[viachy]

Hello guys,
A bit spontaneously I ordered a new TV: HISENSE 43A6BG

While I'm waiting for it to arrive I'm already wondering if I made a mistake because it's not with Android TV OS, but with some fancy Vidaa OS that it turns out I won't be able to install Kodi on.

At the moment, I use TV box M8S Plus/M8S+ TV Box Amlogic S812 with LibreELEC, but with it I am limited to Kodi 19. (there is no support for v.20 for such an old TV box..)

So, the question is - should I keep this Hisense TV , or return it to buy a TV that runs on Android OS?
In general - can standard Android Smart TVs run Kodi without issues?
Or it is better always to use an external hardware to run Kodi - i.e. Firestick, Chromecast with Google TV, etc.
I'm not very clear if Android TVs are preferable to those with a fictional OS of the sort and this Chinese Vidaa OS...
Thanks in advance

[Klojum]

In general - can standard Android Smart TVs run Kodi without issues?

It's always possible that TV manufacturers include/add some changes to the Android OS to 'better' suit their TVs. There is no way of knowing when/if this happened beforehand.

Personally I wouldn't want to run Kodi on a small Android system as its storage capacity is usually too small for the thumbnail cache of a bigger video collection.

[noggin]

Hello guys,
A bit spontaneously I ordered a new TV: HISENSE 43A6BG

While I'm waiting for it to arrive I'm already wondering if I made a mistake because it's not with Android TV OS, but with some fancy Vidaa OS that it turns out I won't be able to install Kodi on.

At the moment, I use TV box M8S Plus/M8S+ TV Box Amlogic S812 with LibreELEC, but with it I am limited to Kodi 19. (there is no support for v.20 for such an old TV box..)

So, the question is - should I keep this Hisense TV , or return it to buy a TV that runs on Android OS?
In general - can standard Android Smart TVs run Kodi without issues?
Or it is better always to use an external hardware to run Kodi - i.e. Firestick, Chromecast with Google TV, etc.
I'm not very clear if Android TVs are preferable to those with a fictional OS of the sort and this Chinese Vidaa OS...
Thanks in advance

It depends on the TV manufacturer and their Android TV implementation.

Sony's Android TV ran at a fixed 60Hz refresh rate (meaning those watching 23.976/24/25/50Hz content got judder - and those watching 29.97/59.94 content in Android TV got micro-stutter). This may have changed more recently.

However the core SoCs used in TVs for running Android TV aren't always as powerful as those used in TV boxes etc. (they don't always do the upscaling etc. processing in a TV so that isn't a guide to the Android TV processing power) - so you may always be underpowered compared to an external solution.

[izprtxqkft]

strictly opinion based

it feels like android tvs put android in their tv as an afterthought because thats what users want so they are obligated to add it if they want sales

whereas android tv standalone boxes are actually built for the purpose of being a streaming box so they tend to be more featured

as Klojum pointed out android tv in any form tends to have low storage and does indeed have impact on thumbnails cache, i redirect mine elsewhere, but this actually seems to be worse on an android tv panel vs standalone

relying on an all-in-one solution like an android tv panel feels to me like when they did the TV/VCR combo way bitd where its really not as good as a standalone 4 head hifi unit

if you dont understand the last reference then equate it to a tv with a dvd player built in and then you have to replace the tv or simply have a useless dvd player if you want a bluray


there are cheap android solutions if that is your preference, a lot of those are capable of running coreelec and run very well under it

if you are used to libreelec you might find it comfortable and familiar to put coreelec on something like the HK1 Rbox which does a very good job at both being cheap and playing back media including 4K HDR10 (but no Dolby Vision)


personally, i had a sony android tv - the android side had been useless for several years so it was just used as a panel

when choosing a new tv i didnt have to consider android as a feature because i was already using a standalone so i was able to focus on the main features of picture quality and audio support - what a panel should be good at

[jjd-uk]

Also no TV that I know of that runs Android TV has the ability to output HD audio from apps running on the TV. So no TrueHD, TrueHD Atmos (any Atmos will likely be the lesser DD+ based format), DTS-HD or DTS:X

[scott967]

Then you have the issue of Android TV vs Google TV.  On my Sony they did update the Android TV to provide the leanback UI (IIRC on Android 8?).  I installed Kodi just to see how it works with leanback, but agree due to storage limitations I don't consider it good for a "daily driver".  I did have Amazon Prime for a while (but for shipping costs -- not really interested in the video and the music was gimped so dropped it) and the Amazon Prime app was OK, but for me High Quality and streaming don't go together, so didn't pay attention to the quality of the apps.  I have played around some in YT (free) app but can't stand the ads.

scott s.
.