Android TV's

[MtnMan]

I recently upgraded our smart TV, to a 65" Hisense. TV is great, with a great picture expecially for a $500'ish TV, the Android TV software was great, then it upgraded, and it went seriously south.

Now with the upgraded version (V0001.00.01A.K0817) is frustrating.

#1, ARC doesn't work at times. I turn on the TV, and my AMP/Tuner turns on, as it should. However sometimes the sound is coming from the TV speakers, and not my 7 speaker system. If I go into the menu > sound > speakers and choose ARC, it immediately reverts to TV speakers.

#2, I have the Android TV remote installed on my Android phone. Worked great that is until the software upgrade and now it works fine sometimes. Other times, it says that it is connected to the Android TV, but I can't bring up the screens to actually control the TV.

And I have found no way to get any support for Android TV. It's the software, not the TV.

 

[mindless1]

Hmm, I just got an Android Hisense too, currently running V000.01.00A.K0602 and looking through the menu, i see no way to disable updates, only a way to check for them. Edit: I rechecked this version # because it's more than just the last few digits changed, and mine as above is correct.

Did you have to check for updates (and apply the new one or did it do that by itself, or by itself once you checked for one)?

Considering this topic, maybe I did something stupid by using that menu feature to check for updates a minute ago but it didn't find one.

Heh, so far I don't even use the Android features but at the same time don't want them broken, so I could just cut off wifi access to the TV, but then I REALLY won't be using the TV/video-centric android features or most things Google Assistant can do. Come to think of it, do you know of a comprehensive list of what TV-oriented things that Google Assistant can do on these sets?

Are either of these the phone app? I saw nothing listed on Hisense's page, they seem to mostly take a generic "It's a TV" support position, even for the user manual that came with mine.

RemoteNOW - Apps on Google Play

RemoteNOW for Hisense Smart TV

play.google.com

TV Remote for Hisense (IR) - Apps on Google Play

Controls your Hisense smart TV using Inbuilt IR blaster in your Phone

play.google.com

Remote Control For Hisense TV - Apps on Google Play

Remote For Hisense TV - IR Sensor

play.google.com

lol, you can see how much help I'm going to be! However if you can hold my hand and walk me through getting this version of Android TV off, I'll send it to you if you can make use of it... but I do not know if it's compatible with yours.

 

[MtnMan]

I turned it on, and there was a message that a new version was available, and I could update now, or d/l in the background.

I let it update (think I might have learned something with the latest Windows 10 updates) but no.

It is still squirrelly as hell.
Some times when I turn it on, sound is through the amp, via ARC, sometime not.
Some times the app on my phone works, sometimes it says it is connected to the TV, but doesn't work.

Then last night, ARC was working, the app on my phone was working, then the audio (watching Netflix) was going in and out every second or so. I had noticed in the past when I use the app on my phone it would blank the sound for maybe a second, but that was it. I shut down the app on my phone, and the sound was fine.

I like the apps for Android TV, and they work fine, so I don't want to use an alternative source to stream such as Amazon Fire Stick. I have a 1K version I had on the old Vizio, but would want to upgrade to a 4K version. While it might bypass the remote issue, I have no idea if ARC would work reliably, as it did before I let this new version install.

I'll try the apps you linked to...

 

[mindless1]

Today my Hisense TV would not turn on. It's little more than 2 months old. Button on it or remote, no luck. I had to unplug it, then luckily it booted up and worked. I wondered if it had updated itself but no change on the Android TV version #, still the same K0602.

 

[MtnMan]

I also have a Logitech Harmony 665 remote I've used for several years. It can be programed to control all my devices (TV, amp, BD player, cable or satellite box) with one button press, and easily programmed via my laptop w/USB cable.
i.e. "watch DISH" - turns on TV, sets the correct input (HDMI#1), Turns on amp, sets the correct input, and turn on satellite box. Remote now controls the DISH receiver, and vol up/down controls the amp.
"stream" - sets TV to correct input, amp to correct input (now the TV, via ARC) Similiar for watching DVD/BD.
I have an identical one, programmed the same for the wife at her chair.

I have discovered (but not conclusively) that if I turn everything on to watch DISH (meaning the TV receives input from HDMI#1, then when I switch to streaming, the ARC always works. With the DISH box off, it's hit or miss if ARC is going to work.

Second odd stuff. If I use the remote app on my phone, most times, but not all, the sound and the picture will get out of sync. If I stop the playback, and select resume it's back in sync, for a while. If I shut the app dow on the phone, it doesn't reoccur.
Never noticed this issue when using the Logitech or Hisense remote which are IR only. But last night, this didn't occur when I used the phone app. This has always been on Netflix, but that's mostly what I'm watching now.

Only the amp conncects to the TV HDMI port. The DISH box, and BD player connect to the amp, which is programmed to send the input to either to the TV.

 

[mindless1]

More fun with my Hisense. Today it turned on but was locked up on an Android TV screen, showing "Search Movies, TV, and More" at the top, recommending "Brick Mansions" TV show, and showing a time of 11:56 (incorrect time). No response from TV button, menu was frozen, TV remote did nothing though batteries are fresh.

I had not used Andriod features at all since the last hard power cycle (unplugging) yesterday, just put it on HDMI1 input and left it on HDMI1, then later turned off, then come back today to it locked up on the Andriod screen.

I'll give it a few days and if this keeps up, will do a factory reset but may end up doing ???? I don't want to just exchange it for same thing if the OS is fubar, but doubt I can get a refund at this point... got it at Bestbuy.

As an attempted workaround I used the menu to disable android TV previews and removed all channels from showing on the homepage, in case it locks up trying to play content, though it is quite curious that it decides to go and switch to android mode and play content without being told to, and it is not in "store" demo mode.

I researched a little and apparently one cause of freezing can be if it has a sleep timer set but I saw the menu locations mentioning a timer and all were turned off already.

I sent Hisense support an email, will be interesting to see if they have any insight. Next I might try disabling the network connection.

 

[mindless1]

It took a while but I found a menu setting for Android TV to disable subscriptions (or something) and disable autoplay and so far that seems to have worked, TV turned on and worked normally today. Then again I turned off every other thing I could find too except updating time, Google Assistant, and kept wifi connected.

I'm okay with that, didn't really need this feature, but I do recall that I had changed these settings from the factory defaults very recently, but not only 1 day prior, it seems to have taken long enough that I didn't associate the settings change with the lockup, and I may be wrong about it being stable now and it's just taking longer till it crashes.

 

[mindless1]

TV turned on and worked normally today on HDMI1. Heard back from Hisense support. They gave the standard response I was expecting but added on what seems like nonsense, quote:

Please try performing a factory reset on the unit also the television will automictically default to the input due to artificial intelligence after a few days of usage.

Every few days it's going to switch to Android TV by itself, while turned *off* no less, and lock up? Yeah I'm going to power cycle then factory reset it every few (in this case, ONE) days... Not!

What I'm taking away from this (still a guess) is don't change any settings relevant to Android TV until they get the bugs out. If it stays stable in this state, at least it's not like it was priced higher to add a buggy feature that I can do without.

 

[mindless1]

I did notice that Android 11 has recently been released for Android TV, but since it is specific to the hardware, it'll likely have to come from Hisense if they choose to support this. My TV model isn't even listed on their support page.

Introducing Android 11 on Android TV

News and insights on the Android platform, developer tools, and events.

android-developers.googleblog.com

 

[MtnMan]

My Hisense Android TV has been behaving fairly well. When I first turn it on, start something on Netflix, it laggy when I make choices, playback even freezes for probably milliseconds (but enough to notice), but the plays without issue after a minute or so.

the last oddball thing, is my amp (an Onkyo) can be turned on/off via HDMI, which the Hisense TV does. I turned everything off last night, and lights indicated they were off or in standby. Later I noticed the amp was on, though since TV and DISH box were off, it was not producing sound from any source. Turned it off, and later I noticed it was on, but TV and DISH box are off. WTF

 

[mindless1]

From what I observed, and also your last post, it appears that even if the TV is turned "off" in the conventional sense, Android is still busy in the background doing things without any control over that, sort of like on a phone except when you think a phone is off, it really is.

This is my first android TV and I should have done more research, but Google obfuscates many things about their OS. I had assumed it was just like a device on an alternate input, that when you switch to a different input, it's out of the picture.

It seems to be married to the core functions of the TV, not just a separate input like the multiple HDMI ports, so any problem can wreck the rest of the functionality.

 

[MtnMan]

It is clearly just in standby or sleep mode. Turn it on, and there is the Android menu. No splash screen, etc. as appears when powered on or when a restart is forced.

HDMI#1 is the only HDMI with ARC. It is also my only input to the TV, as my amp/receiver controls which input is displayed (DISH or BDplayer).

On my old VIZIO, I had a Fire TV Stick plugged into HDMI#2, but the TV sent the sound to the amp/tuner connected to #1. Have not tried it with the Hisense, as the Fire stick is only a 1080P version.

 

[mindless1]

Since my last post, I've only been turning the TV on to HDMI1 and off again.

Overnight, while soft-off, it switched itself to an Android TV screen and locked up again, had to pull the wall plug. Took a little over a month to happen this time.

 

[MtnMan]

I haven't changed any setting on TV or receiver, but it is reliable as far as ARC. I have even tested it by turning the receiver off, and the sound comes from TV speakers in within a second. Turn it back on, and it switches back to ARC.

Still notice that sometimes the receiver turns on when else everything is off, but it is erratic as to when it happens.

After the initial software update on the Hisense, the app on my phone would work occasionally, but now it will not work 100% of the time, although it says it is connected to the TV

 

[mindless1]

Hmm, my fancy Hisense remote with bluetooth and voice control has now drained the batteries to 25% (shown in TV menu) in less than 4 months... good thing I've got LSD NiMH in it. The TV it replaced went 3+ years with a plain/dumb remote. I don't even USE the remote except to get into the menus every other week or when it locks up. I think the TV can disable bluetooth but I doubt that this changes the remote, battery drain rate.

Then again since I have NiMH in it, maybe their nominal 1.2V is what the TV considers 25% and they'll stay there a long time instead of the more linear drain of alkaline cells.

Edit: Yes, the LSD NiMH batteries were at 1.2V and would've stayed near that voltage for quite a while but I recharged them anyway since they were out.

 

[mindless1]

Today it wanted to update, had been on HDMI1 input when turned off, and was already on the Android TV update screen when turned on the next day. Grrrr, I REALLY want a setting something like "don't do ANYTHING when you're supposed to be asleep/off.

I figured why not, can only get better right? lol.

Used to be V000.01.00A.K0602 and now V0000.01.00A.K1011

It seems to have kept all user setting changes which was all channels deselected as well as previews deselected in order to try to keep it going longer between lockups, and misc others like Game mode, the wifi login, google account, etc. Time will tell if stability is better, worse, or no different.

Anyone know if doing a "reset" at this point would revert back to K0602 or keep it at K1011? I assume the latter.

 

[mindless1]

MOAR FUN with my Hisense Android TV.

A week ago, I started using it after a reboot of the connected PC. Everything was jerky. Moving windows around, video playback, etc. I'd made some changes on the PC so thought something screwed up video.

Went through normal troubleshooting, didn't fix it, restored OS partition, seemed to fix it. I then assumed some changes to windows caused it.

Fast forward to today. Stuttering back after a reboot. I'd installed some games so figured, have to restore partition again. That did not work, stuttering remained. One hint was that during video playback it was jerky but the stats for the video player showed no dropped frames.

Long story short, I had just about ruled out everything but the TV itself, so I unplugged it. That got rid of the stuttering. It had not been used for anything Android specific since the last reset, so just using it exclusively for a PC monitor, eventually it starts stuttering and has to be power cycled. Granted this took about a month and a half.

In some ways I'm relieved, that it is easier to unplug the !@#$ TV once every 45 days than to combat an *assumed* unknown OS or hardware issue where even if I had done a clean windows install, or even bought and replaced the video card, the freakin' TV would still be doing it.

I should clarify that my prior 4K TV-as-monitor, never did anything like this, for years. It wasn't an Android TV!

 

[Muadib]

Did you try another HDMI cable?

 

[mindless1]

^ No. I would've tried that if power cycling the TV didn't make the immediate difference it did. I've had a bad HDMI cable before and the stuttering looked different. In this case with the TV instead being the problem, it was sort of like every other frame (maybe even every 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4 frames) was lost but whole frames were presented intact, not garbled in any way, no artifacts.

It still works fine now after several days of use, but give it a few weeks till Android TV bogs down again. I'm no Android TV expert by any stretch but since it bogs down without even putting the TV in Android mode to use any features, it seems like it is likely to be a memory leak. In retrospect, or now that I know the TV was the cause, if this starts happening again I will switch it to Android mode and see what it's trying to do, if there is anything to see.

 

[mindless1]

Today I rebooted that system connected to the Hisense TV and it acted up again with stuttering, when it wasn't stuttering before the reboot.

This suggests to me a different issue than I thought previously, that something about timings is being thrown off. My *best guess* is that it was loading at 30Hz refresh rate but then not changing the refresh rate properly with nVidia Control Panel (further suspected because NV CP had also not adjusted the desktop color to how I had set it until I went in and moved the color slider and applied that change), and once it gets out of sync somehow, no changes in NV Control Panel matter, but then power cycling the TV while in the higher refresh rate setting fixes it.

This is despite the TV popping up a box it has in the top left corner that reads (input type) - in this case I'd named it "Computer" and the refresh rate below it was correct. For whatever reason it seems to need to start at this refresh rate rather than changing to it later. The ODD part is, I'm certain I've rebooted before using this PC-TV-refresh combo and the problem did not surface until recently. I don't "think" I changed the driver version to coincide with the start of it but can't be certain.

I did not test switching to a different input then back to the computer input - that might also fix it, will have to remember to try this next time.

 

[mindless1]

Yesterday, system rebooted and TV stuttering again. I was able to use remote control to turn soft-off and on to resolve it.

Today, TV would turn on but displayed nothing, could only tell it was on due to slight backlight bleed and the power LED changing colors. Remote control brought up input choices, but I had named the choices and it wasn't showing those names... odd! Picking the correct input did nothing.

Unplugged from wall and back it went to working again and showing the custom names I'd given the inputs. It looks like this TV needs a setting "Reboot once a month at set time". Memory leak? I have added no apps myself, just what Hisense shipped it with.

 

[mindless1]

Android TV crashes are happening more frequently now, today TV went blank in middle of using it (first time for that, previously it was always soft-off), still only using it over HDMI1 not Android TV features, no response from remote or power button on the set, had to power cycle at the wall and then seems to work normally again.

 

[MtnMan]

I'm about ready to use an alternative to the Android TV software for streaming. At times, it's a real PIA to get something to play, especially if it is not Netflix or Amazon. CBS All Access, Acorn, and others are best described as "moody" Yet if I try to watch on another set where I have an old Fire TV Stick connected, none of these issues.

Amazon has released the 3rd Gen Fire TV Stick, but it is only HD. I'm hoping they have a 3rd Gen 4K in the works, as I'm definitely going to use it vs. this damn quirky Android TV.

 

[mindless1]

Yeah I don't understand how Android for phones can integrate with various hardware and work reasonably well, but on a TV... at least mine... can't even stay running w/o crashing, tho' I have to place a large share of the blame on Hisense, who never should have released these products with substantial bugs remaining.

 

[shortylickens]

I had an Android TV device, from Logitech. And it was a huge pain. Nothing worked correctly and it was horribly slow besides. The only benefit was it came with a little keyboard and remote control, but since the system was useless it didnt matter much.
My Motorola phone with the mini-HDMI output did a better job, but I never found a long cord so it was a pain to use regularly.