Beovision Horizon: Update to latest version of Android TV?

B&O is advertising the Beovision Horizon TV on their homepage with the 'smart and ever evolving Android TV':

Quote: The greatest thing: As the Android TV software evolves so does your TV, giving you more and more entertainment offers, increased functionalities and plenty of magic moments.

Unfortunately, in spite of all the software updates in the last months, the system is still based on Android TV 5.1.1 which is almost two years old. The latest version would be Android TV 7, which as far as I know is delivered for example with Sony TVs.

Is there any information about B&O's plans, when to update to the latest Android TV version? Maybe this would be a big step in solving some of the issues still existing with the Horizon.

I asked my dealer already: He had no final answer but just a rumor: The hardware in the Horizon might be not compatible with the latest Android TV version. If this is true the statement on the homepage would be at least misleading.

Kind regards
Andreas

Sorry that I have no answer to your question, but I am considering buying an Horizon so I am curious as to what problems still persist. I asked about this recently on this forum, and I got the impression that "most" of the problems had been resolved.

Thanks

Stan

Hi Stan,

here's the list of the issues I still notice: 

The overall performance is not optimal:
- it takes 45 seconds to boot the TV
- the electronic curtain is not smooth
- it takes 10 seconds to open the menu

iOS B&O apps don't work.

From time to time:
- The system crashes
- Popup wIndows with error messages are displayed
- No sound anymore after switching the channel

Kind regards
Andreas

Does it also happen to the Avant NG ? I just paid for a 55 inch and I am not happy reading all these things about the Android platform.

IA64:

Does it also happen to the Avant NG ? I just paid for a 55 inch and I am not happy reading all these things about the Android platform.

Yes, unfortunately it is the exact same with the Avant NG, which I have. The menus are very sluggish and slow. Occasional crashes. I have at least three occasions when the volume shoots up to full and nearly deafens you. But one of the most disappointing things for me is that the original Avant was launched with a elegant synchronization of the speaker lowering and opening in one movement with the electronic curtains on screen. This worked wonderfully and smoothly on the original Avant but no longer on the Avant NG. Now the speaker lowers but then pauses - wait some 40 secs ish - and then the speaker opens wide with the electronic curtains that are stutter. 

Solidsnake:

IA64:

Does it also happen to the Avant NG ? I just paid for a 55 inch and I am not happy reading all these things about the Android platform.

Yes, unfortunately it is the exact same with the Avant NG, which I have. The menus are very sluggish and slow. Occasional crashes. I have at least three occasions when the volume shoots up to full and nearly deafens you. But one of the most disappointing things for me is that the original Avant was launched with a elegant synchronization of the speaker lowering and opening in one movement with the electronic curtains on screen. This worked wonderfully and smoothly on the original Avant but no longer on the Avant NG. Now the speaker lowers but then pauses - wait some 40 secs ish - and then the speaker opens wide with the electronic curtains that are stutter. 

But the problems described here are unbelievable for a 10K EUR TV. Not that I'm doubting what you're saying but I'm in denial. 

 

I asked the dealer about that and he said we never had any customer complaining about the Avant NG since the launch. That was some kind of relief as he insisted on that. 

 

Back to the forum and I'm back to square one.  Can the issues be related to some regions ?  Maybe they got a lemon... no idea but I can't believe B&O isn't acting to sort this out as soon as possible. The TV was released couple of months ago and the Horizon is their new line. 

IA64:

But the problems described here are unbelievable for a 10K EUR TV. Not that I'm doubting what you're saying but I'm in denial.

I asked the dealer about that and he said we never had any customer complaining about the Avant NG since the launch. That was some kind of relief as he insisted on that.

Back to the forum and I'm back to square one. Can the issues be related to some regions ? Maybe they got a lemon... no idea but I can't believe B&O isn't acting to sort this out as soon as possible. The TV was released couple of months ago and the Horizon is their new line.

The problem is the Android TV platform. It’s unreliable, buggy and sluggish as an operating system.

I’m so glad the new Beovision Eclipse will be running on the WebOS platform.

I just hope that all B&O’s future products don’t use Android. Ideally they should go back to creating their own operating system - perhaps based on a custom variant of Linux, similar to what Loewe have done. That way they wouldn’t be at the mercy of any third-party software for their product experiences.

IA64:

Solidsnake:

IA64:

Does it also happen to the Avant NG ? I just paid for a 55 inch and I am not happy reading all these things about the Android platform.

Yes, unfortunately it is the exact same with the Avant NG, which I have. The menus are very sluggish and slow. Occasional crashes. I have at least three occasions when the volume shoots up to full and nearly deafens you. But one of the most disappointing things for me is that the original Avant was launched with a elegant synchronization of the speaker lowering and opening in one movement with the electronic curtains on screen. This worked wonderfully and smoothly on the original Avant but no longer on the Avant NG. Now the speaker lowers but then pauses - wait some 40 secs ish - and then the speaker opens wide with the electronic curtains that are stutter. 

But the problems described here are unbelievable for a 10K EUR TV. Not that I'm doubting what you're saying but I'm in denial. 

 

I asked the dealer about that and he said we never had any customer complaining about the Avant NG since the launch. That was some kind of relief as he insisted on that. 

 

Back to the forum and I'm back to square one.  Can the issues be related to some regions ?  Maybe they got a lemon... no idea but I can't believe B&O isn't acting to sort this out as soon as possible. The TV was released couple of months ago and the Horizon is their new line. 

 

I totally agree with you. I think the reason that the dealers don’t get a lot of complaints about these kind of things is because the majority of owners don’t notice or don’t really mind such things. But if you think these things may matter to you, I would definitely suggest trying out extensively at a dealer showroom before committing. See how long it takes to turn on, switch channels, switch inputs and move around menus. If you, like me, are used to the silky smooth operating system and reliability of an Apple device, you may be disappointed.   

Having owned both the original Avant and now the NG, there are certainly pros and cons for both. A con of the NG is certainly the some of the software related issues as I mentioned. But a pro is that the android software does make the tv feel much more connected than the original. You have 4K YouTube which you can’t get on the original and you have the ability to add new apps such as Kodi and other 3rd party apps like Terrarium.

 

On my Avant NG the menus are not sluggish. It has not crashed once (purchased mid July). Re the remote and the volume going up, if you have the remote in your right hand and your thumb on the numbers then beware that your palm (thumb/hand ball) does not simultaneously get in the way of the volume buttons as sometimes happens to me. Yes the curtains stutter a bit, but hell man does that really bug you that much? When I switch on, then the speaker comes out and the tv turns on its stand. This takes about 35 seconds to get into my viewing position. Just before the TV reaches the viewing position the curtains open. I actually enjoy the drama and the show. My Apple MacPro also boots up after I switched it off, I have just timed it at 30 seconds. I would not want the TV moving faster on the stand, for me the timing is all fine. I am enjoying my Avant, although I must admit I have not explored all the functions yet. Interesting how varied our experiences are.

Rob:

On my Avant NG the menus are not sluggish. It has not crashed once (purchased mid July). Re the remote and the volume going up, if you have the remote in your right hand and your thumb on the numbers then beware that your palm (thumb/hand ball) does not simultaneously get in the way of the volume buttons as sometimes happens to me. Yes the curtains stutter a bit, but hell man does that really bug you that much? When I switch on, then the speaker comes out and the tv turns on its stand. This takes about 35 seconds to get into my viewing position. Just before the TV reaches the viewing position the curtains open. I actually enjoy the drama and the show. My Apple MacPro also boots up after I switched it off, I have just timed it at 30 seconds. I would not want the TV moving faster on the stand, for me the timing is all fine. I am enjoying my Avant, although I must admit I have not explored all the functions yet. Interesting how varied our experiences are.

A bit of positiveness here. cheers. 

 

I'm not sure about the B&O owners age in this forum but I consider myself relatively young at 32 and tech savvy / guru . This better be a TV that does everything I want. It brings heartache if your friends $700 TV can do more than your B&O,

 

OK B&O is a lifestyle brand and it's the material/design and uniqueness but a Mercedes is not more expensive than a Kia just because of the design but because it's already ahead of its competitor in terms of R&D and technology.  

Why don't you check the Moment thread before you buy the Horizon?

AnalogPlanet:

Why don't you check the Moment thread before you buy the Horizon?

I bought the Avant NG not the horizon. 

I was replying to the original post/topic, sorry for not being more clear on that.

NB: hope you're enjoying your Avant NG. :)

The Moment is a touch sketchy, having bought one recently.

I don't have the issues that those on the beta software gave, so I'd recommend steering clear of the beta. I have my CD collection ripped in FLAC on a NAS drive, and having my CDs integrated with a streaming service is quite nice. I use a Synology NAS, which I would highly recommend - easy to manage your music on your NAS as and when you need to.

Mine has been relatively well behaved - I did hard wire all my speakers into my network, as for me in my flat, sending FLAC files around wirelessly is sketchy in my environment. No dropouts now.

I bought the Moment as I wanted something distinct from an iOS device, partly as a motivation to listen to more music, and in that sense has worked well, especially as it also listen to quite a bit of radio.

The slightly irritating aspect is that it is not the highest specification device nor the sickest . My iPad Pro is light years ahead in terms of speed and responsiveness. Once the B&O music app is brought to the iPad, I suspect the Moment won't get as much use, and I'll use the app itself.

But overall if you don't mind a not buttery smooth device, and spend some time with the Moment, it's a nice thing to have, and it has meant I listen to much more music.