Playing on an Android TV

Crass Spektakel · August 9, 2019

I just had a crazy idea... my cousin plans on buying a news television. She also played video games from time to time but her Playstation 1 (!!!) recently broke and she doesn't want to spend several hundreds of bucks on a new system.

Sooo... hows the state of affairs around gaming directly on an Television running Android?

There are tons of tests around the NVidia Shield but that one is out of the question because its another piece of hardware, does cost several hundred Euros and is still inferior to a similiar priced XBOX or PS.

I own a SmartTV from 2013 running Tizen/Meego but while it was one of the best SmartTV back then it always was a horrible gaming system. The few games available are lacking in every aspect, making a mere C64 standing out proud.

There seem to be a ton of games for Android TV, I guess one third of the Top100 Steam games is also available for Android TV and most are free or fremium or very low cost even while versions for PC, PS, XBox are a lot more expensive. Asphalt, Fortnite, War Thunder, Kerbal, Final Fantasies 3 to 10, GTA3, Portal, Tropico, Galcon Fusion, Dungeon Defenders, Live is Strange, Galcon Fusion, Clicker Hero, Thimbleweed Park, Deponia, Sam and Max, some card games, Mahjong... from extreme high end gaming down to very simple games, just a lot of stuff for a very very casual gamer.

Which of these are usable on a pure Android television without additional hardware is a total mystery for me.

How crazy is this idea?

TheFlyingTraut · August 9, 2019

You probably wont be impressed with just the stock tv doing the processing. I wouldn't get my hopes up on that. I own a nVidia shield and Apple TV that I've played some random games on. Its okay on those platforms but I don't see the experience being anything great just from a tv.

Crass Spektakel · August 9, 2019

I got replies in other forums with stats from some Sony and Philips TVs from 2018-2019.

One user got around 20fps in Asphalt 8 which was not fun to play - a racing game is depending on high fps more than any other software. On the other hand, Ashpalt is pretty much the worst case, the most demanding game on Android TV.

WOT Blitz seemed to run reliably above around 30fps and due to slower gameplay feels overall nice.

Small Games like Crossy Street, Mahjong, Frozen Bubble and OpenTTD are running perfectly. Well, they already run perfectly on a Pentium2@300Mhz so what.

Emulations of older Computers usually work great. C64, Amiga, even DOS- and Win16-Games are running great, the Amiga-Emulation even was able to use a resolution of 3840x2160@60hz and access external Hard Drives and Internet Services on its own.

I did a little comparison with my Atom Z8350 Convertible running Windows, downloaded Asphalt, WOT Blitz and some other Fremium from Microsoft Store. It seems this specific Atom is around twice as fast as the SOCs in these TVs. The FireTV-Stick with its 4xKrait@1300Mhz and its 2xA72@1700Mhz seems to be between these two and some newer and expensive TVs seem to offer even faster CPUs, e.g. 4xA72@1800Mhz.

I would guess some titles are pretty playable. You just have to be picky. And there is practically no information to be found on the internet at all, you will not find something like "we tested Asphalt 9 on a Philips XYZ TV and got 1000fps". Nothing. You will easier find tests and reports about new games for the C64 than for Android TV.

Still i have no feedback on other games. Especially War Thunder, Final Fantasies would be interesting.