Choosing the right playback decoder
Android TV exposes a decoder setting that most people never touch and that fixes most playback complaints. Hardware decoding uses the dedicated video chip and is the correct default: it is efficient, it keeps the box cool, and it handles the common codecs. Software decoding runs the video on the general-purpose CPU, which is slower but far more tolerant of unusual streams.
The rule of thumb is that stutter on a small number of channels points at hardware decoding refusing an unexpected format, and switching those to software fixes them. Stutter on every channel points at the network or the box, and switching decoders will not help. Diagnosing which one you have before changing settings saves an evening.
Audio has an equivalent trap. If a channel plays video with no sound, the usual cause is passthrough sending a format your television or soundbar cannot decode. Setting audio output to PCM or stereo in the app forces the box to do the decoding itself and restores sound immediately.
RAM is the specification that matters
Android TV boxes are sold on processor speed and storage, but for live television the number that decides how the box feels is memory. A 1 GB box will play a channel adequately and then hesitate for several seconds on every channel change, because the guide has been evicted from memory and has to be fetched again. A 2 GB box keeps the guide resident and changes channels instantly.
That difference is far more noticeable day to day than 4K support, and it is the reason a cheap box often disappoints people who bought it on the strength of its advertised resolution. If you are choosing between a 4K box with 1 GB and a 1080p box with 2 GB, and you mostly watch live channels, the 1080p box is the better television.
Adding a third-party player, and when it is worth it
Android TV is the only mainstream platform where you can run a different player against the same subscription, because the Play Store carries several and M3U import is straightforward. That flexibility is genuinely useful in one specific case: when a particular channel refuses to play in one app and works in another, which happens because players bundle different decoders.
It is worth being honest about the trade. A native app is built for one service, so it can cache the guide on-device and change channels faster than a general-purpose player that has to fetch a listing each time. Generic players win on configurability and lose on speed, and for most households speed is the thing they actually notice.
If you do run one, treat the playlist URL as a credential. It grants access to your subscription on its own, and pasting it into an unfamiliar app hands that access over — the same caution you would apply to a password, applied to a URL that does not look like one.