Apps on your tv

My ancient Panasonic Viera TV (2011?) does have Netflix and YT preloaded, but it requires a wired internet connection and that ain’t happening where it sits, so the 4K Firestick handles all streaming duties.

Freesat box can be used in a pinch, but the UI on the non-Humax Freesat boxes is clunky AF.
 
Sony TV with Android, in order of usage
- SmartTube (YouTube without the ads)
- TiviMate (IPTV)
- Syncler (TV Shows and Movies)
- F1TV
- Netflix

In the future, if I end up with a non-Android TV, I'll go back to an Nvidia Shield TV and install the same apps.
 
2 year old Samsung OLED S93C

Plex
YouTube
D+
Prime

They all still work fine and get updates after 2 years so no need for extra sticks etc.


rp2000
 
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2018 LG OLED - still use all the built-in apps:
- YouTube
- Apple TV
- Disney Plus
- Amazon Prime
- Now TV
- BBC iplayer
- ITV X
- All 4
- Demand 5

The only app I have an issue with is Demand 5. Th e first time you load it up it crashes, so you have to turn off and on the TV and it works the 2nd time. Luckily I don’t watch much on channel 5 so I can cope with this!
 
Sony XH95 from 2020 - was great for a while but everything is super sluggish these days, often when I try to open iPlayer it won't work until I open Netflix which for some reason makes it launch.
Still Netflix, Disney+, iPlayer and Prime Video, the last 2 of which seemingly can't be added to the quick launch bar anymore which is annoying. Shall be getting another Apple TV soon so I can use that instead.
 
XH95 here. iPlayer has always been part of Sony Select and could never be added to the apps bar. I have the same issue where iPlayer takes a minute to launch, used to be OK.
Being able to sideload apps is a bonus.

- SmartTube
- TiviMate
- Syncler
- F1TV
 
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dav3evans said:
Sony XH95 from 2020 - was great for a while but everything is super sluggish these days, often when I try to open iPlayer it won't work until I open Netflix which for some reason makes it launch.
Still Netflix, Disney+, iPlayer and Prime Video, the last 2 of which seemingly can't be added to the quick launch bar anymore which is annoying. Shall be getting another Apple TV soon so I can use that instead.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Apple TV is the easiest by far for the popular apps..

Between NVidia Shields and Apple TVs I run:

- Channels DVR (This connects to a Kathrein SATIP box, and effectively give Sky+ abilities for FTA channels with a nice front end that can be used on any device in the house)
- Youtube (of course!)
- Channel4+ - I subscribe as the Mrs watches many series on there, it's £2.99 a month
- Plex - Say no more

We've ditched Sky/Netflix/Disney+ etc.. no need at the moment.
 
I used to have a 13 year old Panasonic that I hardly used. None of the apps worked on that anymore.
The 2021 LG I use occasionally, has the terrestrial channel apps on it, YT, Disney+ & Prime.
 
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I've noticed recently, perhaps over the last month, that the NetFlix app can sometimes freeze and the Samsung S90C needs a hard restart to unfreeze it. Doesn't happen on any other app, but it's still a little annoying.
 
rhysduck said:
LG OLED CX5:

Netflix, Disney, Youtube andd Plex still going strong. Coming up to 5 year old now and still an excellent TV.

No All4 though for Bake Off :(
Click to expand...

CX here, I use Apple TV4k for most apps but do prefer to use bbc iplayer tv app.

But yeah CX has been and still is a great TV, hopefully I don’t plan to change it anytime soon, not at least until some new tech/features really sway me.
 
theone8181 said:
…Not sure why using a firestick would give any difference to picture or sound quality.
Click to expand...

I don’t know about other TVs, but I believe all LG TVs use a 100Mb Ethernet.
If a Roku has a Gb connection and the streaming service support higher bit rates, that’s a potential opportunity.

Just about to go research that.
 
Just been doing some digging. It’s all a bit of a let down.

No Roku units have a Gb Ethernet.
The new Google TV box does have a Gb Ethernet.

Ref the streaming services, Sony is comments on having the highest, using upto 80Mb. Netflix is back at 25 ish, even with 4K.

Can’t say that it’s inspiring news.
Back to 4K BDs…
Whilst there’s not a great catalogue, and they’re expensive, image quality is usually brilliant.


Just been looking at the codec supports.
Seems that the Nvidia shield Pro supports TrueHD, DD+ and ATMOS. The Google TV supposedly has ATMOS support by no DD+ or TrueHD.
 
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Mr_Sukebe said:
Just been doing some digging. It’s all a bit of a let down.

No Roku units have a Gb Ethernet.
The new Google TV box does have a Gb Ethernet.

Ref the streaming services, Sony is comments on having the highest, using upto 80Mb. Netflix is back at 25 ish, even with 4K.

Can’t say that it’s inspiring news.
Back to 4K BDs…
Whilst there’s not a great catalogue, and they’re expensive, image quality is usually brilliant.


Just been looking at the codec supports.
Seems that the Nvidia shield Pro supports TrueHD, DD+ and ATMOS. The Google TV supposedly has ATMOS support by no DD+ or TrueHD.
Click to expand...

My AMlogic TV box supports TrueHD, DD+, Atmos, HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision,HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma), and Technicolor Prime HDR processing.

4K BD's are too expensive, they're several times the price of a 1080p movie.
 
I found out earlier that my Panny 820 can stream from Netflix and output the audio codecs that I was hoping for
 
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