Advice on Android TVs

Chrissxuk

I was thinking of buying a TCL 65EP680 Android TV. Being that I am in Spain it's important for me to have the UK players BBC iPlayer etc. Obviously I am aware that these players are available from Play Store on Android devices but would that also be the case for this TV. Also as I am buying in Spain I would need to be able to change the region of Play Store.

sagaris99

Regardless of whether you could change the region of the playstore, iPlayer will detect that your IP address is located outside the uk and won’t work. Same will go for itv, C4 and 5.

Only way to get those channels on demand would either be through Sky go, or use a VPN, but in my experience, the BBC et al can detect you’re using one and block access full stop.

Sorry! Might be wrong but it’s a non starter I believe

Chrissxuk

I fully understand the geo blocking problem but that is not an issue as I use SmartDNS, not VPN, and run iPlayer perfectly well on all other TV's and devices here.

EndlessWaves

As far as I'm aware Android TV doesn't have ITVHub, All4 etc. Only the Tablet/Smartphone version of Android has them (although some Chinese TVs do use that version rather than Android TV).

Chrissxuk

I do not believe that is true. The BBC say that 2017 TCL TVs are iPlayer certified here BBC iPlayer Help - TCL BBC iPlayer Certified Devices ? Also this TCL Android TV advertised on Amazon shows all the players in the illustration. TCL 50EP668 - 50" 4K HDR PRO with FREEVIEW PLAY and SMART TV 3.0: Amazon.co.uk: TV

EndlessWaves

What makes you think that's an Android TV? There's no mention of Android on that page.

The BBC's iPlayer is on just about everything, but the other four main catch-up apps aren't always.

Chrissxuk

Says it here "AndroidTV with Google Assistant built-in." EP668 series

Chrissxuk

This is the actual TV I want to buy and it definitely says Android TV TCL 65EP680 65" LED UltraHD 4K HDR
I just thought if it's Android then there must be a way to put any Android app on it even if you don't have the correct region Play Store. I have done that many times using ES Explorer. I am not 100% sure how play store works I thought once you logged in to your Google account it took that region anyway, which for me is UK.