Here’s the reddit discusion on it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/1b8ap3z/onn_google_tv_2nd_gen_update_screen_and_build/
Thanks Miki. That’s great info. I’ll keep an eye on the reddit conversation but at this point think I’ll hang out on the sidelines. ONN box is running fantastic and I’ve had none of the issues discussed in the reddit thread. Thanks again, Miki. I really appreciate the info.
Yeah this thread is confusing. I have the new ONN 4K and it came with Android 12. There is NO update to Google TV
Hey Miki,
This is what I found today.
It appears it was downloaded sometime during the evening. So whatever it is, I got it. Only thing I’ve noticed was losing my external storage (no big deal). So later tonight I’ll have time to check it out further. Thanks again.
This is for the Google Chromecast with TV device, not Onn 4k boxes.
My guess is it will rollout to other Google TV devices though in time, it’s the Google way.
But I noticed a couple things today on my 4K Pro, the last few days I couldn’t use voice commands, the lights didn’t come on. Turns out I put Google TV in Apps Only Mode and it turned Google voice off.
Yes I know, it has always done that but I use Projectivy launcher so it didn’t occured to me, I had changed Google TV to Apps Only mode the other day.
More interestingly Projectivy launcher has a option now for Google SmartHome panel.
https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Streaming/CCwGTV-warning-do-not-upgrade-to-the-latest-firmware/m-p/706482
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I have had issues with Onn GoogleTV version using Hardware decoding.
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Excerpt:
03-15-2025 02:12 AM
Google is releasing a new firmware upgrade for Chromecast with Google TV. This is the Android 14 update.
But this firmware includes a serious problem: it lacks H.264 hardware video decoding!
This breaks any use of this device for Digital TV services, as many of them use this codec. We do not know if this will be reversed in the future. We have no information about whether this is a bug or a feature. Therefore we will have to stay (forever) on Android version 12.
You have been warned! There is no downgrade available.
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I seen this spoken about at the time on Reddit. Good old google aye.
I would avoid any Google TV box for now, please see the link below.
TROY: When you review, please take note of this problem and comment, THANKS.
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I have the Onn 4K Google TV and and Onn Pro Google TV, they cannot play a 50fps video with Hardware decoder, get spinning circle,
and judders like crazy dropping thousands of frames when using Software decoder.
If any one knows a work-around please reply.
And FYI, the Firestick 4K does not have this problem on the same streaming channels, videos.
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The excerpt below says Chromecast, but its on the Onn Google TV also, probably all Google TV boxes.
Excerpt from the link, read all the comments:
“Google is releasing a new firmware upgrade for Chromecast with Google TV. This is the Android 14 update.
But this firmware includes a serious problem: it lacks H.264 hardware video decoding!
This breaks any use of this device for Digital TV services, as many of them use this codec.”
So I bought the Onn 4k box in 2023 and just hooked up for the first time yesterday. I can get to system update and it will download but fails every time. I tried several times even with a couple clean resets and still no go. Thinking of just getting the one.
Thanks for pointing this out. To confirm this, I just tried playing one of my raw videos that I use for YouTube that is H.264 and it did not work.
The strange thing about this is that I’ve been using this device A LOT for the past three weeks and haven’t noticed any problems whatsoever which leads me to believe the apps that I’m using aren’t serving their video in that format or I’ve been lucky with my VOD apps that I haven’t picked an H.264 video.
Very surprised that Google hasn’t fixed this problem!
Thanks again for posting this!
I use the X265 or H265 for all my watching. Most of the stuff I watch in Stremio has these in my Premiumize or my RealDebrid. I love the High Efficiency Video Codec 265. Looks crisper to me.
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This probably isn’t a huge deal as I haven’t had any problems and haven’t heard any other complaints. Maybe most services have moved onto H.265 and that’s why we aren’t hearing about this?
It’s actually an option in the sources that are scraped. Everything from AV1 to the h265. I make sure to select the h265 and perhaps others can look at the sources they find and then choose to play the 265 and not the 264. Not saying that will work as I don’t have an Onn. Maybe someone who has the 264 issue could test a 265 and see if that helps.
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h.264 codec is still used with some iptv services so that is going to cause users issues. But any app using h.264 decoding may have issues.
Thankfully in the apps I use you can choose an x265 or h265 source to play. I don’t have to use an h264 or x264, although they don’t cause me any issues. So hopefully on a scraped source those having issues with 264 can still watch the movie or vid of their choice by selecting an x or h265. I hope someone gives this a try as I’m curious if it does solve their problem.
I think the main issue is with live iptv streams that are h.264.
HEVC and Raw feeds are usually h.265 if they are actually HEVC but not every channel is available in h.265.
Like you mentioned with VOD you can choose a suitable codec but you can be limited with live streams.
This issue was mentioned on CCwGTV months ago but google hasn’t addressed it as yet.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about with all this 264/265 stuff? 
In KODI I choose the first stream and 99% of the time it plays
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You know the difference between beta max and vhs? Or dvd and blu ray? It’s sort of like that.