Android TV We should be wary of Android TV/Google TV's new user interface

We should be wary of Android TV/Google TV's new user interface
how to temporarily change mAC address on mibox android 9 update?
How to use Google Meet + Webcam on Google TV?
Torrent Search App for Private Trackers?
Philips 55PUS9435/12 turns off randomly when playing Youtube or Spotify
Polaroid Android TV Chromecast crakling noise error
android tV home 3.0.10 breaks older Mibox3 (no up/down navigation on Launcher)
Developing and deploying custom (and restricted) Android TV UI
The Apple TV App on Chromecast with Google TV using only 2.0 stereo on purchased movies even when the movie is meant to have Atmos or 5.1 however the Apple TV+ content is 5.1 or Atmos is anyone else having this issue or is it just me?
Chromecast not working mi tv 4s
After a new android tv box need sugestions

We should be wary of Android TV/Google TV's new user interface

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 03:51 PM PST

I am from China, sorry for my grammar mistake in English.

Recently I have explored Google TV's new interface and heard that Android TV will receive that shortly.

The transfer from the old interface to the new one is extremely dangerous for end users.

According to Google, the new user interface is more focused on content, but I don't think so.

Google TV

Firstly, what you see on your home screen is completely controlled by Google.

Remember during the Google TV setup, it asked you to link your streaming account to Google in order to receive the recommendations in this "For you" tab, which means everything you see here is not pulled from the apps but pulled from the Google server. Google has complete control over what you can see and they got your highest attention once you turn on your TV.

Secondly, the gradual weakening of the concept "Apps"

As you can see in the new interface, Apps tab has been ranked second to the last, and on the home page, the apps are no longer on the top. Google want you to use their recommendation services rather than using your apps individually. But, Smart TVs are all about apps, which means end users should determine what they want, but not Google forcing users to watch the recommendations. I'm not saying that Google will cut the App feature and preventing users from accessing them, but based on my guesses and my experiences using some Chinese TV ecosystems, the concept of Apps will be weakened until it disappears. For now, if you want to install apps outside Play store, it has been much more difficult since the release of the new Chromecast.

The possible future of Google TV and Android TV

You may not know much about the Chinese TV market, but I think Google TV will go in the worst possible direction if we don't pay attention to this issue.

1. the disappear of "Apps"

Let me first show you something:

Xiaomi TV launcher

This picture above is the launcher of Xiaomi TV in China. Every corner of the home page is filled with ads from streaming platform, the "Apps" page is narrowed to that green box in the middle-left. Any of the tabs on the top is for ads and subscriptions. But the worse thing is Xiaomi does not allow you to replace the TV launcher. To me this looks really similar to Google TV, and the experience of this TV launcher is terrible.

2. ads before launching

Watch this video on Bilibili:

Ads on Haier TV

The experience using this TV must be terrible, I don't what my Google TV to be like that.

3. What if I want to skip the ads through an external TV box?

They will put the ads into the HDMI signal:

Xiaomi TV ads on HDMI

How to avoid that?

For now, you can go inside your Google TV settings and turn on App mode, that will disable all the content pushed to you from Google. But who knows what Google will do in the future, we will see.

At that time, I believe there will be people finding ways to disable them through settings, apps, adb, or even proxy, just like what everyone is doing in China to get rid of these ads. But that is difficult, not all the people knows these things. The only thing we can do is to have independent thinking, and be aware of the feature updates from Google to avoid being controlled by our TV or OS manufactures.

submitted by /u/Adventurous-Drink-23
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how to temporarily change mAC address on mibox android 9 update?

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 08:14 AM PST

I have an IPTV app that requires a certain MAC address but only when the app is opened the first time.

Does anyone know how to change the MAC address without root on the mibox running the android 9 update?

submitted by /u/davidlee93
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How to use Google Meet + Webcam on Google TV?

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST

Can we please make video chatting from the couch a thing? It's so much better for families with small kids since you don't need to hold your phone or any other device.

I'd like to video chat using a Logitech C920 via Google Meet on Google TV with Chromecast, but I can't sideload Google Meet on the Google TV operating system. Google Duo is the only option for Google TV and no one I know wants to download that app, the video quality sucks, etc.

submitted by /u/gime_time
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Torrent Search App for Private Trackers?

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 07:46 AM PST

I haven't been able to find an app that supports search for private trackers (movies). Ideally what I'm looking for would let me search & download the torrent file so I can open it in my preferred torrent client app.

Some apps that come close but don't work:
- Maneki (only public trackers)
- Transdroid search (private trackers broken)

There are some apps that connect to Jackett server but don't quite work:
- nzb360 (doesn't display seeders, crashes)
- LunaSea (doesn't display seeders, downloads wrong file type)
- Stremio (looks like a pain to setup with PMS and doesn't display seeders)

Ideally the app I'm looking for can be standalone, and handle searching/indexing itself without a Jackett server. But if needed, I can also buy a RasPi to host Jackett.

Anyone know of an Android app that can do this?

submitted by /u/SeedMyAss
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Philips 55PUS9435/12 turns off randomly when playing Youtube or Spotify

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 01:40 AM PST

I have recently purchased a Philips TV. I have updated the software, turned off eco mode, and turned off screen saver mode.
My issues are that while playing Youtube or Spotify, the TV will shut off. This does not happen while playing Netflix, Prime, etc. Only with Youtube and Spotify.
I put on a Youtube video 5 minutes ago, and just now the TV shut off. This also happens if the TV is on standby mode, suddenly it will just turn off for no reason.

Anyone with any advice?

submitted by /u/Evenyx
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Polaroid Android TV Chromecast crakling noise error

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 02:24 PM PST

submitted by /u/RhexusParadox
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android tV home 3.0.10 breaks older Mibox3 (no up/down navigation on Launcher)

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 12:46 AM PST

I know other Android TV users were complaining about ads on the launcher, but on Mibox3 it just breaks navigation.

My older Mibox3 received the update, after which you could only navigate left/right on the app row, but you couldn't navigate up/down to other rows or even settings.

To fix: I used this airmouse app from my phone, went into Settings > Apps > System Apps > Android TV Home, and uninstalled updates. You'll then need to disable automatic PlayStore updates, and sideload v2.3.1 of the app.

submitted by /u/oroboros74
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Developing and deploying custom (and restricted) Android TV UI

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 02:29 PM PST

Hey everyone, I'm looking to design and deploy a customized version of Android tv for my Airbnb property. Basically want to customize the look and feel (name of Airbnb property at the top, etc.), not allow my guests to download things from the App Store (only a predefined number of access assessable), not allow them to access key settings (or gate it behind a passcode) but allow them to access apps I've added (+ some custom apps I could build for them).

Does anyone have any tips or can share any guides on how I could go about doing something like this?

submitted by /u/zhuofm111
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The Apple TV App on Chromecast with Google TV using only 2.0 stereo on purchased movies even when the movie is meant to have Atmos or 5.1 however the Apple TV+ content is 5.1 or Atmos is anyone else having this issue or is it just me?

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 09:40 AM PST