Sony TV and Channels app

Before I buy this TV I just want to check to see if Channels DVR app will download and work on this TV

Sony - 50" Class X80K Series LED 4K HDR Smart Google TV

thx

It will work, yes. However, the general consensus is that smart TVs make less-than-great devices for your streaming apps.

It is my personal opinion you should buy the TV for its panel, inputs, and other "dumb" features; use an external/secondary device for the "smart" components.

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My other TV's are all apple TV but this particular location would lend itself perfectly for an all inclusive TV like the Sony. ChannelsDVR and Directv stream for Bally Sports. Is the issue buffering?

The issue isn’t with Channels as much as the smart tv platform itself. They tend to be low in memory, and with android being bloated, this is a bad mix.

What you end up with is just a slow UI. But this happens with all the apps. A restart usually resolves it.

If this is a tertiary tv that isn’t used a lot, then it’s probably not a big deal.

I have been using Channels on multiple Sony TV's for a few years now with very few issues. For the most part, the app doesn't run any different than it does on my Nvidia Shield TV Pro. I may occasionally start to get some hitching or slowdown, but a quick reboot takes care of that.

I have an sony x900h and it is an amazing tv, except for the apps. Channels (and every other app) performace is terrible. Get yourself and appletv and you wont be sorry. I put up with it for 6 months and then felt foolish for waiting so long to get one.

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I have a Sony with Google TV and I think it runs Channels plenty fast. But if you want to pause live TV for more than 5 or 10 minutes then you may need to add an external USB3 flash drive and move the Channels app to this storage. That said, I generally use a FireTV 4K Max device on this TV because I prefer the smaller Fire TV remotes. I have never used the AppleTV device, but not sure how it could be much faster.

Thanks for the responses. The tv will not be my primary one. A reboot now and then won’t be a problem. I do use Apple TV’s on my other 3 TV’s.

We're using a Sony KD-49XH9505 (UK) and I avoid using Channels, works fine for a few minutes and then starts dropping frames. There's probably some optimisation I could try but like most I'm using a streaming box (Apple TV). Should add that using Live channels linked to HDhomerun streams with no drops so it might be something with buffering/latency on my channels server - works fine though on the ATV.

We have a Sony 43 inch Bravia which is Android based. It ha been a pain in the rear. It constantly loses settings such as FUBO which requires re authorization and quite often freezes up on Channels. So the TV has to unplugged to clear the internal memory at least every other day. FUBO says this is a common problem on Sony TVs as the Sony internal memory gets confused or just forgets the settings. Since the TV is Android based it does not play well with other devices like the Firestick which works perfectly on my Samsung TV. I just read about using a thumb drive to add additional internal memory, so I will give that a try. Great picture but a pain with the hardware problems. Sony knows about these problems but has done nothing to fix the problem and Sony is one of the more expensive TVs.

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I have a Sony with Google TV and it seems to work perfectly. I also have a Firestick 4k Max, along with a Shield Pro connected to it. They both work great with it. I don't care to use the large Sony remote, so I mostly use the Firestick. I just prefer the Firestick remote. But I don't use FUBO, so maybe that is why I don't have problems.

My wife uses the Sony TV and it has constant problems with Channels no working in several ways. It does nothing, the guide loads partially with sound only and no video. She frequently gets a mess about Playback failed. Have to turn power to TV of so it reboots and then Channels will work most of the day. however the next morning problems start over. All other apps work fine. I am going to do a Factory Reset and put in a new Fire Stick 4K Max and start from scratch. If that does not work I will get rid of the Sony and buy a new Samsung which I also have and works perfectly with the Fire Stick. Happy Wife Happy Life. And the Sony has been a constant head ache.