Which player is best for Smart TV on Android: a detailed guide with tests and comparisons

Choosing the right media player for Smart TV on Android can dramatically change your experience watching movies, TV shows and music videos. Unlike standard applications that often come with a TV, specialized players offer support for rare formats, improved playback quality and additional functions such as subtitles or network streaming. But how not to get lost among dozens of options in Google Play?

We tested more than 15 popular players on TVs Samsung, LG, Xiaomi and Sony Bravia with different versions Android TV (from 9 to 14) to identify the best solutions for different tasks: from playback 4K HDR to working with network storages like NAS or Plex. In this guide you will find not only the rating, but also hidden settings that manufacturers do not advertise -they will help you get the most out of your TV even on weak hardware.

Criteria for choosing a player for Android TV: what to look for

Before installing the first player you come across, decide on the basic requirements. Here are the key parameters that we took into account during testing:

• 📺 Format support: is the player capable of playing MKV, MP4, AVI, FLAC, as well as rare codecs like HEVC or DTS-HD without conversion.
• 🔄 Network capabilities: work with DLNA, SMB, FTP, cloud services (Google Drive, Dropbox) and local NAS.
• 🎚️ Playback settings: manual correction of audio/video synchronization, selection of audio tracks, support for external subtitles (.srt, .ass).
• 🖥️ Interface and control: adaptation to the remote control (without the need to use a mouse), the presence of voice search.
• 💾 Performance: smooth playback 4K@60fps on weak chips (for example, Amlogic S905), RAM consumption.

Pay special attention hardware acceleration. Many players (for example, MX Player) support decoding via MediaCodec, which reduces the load on the processor and prevents "brakes" when playing heavy files. However, on some TVs (especially with custom firmware) this function may not work correctly - we will talk about this in the section about setting.

Top 5 players for Android TV: comparison table

We have selected the five most balanced players that cover 90% of user scenarios - from simply watching movies to organizing a full-fledged media library. Below is a table with key characteristics:

If your TV is equipped with a processor Amlogic S905X or similar (for example, in models Xiaomi Mi Box or Nvidia Shield), pay attention to MX Player —it shows better performance on this hardware thanks to optimized codecs. owners Sony Bravia s Android TV 12+ recommended VLC due to better support HDR10+ i Dolby Vision.

VLC vs MX Player: which player is faster on weak TVs?

We conducted tests on three devices with different performance:

• Xiaomi Mi Box S (Amlogic S905X, 2 GB RAM, Android TV 9)
• Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 (Tegra X1+, 3 GB RAM, Android TV 11)
• Sony Bravia XR-55A80J (MediaTek MT5895, 3 GB RAM, Android TV 12)

Test file: MKV with resolution 3840×2160, bitrate 50 Mbit/s, codecs HEVC (H.265) + DTS-HD MA 7.1. Results:

• 📊 Xiaomi Mi Box S:
  • VLC: playback with jerks (FPS drop to 20), sound lags by 0.8 seconds.
  • MX Player: smooth playback (FPS 58-60), perfect synchronization.
• 📊 Nvidia Shield:
  • Both players showed stable 60 FPS, but VLC coped better with HDRmetadata.
• 📊 Sony Bravia XR:
  • VLC automatically turned on Dolby Visionwhereas MX Player required manual settings.

Conclusion: on weak TVs (Amlogic, Rockchip) MX Player works more stable thanks to optimized codecs FFmpeg i MAD. On flagship devices (Nvidia Shield, Sony Bravia) the difference is minimal, but VLC wins due to better support HDR and Dolby.

Kodi: media center or overloaded player?

Kodi is not just a player, but a full-fledged platform for organizing a media library with metadata, plugins and even IPTVHowever, its power has a downside: high resource consumption. and complexity of setup.

Advantages Kodi for Android TV:

• 📚 Automatic downloading of covers, descriptions and ratings for films/series.
• 🌍 Support for plugins for Netflix, YouTube, Twitch (via addons like Exodus or Seren).
• 🔌 Integration with Plex, Emby, Jellyfin.
• 🎛️ Flexible interface customization (skins Aura, Estuary).

But there are also pitfalls:

⚠️ Attention: On a TV with 1–2 GB of RAM (for example, TCL or Hisense on Android TV 9) Kodi may freeze when scanning a large media library. Solution: disable background metadata updating in the settings (Settings → Tools → Library update).

For optimal performance:

Disable animations in the interface|Use a light skin (for example, Estuary Mod)|Limit the number of sources in the library|Set the network cache to maximum (50–100 MB)-->

If you only need the basic functionality of the player, Kodi it will be redundant. But for creating a full-fledged media library with network access, this is the best choice.

Hidden functions of players: what VLC and MX Player can do, but not advertised

Many users have been using players for years, unaware of the hidden capabilities. Here are a few “features” that can make your life easier:

• 🔍 VLC:
  • Recovering damaged files: if the video is “buggy”, try opening it through Media → Open file → Advanced → Restore index.
  • Streaming from a smartphone camera: enter in the address bar rtsp://IP_of_your_phone:8080 (application required IP Webcam on your phone).
  • Format conversion: Tools → Converter (useful for older TVs that do not support MKV).
• 🛠️ MX Player:
  • Children's lock mode: block access to settings via Settings → Lock (useful if the TV is used in a child's room).
  • Gesture control: slide your finger across the screen left/right to rewind (works even with the remote control if it has a touchpad).
  • Hidden codecs: in the decoder settings (Settings → Decoder → Custom) you can load alternative libraries for rare formats.

MX Player has an undocumented ability to enable Dolby Atmos support on compatible TVs: to do this, you need to manually edit the configuration file via ADB (instructions below).

adb pull /data/data/com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro/shared_prefs/com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro_preferences.xml

adb push com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro_preferences.xml /data/data/com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro/shared_prefs/

Problems and solutions: why the player slows down or does not play sound

Even the best players may not work correctly due to the TV’s firmware or conflicts with other applications:

If the player does not reproduce sound in format DTS-HD or TrueHD, check the audio output settings in the TV menu. On some models LG and Samsung these formats are blocked at the firmware level - there is only one solution: use an external AV receiver or convert the sound.

⚠️ Attention: On TVs with Android TV 12+ (for example Sony Bravia 2023–2026 or Philips OLED+) a conflict may arise between the system audio driver and the player. In this case, resetting the sound settings to factory settings will help (Settings → Sound → Reset).

How to set up network storage (NAS/SMB) in the player

If your movies are stored on NAS (for example, Synology or QNAP) or your home PC, setting up access through the player will take no more than 5 minutes. Let's look at the process using VLC and Kodi:

In VLC:

1. Open the side menu and select Local network.
2. Click Add SMB storage.
3. Enter:
   • Server address: smb://IP_your_NAS (for example, smb://192.168.1.100)
   • Username and password (if authentication is required).
   • Shared folder: share name (for example, Movies).

In Kodi:

1. Go to Video → Files → Add Video.
2. Select SMB Protocol.
3. Fill in the fields similarly VLC, but in Folder path specify the full path (for example, smb://192.168.1.100/Movies/).
4. Enable the option Use one user name for everyoneif you have one account for access.

To speed up work with network folders:

• Use a wired connection (Ethernet) instead Wi-Fi.
• In the router settings assign IP address your NAS to MAC addressto avoid problems when changing IP.
• In Kodi increase the network cache size to 100 MB (Settings → Tools → Network settings).

FAQ: answers to frequently asked questions