Due to the recent increase in the number of streaming video outlets and the way in which the transition to streaming has been accelerated due to the unique circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, studios have increasingly chosen to release their movies directly to their streaming services. This in turn has resulted in many families looking to transform their viewing spaces into home theaters so that they can enjoy all that these streaming outlets have to offer not only with each other, but also with their friends from the comfort of their home. But with this push, many users have found that because of a mix of different devices and systems used to stream, issues such as unsupported content and difficulties with basic usage have arisen.
To help users get a clearer idea of the options available to resolve these issues, this article will introduce two of the main operating systems users can use to run their streaming services, open source Android operating systems and Google-certified Android TV, as well as recommend the operating system that will help you enhance your streaming content viewing experience.
What is Open Source Android (AOSP)? What is Android TV?
One of the first steps in the creation of an ecosystem that allowed viewers to stream content directly in their homes, was the use of Android, an open source operating system with the flexibility to be installed on an array of devices. With Android installed onto devices such as televisions, viewers could open apps directly on these devices. Yet in terms of streaming content, even with devices that featured an open-source Android operating system, the experience was limited mainly to viewing multimedia content, and even then, it was somewhat clumsy. Users had to deal with issues like having a limited number of apps available to download, navigating the entire ecosystem via a traditional remote control, and having to constantly switch between apps due to the lack of an integrated home-screen. Something needed to be done to address these issues and create an overall viewing experience that would satisfy the modern tech-savvy user.
It is to this end that Google, the developer of Android, has released its official version of Android for television: Google-certified Android TV. Google-certified Android TV is Google’s version of a fully integrated user-focused viewing experience that stands fully separated from all other open-source Android systems.
The Google-Certified Android TV Experience
What does it mean when we say Google-certified Android TV offers a fully integrated user-focused viewing experience and how does it differ from open-source Android operating systems? To elucidate this, just imagine a situation where you’re entertaining a group of your friends at your home as the starting point for this discussion.
One of the first things your friends will notice is the fluidity and flexibility of the Android TV home page, here each app installed is incorporated into the interface so that highlights from each app can be seen directly on the home page. From the homepage alone, your friends can spot the newest releases on Amazon Prime, trending YouTube videos or Spotify playlists, all specially curated for your tastes based on your account history for each app. This saves you the time (just think of the lag and the crashes) spent opening each app just to see what’s new or relevant.
Interested in content that’s not readily available on the homepage, but not looking forward to the hassle of using your remote to navigate to and through a specific app? Android TV is embedded with Google Assistant so all you and your friends have to do is say “Hey Google…” to your remote, then tell it which app to open and what video/show/song to play. Furthermore, Google Search is fully integrated into Android TV, so if your friends aren’t exactly sure but have a faint idea of what they want to watch, you can simply say: “Hey Google, show me some horror movies from 2019” and a list of matching movies will pop up, allowing you and your friends to discuss options before making your pick. With Google Assistant, users may also have access to other tools linked to their Google account. Both Google Assistant and Google Search are something that you won’t find on other open source Android systems.
Complementing all of this is the fact that with Google-certified Android TV you’ll also have access to the official Google Play Store, giving you a choice of over 5,000 apps guaranteed to work seamlessly with your device. This makes the range of content available to you and your friends, from movies and shows to music and games, far more expansive then what you can get from a device running an open-source Android system, since one of the most common complaints about open source Android systems is their dearth of available apps to install.
What if some of your friends are already scrolling through their phones checking out things they saw on it earlier? The technology embedded in Android TV allows for screen casting and mirroring from the widest range of apps and devices on market, so they can share what they are watching directly from their phone.
What BenQ Adds to Optimize the Experience
As can be seen, Google-certified Android TV not only expands but also enhances the streaming experience with a fluid, customized home screen, fully integrated Google Assistant and Google Search, access to Google Play Store, seamless screen casting and mirroring, and other Google-related capabilities. Rounding out all these features, BenQ’s new lines of smart home projectors powered by Google-certified Android TV also delivers visuals and colors fully optimized by its renown CinematicColorTM expertise, which ensures you have the best possible wireless projection viewing experience with support for Airplay, Chromecast, and other casting technology. Couple that with BenQ’s FamiLand, the app full of child-friendly content pre-installed in the system, and you’ll have the ideal home theater projector for your whole family, including the kids.
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