At best, December is an expensive month, I could have done without the old TV moving from a state of very intermittent psychedelia to permanent inability to stay on for more than 15 minutes. Shortly to be followed by a dishwasher losing the ability to heat water! Fault investigations could be better discussed elsewhere, but with both at over 7 years old really the only sensible solution was for replacements. The JLS account is in the name of the wife, so it seemed a solution could be readily achieved.
Having previously discovered the limitations of the proprietary Samsung version of 'smartness', and the fact that traditionally the UK residence is a Sony house, I decided to bite the bullet and go down the Android route. The 49XG8196 seemed a reasonable choice when ordered at the JLS sale price, despite the well documented restrictions of YouView vs satellite tuner restrictions.
I initially decided to wait until it self upgraded firmware and Android,V7 to V8 before playing with it. Self upgrading did not happen in 4 weeks so I downloaded the software from the Sony site, plugged in the USB stick, and it performed the upgrade quickly and without problems. The UI is now much cleaner and feels more responsive, even after adding various 'extras'.
With a VPN app installed, 'safe downloading' disabled, it is possible to get app versions of the ITV Hub, Channel 4, and Channel 5 players installed. Also HD display of other geo restricted content seems faultless. I guess it would also be suitable for use abroad in Europe.
The display and sound are perfectly acceptable, and using in 4k mode (from a raspberry Pi4) shows remarkable detail in photographic display.
The only problem I can foresee is if the apps stop working when I iam not around, and the Mrs is left with a less than functional large flat box on the wall.
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You mean a smart tv sold in the uk does not have native working versions of prime UK TV net players? What madness is this?
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It does, provided that you are willing to sacrifice the Satellite capability. And many users apparently do not like the YouView program guide with the inbuilt 7 day replay capability.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 4 Feb 20 at 10:33
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If you want smart you have probably done the right thing.
I would have had another Sony (fairly recent 42" written off after house fire) but they seemed to be £100 - £200 more than the equivalent Panasonic.
The "smart" on the previous Sony (from the year before they went android) was slow and clunky and never used. I naively assumed that smartness would have moved on. Judging by the Panasonic, not much. The Panasonic's (2019 model) is faster but looks and works like a student project, and I couldn't really figure out setting up my apps in a reasonable period of time either so this will stay unused too. A 4K Fire TV stick does what I need, controls the TV on/off and volume, and provides all the catch up services and Amazon Prime which is basically what we use, plus Netflix should we ever want it.
The only other criticism I have of the Panasonic and its basic Panasonic soundbar is a slight lip-sync error on iPlayer. Amazon programming is fine so this could be down to the app or the Fire stick itself. It's only tens of milliseconds so I've decided life's too short to waste it trying to fix it.
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The lip-synch is an easy fix with the 4k firestik, its a variable control in the settings, takes about 10 seconds to fix.
I dont get this app issue, I have a 2017 panasonic, the app store has all the apps i need, Nextflix, Amazon, You tube, BBC, 5, 4, etc etc. I can cast to it from my android & PC devices, its linked to my home network drive and has nearly every codec required.
Where has all this agro come from in the last two years? (tho I knew Samsung was always a bit smarty iffy)
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I also have trouble with Samsung smartness. In particular their ability to upgrade Apps. Also the format of video that they can deal with.
I only have one latest & greatest all bells SmartTV and that's a 12month old Panasonic. And everything works as Zero says and very easily.
The others are either just about Smart enough to use Netflix or have either a Chromecast or a Set-top box plugged into them.
>>Where has all this agro come from in the last two years?
If my experience is anything to go by it's because before two/three years ago TVs were limited smart but smart was only implemented in a limited way, and expectations were low. Smart demands, expectations and capabiltiies have grown so much in the last couple of years that they've outstripped all but the newest hardware.
Bearing in mind that when you bought a television doesn't necessarily tell you how modern it's technology and software is.
Other than the Smart bits most people here just use cable tv. No meaningful broadcast. We do have satellite outside Santiago, but it's DirecTV and pretty clunky. Outside the cities it's difficult to get sufficient internet capability to do anything smart, anyway.
Also Chile is a world-leader in selling technology from a couple of years ago like it's the latest and greatest.
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Our Samsung, probably 4 years old now, is fine. It occasionally "loses" an app, but it usually turns up. Connection to the net has always been reliable. Only really use the YT, ITV Hub and C4 catch up channels. It links to my iPhone but never really bothered with it.
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To comment on several points raised above......
Android - the only branded options in the UK are Sony and Phillips - both companies with historical track records of 'do it my way'. Android (over Samsung, Panasonic etc proprietary 'Smartness') has the advantage of having access to most of the Google Playstore, providing you are willing to put up with the few hassles of side-loading and are willing delve into the inner workings of Android.
Sony implementation is not 'clunky' but not quite as good as a medium price smart phone.
Using ExpressVPN allows full access around the globe for real time sport or other live TV coverage from basically any location.
Since the set appears to be marketed throughout Europe , but without the inbuilt YouView app and consequent restrictions (and without the UK specific labelled handset), I have toyed with the idea of a hard reset and setting it up in the start menu as a ' foreign' set to see what happens to the self loaded apps. However it probably would require me to load everything again, so while it works for what I need at the moment I will leave alone.
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>>I have toyed with the idea of a hard reset and setting it up in the start menu as a ' foreign' set to see what happens to the self loaded apps
If you do have a go then please let me know. It would be useful information. You'll also have to change the Play Store location as well, which will probably be easiest using a different account.
I've done it with telephones fairly easily, though you need to use a VPN during the set up process, so I would have thought an Android TV would be similar. On the telephone it needed little more than a new account and the VPN switched on.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 4 Feb 20 at 16:55
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>> Also Chile is a world-leader in selling technology from a couple of years ago like
>> it's the latest and greatest.
Well if you want me to bring you over a new PC in component form, I'll Be in Cartagena, Columbia next week, Its only a short drive for you according to google maps.
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>I'll Be in Cartagena, Columbia next week.
Bring us a couple of kilos of icing sugar back will you? You can get it from Pablo's
Panadería on Calle 37.
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>> >I'll Be in Cartagena, Columbia next week.
>>
>> Bring us a couple of kilos of icing sugar back will you? You can get
>> it from Pablo's
>> Panadería on Calle 37.
Si jefe
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>> You can get it from Pablo's Panadería on Calle 37.
>>
...walk there; march back...
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>>I'll Be in Cartagena, Columbia next week
Going there for the donkey service?
I checked on my phone, it's about 4cm from Santiago to Cartagena. Not that far, really.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 6 Feb 20 at 12:02
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>> The lip-synch is an easy fix with the 4k firestik, its a variable control in
>> the settings, takes about 10 seconds to fix.
Thanks, but I can't find it.
>> I dont get this app issue, I have a 2017 panasonic, the app store has
>> all the apps i need, Nextflix, Amazon, You tube, BBC, 5, 4, etc etc. I
>> can cast to it from my android & PC devices, its linked to my home
>> network drive and has nearly every codec required.
I didn't try very hard because I only use the firestick. Our rented house seems to have no TV aerial so we only stream stuff. The interface looks and feels very basic. In fairness it is a lot faster than the older Sony was.
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>> >> The lip-synch is an easy fix with the 4k firestik, its a variable control
>> in
>> >> the settings, takes about 10 seconds to fix.
Ill fire up the stick (see what I did there) and find it later tonight
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I have a Firestick 4k (two in fact) and in a vain attempt to get it to pass through 5.1 via optical - it's a long and boring story - I've been in and out of the audio settings a bazillion times.
I don't recall ever seeing anything about lip sync.
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Thanks Z.
It's a bit odd - receivers etc sometimes have variable audio delay to aim off for the picture lagging the sound. In this case, on iPlayer, it's the sound that's lagging the picture slightly - I think.
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My mistake, its a variable option when setting up fire TV with the echo as linked sound.
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Not sure if relevant but I have 4k firestick and sometimes commentary is behind action when watching football.
I found that changing the sound settings on firestick resolved it. Think it was Dolby option or suchlike? Definitely fixed it for me.
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New Sony TV - 6 week report - Zero
