Hi all.
Need to upgrade my TV set for the sake of an Atmos soundbar. Which of the platforms would you say is most accessible? I do use an Apple TV, but it might be nice to have some other things to play with on the TV itself... As far as I can tell there are the main ones:
Google TV - Sony uses this
Android TV (not sure how this differs)
Fire TV Samsung
LG
A note, I'm talking about full TVs which use these platforms and not streaming sticks or pucks such as the Amazon Fire Stick or the stand alone Google TV puck.
I'm in the UK and will therefore want to be watching BBC, which may have an impact.
Thanks
Comments
Just to hop back on this…
Just to hop back on this... The reason I wanted a new TV was to be able to use an atmos soundbar. I've moved on from Sonos and am now looking at the Samsung HW-Q90R as it has pass through for devices, IE, I can plug in my Apple TV and PS5 and then go from the soundbar to my older TV. Job done.
Responses
@Daniel Angus M…,
As I am not in Canada, probably not. However, if you do a Google search for, "FireTV with Dolby Vision & Dolby Atmos", you will likely find what you need. It's what I did, only I am in the US.
@Oliver,
Ah, I gotcha. I know very little about sound bars, unfortunately. Never really had the opportunity to play with One.
If you do plan on keeping your Apple TV device, however, then yeah you really don't need a Fire device on top of that, just a decent "smart" television set.
That's the thing, I don't…
That's the thing, I don't think you do need a smart set. All we want is HDMI 2.1, a passible screen and that's it. We can flavour the operating system with inexpensive sticks or boxes.
I'm currently using a Fury Arcana, which splits video and audio so one goes to my rather old and dumb TV and the other goes to my Sonos Beam. It just means I can only use one device at a time, meaning I have to plug and un plug... Though, if this can save me a few hundred quid, maybe that's worth it. It's think I just get frustrated with all devices I need to coax along, make do with and that don't just work...
Also, I would really suggest, if you can afford it, getting a soundbar, especially if you're just using TV speakers. JBL do a pretty inexpensive one for about $100, think it's just called soundbar 2.0 or something similar. It's a lot of bang for your buck and just really beefs up the sound. I'm not an audiophile, but I do like a bit of emersion when watching TV.
The point of having a "smart…
The point of having a "smart" TB, is to have something like voice guidance so that you can navigate menus and such. For example, my "smart" Sceptre brand TV, has four HDMI ports. I still have to use the remote to navigate the input menu to switch between those ports when I want to actively use one of them. My TV also has a setting to switch between HDMI 1.4, and HDMI 2.2. I would struggle to do any of this without the voice guidance feature.
Hope that makes sense.
That sound bar you mentioned actually sounds nice, but I will have to wait, I'm actually looking to replace my TV as well. Primarily, I want a better frame rate TV for my Xbox games. 😇🎮
Most TVs now, and I know…
Most TVs now, and I know this is a smart thing, is that they automatically switch based on the input device. EG, even on my old TV, so maligned, if I turn on my PS5 it turns on the TV and switches to the correct HDMI, and when I turn it off, it turns off the TV. True, it is important for setting it up, making sure certain options are selected, passthrough for audio, etc but, it really only needs to be for the maintanance level rather than the app interaction level.
Don't get me wrong, the fire TV tvs, which is a rather confusing nominclature, sound wicked. If you can get everything you need in box, then great. The danger is though, the OS itself is likely to be outstripped before the hardware itself becomes obsolete. In many ways, our ideal would be a very large gaming monitor, though I don't think they do them that big.
Oh ... they do actually
Run a Google search for, '50 inch Gaming Monitors', and check out those results. Only thing is, they are stupid pricy. For example, Samsung has a 55" gaming monitor for like $1500.00 US.
... or you can get a smart TV and call it good. 😛