Android TV client vs LG WebOS

[stewed pork roti]

I have an LG C2 TV with a Chromecast (4k w/ Android TV) plugged into it. The TV itself isn't connected to the network because LG's software doesn't seem great to me. I've been enjoying the Android TV Jellyfin client for a while, but I'm curious if anyone knows how it might compare to the WebOS app in terms of capabilities and user experience. I could use either one from the same remote control.

The Chromecast doesn't seem to like decoding HEVC so Jellyfin has to transcode a lot of movies. I'm curious if the TV might be able to natively play more formats.

For anyone who's tried both, please share any perks or limitations you're aware of in either app.

[TheDreadPirate]

The CCwGTV 4K plays HEVC, no problem. I have one. BUT, if you have embedded subtitles the CCwGTV client doesn't support them very well and requires the subs be burned in (requires transcoding).

[abpjf]

More importantly, any TV manufacturer's "app development team" is highly unlikely to update client apps as often (if at all) as "direct" apps from the iOS / Android app stores.

[stewed pork roti]

The WebOS Jellyfin app is apparently just a wrapper around the web app, which should mean it's fairly capable. My TV has about the same amount of RAM as the Chromecast (~2GB) but if it has broader playback support, it might be worth a try. I think the WebOS app is developed by the Jellyfin GitHub community, but approval of new versions is probably up to LG and their app store.

The CCwGTV 4K plays HEVC, no problem.  I have one.  BUT, if you have embedded subtitles the CCwGTV client doesn't support them very well and requires the subs be burned in (requires transcoding).

I looked into this a bit since posting, the built-in exoPlayer has trouble with a few combinations of codecs, subtitles, etc. 
I've noticed a few files that don't play well or don't play at all in the Android TV app. I thought HEVC was the common thread, but I found an h264 file too, so there's more to it than that  I thought I had read that HEVC was a no-go on Chromecast when I was trying SteamLink/AMD Link and performance was terrible in those apps

It's all sort of a gateway drug towards a proper home theatre PC, isn't it...?

[bitmap]

I have an LG C1 and opportunity use the WebOS app. Limitations would be, in my opinion, mostly quality of life improvements that are needed. The other is a limitation of the TV itself, which seems like it can be fixed with an external adapter (the absolutely garbage network capabilities).

My content runs the gamut and rarely do I find content that requires transcoding. I mean remuxes, HEVC, AV1, HDR/10/+, HLG, most DV content... The caveats there are codecs, profiles, and subtitles. The WebOS app won't direct play PGS. It does a decent job with SRT and ASS. Additionally, FLAC has always presented problems with my piddly TV-only setup, where the center channel gets lost entirely. Generally 7.1 content doesn't sound great and setting the "max allowed audio channels" doesn't actually do anything. Even 5.1 can get murky depending on the mix. But these are primarily hardware issues, aside from the last point.

Older anime in my case present issues with other clients because of compatibility or poor encoding, but the WebOS app plays the content without issue. Subtitle extraction is fairly quick if the subs haven't already been pulled out, however my hardware is pretty stout. I haven't found many incompatible formats at all, surprisingly.

One point I'll concede is that it took AGES for LG to approve the Jellyfin app and updates may take longer than with other clients, however, the benefits at this point outweigh that drawback.

[stewed pork roti]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I don't know how good the wifi adaptor on my C2 is, because I've purposely not had it on the network. I downloaded some firmware updates when I first got the TV, and that broke a bunch of stuff, and then brought it online again later to download another update which fixed most, but not all of the regressions. Since then, I've kept the tv offline and only used the Chromecast, haha.

Everything generally plays fine on the Android TV app I've been using (though some stuff transcodes, and some subtitles need to burn-in, as you know) but lately I've noticed some files that don't play at all, which is why I'm curious about the alternatives. I don't know if it's because of a recent update to the server or the client, or just bad luck with some new files, but I suppose I'll make a separate thread to try to troubleshoot those.