Hi, I'm looking to get an AndroidTV box to pair with our Samsung UN55B6000 dumb TV, as a replacement for the current setup with a PS4 as the media player, which works fine, but unfortunately lacks several important apps. Dynalink Android10 TV looks promising, but I'm specifically interested in the quality of HDMI-CEC support. This is where PS4 really shines, allowing almost everything to be controlled with the TV remote, and only occasionally requiring the controller.
So, a couple specific questions:
- How good is Dynalink's remote in terms of comfort and usability? Samsung's own (and the available 3rd party replacements) are mostly OK but honestly kinda crappy, and since I have no need for channel keypad (this TV is just a screen with no broadcast or cable hookup), I'd be very happy to ditch it for something with comfortable navigation buttons
- Does the HDMI-CEC passthrough work for basic functions? Most importantly, do the volume controls apply to the TV and not just the box itself?
- If the answer to any of the above is "no", can I turn it on by just selecting it in the TV's input source list, and will it show up in the list if the device is in standby? PS4 allows that, and it's one of the main reasons TV remote-only operation is feasible
- Can the box's remote be used to switch HDMI input sources (I actually have no idea if that's even possible within CEC at all, I never used any other remote than TV's own with CEC)? That'd be ideal, since we have 3 consoles already hooked up (the box will be number 4), and other than the PS4, they all have flaky CEC support that necessitates explicit source switching every once in a while
- Can it turn the TV off automatically on shutdown?
If there are any other issues with the box to be aware of, I'd appreciate hearing about them as well. The main apps I want to be able to use are YouTube, Netflix, Nebula and Curiosity Stream, something to play things off of the PC that sucks less than Plex, and Sporty's pilot training TV app.
I repair TV's for a living, as long as your TV supports CEC you should be able to have full control with your regular remote. I would warn you that it's not as responsive as a native remote based on my experience with Google TV Chromecast. You can even use CEC to shut down the TV and device at the same time when you turn it off if this particular box has that option, but CEC has the ability to do this. I can even turn on or off my tv and Chromecast by telling Google assistant to turn it on or off so it's possible to turn your tv off remotely via any device that supports the assistant. I can even control the lights in the house with my Google TV remote's voice commands as well, it makes things super convenient. My LG remote can completely control Google TV minus the voice commands since it has no mic so I've been collecting LG remotes so I have one at all times to control my Google TV at any point if I lose one of them in the couch and don't feel like looking for it lol