Fellow tech enthusiast and DC neighbor Joel Ward jumps back into his role as a Features contributor here at Zatz Not Funny. Beyond ZNF, Joel can be found at Joelsef Explains It All and @joelsef on Twitter.
I recently picked up a new Sony TV with Android TV for our living room. This television replaced a Sony LCD HDTV from the late 2000s. That set hails from an era when the majority of TVs were dumb — no built-in apps that today’s smart TVs feature. But I increased its intelligence by first adding a Windows Media Center PC back in 2009, then experimenting with Google TV, Boxee, Chromecast, and ultimately settling on Roku 3 as our over-the-top streamer.
We arrive in 2016 and it’s nearly impossible to find a decent television over 30″ without some sort of “smart” designation and apps aplenty. That’s why I decided to go with a Sony this time around. The last time we refreshed a TV (for a different room, back in 2013) we went with a Samsung and its Samsung Smart Hub. In the three years we’ve had that TV, Samsung has pared down the 2013 TV’s UI to the very basics and removed many of the original features. It still has apps, including Netflix and HBO, but it’s nothing like what Roku offers.
Our new Sony X800D series runs Android TV and Sony has Android TV across most of its television line now. Besides the Nvidia Shield and now defunct Google Nexus Player, Sony is the biggest player in Android TV at the moment, although Sharp and Philips have options as well.
The interface is very clean and modern. You can get Android TV compatible apps from the Google Play store. Since we picked up the set in July, many more apps have come online and for the most part are on par with what we use on Roku but the number of apps still doesn’t equal Roku’s catalog. For those apps without an Android TV version, you can use GoogleCast to beam content from your phone or PC, from apps with that feature of course. No separate ChromeCast necessary. Miracast/WiFi direct screen mirroring is built in as well.
The power of Google is the search, and this TV has Google powered text and voice search via a microphone in the remote. You can easily search the app store this way, and also search some app content from the home menu. More app developers need to integrate with this service. Another cool feature is the integration of the Channels app with other tuners like HDHomeRun and DirectTV. The HDHomeRun integration may work with the (still) upcoming HDHomeRun DVR too. The Channels app, and HDHomeRun’s native Android TV app, are a little clunky though.
The Live Channels app, another Google creation, is an attempt at combining live broadcast channels alongside streaming services “channels” for an integrated guide. It is a work in progress but the interface shows promise. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a Kodi app with many content options within the familiar if not dated interface. For HDHomeRun DVR integration that may work best.
The main complaint I’ve had has been the quirkiness of the TV. For the first few months some features didn’t work right, like GoogleCast. The TV rebooted itself a lot too. Recent updates have stabilized it, but this does make me nervous. When your smart TV might reboot itself on a whim, maybe a dumb TV is a better idea. That said, I have confidence this will not be an ongoing issue.
This new TV with Android TV built in has all but replaced the need to use an external streaming box like Roku in our living room. If the platform keeps expanding with new apps and integrations, I think Google finally has a chance to take over the living room.
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As an owner of a Sony GoogleTV set you will never talk me out of cheap external streaming boxes. Our TV has literally lost all usefulness beyond Netflix. If I bought a TV today I would get a Vizio with Chromecast built in since its probably the closest to a avoiding a smart TV interface.
"Almost as good as a Roku"?
Get a Roku...
and a dumb TV.
Why buy a TV with smarts built in, only to have the "smarts" set outsmarted by newer devices?
For those who read this article and aren't aware, Android TV isn't just an app platform for smart TVs like the Sony set that the reviewer owns. It's also available on standalone boxes, including the Mi Box from Xiaomi ($69) and the high-end Nvidia Shield TV ($199 and up).
I'm trying out a Mi Box right now. My initial thoughts is that Android TV has a lot of promise but is still a bit rough. It sports a more attractive, useful and customizable home screen UI than Roku or Amazon Fire TV but it has fewer apps than either of those platforms. That said, all of the major video streaming apps are available for Android TV now with the exception of Amazon Video, which is only available in the US on Sony TVs running Android TV, where it's pre-installed. (It can also be installed -- "sideloaded" -- and will run on the Nvidia Shield TV, although it's a bit of a workaround since the app isn't available on the Google Play app store for easy downloading.)
One of the biggest gripes I have about Android TV is that media playback controls aren't consistent between the various major apps available, so you have to get used to slightly different sequences of button presses on the remote to achieve the same results in one streaming app versus another. Hopefully Google does a better job going forward of encouraging app developers to conform to a single standard set of controls. This may not be an issue if you're using Android TV on a Sony TV because the remote control has dedicated buttons for play/pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. The remotes for the Mi Box and Nvidia Shield TV, however, do not have such buttons; all playback commands must be done through a four-way directional pad with center select button.
One of the areas where Android TV offers the most promise, though, is the potential to marry live TV and DVR functionality in the same device as a slew of streaming apps plus games. Various companies, including Silicon Dust, Plex and Google themselves are working on this through various apps, including Google's own Live Channels app, and various tuners, including network tuners from Silicon Dust and USB OTA tuners that can be plugged directly into your Android TV box. There are no fully-done polished solutions here quite yet but things are progressing.