I'm talking about cheaper FHD TVs like Philips 50PFH6510 or Sony KDL50W756C. I'll be using them for Kodi/Youtube, nothing more. Philips ones have Ambilight and a fancy remote, which is a plus.
Does the UI stutter on them? Are they stable enough? Can't find much info on SoC's used in them. Most reviews don't cover Android as much as I'd like them to (no benchmarks etc) and may be outdated, as I belive there were some software updates for these TVs.
Yeah you'll be at the mercy of manufacturers when it comes to updates. Focus on the panel and try to get the best viewing experience possible then get media via your set top box of choice. Remember 4k is still in its infancy, hdr is coming and standards need to catch up, if it were me I'd go nice 1080p panel and put the money away for a hdr 4k panel in a few years.
Get a box that you can upgrade/replace separate from your TV
I love mine so far. I would recommend my TV to any one (Sony Bravia X850C series).
Buy your TV based on picture quality mostly all TVs have smarts in them these days. You might want to get one that has apps that are missing from Android TV like Amazon Prime and then get a Nexus Player to go with it. On the other hand the Sony TVs have great reviews and even when support ends you still have the HDMI ports to update newer boxes to. I have been doing this my my Google TV and it is still going strong.
I would say go ahead as long as it doesn't cost more than a TV without it. After all you can always add your own if it doesn't work well.
I have two Sony Bravia TVs with it built in and after having more android boxes than I'd care to admit (generic and nexus player/firetv alike) I have to say having it built in with no need for another box/cables/remote is very nice, especially when you only have the TV on the wall and absolutely nothing else.
If it doesn't cost much more, I would say yes. I like only having to use one remote versus having to switch inputs and then pulling out another remote (oh, wait, I need to change the volume, where is my TV remote).
I only had my Sony 810c for a night, but I'm already digging it. Response time isn't bad at all.
Get the biggest, thinnest, dumbest, highest resolution TV you can afford.
Personally, I wouldn't touch a TV with Android TV built it. Might be nice for the first couple of years but 5 years from now its going to suck once Sony moves on from the hardware and Android R is the shiny new thing and your TV is still running Android N or O. You'll be forced to get a box anyway (or another TV)
I've got a Sony UHD with Android. Works well so far. Using Kodi just fine (set up MySQL and shared my library across my PC and TV), You tube works, as does Netflix, obviously. UI is a bit stuttery when you reboot the TV for a few seconds, nothing horrible though. Certainly works well once you're up and using it (browsing YouTube for example is very smooth).
Time will tell, I think, as to how well it hold up. Only concern now is how long Sony will continue updating this for, and how long Google will continue allowing older version to run newer apps (think running the latest version of modern apps on a Froyo Android device).
If you intend to use it for Youtube, I would try to find out if it can do 1080p/60FPS.
I am always of the opinion don't buy a TV based on the TV software it runs. Buy it based on the picture quality it has. That said, Sony and Samsung panels are well lauded. However, you can always get a better smart tv capability out of a dedicated box imo.
Money no object, it sounds great. But in all likelihood you'll spend a lot more to get those features out front, and a separate box is more upgraded able. I bought my current TV without the "smart" features because the "smart" options were $500-1000 more.