Cecotec A4 and V4: what they ship with and what can come off

This page starts with a problem that is not ours: the official page for this television contradicts itself.

In one paragraph it says its operating system is Android TV 11. A few lines further down, in the description, it says Google TV. In one section it mentions Dolby Vision; in another, the feature list stops at HDR10. These are not two different pages: it is the same one, read from top to bottom.

We cannot settle it from here, and we are not going to pick whichever version suits us best either. What we can do is show you how to ask the machine, which is the only thing that does not contradict itself.

How to find out what you actually have#

Under Settings → System → About the system appears. If it says Google TV, you will see its home screen with rows of recommendations; if it says Android TV, the interface is the older one, with a row of apps. The two are easy to tell apart once you know what to look for.

With ADB connected, getprop ro.build.version.release gives you the Android version and getprop ro.product.model the model, without depending on any spec sheet.

For HDR, the reliable test is not the sheet either: play something you know is in Dolby Vision and watch whether the television announces it on screen as it starts. If it supports it, it will tell you itself.

The good news: in either case, everything this site explains works for you. Google TV and Android TV share ADB, they share Google's package names and they are cleaned up the same way. The difference is in the home screen, not in the method.

Which system each series runs#

This part is clear, and it is worth having in front of you before you buy:

• A4 and V4, at 43 inches (4K) and 32 inches (Full HD): Google TV.
• A3, A2, A1, V3+, V2, V1 and the rest: Android TV 11, even on the big expensive models of 75, 85 and 98 inches.
• A5 series: it runs VIDAA, which is not Android. There is no ADB there and no packages to disable, and what applies is something else entirely.
• Series 0: these are not smart televisions.

In other words: at this brand the more modern system is on the small models, and the higher-end sets stayed on Android TV 11. It is the opposite of what you would expect, and it is why the series is worth checking before the inches.

What these televisions are#

A 4K set at 60 Hz with a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, 20 watts of sound and three HDMI 2.1 ports. The A4 carries an LED panel and the V4 a QLED one, which is the real difference between them.

On brightness, Cecotec publishes no figures, and there is no independent test with a photometer of any television from this brand. Any nit figure you find out there for these models comes from a shop, not from a measurement.

The memory, which it does not publish either#

Neither the RAM nor the storage appears on the official sheet. And that is the figure which decides how many years an entry-level television lasts: when the storage fills up, apps stop updating and in the end the machine cannot apply its own system update.

You can find it out yourself, and you should do it before installing anything else. With ADB:

df -h /data tells you how much there is and how much is left free.

cat /proc/meminfo | head -1 tells you the total memory.

If you have less than two gigabytes free, the clear-out this page describes stops being optional.

What ships on it#

Google's part. The launcher (com.google.android.tvlauncher), the recommendations engine (com.google.android.tvrecommendations), voice search (com.google.android.katniss) and the services (com.google.android.gms).

If yours turns out to run Android TV rather than Google TV, the launcher may be com.google.android.leanbacklauncher. That is another name for the same job: without it, the television switches on to a black screen.

Cecotec's part. Little: a setup assistant or so. The brand supplies the panel and the casing; the software is essentially Google's.

Third parties. Netflix, Prime Video and company ship installed by commercial agreement.

What comes off without much thought#

The streaming apps you do not use. On a television whose memory you do not know until you look at it, each one is space you may well need.

The free content channels that fill the home screen.

What to look at first#

The recommendations engine. Removing it leaves the home screen clean, but it also empties the "continue watching" row.

And before touching any package, go through the privacy settings and see what the machine is sharing. A fair amount can be cut back from there, with no ADB and no risk.

What not to touch#

Google Play services. They are the foundation of the store, of the accounts and of a good share of the apps.

The launcher, whatever name it goes by on your unit, as long as you have no other one installed and working.

And anything starting with com.android. that you cannot identify: com.android.systemui is the system interface and com.android.settings is the settings app itself.

What you actually notice#

Storage recovered, which matters here because you did not know how much you had. A home screen that stops suggesting services you do not have. And less background activity.

What does not change: the 60 Hz, the brightness or the panel. None of that depends on the apps installed.

If the hardware falls short for you#

This is an entry-level television with an entry-level processor. If it still struggles after the clear-out, the reasonable way out is to leave it as a screen and put an external player in front of it. The panel will go on being the same one, which is what you paid for, and the interface becomes one you can choose.

All of this comes undone#

Packages disabled over ADB come back with one command, and a factory reset returns the television to the state it left the box in. Nothing here touches the system: you are only telling the set not to load something that was already installed.

If you own one#

From this television we need almost everything: the app list, the output of df -h /data, and above all exactly what your set says under About. With three or four replies we will be able to say which system each series really runs, which is something not even the manufacturer clears up today.