Sony’s 2021 TV lineup runs Google TV and fully embraces HDMI 2.1
theverge.com
theverge.com
Sony had a couple of issues a few years ago:
- they would always produce televisions with underpowered hardware for the software experiences
- their operating systems would have as many as three competing interfaces in different parts
- Android Apps
- weird XMB evolution for settings etc.
- separate third party interface for digital tuner that also had a duplicated wrapped XMB interface
AFAIK they upgraded the SOC in 2020's mid-year model X900H to MediaTek MT5895. I have that TV and everything feels very snappy, it's good enough that I have a 2019 Shield TV sitting unused[1]. They feel pretty much the same (despite the Shield's Tegra being massively overpowered), even in game streaming performance (Steam Link and NVIDIA GameStream/Moonlight).
The common sentiment is that the new SOC is ["finally"] great. I wonder if they reused that SOC in the new XR series or picked another one, but either way it looks like they're not underpowered anymore. Bloatware was apparently massively reduced last year too, and there's a "delete all demo [retail] content" option in settings to reduce it further.
[1] I originally bought it because I figured (A) all Smart TVs are underpowered and (B) Smart TVs are not trustworthy, but this model is powerful enough and you can fully opt-out of analytics, even disable the Samba (not SMB) APK entirely.
It's amazing how the right/wrong task can cause your smart TV to slog around like it's a Windows 98 machine on dialup.
Perhaps at least higher output USB specs on TVs might eventually escape a separate power plug to the wall, but there's a lot of room for improvement.
Sony would do well to allow a replaceable compute module - they could even charge a premium for it.
[0] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-compute-card-bad-ide...
- LG were great because their hardware was appropriately powerful at the time and WebOS was well optimised (as well as being straightforward to develop for)
- Samsung were fine from a user perspective but had a lot of quirks for development
- Panasonic were similar to Sony (underpowered Android) but had far worse remotes and less spaghetti UX
You get what you pay for and the cheaper models have sluggish internals (although I think its fine on mine). That and the UX issues you mention do not apply to all Sony tvs.
By XMB evolution I mean it's not quite the XMB, but the secondary menus when you get into settings etc. are carried over, and it's a separate interface and paradigm to the Android interface.
I catch myself thinking that I'll be in a conundrum when the TV eventually dies. It looks like new versions of LG's WebOS has ads every time you open it's 'dock'.
Yes, you can buy an AppleTV (or your preferred alternative) – but you'll always be scurrying to the TV's original remove for anything beyond on/off, or changing the volume. So you either keep two remotes around, or toss Apple's glass remote and use a universal remote.
Does it work? Sure. Is it elegant? Eh. How have you guys solved this?
So the most expensive, highest quality TV in my house can't use CBS All Access because the webOS version is slightly too old.
I've become convinced that you should either buy a TV with Roku built in or buy a TV and stick a Roku on it. It seems to be the only platform with the clout to get support for most streaming apps and that also updates its software regularly for a long time. I don't like the idea of a single, proprietary platform being the end-all, but every manufacturer-specific platform seems to be missing key streaming apps, and then there's Google where it's unlikely Google will support the device in a year.
Roku has built-in AirPlay support now too, which I believe makes it the only non-Apple device that you can "just" stream to from an iPhone.
Even if Roku doesn't have my app yet, as long as one device I have it on does, I'm good. Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't), for example, and I have to break out a Windows PC just to mirror a show on an app it doesn't have.
With regards to HBO Max, that was a contract dispute over advertising share. Roku has had the existing HBO app for a long time.
HBO Max has advertising? I thought it was just because it was too new (at the time HBO Max was the new version of HBO Now).
> Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't)
Airplay is generally supported by new devices, even LG tvs and Samsung TVs.
Roku Premieres are pretty compact but work much better than the sticks. And Roku Ultras are really, really smooth, and support Ethernet!
They do. For example they added Variable Refresh Rate to my TV in a firmware update. Also added more resolution options at 120hz.
I'm not sure how long it's been since I've done anything other than volume, on/off, or source switch on the TV, but I think it's measured in years.
But there's still a lot that can not be done. I change my Samsung monitor's brightness, gamma, & "lean-back" view mode multiple times a week. On my projector I switch between "quiet" & normal mode, & adjust keystone & zoom depending on position.
It'd be awesome to de-interface the TV, to create machine-to-machine interfaces that let the TV be a "dumb" screen while still being able to fiddle it's knobs. We could definitely go middle-way by returning to the tv having an "on screen display" only, some menus for configuration, but I'd love to also expand the digital controllability of these things, such that Rokus & GTVs &c can integrate with, become a comprehensive modular hub/brain for controlling the TV.
I don't do anything other than turn the TV off and on and change the volume, so the Apple TV remote (or any other remote programmed to work with the Apple TV remote) suffices.
I put a little adhesive remote holder I stuck on the back of the TV for the remote that came with the TV for the rare times I might need to change the input or something.
Some apps work "better" on the TV (Netflix, Amazon Prime) since I can get Dolby Vision from the built-in apps. Other apps (Disney+) are horrifically buggy on the TV and I use the Shield for them.
I have not enabled all the snooping that LG wants, and so I do not see any ads. If I ever start to see ads, I'd factory reset the TV so it forgets my wifi, and use the shield or an Apple TV.
I also use the shield for and ad-free youtube by using SmartYouTubeTV on the shield.
Its all in on Sony but its pretty nice to only have one remote.
I own a LG OLED from 2020 and it has the option to turn on ads. Yes, it can have ads but you have to turn them on yourself.
For AppleTV it turns itself on when I tap the ATV remote, volume is adjusted using the same remote.
Big news this year is Qualcomm is committing a whole extra year to security updates, so now you can keep using your car/tv/phone a whole 4 years! Oh boy!
Remember when we had that brief window, where phones had to come unlocked? And we had a surge of DIY folk making all kinds of neat Android distributions? Feels like such a far-off hard-to-imagine glimmering age to me now. Before the Republicans set about insuring the corporations had whatever rights they wanted, dismantling this basic consumer & ecological protection.
Plus I'd imagine if you stick with mainstream apps you'll probably be okay even without security updates though of course there's no guarantee.
Is that going to be at all useful if you use an AVR? It would have to receive the audio to augment it and then send it back to the AVR which I don't believe is part of the HDMI standard (2 audio return channels). I guess a lot of people will sport a high end XR TV but then pair it with only a sound bar and I guess it works for them.
It's not anything remotely new or exciting, it's just something that hasn't really been implemented in TVs until now.
Isn't that the whole point of Android TV? It's another revenue stream for Sony, right? If you read through the privacy statement it's clear that Sony is monetizing everything they possibly can.
You can opt-out and lose nothing, as far as I can tell. But IIRC, you do have to accept the privacy policy to apply updates, but then you can opt-out again after.
Fortunately, Sony made this easy - if you hold down the power button on the remote you get a restart option.
When you update the system to the latest version, it installs a forced ad rotation on the top. You have no control over that content, and there is no way to get rid of it. Pass.
You can get a commercial unit (commonly called digital signage) that will both faithfully display your input signal and last for frickin' ever (built for huge 24x7 workloads in poor environmental conditions), but you _will_ pay more and you _will_ give up some creature comforts and consumer focused features along with getting rid of spying crapware
For example, many of LG's commercial TV's run 'commercial' WebOS ("Pro:Centric"). Many of Samsung's commercial TV's run 'commercial' Tizen ("SMART and/or LYNK + REACH")
You can still get dumb displays, especially if you ask for "monitors" instead of "televisions" or "digital signage". But it's getting way harder than it used to be, even if you exclusively look at the Commercial / Business models.