2017 Sony Android TVs
#1
Anyone own a Sony 2017 TV and running Kodi on it?
How does it compare to the Shield or MI Box?
Does passthrough work with Android 7.0?
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#2
Many posts on this already, no passthrough does not work on Kodi but does on internal player, but the internal player is so bad it's barely useable, the computing power of Sony tvs is low, mine struggles with high bitrate 4k her content, and even that needs to played via USB, as the exclusion of gigabyte LAN makes steaming content over 50 mbs pretty much impossible.
Main System - HTPC - Intel I3 6300 - Asrock z170 - 16 GB DDR4 - 128gb SSD - 65" UHD HDR Sony Android TV - Pioneer VSX 1130-K - 7.2.2 speakers
Other devices currently in use - 55" 3D UHD LG TV - 2 Fire TV's - Nexus Player - MiniMX s905 - Voyo Vmac Mini
Ubuntu Server - 12 TB NAS - MYSQL - Torrent Box
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#3
Figured as much, guess I'll stick to my s905 box for Kodi use and use the TV for google cast and Netflix
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#4
All you will ever need to know....

A very informative Review from @CiNcH is worth reading -

The Sony Android TV Experience (2017)

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#5
(2017-09-14, 16:22)wrxtasy Wrote: All you will ever need to know....

A very informative Review from @CiNcH is worth reading -

The Sony Android TV Experience (2017)
Thanks for the heads-up @wrxtasy, it was a rather informative read as provided by @CiNcH.

So now I have a clearer understanding of what not to buy and why.
And as such it seems to me that the best approach may be to have a large monitor rather than a TV and place any "smarts" in a much cheaper easily replaceable box.

Guess the logical (but rhetorical) question is who makes >75" monitor (with no smart TV stuff built in, no phoning home, etc, just great PQ).
And (again rhetorical) what sort of replacable box should one consider for providing the smarts that many desire and i don't want in my TV...
I'm a XBMC novice :)
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#6
Lightbulb 
Just use the Android TV / Smart TV for mainstream Apps usage. i.e. Netflix, Amazon etc etc

But NOT demanding Kodi use. Linux/LibreELEC boxes are better for demanding Kodi users anyway.

If done than way you will not have to worry about Android Apps 1080p > 4K picture upscaling issues nor needing to have a DD+ AVR connected to an external Android TV box just to get 5.1 DD+ from such streaming Apps.

Also with the big mainstream push by Apple towards DolbyVision compatibility with their new ATV 4K, you might want to consider buying a DV compatible TV with that already built in and running, or at least the ability to add DV compatibility with a Firmware update.

I've not heard anything about DV compatibility from the likes of say NVIDIA for adding this DV feature to their Shield.

You might be interested in this therad as well:

Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) / Atmos over HDMI ARC

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#7
I've read the article a few days ago while the article is correct but seems a little biased, I bought the Sony 900E and so far it's snappy and responsive with Nought. I was set on the Vizio P series as that's as close to a dumb TV one can purchase now a days but got a extremely good price on the 900E {much cheaper than the P series).

I'm just trying to see if I want to keep it and that decision will be based purely on if I need DV and YouTube VP9.2. What I fail to understand is DV/VP9.2 a hardware, software limitation or both? Since DV is built on the HDR10 I would suspect the TV can and will work with say a Nvidia Shield and the same for YouTube?

I don't mind using an external box actually prefer that hence why I was set on the Vizio.

My main sources of media consumption is Kodi, Netflix and YouTube.
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#8
Quote:I've read the article a few days ago while the article is correct but seems a little biased
It is not biased in any way. I am just a Sony TV owner who got really frustrated and decided to write a review. My heritage is HTPC. So I might have higher demands than most. Sony TV is certainly no replacement for people like me. Sony however even failed on everyday Joe standard things like watching broadcast TV or Amazon Video.

I don't think that other TV manufacturers are a lot better. But I only have a Sony ("Smart TV") and can therefore only compare on the very surface. As everyday Joe, I would probably get myself a Samsung or an LG. They at least get the standard things right. As an advanced user it is certainly the best option to go after a box. Give it some time and you might find out yourself. You should not think that you know it all the day after you purchased that TV.

Quote:I bought the Sony 900E and so far it's snappy and responsive with Nought.
That was my first impression too. Sony Android TV is like Windows 95/98. It gets slower and less stable every day, the more you use it and want to do with it. Just check out Sony communities. Every second post suggests to perform a factory reset...
I will yet have to see indeed what Nougat brings to the table. But from experience, major updates made it even worse, as the underlying system did not get adapted. Sony promised a significant performance boost with Marshmallow already which did not happen though.
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#9
Quote:I'm just trying to see if I want to keep it and that decision will be based purely on if I need DV and YouTube VP9.2. What I fail to understand is DV/VP9.2 a hardware, software limitation or both? Since DV is built on the HDR10 I would suspect the TV can and will work with say a Nvidia Shield and the same for YouTube?
I don't really understand everything you are just writing or asking here, but these are the facts concerning YouTube HDR and Dolby Vision on a 90E:

- 90E will never get Dolby Vision support. So even if your external box can do it, you won't be able to enjoy it with the 90E as both sides have to support it. You are limited to HDR10 and HLG. Only Sony TVs based on the X1 Extreme image processor will receive a respective update.

- YouTube HDR is currently not supported even though the SoC inside 90E can actually do VP9.2. I think that this is a Sony/MediaTek related issue, not implementing latest Nougat HDR APIs. Or why would Google hold back YouTube HDR for their own Android TV platform? I am quite confident that there will be a software update sooner or later. Since YouTube HDR is currently using HDR10 only, you can at least enjoy the content via Chromecast Ultra.
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#10
I have had my fair share of frustration with WebOS in the past and went in knowing the TV will have issues, really was going to stick to vizio since that is as dump you can get FOR a smart TV and didn't really want to deal with Android TV limitations, but got a really sweet deal with the Sony.

In any event I had major issues getting Kodi shitty builds to install once I used a USB key as storage so I'm beginningl to see your frustration, however as long as Google Cast stays functional I won't really use any of the other smart features including Kodi on the TV. So hears hoping using key limited features helps keep the TV stable, this has definitely helped with WebOS

Bit disappointing we as consumers have to resort to these workarounds just to get a functional product.

As far as DV I'm not overly concerned about not having it since still early, however I really would like YouTube HDR VP9.2 and hope Sony/Google will deliver. I could be wrong but based on my research only the Samsung TVs can output VP9.2 on YouTube. Vizio, Nvidia and LG still use VP9.
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#11
According to FlatpanelsHD, 2017 LG OLED TVs can do YouTube HDR already. Also the new LG based Bang&Olufsen BeoVision Eclipse can do it.
Tegra X1 inside nVIDIA SHIELD TV misses a dedicated VP9.2 capable decoder. But the SoC probably has enough horsepower to do it in SW (using the massive ARM cores and Maxwell shader cluster).
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#12
(2017-09-18, 16:56)JonSnow88 Wrote: As far as DV I'm not overly concerned about not having it since still early, however I really would like YouTube HDR VP9.2 and hope Sony/Google will deliver. I could be wrong but based on my research only the Samsung TVs can output VP9.2 on YouTube. Vizio, Nvidia and LG still use VP9.

Dont hold your breathe, Youtube HDR is never coming to 2017 Sony TV's.
Main System - HTPC - Intel I3 6300 - Asrock z170 - 16 GB DDR4 - 128gb SSD - 65" UHD HDR Sony Android TV - Pioneer VSX 1130-K - 7.2.2 speakers
Other devices currently in use - 55" 3D UHD LG TV - 2 Fire TV's - Nexus Player - MiniMX s905 - Voyo Vmac Mini
Ubuntu Server - 12 TB NAS - MYSQL - Torrent Box
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#13
Why would you say that?
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#14
(2017-09-19, 12:37)CiNcH Wrote: Why would you say that?

7.0 is here, no Youtube HDR, i just dont see it happening in a timely fashion, also the quality selector has been removed from youtube for android tv anyways, i can only get 1440p on a 100mbs connection, hardware bottleneck somewhere in these TVs
Main System - HTPC - Intel I3 6300 - Asrock z170 - 16 GB DDR4 - 128gb SSD - 65" UHD HDR Sony Android TV - Pioneer VSX 1130-K - 7.2.2 speakers
Other devices currently in use - 55" 3D UHD LG TV - 2 Fire TV's - Nexus Player - MiniMX s905 - Voyo Vmac Mini
Ubuntu Server - 12 TB NAS - MYSQL - Torrent Box
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#15
4K YouTube works "fine" here with my 25mbps connection. But it depends. I can obviously not play 4K clips with 30mbps, like The World in HDR. The YouTube player however goes up to 2160p60 for lower bitrate content like this one (~15mbps). However the new player consumes lots of CPU time, introducing lots of judder when playing high frame rate video. Old YouTube 1.X app used to consume a fraction and 60p was perfectly smooth. So YouTube 2.X on Android TV is for sure not where it should be.
The 4K issue you are experiencing might not be due to Sony but limited bandwidth on Google servers. Sometimes network bandwdith on the TV is dramatically reduced too. It might help to reboot your TV (long power button press or power cycling).

As for YouTube HDR, Sony promised support at CES2016. Sony/MediaTek are always 1 year behind. So I am confident that an update will arrive eventually, only for TVs based on the ATV2 platform though.
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