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I would say a big no... just buy the Shield... you will be happy that you did!
Always buy a TV based on picture quality alone. Then attach whatever box you desire. Better experience, better upgrade path, better purchase strategy. Swapping out a 5 year old box is better than replacing a 5 year old TV.
The thing about a smart tv vs a box is you can toss the box when is becomes old and busted but youre basically stuck with the tv
The problem with all these post is users hardly ever list what music Apps or Video streaming Apps they actually need to use nor what type of content they are actually going to be consuming. Plus how they expect to be able to listen to quality audio.
There are lots of traps and pitfalls for the unwary.
The trouble with ALL 4K smart TV's, especially Android ones is they quickly become obsolete as more demanding Apps are released and the barely adequate (in the first place) Smart TV's chipset fail to cope as media player demands increase. They are relatively expensive purchases after all.
Powerful media players these days like the NVIDIA Shield and Apple TV 4K will far outlast virtually all Android Smart TV's on the market and you can almost guarantee they will get quicker and more timely bug fixing Firmware updates as the years roll by.
Timely, ongoing, Firmware updates are actually the most important thing to consider before everything else.
It's far easier and cheaper to upgrade these external media player devices more often vs an expensive smart TV.
As @raptor75mlt has already suggested below, get the best display panel you can afford even if it does not have the best smart TV OS, and then buy an external, more powerful media player to connect to it.
Your vintage TV more than likely lacks proper DRM which means modern streaming apps will not work beyond 720X480 dpi resolution, if at all.
My well reasoned suggestion is to forego ANY official ANDROIDTV and instead go for an Amazon FireTV device or a Roku.
They won't give you a better image on your TV but they will give you SD resolution from DRM protected apps.
If and when you get a more capable TV they will stream at the max resolution of your new screen.
All with the caveat that your TV be equipped with proper DRM...
Good luck
The best advice is to go for the TV with best picture you can afford, then look at the smart options after.
Most people will tell you it's best to get a separate box, like the shield, and that's true, but if you cannot be bothered having YASTB, TV's with AndroidTV are good enough for most purposes, and some have unique features (like Philips Ambilight) but the chipset is not so great so they are slower than a shield for sure, comparable to a Mibox.
Just remember that probably a decent Sony (For the picture) having a decent AndroidTV inside, may cost you more than a decent LG and a separate Shield.
You've got some homework to do.
I have a Philips AndroidTV, it works well for what I use it for, having ATV integrated frees up an HDMI port for my other devices (cable box, Xbox, media server, soundbar ARC)