Android tv and VPN. Do they have access to the Play Store?

[nickfrog]

Daughter is looking at this but needs to download ExpressVPN app as France based.

Will this TV allow that?

Cheers

https://ao.com/product/55pus7906-philips-tv-black-...

[dapprman]

I have a similar TV. While there are no VPN settings for the TV itself, the internal access to the Android TV app store does allow ExpressVPN to be downloaded and installed. As there is a free trial I suspect the only way to know if the app store still works with it running is to try and see. Remember the TV language is set else where so while being used in France she should still see English in the store.
Not sure how much use they will be, but here are a few shots of mine:

[nickfrog]

^thank you sooo much for this and for taking the time to post the pics. I am confident it will be fine.

[RizzoTheRat]

As a backup plan, the app store is definitely available on the Chromecast With Google TV (the £60-70 one not the basic £20 Chromecast) and I run NordVPN on mine. They plug in to the HDMI port so can be used on any TV.

[PF62]

Even if you can download a VPN onto the tv it might not have sufficient processing power to run the VPN with sufficient bandwidth to allow you to stream.

I tried various VPNs on an Amazon Firestick and ran into this issue - the VPN connected and ‘worked’ but you could only get 1Mbs or less so streaming was impossible.

The solution was a £25 GL.iNet mini WiFi router that is designed to run a VPN and then connect the TV to that.

[nickfrog]

PF62 said:

Even if you can download a VPN onto the tv it might not have sufficient processing power to run the VPN with sufficient bandwidth to allow you to stream.

I tried various VPNs on an Amazon Firestick and ran into this issue - the VPN connected and ‘worked’ but you could only get 1Mbs or less so streaming was impossible.

The solution was a £25 GL.iNet mini WiFi router that is designed to run a VPN and then connect the TV to that.

Thanks for that and a good point ! It's currently working fine on her phone (Iphone 11) which she used to watch the GP on through Now TV with the VPN.

Does that imply that it will be equally OK on the TV?

Edited by nickfrog on Monday 9th May 16:15

[PF62]

nickfrog said:

PF62 said:

Even if you can download a VPN onto the tv it might not have sufficient processing power to run the VPN with sufficient bandwidth to allow you to stream.

I tried various VPNs on an Amazon Firestick and ran into this issue - the VPN connected and ‘worked’ but you could only get 1Mbs or less so streaming was impossible.

The solution was a £25 GL.iNet mini WiFi router that is designed to run a VPN and then connect the TV to that.

Thanks for that and a good point ! It's currently working fine on her phone (Iphone 11) which she used to watch the GP on through Now TV with the VPN.

Does that imply that it will be equally OK on the TV?

Edited by nickfrog on Monday 9th May 16:15

Not really, as the processor in iPhone is likely far more powerful than the TV.

But try and see - if it works then great, and if it doesn’t there are other solutions.

[nickfrog]

PF62 said:

Not really, as the processor in iPhone is likely far more powerful than the TV.

But try and see - if it works then great, and if it doesn’t there are other solutions.

Thanks mate, appreciated.

[indigochim]

Android TV devices get a cut down version of the Play Store but you can side load devices from a USB source if you enable installing applications from media in security. The install file, apk is found here

edit there's no guarantee that that version will work but other apps I've wanted have been able to install on my AndroidTV devices.

[eeLee]

Plan B is to put the VPN on the router.

Do note that Google DNS is usually hard-coded into these devices so if you use a smart DNS provider, you may have to rewrite the address for the outbound traffic which is Plan C and not so easy......

[nickfrog]

eeLee said:

Plan B is to put the VPN on the router.

Do note that Google DNS is usually hard-coded into these devices so if you use a smart DNS provider, you may have to rewrite the address for the outbound traffic which is Plan C and not so easy......

Thank you - beyond my skillset I'm afraid. Plan B: How do you put the VPN on the router?

[C G]

eeLee said:

Plan B is to put the VPN on the router.

Do note that Google DNS is usually hard-coded into these devices so if you use a smart DNS provider, you may have to rewrite the address for the outbound traffic which is Plan C and not so easy......

I have a Sony Android TV and it respects the DNS address provided by my router.

[dapprman]

eeLee said:

Plan B is to put the VPN on the router.

Do note that Google DNS is usually hard-coded into these devices so if you use a smart DNS provider, you may have to rewrite the address for the outbound traffic which is Plan C and not so easy......

Mine allows you to fully define your network settings, including DNS (I posted the shots from a Philips above).

[nickfrog]

dapprman said:

Mine allows you to fully define your network settings, including DNS (I posted the shots from a Philips above).

Thanks again. Does that mean that those setting on the Philips allow you to avoid the risk mentionned of the TV processor being too weak? Sorry for my naivety here, out of my depths.

[dapprman]

nickfrog said:

dapprman said:

Mine allows you to fully define your network settings, including DNS (I posted the shots from a Philips above).

Thanks again. Does that mean that those setting on the Philips allow you to avoid the risk mentioned of the TV processor being too weak? Sorry for my naivety here, out of my depths.

On that one i can't say as the previous comment was they found that the VPN itself needed a certain amount of processing power to work and on low powered phones it hampered things. All i know on mine will happily play 4k streamed movies/anime from my NAS, where as playing directly from my NAS (which is how I did things for years - it has it's own HDMI socket) could be sluggish due to the ever increasing amount of system processing.

I suspect your daughter will be fine as you are looking at a new TV set designed for local 4k playback as well as more traditional satellite, Blu-Ray, ariel, streaming methods.

Edit - I should add I suspect that she will have to turn the VPN on when she wants to use it, so while that might affect access to the Android store during that period, turning off or restarting the TV will remedy that.

[nickfrog]

New development, in case you're not too bored with my thread yet.

Her friend uses a UK Amazon stick to watch Sky through Now TV and using a VPN. She has seen it in action and all good.

She is planning to emulate that set up obviously but she doesn't know if an Amazon stick will give the same result or if she should get a UK one?

Also, doesn't she need a particular WIFI? They do 4, 5 or 6 it seems but I wonder if that matters?

Thx!!!

[Corso Marche]

If she goes the Fire TV Stick route it's best to be a UK version of the Fire Stick, tied to a UK address and account, and set the VPN location to the chosen UK server and configure it so as the VPN connects automatically when the Fire Stick wakes and remains connected, including blocking network access should the VPN server drop connection or service for any reason.
My suggestion would be setup a UK Fire TV Stick in the UK, including the VPN, and then send it or carry it on the next trip.
It's best to avoid the international version of the Fire TV Stick if she's mostly looking for a way to view UK TV.

[nickfrog]

Corso Marche said:

If she goes the Fire TV Stick route it's best to be a UK version of the Fire Stick, tied to a UK address and account, and set the VPN location to the chosen UK server and configure it so as the VPN connects automatically when the Fire Stick wakes and remains connected, including blocking network access should the VPN server drop connection or service for any reason.
My suggestion would be setup a UK Fire TV Stick in the UK, including the VPN, and then send it or carry it on the next trip.
It's best to avoid the international version of the Fire TV Stick if she's mostly looking for a way to view UK TV.

Thank you so much. This set up is now working beautifully with no lag, just in time for the Austrian GP on Sky. Happy girl at last!

Thanks for all the contributions everyone.