AMA Request: Someone who has a new Sony Android Smart TV

by RedPandaAlex

I'm having a hard time finding any reviews of these things, and I'm really interested in hearing how the live TV integration works on Android TV and how similar it is to Primetime on Google TV

Questions:

  • How does live TV work on Android TV? Is it like Primetime from the Google TV boxes, where live tv shows are categorized? Can you exclude cable channels? Does it give you its own cable guide replacement? Or do you just use your cable box as normal?
  • What is the performance like?
  • Does the Android TV interface scale well to a 4k screen?
nyteryder79

I have one. I got the new 55" 850C. I love it, but am a cord cutter, so I can't help with the channel line up. The performance is great after the initial firmware upgrade. I use ES File Explorer and MX Player to play files off the network and it works flawlessly. As far as upscaling, it only upscaled 1080p content to 4k as far as I know. The 1080p content I've tried looks amazing, but so does the 720p content. Gaming on my PS4 is amazing as well. The only thing I don't like about the TV is the built-in sound. It's awful! I'm surprised by this considering it's from Sony and that's sort of their specialty. I'll probably get a soundbar eventually.

The Android TV interface looks perfect on the 4K screen. Most of the apps I use do as well. Some of the streaming video doesn't look the greatest, but it's acceptable. The streaming video apps I've tried so far were apps like Haystack and Pluto.tv.

Bigsam411

I do not have a Sony TV but I may be able to help answer:

  • Live TV is handled one of 3 ways.

  1. Traditional cable box plugged in through HDMI. This just makes the Android interface overlay on top of HDMI sources.

  2. Antenna. I am not sure what happens here but Android will overlay on top of Live TV. Im just not sure if this uses the Live channels app from Google or something else.

  3. Network TV Tuner such as silicondust Homerun. You would run their app to get live TV and if the Sony TV supports MPEG2 you can also use the Android Live channels App.

For the last two questions I cannot comment not having the tv itself.

oddbin

Sorry for the slight necro. I'm looking to get the 55" 850c soon. Can it run kodi smoothly? If so can it handle decent sized bluray rips? Currently I have Kodi on a Nuc bit if it runs well on the TV then it's off to another room.