[wrxtasy]

Maybe it's time for me to think streaming for 4k/HDR/DV/etc. content, and maybe just kodi for kids stuff lol

Unless you have a really large screen and a top class home theatre audio system or sit really close to the display I doubt you would notice visually or hear aurally much different between Bluray quality content vs reasonable bitrate Amazon Prime or (inbound for Sony via ATV App) Apple iTunes HDR / DolbyVision DD+/Atmos streamed content.

I have a 2019 Panasonic OLED and use Netflix, Prime and Youtube Apps on it all the time because the TV is much better at handling Colorspace switching, Upscaling of all non 4K content, and Motion (especially Youtube) vs any externally connected media player.

The other bonus is it’s a Netflix Recommended TV which wins hands down simply for convenience. approx. 3 seconds TV turn on straight into the App cannot be beaten. You get the same with a bunch 2020 TV’s:
https://devices.netflix.com/en/recommendedtv/2020/

I don't know about your territory @wrxtasy but the compression artefacts on Amazon Prime UHD content are pretty obvious.  Netflix UHD stuff is better - but even on a 50" display at a reasonable viewing distance - the compression artefacts on the streaming services are noticeable compared to UHD Blu-ray content.

They may not be enough to be objectionable to most people (particularly those used to horribly compressed broadcast TV) - but they are definitely visible to me.

But @noggin, you are / have been a Paid for Pixel Peeper (PPP™) that gets paid to evaluate such video quality. Years of knowing what to look for does now have an affect.

Us mainstream plebs (especially ones with current dodgy eyesight) just sit, stream and watch and get involved in the story

Depends how demanding a user you are in the end - something people rarely tell us !

[jambono]

If I were buying a new LED 4K Smart Android TV it would be a X900H for Apps and also a Gigabit LAN AMLogic S922X chipset device for running 4K HDR + HD audio Kodi - using the flexible, stable CoreELEC OS.

W.

Hellooo I don't see the point of buying an android TV and adding an android box ? ... I don't understand very well ... In other hands this X900H Sony device seems to have unexpected and random restarting problems if I trust Costco's forum customers and I do...

[noggin]

If I were buying a new LED 4K Smart Android TV it would be a X900H for Apps and also a Gigabit LAN AMLogic S922X chipset device for running 4K HDR + HD audio Kodi - using the flexible, stable CoreELEC OS.

W.

Hellooo I don't see the point of buying an android TV and adding an android box ? ... I don't understand very well ... In other hands this X900H Sony device seems to have unexpected and random restarting problems if I trust Costco's forum customers and I do...

The external box isn't running Android or Android TV - as @wrxtasy says - it's running CoreElec OS instead - which is a much better platform for Kodi - with support for automatic frame rate switching, HD Audio etc. 

Sony make great TVs, but I wouldn't use Kodi running on a Sony Android TV as my main way of using Kodi on a Sony Android TV (I have an Apple TV 4K for Netflix and Prime Video, and an S922X CoreElec box for Kodi - alongside a few other solutions)

[cucol]

A tv with integrated Android is just too good to pass, having integrated Chromecast launched from a live tv or from the Netflix app and the tv going back to where you where doing is priceless.
Integration is just great, and hooking a device just for Kodi is a pain in the ass.

But, no refresh rate switch or hd audio pass can be a problem on some users.
Let's hope some day one tv manufacturer can do it all

[noggin]

A tv with integrated Android is just too good to pass, having integrated Chromecast launched from a live tv or from the Netflix app and the tv going back to where you where doing is priceless.
Integration is just great, and hooking a device just for Kodi is a pain in the ass.

It's interesting how we all use TV's differently. I've never used Chromecast on my TV. I've seldom needed to. Switching to my Apple TV 4K via my AVR is a trivial thing to do - and hardly more difficult than pressing the buttons required to go to the Apps on my Sony Android TV. However the audio and video quality of the Apple TV 4K are superior - and YouTube integration and Airplay (which I do use a bit more than Chromecast) work fine.

But, no refresh rate switch or hd audio pass can be a problem on some users.
Let's hope some day one tv manufacturer can do it all

If you live outside of North America (or are in North America and watch European/Aussie etc. shows like The Crown or The Grand Tour on Netflix or Prime with a TV that supports 25/50Hz) you really will want frame rate switching . I literally can't watch content at the wrong frame rate - even 3:2 kills me. (I had to replace my first HDTV as it didn't support 24p properly, and Blu-rays and HD-DVDs(!) were all playing with unwatchable 3:2)

[jambono]

Yep I understood that perfectly, I use CoreElec OS myself with my S912 AmLogic device and its frankly funtastik (!) I know that ... There is no one to beat this piece of beef if you are perfectionist... I can boot on android native or CoreElec located on the memory stick in few seconds this is perfect ..

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market if you already have an android box device .. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

[cucol]

Every case is different, i know. But imho, getting a WhatsApp on the phone while you are waiting a live air tv show to come back from ads, and clicking on the WhatsApp phone on, let's say, a twitch clip with a funny thing you want to share to your girlfriend, by just clicking on the Chromecast icon and when the clip ends tv will go back to your show, is just priceless.

Add to this, of course, getting the best apps for everything (Android apps version) like twitch, etc.

All integrated with a remote bottom, or voice command, is just too good.

All this integration.

But ofc, refresh rate switch is a must.

I agree

[wrxtasy]

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

.. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

[noggin]

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

.. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

Are Sony Android TV's based on this chipset now doing decent refresh rate changing in Kodi ?  (And Netflix and Prime for that matter?)

[wrxtasy]

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

.. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

Are Sony Android TV's based on this chipset now doing decent refresh rate changing in Kodi ?  (And Netflix and Prime for that matter?)

No I believe that is still an unattainable dream on v9.0 Pie Firmware with Kodi. Maybe future versions of Android TV will be better, and easier for Apps developer to add such support. Google really should be leading the way for such support with at least Play Movies/TV App.

There is 24p Judder Free support on various modern 4K TV's though that does a great job for the majority of mainstream users.

To be honest if you watch a lot of Netflix - the Netflix recommended 4K TV's are excellent IMHO. Extremely convenient to get very quickly into that App. I'm now a big fan vs using any externally connected HDMI media player.

Jeez even my Panasonic OLED does a excellent job of handling a whole bunch of variable Frame Rate video sources from Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube Apps, all without too much "Soapiness" or unnatural looking picture outputs.
Very good Picture Processing also plays a big part in that though so you end up with very minimal picture artifacts.

And modern Premium Sony's are at least equal or even better than that for motion support.
I have seen reports of Sony X900H Kodi users, that also have Shields not even being bothered about the lack of auto Frame Rate Matching on their new Sony TV's.

Depends how motion sensitive you are I suppose, and how demanding a user.

[noggin]

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

Are Sony Android TV's based on this chipset now doing decent refresh rate changing in Kodi ?  (And Netflix and Prime for that matter?)

No I believe that is still an unattainable dream on v9.0 Pie Firmware with Kodi. Maybe future versions of Android TV will be better, and easier for Apps developer to add such support. Google really should be leading the way for such support with at least Play Movies/TV App.

There is 24p Judder Free support on various modern 4K TV's though that does a great job for the majority of mainstream users.

To be honest if you watch a lot of Netflix - the Netflix recommended 4K TV's are excellent IMHO. Extremely convenient to get very quickly into that App. I'm now a big fan vs using any externally connected HDMI media player.

Jeez even my Panasonic OLED does a excellent job of handling a whole bunch of variable Frame Rate video sources from Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube Apps, all without too much "Soapiness" or unnatural looking picture outputs.
Very good Picture Processing also plays a big part in that though so you end up with very minimal picture artifacts.

And modern Premium Sony's are at least equal or even better than that for motion support.
I have seen reports of Sony X900H Kodi users, that also have Shields not even being bothered about the lack of auto Frame Rate Matching on their new Sony TV's.

Depends how motion sensitive you are I suppose, and how demanding a user.

I have an X900F (aka 490XF9005 in the UK) - and it's unusable for Netflix and Prime for our family.  We watch a mix of 24 and 25fps content on both platforms (most European shows on Prime and Netflix are shot 25fps, and live sport on Prime is 50fps.) - and whilst fiddling with settings can get a near-tolerable 24fps result, there is nothing that rescues 25 and 50fps content that we have found that doesn't just introduce a heap load of other artefacts.

What's infuriating is that the Sony can do frame rate switching - as the YouView apps for BBC iPlayer work correctly at 25/50fps on the TV, as do the All4 and ITV Hub apps...  (However I also read reports that if you use the integrated DVB-S/S2 or T/T2 tuners for integrated recordings via a USB attached storage device, the recordings are replayed at 60Hz with 10Hz judder...) 

I realise I'm sensitive to poor frame rate handling - but given the slating the Chromecast with Google TV gets with identical limitations - I'm surprised people are happy to use Smart TV apps with them.

[jambono]

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

.. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

Thanks for your answer. You have real sales skills for sony so much that you convinced me to buy this device ! lol

[wrxtasy]

I speak about the TV itself I mean I do not see the point to buy an Android TV like 900H because there is many other cheapest on the market

Yes that is true, but what you fail to understand is after the Nvidia Shield, the MediaTek MT5895 chipset in the Sony X900H is the most powerful on the market for Android TV OS and Apps usage. It’s really snappy.

And as any Shield user will tell you that means long term OS support. Sony is the best vs any other Smart TV manufacturer for updating Firmware and the OS on their TV models - IF - you buy one with a powerful chipset under the hood to begin with.

You pretty much do not even need a Nvidia Shield if you buy a Sony X900H. In fact the X900H has better HDR and Apps support vs any Shield.

On top if that the X900H which already has Chromecasting support, is the only Android TV media player that has Apple Airplay2, HomeKit and Apple TV App support.

As I said it has everything.

Cheap TV’s running Android TV are the worst combo you can get. Because they often use underpowered chipsets, lack the really important long term OS/Firmware support and will have poor Picture Processing and Motion support.

.. and specifically this one have serious random rebooting/freezing and other sounds issue if I trust what I saw on the forums and I do

There are issues with eARC audio output on some 2020 Sony’s, but it is no where near a widespread problem that is affecting everyone.
There is also a rouge TuneIn Radio App that has caused problems and must be uninstalled.

There is a whole bunch of in depth detail over in the Reddit Bravia subforum(click)

Thanks for your answer. You have real sales skills for sony so much that you convinced me to buy this device ! lol

The reason I’m so impressed with the X900H, is for the first time a major Smart TV manufacturer with great Firmware support has now finally placed snappy, powerful Chipset hardware under the hood of a HDMI 2.1 equipped Mid range 4K HDR TV.

The MediaTek MT5895 in the X900H has a great CPU package, but more importantly there is also an excellent ARM Mali-G52 GPU that is ideal for running a graphics intensive (HDR) Android TV OS - without annoying lag.

Just ask owners from the likes of the ODROID N2 and the 2019 Amazon FireTV Cube gen 2, that have AMLogic S922X or S922Z chipsets under the hoods of those devices. Both are snappy, powerful setups. Those devices also have the ARM Mali-G52 GPU’s in their SoC’s.

[jambono]

Yes but look at costco forums AND AVS forums for this device and you will see many random rebooting / restarting / freezing issue

[wrxtasy]

Yes but look at costco forums AND AVS forums for this device and you will see many random rebooting / restarting / freezing issue

Better not buy any Smart TV then because all of them will have problems at one time or another. That is almost guaranteed, especially with shiny new Tech products.

What you read on forums and such is users that actually have issues, not the silent majority that have very few problems.
Some are simply faulty hardware, which occurs with any product. Others are simply configuration issues. (RS232 on USA X900H). You also get badly coded Apps causing major problems.

The key to all modern Tech, especially expensive products is make damn sure you get good after sales Firmware (and Apps) support to fix any show stopper bugs.