Any recommendations for optimal AndroidTV now?

by mlewand

I'm thinking about buying a new TV as I'm fed up with my super slow 2015 sony tv.

My use cases are following:

  • Often I'm streaming games from my PC rig using steam streaming. So I need good ethernet connection.
  • My wife likes to watch movies from streaming apps (netflix and others).
  • Has to be android-based - I'm using Tasker to automate a lot of things. For instance, long pressing certain remote button triggers some automation at home, e.g. toggles the light or runs a specific app.
  • I liked 4k resolution, but don't feel a need to go for 8k.
  • I'd really like strong CPU - I'm concerned about getting a TV where manufacturer placed a CPU that is just good-enough and if I run more than 2 apps it will slow down.
  • 100hz or more would be a nice to have.
  • Voice assistant in remote is a nice to have.

I'm looking for 55 inches or more. I plan to spend around 2k$ but I'm fine with spending more than that if it's justified.

I'd really like to avoid Sony if possible as I already bought one premium tv from them back in 2015 and I'm very disappointed:

  • From the factory it had faulty wifi connection (was losing connection every 1 or 2 mins) - had motherboard replaced which solved the problem.
  • The remote tends to be very unresponsive.
  • The processor fitted into tv is to slow. It starts to get super slow when there are three or four suspended streaming apps like netflix idling in the background. It often causes playback shutter on cable tv.
  • The best part: Clever engineers at sony figured that they'll fit a 100mbit ethernet card to a 4k tv 😂 which is not enough bandwidth to stream games in 4k. AFAIR wifi had around 300mbit bandwidth - however I couldn't use it due to increased latency. I had to fallback to... connectping raspberry pi 4 to a tv and hook it up over HDMI 🤦‍♀️ that works but ideally I'd like to have everything in a single box.

I really like openess of Android - ability to customize etc. The fact that I can write my own apps to it (I'm a programmer).

I'm concerned, though, about changes made with Google TV like adding ads to your TV home screen: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/rcn7i3/speaking_about_ads_on_homescreen_firetvstick/ (the post is about Fire TV OS but others point out that same thing appeared on Google TV).

donmagicjuan47

The answer is Nvidia Shield Pro. There is no stronger or stable Android TV device on the market.

I own 3 and a Tube.

sighcf

What do you mean by slow TV? Unless there are hardware features like better picture quality/resolution you are looking for, get an Android TV box like Chromecast with Google TV or Nvidia Shield (Pro). Just use the TV as a dumb display via HDMI. Most TV manufacturers don’t bother with powerful processors or long term software support. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to drop $2k for those things when it will be obsolete software/processor wise in a couple of years. You can probably get something like an Nvidia Shield Pro and a Nest Hub for all your smart home stuff for under $300.

mlewand

All right - seeing that so many people are happy with Nvidia Shield Pro - I'll give it a go.

Bought an LG tv with their WebOS and will pick up the Shield Pro soon. Thanks for opinions everyone.

SirJohnSmythe

Get the best TV you can and a separate box. I'm a big fan of the Onn for $20, and you'll have the freedom to upgrade as often as you like when something better comes along

Terminator857

You might enjoy a TV with far field mic. In other words hands free google assistant. At this point I'd wait to see what gets announced at CES in a couple of weeks.