I'm not talking about an Android TV box, but an actual smart TV. It would be nice if I had a high-end, 4k HDR enabled TV in my living room to watch Youtube/Kodi/Live TV or for emulators, which is one of the main reasons I want one. But it would also be great if I could root it and use most features a rooted phone would have, and install a custom recovery like TWRP/CWM so I could restore if I ever messed it up. I wouldn't plan to install a custom ROM because it would not be optimised for my TV/incompatible/impossible. Like I'd just find myself not being able to select inputs or use the TV tuner if I installed a custom ROM, if it were even possible and not entirely pointless to.
Does anyone know if it's possible to root and install custom recovery on an Android smart TV? I tried Googling and found close to zero results, my best guess is that there may be a few models that are hackable, but most of them are pretty old. Most TVs are running Lollipop, which is a decent version of Android but I fear will soon be no longer supported by Google/other apps in the near future. (After all, it only came out after KitKat). I'm looking for a TV that has ample RAM/CPU speed so it doesn't become sluggish over time, especially when rooted and with hacks installed (and antivirus running in the background). Basically something I can use for a good 10+ years.
Any help appreciated, sorry for the sloppy writing but I'm currently high as a kite.
EDIT: First post on the sub, it might just be me being a little paranoid but just to make it clear, I read the rules very carefully and I am not asking for any help with Kodi/other illegal stuff (just because I mentioned it).
You've got a couple of misconceptions that impact your goal.
Most TVs are running at least Nougat, the Sonys are all updating to Oreo right now, and the Shield TV (yeah, I know, not what you asked, but it's your best choice) is going to release Pie soon.
Most of the TVs don't have huge CPUs and RAM stats. They put in "good enough" chips specifically because they limit the apps that can run on them.
Even if you did root and install a recovery, there aren't any ROMs that would work (phone ROMs would be a mess).
Rooting and Recovery for some/most/all? Android TVs is technically possible if folks are willing to brick their TV during development. Now that good Android TVs are falling below the cost of high end phones, maybe developers will take that risk. But there really isn't much incentive since the Android TV market is smaller/fragmented.
If you want to "future-proof", get the best screen you can afford and an Nvidia ShieldTV (wait til this fall when you can get one with Pie and Stadia if you can).