Hello. I was looking for a 43-inch Android TV, but due to the placement in the middle of the furniture, I didn't have many options. Luckily, I found the Metz 8000, which I later discovered belongs to the giant Skyworth, which is behind many brands.
First of all, the TV is beautiful with an impressive and sturdy stand, above-average construction that doesn't give a plastic feel like the average.
The picture and sound are at high levels for its category, with many options and settings, as well as all the modern features like Dolby Vision, HDR, Atmos, etc. Zero light bleed, which impressed me. Small bezels, local dimming, direct LED, and excellent viewing angles. The only thing that bothered me is that for its price, I would have liked an air mouse because the one it has, although of good quality, is a bit tiring and not very useful in many applications that require a mouse.
(((When setting it up, set the country to Germany because initially I set it to Greece and faced some issues with the menu/controller commands, the OK button didn't work in channel editing and it didn't show the hybrid (the red button we call it). The only issue I have is that it doesn't give me the option to sort channels in the order I want, but it's okay, I can live without it.
***Update --- Initially, with Greece as the country, the channel menu and hybrid didn't appear at all, then with Germany, I had the hybrid but didn't have the OK button in the submenu for movement and any deleted channels would reappear. Ultimately, with a second reset and Greece with channel search """LCN OFF""", it worked correctly. )))
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Let's move on to Android now. Android TV 10, which requires a little exploration if someone has no idea, but the effort is worth it. Sideload and load almost everything. It's important that it has a well-written ROM without unnecessary restrictions, unlike a 32-inch Hitachi I bought later, which has a terrible Vestel ROM that doesn't even let you mute the sound of the buttons and requires ADB debug greetings.
Retroarch works great (given the capabilities of the processor) with a BT gamepad 8bitdo sn30+, and due to Android 10, it recognizes games from the SD card or USB flash drive.
For channels, if you search, there is also the Live Channels application.
To easily find all the applications, I would recommend the ATV launcher.
Regarding the controller, there are 2 solutions. Buy an air mouse or a cheap mini keyboard for 5 euros, or use mobile apps for control. These are Cetus Play and Zank Remote, which I prefer.
At the same time, for emergencies, I have the Superior Universal Remote Freedom Micro USB 4:1, where I sent a message and they updated the codes for the 8000 series. However, you should know that if you want to pair the original controller with another one with learning function, it's not possible because it's Bluetooth. But since the TV also works with infrared, we can set up an IR remote through an application on a mobile phone with infrared or on the Superior remote, and then learn it on another remote. I'm writing this because someone might be in the same position as me, where I have, for example, the Superior Simply for older people who only want the basics, and this is the solution.
***Important for some, it opens on the channels and not on the main Android screen.
Something else about the controller that can serve you is the button mapper application where through android we can assign any button of the original controller with any function we want, so accordingly we set the button on the learning controller. For example, with the button mapper I assign the Amazon Prime button to open Netflix, then simply with the learning on another controller when we teach it, for example, on button 1 to pass the Amazon button it will open Netflix.
Also, after contacting the store, they confirmed to me that there is indeed a 4-year warranty.
In conclusion, if it doesn't present a problem, I consider it to be among the top 3 Android TVs around 350, but perhaps the most beautiful and yes, I will say the cliché that everyone says about their TVs, that it is a jewel wherever you place it, but in this case it is true.