Aldi Android TV review: Epic value, great quality.

Ahh the good old Aldi Special Buy. Wednesday 30 October sees yet another Bauhn TV hit Aldi stores across Australia – and this one – this could be their best value TV ever.

65 Inch Android TV – $799. Nothing more to pay. No shipping cost, just make sure you’ve got a big station wagon, ute or SUV to fit it in.

The box itself is 95 cm tall, 18 cm deep and, 1.58 meters wide. Be prepared.

Setup is simple. Lay the TV down, three screws onto each leg which are both clearly labelled, then the joy of ripping off all the plastic protective tape around the bezel.

It’s advertised with a “Premium Slimline Profile” but it doesn’t really strike me as impressively slimline, though it’s certainly a good looking TV for simplicity.

This thing is 65 inches. And if you don’t know – that’s measured diagonally from corner to corner – 165cm!

Power it up, and here’s where it immediately kicks any previous Aldi TV out of the park. This is an Android TV.

Google’s Android TV operating system allows you to use a smartphone-like interface to download apps and run all your streaming needs.

The remote features dedicated Netflix and YouTube buttons and requires pairing the first time you use it. This failed for me, a few times. In the end. I sat the remote closer to the TV while pairing and it worked a charm.

Voice Control & Search

Android TV also means Google Assistant built-in. And it worked first go.

Press the button – “Open YouTube” – done.

I installed Stan pretty quickly and using Google to open the Stan app works a treat too, as it does with Netflix, though I’d think you’d just use the dedicated Netflix button on the remote for that:)

Then it was time to put it to the test – how good was voice search.

I asked Google to “Show me movies with Tim Allen”

Bingo – that worked.

Even better, it has universal search deep into Stan and Netflix, so I was able to see that the movie was available on a service I already subscribe too.

Very cool – on a $799 65 inch TV!

Picture Quality

Blown away. Yeah, there’s some banding I could notice on still images – so for example on Stan Title screens, those screens where a still image is shown while you decide which episode to watch – there was some horizontal banding. But to be fair, I get vertical banding on a Samsung QLED.

What matters is what it looks like watching content. It’s great.

Rich colours, very good blacks, and really great resolution.

This is a 4K TV, and you’ll be able to watch 4K via a 4K BluRay player connected via HDMI, and via any 4K YouTube content – I tested both.

Netflix content also streams in crystal clear 4K where available, and I haven’t even mentioned that it’s also HDR compatible, so not just 4K but also HDR Netflix content.

Excellent stuff

(NB: An earlier version of this story suggested 4K did not work in Netflix, turns out the two brand new shows I’ve been watching (Sinner & The Good Place) are NOT filmed in 4K!!)

Niggling Issues

Silly little thing, but I was watching Godfather of Harlem on Stan. Then went out, home on the menu and did other things.

When I searched for Tim Allen movies and clicked on Toy Story “Available on Stan” – It launched the preview page on Stan, but when I hit play it was playing Godfather of Harlem. Not a world ender, but a simple bug for Stan to look into most likely.

Netflix is a bigger issue – not when you’re watching it, it’s great. But it is clearly a very processor-intensive app. I’ve pointed this out before in my review of the Kogan Smarter TV which is Android TV based – you can’t really do anything else with the normal TV functions while you’re in Netflix – and that’s a shame.

So you can’t summon voice control, or even the TV menu system. You must go home on the menu then do your thing.

Again, not really an issue for the TV itself, more the way the Netflix app works.

Should I buy an Aldi Android TV?

No reason not to. This is a great TV, easy to set up, the picture is excellent and the app availability make it a genuine smart TV.

Of course, spend a bunch more you’re going to get an even better picture, and perhaps some of those niggling issues won’t be there? But – how much is that worth?

This thing is a BIG screen, and it’s $799. Amazing value.