Considering giving up on Android TV

by bradowatson

I've been an Android user since 2010 after switching from an iPhone to a Droid X. Since then I've owned multiple Android phones and heavily invested in the ecosystem. So obviously when the Nexus Player came out in 2014 I was pumped. I ended up going with the Razer Forge TV instead because of the Ethernet port and USB 3.0 port. Obviously this was a yuge mistake and I later bought a NP. Then I upgraded to the Shield TV and loved it. I rooted it, side loaded apps, ran Kodi on it, and setup emulators. I thought it was the best streaming device on the planet, and I still might think it is.

But lately I've grown sour of it. One of the main reasons I wanted Android TV was because of the Live Channels cable integration. My main goal was to solve the input 1 problem and have a device that was wife and guest friendly. Well when Nougat came DRM was broken for HDHomeRun devices so cable no longer works at all for me as a Time Warner subscriber. On top of that there are just lots of bugs and errors. WatchESPN throws tons of errors and requires regular force stops. It's so bad that my wife knows how to easily force stop an app. And it's embarrassing when you have friends over to watch GoT and HBO Now crashes.

I love the Leanback launcher and Google cast. I really want Android TV to succeed, but I find myself using our Xbox One more and more because even though I detest the clunky interface, the apps at least work and live cable is seemless with HDMI pass through. I'm out of the pirated media game so I use Kodi less and less so Android TV can't really offer anything not available on the Xbox or other streaming devices like Apple TV and Roku.

If Google fixes the DRM issue for live cable I'll probably be back on board, but until then I'm going to give other options more run. Anyone else feeling similar frustration?

tissle

Google makes great products with shitty support and vision. AndroidTV is frustrating but it has way more features than its competitors.

speakxj7

thankfully my cable package doesn't drm flag, cause that would pooch kick things for me until silicon dust finishes that up in the 'new' app.

beyond that my main gripe is just that the atv netflix isn't as stable as other platforms.

expanded use of live channels would be nice, even more i'd rather see expanded universal search. (or both) it's hugely ironic that the top-level search on atv is so bad... things are trending backwards from that, for sure. (when is assistant coming? 'seems they've justified ignoring the atv search until that lands)

losing usage of the system keyboard (especially in first party apps) is also a big WTF. thankfully most of my usage is english, but this is a big blow in terms of global adoption (and was a leg up vs other platforms)

glumlord

I'm running HDHomeRun with ShieldTV on Charter/Spectrum.

I just needed a cablecard and activated on the Charter/Spectrum.

I am able to use the HDHomeRun, Plex, or Live Channels applications to watch TV.

I'm currently using Plex as my DVR but might change that in the future.

It's worked great!

Which version of the HDHomerun do you have?

Edit:

This is the HDHomeRun I have: https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-prime/

I think you need this with the cablecard from Comcast to fix DRM issues.

pinkhalo1

Anyone else feeling similar frustration?

Nah, all is well here. Use whatever device is best for you. Everyones situation is different. The one thing I'll say gives XB1/S a leg up across the board, is it can also be your BR/4kBR drive. Wish there was an Android TV version of that, but then every BR drive with apps I've tried is super slow with apps and under-powered.

flavioxavier

This a clearly a Google side project if anyone has any doubts (and lots of people here don't want to believe that) the latest non native YouTube app is the proof of that.

They just want to say that have this platform and not fall behind to much, but don't spend actual time improving or selling it.

Edit. Obviously I got downvoted keep your head in the sand.

Izacus

If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't. Replace it with something that works by all means :)

For me it still works perfectly - I don't watch cable or broadcast TV, Netflix, HBO, YouTube and Kodi work perfectly fine playing anything up to 4K on my Sony.

All the other solutions I've looked at were crappier and more limited, including AppleTV.

npaladin2000

Live Channels was a nice idea, but very few people wanted to make use of the API, and preferred to draw people into their own apps instead of Google's. In a lot of cases it made more sense, I can't see things like AccuWeather or HaystackTV working well through Live Channels.

Ultimately, while it may not be the best thing for cable-integrated TV, it's an excellent streaming media box, and I use it daily for watching PSVue, my Google Play Movies and TV collection, Netflix, and Hulu.