Answered Android TV right choice or Tizen/ Web OS?

[pina]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new TV, since my last samsung just died this weekend. Here's my situation:

I hooked up a Raspberry Pi on my tv in order to have ambilight with Plex. That means that when buying a new television, I have to buy the LED strips again. But then I was thinking of buying Ambilight tv, because it's useful with all sources, like my PS4 or antenna television. Before, I could only get Ambilight when watching Plex.

So I came up with this model:55PUS8303

which looks to be exactly what I need for my budget. But I still can't help to feel unsure about Philips' reputation with tv's. In the past I read reviews of Philips television and they were not overwhelming. Besides of that, it's using Android tv, and what I read is that there's a lot of bloatware with that OS. No surprise though, but reading that it can crash pretty easy, makes me feel very uncomfortable. Especially when looking into Tizen and Web OS.

What looks nice to me to the Android TV, is the build in 16GB storage to record content. But is it possible to access the recorded content by a computer in order to play it on other devices?

I also have an iPhone, I would like to be able to show my photos on the big tv instead of only on my iPhone. Is it possible to connect it with my iPhone?

 

[zeppelino]

I don’t think the onboard storage is for recording stuff. It’s to support apps and subsequent updates.

 

[Dodgexander]

But is it possible to access the recorded content by a computer in order to play it on other devices?

No, you can't do this. I would not personally want to rely on built in recording anyway, certainly the 16gb of storage is not designed for this purpose, but instead the apps you install on the TV. You'd want to connect an external storage HDD or flash drive for recording.

I also have an iPhone, I would like to be able to show my photos on the big tv instead of only on my iPhone. Is it possible to connect it with my iPhone?

You may find there is a Philips app for iPhone with this functionality, try searching in the app store for it.

Philips are no different to other manufacturers, now owned by TP-Vision in Europe. They have good and bad models and their android smart TV is criticised much like Sony's...although they tend not to underpower their models quite the same as Sony do.

Is there a particular reason you are looking at the 8 series? Its nice in the respect it has a wide colour gamut (this is only useful for HDR) and a 120hz panel, but its an IPS panel and tends not to be a good option for overall picture quality unless you need wide viewing angles, certainly compared to the competition at the same price.

In fact, Philips' cheaper TVs may be using VA panels with better contrast and blacks. If I wanted ambilight, I would buy for cheaper unless I knew I wanted an IPS type panel and/or knew I was going to use motion interpolation a lot for sport.

Explanation and Best Buys for the Motion sensitive 2018 Edition
Which panel type should I choose for my TV?


If you went with the 6 series, you could even avoid android TV completely.

 

[pina]

No, you can't do this. I would not personally want to rely on built in recording anyway, certainly the 16gb of storage is not designed for this purpose, but instead the apps you install on the TV. You'd want to connect an external storage HDD or flash drive for recording.

You may find there is a Philips app for iPhone with this functionality, try searching in the app store for it.

Philips are no different to other manufacturers, now owned by TP-Vision in Europe. They have good and bad models and their android smart TV is criticised much like Sony's...although they tend not to underpower their models quite the same as Sony do.

Is there a particular reason you are looking at the 8 series? Its nice in the respect it has a wide colour gamut (this is only useful for HDR) and a 120hz panel, but its an IPS panel and tends not to be a good option for overall picture quality unless you need wide viewing angles, certainly compared to the competition at the same price.

In fact, Philips' cheaper TVs may be using VA panels with better contrast and blacks. If I wanted ambilight, I would buy for cheaper unless I knew I wanted an IPS type panel and/or knew I was going to use motion interpolation a lot for sport.

Explanation and Best Buys for the Motion sensitive 2018 Edition
Which panel type should I choose for my TV?


If you went with the 6 series, you could even avoid android TV completely.

I looked at the 8 series because it's a newer model and because it suits my budget. I don't have 1700+ euros to spend for OLED. So it's not particularly the panel that I chose. I was very statisfied with my 4 years old samsung 50" full hd television. I'm more looking into a budget of max 1000 euros.

 

[Dodgexander]

The 8 series is not a new model. Its a 2018 model. The end number in Philips model numbering schemes corresponds to the year, a 3 means 2018. The same from the 6 series; PUS6703 is also a 2018 model.

I think you may perhaps making the assumption that spending more automatically gives you better quality, this isn't the case with TVs.

You can usually get a lot more for your money than the Philips 8 series, including cheaper models from Philips themselves which overall will do better with picture quality in terms of contrast and blacks.

Determine first what panel type you want from a LCD TV if you care about things like contrast/blacks and screen uniformity.

Depending on local availability and pricing the LG B8 OLED may be getting closer to the 1000 EURO mark as it comes nearer to its end of life.

Better options than the Philips usually are:

Samsung NU8000 - usually priced cheaper than the Philips, VA type panel together with 120hz for better motion processing, better smart TV, better HDMI connectivity as some ports aren't limited to HDMI v1.4.
Hisense U7A - same as above, slightly worse HDMI connectivity (similar to Philips 8 series).

These two, if available would be better options if you wanted to spend more than a Philips 6 series (most people do not need to spend so much on a TV).

 

[Analysis]

Especially when looking into Tizen and Web OS.

WebOS is the best then Tizen, but they all crash due to the SOC and RAM involved.

NU8000 is the best option, then the Hisense U7A.

You are better using an external device for smart services, they have more RAM and processing power of any tv out there and are cheap as well.

 

[pina]

Unfortunately, series 6 doesn't support plex, which is crucial for me. Since I would like ambilight, the only thing I can choose is series 7/8 or go for an expensive oled version. Advantage now is there's a price reduction of approximately 250 euros, coming from 1500 euros. But it's still a lot of money

 

[zeppelino]

You can add bias lighting to any tv.

 

[Dodgexander]

Unfortunately, series 6 doesn't support plex, which is crucial for me. Since I would like ambilight, the only thing I can choose is series 7/8 or go for an expensive oled version. Advantage now is there's a price reduction of approximately 250 euros, coming from 1500 euros. But it's still a lot of money

You can go for the 7 series that has android TV then if you need it but android TV isn't a great platform. You'd be better off pairing the 6 series TV with a Roku streaming stick or similar.

You can add bias lighting to any tv.

I think he knows about this since he mentioned he has been using his own bias lighting system in past.

OP I think you need weigh up how important ambilight is to you, if its more important than smart TV then you should just aim for a Philips 6 series and a separate box/stick for plex.

Its a measure of smart TV functionality vs usability vs ambilight vs picture quality vs motion.

• Samsung NU8000 would tick all boxes sans ambilight
• Philips 8 series ticks all boxes apart from usability (android TV) but you may not like it has worse blacks/contrast/screen uniformity due to its IPS panel - however bias lighting I am sure you knows helps with this.
• Philips 6 series ticks most boxes apart from functionality as you want plex & motion as it uses only a 60hz panel.
• Philips 7 series would tick all boxes apart from motion (60hz panel) and usability, android TV.

It has to be said, having more than a 60hz panel is only useful if you plan on using motion settings in the TV. If you are not a fan of motion interpolation and you will not use any motion settings then there is little need for more than a 60hz panel.

I'd be tempted to save for one of the Philips OLEDs like the OLED803, it shouldn't be that far off the 8 series LCD price. You get a much better package overall then and despite it still using android TV, its picture quality and motion are excellent.

If you cannot go as high as the OLED or you fear OLED screen burn then I would go for the Samsung NU8000.

Last choice for me would be one of the Philips LCDs, depending on which boxes you want ticked and which you do not mind so much about.

 

[psychopomp1]

OP,
TBH Android TV OS isn't that bad at all. This is coming from someone who refuses to use an Android smartphone (d/t bloatware). My Sony 43" XF8096 runs Android TV and I've not really noticed a lot of bloatware on it, plus the big plus with Android TV is that you can run Kodi on it. As well as having access to Google Drive cloud drive (via ES Player) which means you can copy videos/photos/other content from a PC and watch on your TV.

 

[sagaris99]

OP,
TBH Android TV OS isn't that bad at all. This is coming from someone who refuses to use an Android smartphone (d/t bloatware). My Sony 43" XF8096 runs Android TV and I've not really noticed a lot of bloatware on it, plus the big plus with Android TV is that you can run Kodi on it. As well as having access to Google Drive cloud drive (via ES Player) which means you can copy videos/photos/other content from a PC and watch on your TV.

Was my understanding that Kodi no longer works
[Update: Unintentional] Kodi devs say Sony's Android TV devices block their app

Or has it come back?

 

[pina]

No, you can't do this. I would not personally want to rely on built in recording anyway, certainly the 16gb of storage is not designed for this purpose, but instead the apps you install on the TV. You'd want to connect an external storage HDD or flash drive for recording.

You may find there is a Philips app for iPhone with this functionality, try searching in the app store for it.

Philips are no different to other manufacturers, now owned by TP-Vision in Europe. They have good and bad models and their android smart TV is criticised much like Sony's...although they tend not to underpower their models quite the same as Sony do.

Is there a particular reason you are looking at the 8 series? Its nice in the respect it has a wide colour gamut (this is only useful for HDR) and a 120hz panel, but its an IPS panel and tends not to be a good option for overall picture quality unless you need wide viewing angles, certainly compared to the competition at the same price.

In fact, Philips' cheaper TVs may be using VA panels with better contrast and blacks. If I wanted ambilight, I would buy for cheaper unless I knew I wanted an IPS type panel and/or knew I was going to use motion interpolation a lot for sport.

Explanation and Best Buys for the Motion sensitive 2018 Edition
Which panel type should I choose for my TV?


If you went with the 6 series, you could even avoid android TV completely.

Woow that’s a great summary! Thanks a lot, stuff to think about....!

 

[pina]

Just one last question: what about the QLED? QE55Q6FNALXXN?

 

[Dodgexander]

Its a glorified NU8000 with a wider colour gamut for HDR. Not usually worth it since it also much like the NU8000 is not a great HDR performer anyway.

If you are looking at the Q6FN you may find the Sony XF9005 for similar pricing, much much better TV for picture quality is the Sony.

 

[psychopomp1]

Was my understanding that Kodi no longer works
[Update: Unintentional] Kodi devs say Sony's Android TV devices block their app

Or has it come back?

Well that’s the first I’ve ever heard of that, managed to install Kodi on my 43” XF8096 back in late Jan without any issues. I’ll post a screenshot later.

 

[pina]

I overlooked the issue about input lag... My last TV had input lag of 40ms, is f.e. 30ms ok or should I consider 15-20? We often play multiplayer shooters on ps4/switch. Even more than watching TV

 

[Analysis]

I overlooked the issue about input lag... My last TV had input lag of 40ms, is f.e. 30ms ok or should I consider 15-20? We often play multiplayer shooters on ps4/switch. Even more than watching TV

16.67ms = 1 frame so if you had 40ms and go to 30ms that's less than a 1 frame advantage between the two tv's.

Monitors have 1-2ms Input Lag on average, don't get confused with Response Time as this is to do with the panel and pixels.

I had over 100ms+ on my old Sharp and didn't really effect me in the slightest.

Latency has a far greater effect on games as well as webpages including DNS.

40ms or under is fine for gaming.

However if you want Motion Interpolation enabled within Game Mode, the LG SK8000 Series is the best for both 1080p and 4K currently.

 

[psychopomp1]

Well that’s the first I’ve ever heard of that, managed to install Kodi on my 43” XF8096 back in late Jan without any issues. I’ll post a screenshot later.

Here's the proof:

 

[Dodgexander]

Input lag is not a worry on TVs now like it once was.

 

[pina]

Just got the 55Q6F in the store. NU8000 was not in stock. This version is 100 euros more, so I just bought that one. Thanks for the advice!

Although I set the hdmi ports on hdr, my ps4 pro still states that my tv doesn't support hdr. I read that people are saying that game mode doesn't work together with hdr. Is that true?

 

[zeppelino]

Just got the 55Q6F in the store. NU8000 was not in stock. This version is 100 euros more, so I just bought that one. Thanks for the advice!

Although I set the hdmi ports on hdr, my ps4 pro still states that my tv doesn't support hdr. I read that people are saying that game mode doesn't work together with hdr. Is that true?

Ask in here -
Samsung NU8000 Owners Thread

While not directly related to the Q6 the same panel etc is used so will apply

 

[Dodgexander]

Although I set the hdmi ports on hdr, my ps4 pro still states that my tv doesn't support hdr. I read that people are saying that game mode doesn't work together with hdr. Is that true?

Its not true. Try a different HDMI cable(s) its notorious for having issues with certain cables, with the PS4 pro even the one in the box caused problems with some TVs.

 

[Analysis]

You need to connect it to the full bandwidth port to enable HDR 10-bit colour, if it's in a standard port then HDR won't work. Try another cable or buy another from Amazon Basics.