[Harold_S]

But Sony does support PCM 7.1 for HDMI sources. That is, it can pass incoming 7.1 stream through eARC to my amplifier. So the TV does know how to output 7.1 PCM, it just doesn't allow that for Android apps for some reason..

Aah, is this the reason that I only get Dolby Digital 5.1 with Dolby TrueHD 7 channel movies on my Sonos Surround set? Streaming from my NAS to KODI installed on my Google 2021 tv.

[Zuikkis]

Aah, is this the reason that I only get Dolby Digital 5.1 with Dolby TrueHD 7 channel movies on my Sonos Surround set? Streaming from my NAS to KODI installed on my Google 2021 tv.

Perhaps? Have you tried to disable passthrough in Kodi, and then set amount of channels to 7.1? This should force Kodi to decode all audio locally and output 7.1 PCM. My Sony actually accepts this, but converts it to stereo before passing to my amplifier. Sigh.

But if 7.1 PCM doesn't work, then you can only use Kodi's DD5.1 transcoding.

[Randomginger]

FWIW, in my experience Philips are usually implementing the slower CPU/GPU solutions in their TVs. Most TVs have relatively slow hardware to begin with, but Philips tends to be at the back of the pack. The ethernet port on the TV is probably a 100Mb/s version, while bigger video files run in the gigabytes in size. Having a quicker network connection will add to the user experience. Perhaps a proper wifi option (Wifi 6) is a supported alternative.

I'd say get yourself a TV with a good display panel, and a separate device for Kodi for maximum flexibility.

I have yet to find a better device than the Nvidia shield.

The Xbox Series X is excellent, however, is currently lacking HDR and Passthrough support on Plex, that I am eagerly awaiting for.

Though I would love to have a collection of black boxes full of tricks, my wife does insist I limit the number and keep the user friendly for when I'm not in the house.

[Randomginger]

Whoops. I meant Kodi not Plex. Plex is a bandwidth data hungry monster and I shall wash my mouth out with soapy water.

[miroshi]

I use Kodi on 43" Philips Android TV model 2019. It has 2 GB ram and has no problems to play 4k HDR videos. The only problem is its HDMIs are, ARC, but not eARC, so it can not passthrow TrueHD and DTS-X to my receiver. Oh and its internal memory is only 5 GB.

[crysty0612]

I use Kodi on 43" Philips Android TV model 2019. It has 2 GB ram and has no problems to play 4k HDR videos. The only problem is its HDMIs are, ARC, but not eARC, so it can not passthrow TrueHD and DTS-X to my receiver. Oh and its internal memory is only 5 GB.

Except that you are not missing (only) eARC but a less restrictive TV firmware. ( Yes, for sure, hardware limitation comes first BUT even with eARC, there's no TrueHD Pass-through, on newer Philips models. Only RAW decoder gets detected, not the IEC, and that doesn't let internal apps pass through True HD. Kodi and Plex both affected. Internal TV player refuses to play at all). I'll make a new thread about the Philips latest series OLED. Part of my upgrade was because I had ARC only just like you and though eARC would solve everything..so naive of me.

But yes, on topic, a smart TV with android will do Kodi. With the already discussed limitations.

Bandwidth issues for setup with NAS (brand or custom built) for NFS, with high bitrate movies can easily be solved with AdvancedSettings.xml, enabling caching for network streaming. With a decent router and even Wi-Fi n, 512 MB ram dedicated for Kodi caching is enough. High Speed USB storage (for TV with USB3) can also work for caching Kodi on disk. DO NOT CACHE IT ON TV FLASH THO.
TV's Ethernet 100mbps does worse than Dual Wi-Fi n. I know of no tv with gigabit ethernet.
Some TV can accept USB3 to Ethernet adapters (latest Philips series with android 10 does), for getting closer to gigabit.

[looun]

Bandwidth issues is very easy to fix: USB 3.0 -> 1 gbps adapter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIef8iRZhLE&t=56s also with USB 2.0 port, Cable Matters  work great with lot of TV.
For better video performance exoplayer is much better than media codec with tv' soc/firmware, using external player .