Should I avoid Android TV or am I reading opinions incorrectly?

by inmylittlebubble

Edit: Thank you all for the thoughtful input!

I'm in the market for a TV and trying to get myself edjumacated these days. The sense I'm getting from skimming through the past few months of posts is that Android TV is a disastrous shit show full of ads and if you want to get rid of them, there's some major trade-off, as well as some performance issues with the actual apps. Are any other TV OS' better or is that just the current state of Smart TVs these days?

I guess I also wonder because reading through reddit in general, negativity gets the most attention and floats to the top of threads.

Thoughts? Apologies for my ignorance in advance.

FredH5

The OS of the TV is not that important. You can just get a CCwGTV, a Roku, an Apple TV etc and just plug that it and use that.

I personally use a CCwGTV and I actually love it. It has ads but they're not that bad and performance is actually great for the price.

pawdog

The whole ads thing is an over exaggerated internet groupthink. There are no general app issues caused by the OS if there are any they are on the app developers just like on any other platform. I would choose Android TV over Roku over any of the others if that were my main reason for choosing a TV but it should not be the main reason. Probably should be the last thing after all other reasons.

Boris-Lip

As many already mentioned, the OS of the TV doesn't really matter. Image quality matters, features like HDR matter, ability to turn all the gimmicks and the overscan matters, etc. CCwGTV costs $50 and can be bought for $90 with $84 Netflix credit included. It gives you perfectly usable Android TV. Nvidia Shield costs more, but gives you way better performance than even the best built in system. Take those things into consideration, and don't bother looking for a good built-in OS.

redavid

the ads are annoying and i wish they weren't there. they're certainly worse than the single side banner ad you see on Roku (that gets hidden anytime you're actually scrolling through the interface, btw) but i don't think they're that big of a deal.

i'd say the bigger issue is google's lack of commitment to any one TV platform and the inconsistency in what you see from one TV to the next because they're all running different versions of Android and now some of them have 'Google TV' layered on top

triplebeamz

It's 2021. Not sure avoiding an Android TV is what I would say. You always want to buy the TV for the actual picture quality and other enhancements that each model or brand offers.

Buying a device with built-in Android TV is probably good for most people,. But I would not base your buying decision over it's computing specs. It'll probably run all the apps you need to run just fine. Keep in mind down the road you're going to want to probably upgrade sometime and you could just upgrade to a more powerful Box before you upgrade the TV

Mbanicek64

It is still probably worth considering, but it isn't the selling point it was. Samsung: ads LG: ads Sony: Android TV with ads TCL: Roku some ads Vizio: ads

It is just shades of grey now. Focus on screen quality first.

Pwrch

Buy the tv you personally like picture quality 1st. Of course picture size, sound quality and price you can afford. If the model you like best comes with Android or Google tv installed all the better. If NO Android add it with Shield, Google Tv or some other Android type box that you can side load 3rd party apps or APK's on to. Many choices and prices. Seems ALL Android TV devices have the forced promos and adds across top ribbon on home screen. Not a big deal really. I hardley even notice it and actually watched a documentary it had a little promo for. The forced part, no choice to turn off really honks a lot of people off. I don't like it, but pay little attention to it.

Buy what really appeals to your tastes above all else.

Andrroid

I personally don't see what the big deal is. I spend all of 10 seconds, if that, on the homescreen before opening up an app and no longer see these ads. I just ignore them.

thangcuoi

Unless you are into the latest screen display tech, just buy the biggest screen you can get for your budget and attached the latest Google Chromecast with Android TV or any Android TV box. The most important thing is that it can install apps, has built-in Chromecast and has a remote.

Earlier this year, I replaced our dying 55" tv with a $200 Blitzwolf VP6 projector. Now we get to enjoy cinema size screen at home. The trade off is that we can't watch anything during the day as our curtains does not block out enough light.

mdwstoned

Ads on Google Chromecast with with Google TV are pretty much the same as watching an Amazon Prime ad on that platform. To me they are not a big deal and is just the same as any other streaming service that advertises other channels, skip right by, don't even notice them.

unseenmover

the only way to go is using a streaming device and the TV only as a display.