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Modern Sony Bravia TV’s ask whether you want a “Basic TV” or a “Google TV” when you first set them up.
by guidedlight 5y ago
Modern Sony Bravia TV’s ask whether you want a “Basic TV” or a “Google TV” when you first set them up.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoIt's Google TV either way. The setting is for whether you want to neuter any sort of functionality involving the network or not. That doesn't mean the TV isn't still reporting your viewing habits back to them; it's still running Android, still has a network connection. Hilariously, they allow you to go back to "smart" Google TV with a click of a button, but going to 'basic' mode requires a full reset. Oh, and they're petulant about you disabling "smart" functions; you lose chromecast, even though there's no technical reason for it. Probably because it's the only actually useful feature people want if they have an external streaming box.
- DiabloD3 5y agoChromecast has to be negotiated through the Google cloud service, since Google designed this from day one to lock Chromecast down. Chromecast is largely an anti-feature given how Google designed it to be lock-in. What's stupid is Android TV means I can run any app I want, and they can't stop me, so Chromecast ends up being a kind of idiotic solution that never quite finished its search of a problem. As in, I can use Steam Link or Moonlight to become a thin client of a real computer, I can Plex my entire (legal) library, or use any cloud service natively from the device. All the things I ever really wanted to Chromecast felt like it was a third class citizen compared to the Android TV experience; and I just mean the purely playback part of it, not the client UI part (which Chromecast doesn't, and isn't meant to, have).