Same line, different screen: STBs, sticks, and smart TVs

Built-in TV browsers are seductive and fragile: codecs are uneven, memory is tight, and background refresh is limited. If you must support them, publish a short whitelist of silicon generations; everything else is best-effort.

HDMI dongles vary wildly in Wi‑Fi silicon and thermals. Clip playback for movies can mask weaknesses that show up on two-hour live events with dense GOP structures.

Linux STBs or dedicated IPTV hardware on Ethernet still produce the most boring telemetry—and boring is good for live TV. Standardise on gigabit wired backhaul where you can, hardware decode where your lineup needs it, and RAM for fat EPG databases.

Phones and tablets add cellular handover, aggressive battery savers, and conflicting DNS. State clearly whether mobile is fully supported or courteous best-effort, and publish screenshots for the two apps you actually test.

Maintain a small matrix: device class × app × integration mode × max resolution. It steadies support answers and doubles as honest marketing.