Built in will probably be less customizable. I would get a dumb tv and box.

I think one big positive of built in is how integrated the whole thing is. If you plug in an antenna, Android TV will control it. Any input switching will be done within Android TV. I like the idea of that. However, you will probably get the short end of the stick when it comes to updates and performance. Set top boxes will be better in most other ways.

I have a new Sony TV with Android TV built in. I love it. It's nice having it right there within the system.

And yeah, it gets updated. Sony's made a pretty serious commitment to Android TV, putting it in all of it's new models, so I don't think it'll be "abandoned" anytime soon. And hardware is hardware. If it gets outdated in the TV it'll be outdated on the box.

You can do everything you do with the stand alone box but you don't have the cumbersome extra piece of equipment and all the accompanying cables.

People telling you to get the box probably have no experience with the built in and are more than likely just being jealous about not having it.

I prefer a box because then you're not stuck with something that was abandoned and out dated. I bought a Google tv box, but that was totally abandoned and it's now a paper weight. If that happens again with Android tv I'll never buy another tv product from Google. I'm just happy I didn't have a tv with build in Google tv, there's now a million posts asking how to turn it completely off because all it does is slow down the tv.

I've heard reports that you cannot sideload apps on builtin TVs. Get a nexus player if you don't care about games, get a shield TV if you do.

Never get a smart TV.

They all suck and the hardware is outdated before you ever get it. And when you want the new device with the updated hardware and the new interface your TV can't get, it's going to sit there unused.