. The shield is on Android 9 and gets regular updates. Definitely go with the external box.
I own a 2019 TCL Android TV (New Zealand). The QLED picture is spectacular, but the software is a buggy, crashy mess. I don’t know how much of that is in inherent in Android TV and how much of it is TCL’s implementation of it, but given the price I paid and the picture quality I get out of it, I am mostly ok with the trade-off.
As a few people have already said I'd buy a TV with the best picture quality you can afford everything else is secondary. If you find that your smart features are not good enough for what you need then consider buying an Android TV box like the Nvidia Shield TV.
There aren't many basic TVs any more and the only in built OS I would even consider is roku IF I where to by a TV for the OS. The problem is most smart TVs are kept far longer than they get updates and while roku is probably the best in this area some of the major streaming services pull support from older rokus long before roku stops supporting them. No one else has the longevity of roku but I would bet the same will happen with the others.
Go in store and play around with various TV and look for SDR and HDR picture quality and also importantly the graphic user interface Speed for navigating around and launching Apps, that will give you a decent indication of the chipset grunt under the hood.
Cheap TV’s running Android TV are often under specced chipset wise and get poor Firmware support. So you may end with a buggy mess.
Cost of adding 'smartness' to a budget TV is significantly high. Moreover when you are looking at budget section, the 'smart' experience is generally significantly worse that what you would get from an external box for the fraction of the cost difference. This has been my experience. 3 years ago I bought a dumb TV with good panel for relatively lesser cost and hooked it up with a mibox 3. My experience has been very good so far.
Every Smart Android TV is based on MediaTek SoC which is not very powerful.
My brother has Philips TV with Android (55PUS7502 with MTK MT5596A). Fro me this combination is no-go.
Compared to Shield TV, the Philips TV is a slow, stuttering or even freezing rubbish.
Smart TVs are crap. An add-on device will be better in most circumstances, and certainly easier to upgrade later.
I have a tcl tv yeah some of them did struggle with Android 8 but Android 9 did improve it quite alot tho also be adwhere that they only have 2.4g wifi
Buy the tv with the best panel and dimming in your budget. Then get an external device.