2019-11-14, 20:32
2019-11-17, 23:03
(2019-11-14, 20:32)CiNcH Wrote:Yeap. With an 8 bit screen vs 10 bit on XF. Well, even XG85xx is ATV3 but there's no 49 inch version. It looks like everyone is adding the high end chips/features on large screens only.(2019-11-14, 17:33)lucassp Wrote: Well, I bought the 49XG9005 and I can confirm that the CPU is MT5891, 1.5Gb RAM and it's reported wrong on the website above.
Yes. Checked that at a local store too. XG9005 is basically a rebranded XF9005.
2019-12-17, 06:56
Quote:Sony recently announced that they have no plans on updating BRAVIAs based on ATV2/ATV3 (MediaTek MT5891) to Android TV 9.0 Pie. This includes most models from 2017 and 2018 (like the famous X900E and X900F) and also some from 2019 (like the AG8 OLED).
https://piunikaweb.com/2019/12/09/sony-a...ntroversy/
The really pathetic thing is mainstream, non knowledgable, loyal, Sony TV brand purchasers that bought a 2019 Sony A8G OLED have been pretty much hoodwinked and betrayed if they expected decent Android TV OS support.
In reality all Smart TV OS's and their Apps should be considered convenient, "Extra", nice to have features.
Frequent Netflix users will find 2019 Netflix Recommended TV's (click) work really well with that App. I'm now a big fan of TV's with that quick TV startup Netflix App feature.
Users really need to get the most powerful chipset under the Smart TV hood they can afford at the time of purchase if they want something snappy.
Or go a minimal Smart TV OS route - with the best, most accurate out of the box 4K HDR DV display you can get - eg 2019 Panasonic GZ OLED + combine that with a powerful externally connected Media player...
Long term Media Apps player Firmware and OS support is much better from Nvidia with their Shields, Amazon with their Fire TV's and Apple TV's - plus of course Windows and Linux based OS - Kodi media players.
The Apple TV 3 currently hold the record for still receiving support some 7.5+ years after initial device release with a Firmware update late September 2019.
W.
And if you want the Tech reasons behind EOLing the ATV2/ATV3 (MediaTek MT5891) Sony TV's, read THIS (click)
2019-12-18, 10:55
(2018-07-24, 10:35)CiNcH Wrote: I am currently testing a Sony BRAVIA KD-65XF9005. A respective review can be found here. It is mainly about Sony's integration of Android TV in ATV2 based products, therefore applying to all BRAVIA sets released after mid-2016.
Things didn't change in a dramatic way compared to Sony's ATV1 platform (2015 and early 2016 models), suffering more or less from the same shortcomings and bugs.
Sorry to necropost - but "Sony lacks support for the public Android API for switching the refresh rate/display mode, presenting at a permanent 60 frames per second which results in micro-judder for a lot of content here in Europe when being played back within the 3rd party app context (e.g. Kodi, YouTube,...). The only exception to this limitation seems to be the integrated DTV player where Sony has access to some private API, switching to 50Hz for smooth PAL playback."
Interesting - I think the UK Catch Up TV apps that Sony ship (BBC iPlayer for instance) DO switch to 50Hz. iPlayer is 720p50 (for SDR HD) and 1080p50, 1440p50 and 2160p50 (for HDR HLG UHD) content - and this all seems to be presented at 50Hz cleanly with no 50->60Hz judder, so I think the Sony BBC iPlayer app (and/or Connected Red Button HbbTV system) is also 50Hz friendly.
2019-12-18, 10:58
Maybe Sony allows them to use the private APIs :| I'm assuming the Kodi people can decompile the iPlayer DEX and make sure they use the same private APIs.
2019-12-18, 11:11
(2019-12-18, 10:58)lucassp Wrote: Maybe Sony allows them to use the private APIs :| I'm assuming the Kodi people can decompile the iPlayer DEX and make sure they use the same private APIs.
Maybe.
By the way - I don't understand this point : "And why in the blue hell would you call your channel search/scan facility Digital Tuning?"? To a Brit speaking British English - Digital Tuning makes sense as a menu to 'tune in' the channels on your Digital TV. 'Channel Scan' is a far less user friendly term for the average UK buyer, as in British English non-technical people wouldn't really talk about 'scanning for channels'.
Dating back to the days of analogue pre-sets on TVs and VCRs, and rotary tuning knobs on cheap portable TVs, we'd talk about 'tuning in' a TV.
I've had an XE9005 and an XF9005 (the XE9005 was replaced by Sony with the XF9005 for lots of us who reported the major fault that caused frame pairs to be dropped and repeated on 50Hz content without MotionFlow enabled, and which they couldn't fix in over 6 months) - and in the UK there is also an additional complication. Rather than using the almost-monochrome Sony TV interface (which is very non-Android) or the Google Live TV Android TV Ui, there is also the optional 'YouView' front-end that totally replaces the Sony DVB UI. It adds its own EPG, including a reverse EPG for Catch Up services, and is like a third UI for the TV in TV viewing terms. However it is SOOOOO slow many of us opt out of using it and run in regular DVB-T2 mode. (DVB-S2 mode is useless in the UK as Sony haven't licensed Freesat functionality so you get no EPG on UK DVB-S2 FTA broadcasts, and the TVs are sold here without any real mention of them having satellite tuners as a result - though if you have a family member who wants to watch stuff on Astra 1 at 19.2E or Hotbird then putting a dish pointed at that satellite makes sense. Also the lack of LCN and bouquet support for Freesat would make it unusable for most people as they would want their correct regional BBC One on 101, ITV on 103 etc.)
I'm afraid I found the lack of frame rate switching in the Android TV implementation on the Sony XE and XF a deal breaker for running any of the major streaming apps or Kodi on the TV. The only time I use the Android TV is to watch iPlayer UHD HDR content - for all other streaming media (iPlayer HD, Netflix, Amazon etc.) I use an Apple TV 4K.
