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How to turn off Android TV's homescreen ads, 'staff picks'

67 points by radus 6y ago

kevlar1818 6y ago
I've been wanting to replace my Android box with a Linux box for a while, and I think this signals my Android TV exit. The main reason I have an Android TV box is because of its easy to use UI. I haven't found a suitable desktop environment or web browser configuration that supports a TV-scale UI on Linux. Does anyone have a Linux HTPC setup they're happy with? I really don't want to need a mouse and keyboard to watch Netflix, etc.
- moviuro 6y ago
  Kodi + Kore on the smartphone might be a replacement? Though I mostly just stream files that I already have on my NAS, it should be more than capable of streaming straight from YouTube and others. [0] https://kodi.tv/ https://kodi.tv/ [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore [2] https://kodi.tv/addons https://kodi.tv/addons
  - JackMcMack 6y ago
    I've run this for a while, but Kodi seems to be focused on the "old" way of having your UI run on your TV, whereas I would like to be able to browse through my content on my phone. Yes, Kore can do this, but it feels much more like an afterthought. Prior to this I was running Windows (Vista I think) MCE with a dual channel analog cable capture card. That was truely the pinacle of home theater. Easy TV recording + easy local content. Raspberry Pi + Kodi (+ NAS) feels underpowered, and a bit dated. I haven't properly tested something like Plex. NVidia Shield seems like it would do, but now ads might be coming... Are modern smart tv's somewhat capable of local content browsing? Or is it like very basic file browsing?
    - opencl 6y ago
      VLC on Android can stream from an NAS to a Chromecast.
    - boring_twenties 6y ago
      > I've run this for a while, but Kodi seems to be focused on the "old" way of having your UI run on your TV, whereas I would like to be able to browse through my content on my phone. It's been years since I used it, so I don't know if it's still any good, but the (paid) Yatse app was pretty good for this.
- radus 6y ago
  I've been happy with my Nvidia Shield, which so far has not received this update. The HTPC that it replaced ran on Ubuntu and automatically booted into Kodi. This worked okay, but having the hardware setup to support the latest audio/video features (eg. HDR, Dolby Vision, Atmos) can be a frustrating experience. The Shield has been great because it "just works", and also makes it easy to switch between streaming services and local media. So depending on your viewing habits, and must-have features, it can be very difficult or impossible to replicate the experience.
- gen3 6y ago
  KDE has a tv environment. I’m not sure how good it is though, I use an Apple TV. https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ https://dot.kde.org/2020/03/26/plasma-tv-presenting-plasma-bigscreen https://dot.kde.org/2020/03/26/plasma-tv-presenting-plasma-b...
  - zzo38computer 6y ago
    I don't like the voice control, but I suppose some people do like, OK, but ensure it will work without Mycroft and without a microphone, too. Better might be assign a numeric code to each file, and then you can key in those numbers on the remote control to select them. The remote controls they show there isn't very good. Put numbers, play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, stop, previous-track, next-track, high-volume, low-volume, mute, main-menu, and perhaps a few more, rather than what they have there it isn't very good I think. Is there such a better remote control that you can use instead? Instead of up/down/left/right/enter, you can have the numbers and the playback controls.
    - gen3 6y ago
      I find voice control helpful when entering text. Instead of trying to arrow in "The Simpsons season 6 episode 3" on a remote, you can just get it transcribed.
      - zzo38computer 6y ago
        Yes, that is one reason why you might like it (especially if you do not know how to spell the name of the show you want to watch, although voice recognition can also get it wrong sometimes). However, I would ike numeric input. Key in some ID number of the show (after you can first figure out what that ID number is), and optionally the season number and episode number. If you omit the season number, it will list them; if you omit the episode number, it will list the episodes with descriptions; you might also search by the original broadcast date. Of course, that doesn't help if you do not know the ID number of the show, so text search (and voice, if you have a microphone and voice recognition software) is still useful too, and then you can learn what is the ID number. For text entry, I would like Hollerith chording (or a full keyboard if you happen to be using one, which some people do), but that won't work if the remote control doesn't support chording, so other methods may also be used. Category numbers (in various classification schemes) may also be helpful, if you do not even know the name of the show, or what show you want, perhaps.
- virtue3 6y ago
  not what your asking, but I've found the Roku interface on my TV to be really easy to use by all my household members. Solid enough and low impact. Of course, it does have ADS on the start page for content on services, which might defeat the whole point.
- rohan1024 6y ago
  Try https://osmc.tv/ https://osmc.tv/ Not sure if it will fulfill all your requirements though.
Kique 6y ago
I don't see the outrage. This looks pretty similar to the design of every streaming service these days? Netflix, Prime, etc. The top bar is the largest and displays the newest/trending things to watch. The only difference is what they might display on the top bar. On Netflix they just show you the newest/trending stuff regardless of I'm interested in it based on my viewing habits. Netflix really wants me to watch Tiger King. So if these streaming services were smart they would pay Google for this ad space based on my viewing habits, or it'll be the newest/trending stuff from these services and it's basically the same/useless then.
- radus 6y ago
  I paid good money for a Nvidia Shield in part because I liked the simple interface. Would you like it if in the next Android update you had "trending stuff" occupying a third of your smartphone home screen? I wouldn't mind it if it were optional, but it seems that it will not be.
  - panpanna 6y ago
    I agree this is shity design, but is it "ads"?? To be clear: I don't like been forced "recommendations" that some AI algorithm digged up for me. But this is still far far from the consumer product ads you see will on traditional TVs.
criddell 6y ago
I bought a Sony XBR65X950G (great name) a year ago and the hardware is nice but the software is terrible. I noticed the ads a couple of days ago and tried to find a way to hide them but there's nothing. The ads combined with the shitty Android TV software is making me think I need to unplug the TV from the internet and buy an Apple TV or similar device. Either that or get a Homekit power outlet so that I can power cycle the TV every night.
- chrisjc 6y ago
  I'm missing your point... What would power cycling the TV daily do?
  - criddell 6y ago
    It usually fixes the software glitches. The longer the TV runs, the less reliable it is. All of the software problems seemed to be fixed by rebooting the TV.
    - chrisjc 6y ago
      Wow! That's awful.
      - criddell 6y ago
        Yeah, it's pretty bad. Netflix having no sound, the TV mode having no video, and Spotify hanging are the worst offenders for me. A nightly reboot would be excessive, but if I'm going to automate it, might as well do it daily.
  - tbeseda 6y ago
    It's bad enough that I set up my Sony Android TV on a "smart outlet" that power cycles each night. And I can yell at my Google Assistant to restart it when it breaks down on occasion
    - deleted 6y ago
rohan1024 6y ago
I have said this before. Few reasons why I prefer dumb TVs, just a flat LED panel: 1. You have control over bullshit like this 2. You can make them smart by attaching the external box (like Raspberry PI with osmc) 3. You don't have to throw the TV because your Software is now old, just change the box. 4. There's new format which requires hardware support (av1 is coming), change the box. 5. Want to add new hardware? Upgrade the box.
- chrisjc 6y ago
  > You can make them smart by attaching the external box The problem is that if the box is Android TV, it's now displaying ads. Android TV (Shield) is now the last remaining Android device in my household. I've transitioned to Apple devices over the last couple of years as my frustration with the google "ecosystem" grew. I guess I'll give Apple TV a go next.
  - guerrilla 6y ago
    Much cheaper to throw out that box and setup an RPi or whatever than buy a new TV, no? Seems like a better problem to have.
    - chrisjc 6y ago
      My point was that if you're buying a box to work around the problem of having a TV with ads, but now the box has ads too, things have gotten pretty bad. The problem with RPi solutions as far as I'm aware, is that the content services now have DRM that prevent content from running on RPi. Is that no longer the case? Can I use RPi to watch Netflix and YoutubeTV for instance?
      - fuzxi 6y ago
        A cursory search tells me that it is possible to use a version of Chromium that's been modified to enable WideVine DRM support to watch DRM-protected content on an ARM device such as the RasPi.
jeroenhd 6y ago
Does anyone have a proper replacement for a "smart" TV interface that runs on plain Linux instead of some random Chinese Android box? My TV is relatively old and the Netflix app just can't keep up anymore. I was considering running some Android TV box but if those show ads now I'm not interested anymore. Right now my TV is hooked up to my server running Kodi, but I'd like something that plays YouTube at full resolution (as opposed to Kofi's 720p limit because of some obscure dependency issue) and is also capable of running Netflix. I'll probably have to cave eventually and get myself a Chromecast but if there's an option that doesn't rely on Google, I'd like to hear about it.
- noja 6y ago
  Kodi runs fine on a Fire TV Stick.
  - morrbo 6y ago
    Which is also littered with ads and prevented side loading of kodi before iirc* Like a few other people in this thread I tried roku, firetv box/stick and landed on an nvidia shield to get away from ads. At the time of writing (now that shield/androidtv are showing ads) I don't believe a decent ad-free box exists.
    - noja 6y ago
      > Which is also littered with ads and prevented side loading of kodi before iirc I use it just fine. Not sure what adverts you are referring to past the tv season suggestion on the home screen, but I use a pihole. You can use a recent Pi if you want plain Linux. It evens works with CEC. No idea about YouTube though (I share the video to the Fire TV Stick and it plays).
      - morrbo 6y ago
        Idk if pihole blocks these but here you can see the ads https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-specs/fire-tv https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-specs/fire-tv It also requires signing in at all times (not 100% sure on this) to use the device so I don't consider it a viable alternative to a "dumb" android box which has a plain experience throughout
intsunny 6y ago
These homescreen ads are really interesting because in the future of television, they might be the only thing viewers are guaranteed to see a glimpse of. In the era of linear TV, the masses had to watch what the networks put in front of them. People had to watch whatever was available in the broadcast medium of their choice (air/cable/satellite). Channel flipping meant that the networks had a brief moment to expose themselves to viewers, and maybe even hook them with those repetitive post-commercial recaps. But non-linear television means that the network execs can fuck right off because people will watch whatever they want, whenever they want, on the subscription service they want. The fragmentation is real. The homescreen ads present themselves as a rare chance for channel producers to say "hey! come look at our amazing content!". Right before a viewer fires up Netflix or whatever. (On a personal note, those overly loud and obnoxious homescreen ads are fucking annoying and usually turn me off from whatever the hell is being advertised. Turning on my TV should be a source of joy and relaxation, not a a desperate desire to pull up Netflix as fast as humanly possible. I'm also certain that in the future when all of our smart TVs have 128-core RISC-V CPUs with 16GB of RAM and can run k8s, TV software producers will intentionally slow down the loading of apps so viewers are forced to watch the homescreen ads.)
- msluyter 6y ago
  FWIW, we have an LG smart TV and I've never seen ads on it because our standard use case is a) turning it on and b) immediately pressing the built in Prime/Netflix button. I barely even know what the home screen looks like.
- criddell 6y ago
  > Channel flipping meant that the networks had a brief moment to expose themselves to viewers Offtopic, but modern TVs are terrible at channel flipping. I don't know if it's the TV or the cable box or the DRM, but something makes it take 3-5 seconds to change a channel. This feels like something they could fix. There not being a reasonable way to opt-out of the homescreen ads tells me that Google knows they are garbage. Google has 20+ years of data from many of us. They promised us that sharing our data with them would let them produce targeted ads that we would value. The ads on my TV homescreen feel less targeted than the ones I see during a baseball broadcast.
e12e 6y ago
I'm guessing it's not possible to just write an app that replaces the homescreen? :/
nunodonato 6y ago
I bought a Mi TV 2 months ago. Worst thing ever. I was much better off just using my chromecast. I was hoping a much richer ecosystem of apps for android tv, but they pretty much suck. Dumb tv + chromecast is perfect, or plug a pi for something more complex.
- ffpip 6y ago
  Block everything on your router or via PiHole. Setup and forget
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
Sargos 6y ago
Note that there is no open source version of Android TV like there is for phones. You can't just throw on a custom ROM with the modifications you want. This was a purposeful choice by Google to enable anti-features like this and prevent any kind of ad blocking or customizations that would help make TVs into an open platform.
- kmonsen 6y ago
  This is not true, see here for example: https://www.google.com/search?q=aosp+android+tv+devices https://www.google.com/search?q=aosp+android+tv+devices There are vendors shipping aosp devices, particularly in cost sensitive markets.
  - efreak 6y ago
    Not sure about currently, but I'm the past there were quite a number of options for running Android on a set top box, but very few options for running Android TV on one. You need to make sure the device you're looking at is actually running Android TV, not the standard version of Android.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  How much does it differ from mainline AOSP? Do targets not exist for those devices at all?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
HumblyTossed 6y ago
This ticks me off. I have an Nvidia Shield TV and it's supposed to get this "update" also. I can live with some ads in apps (as long as I didn't "pay" for the app). But I HATE the idea of ads in my OS. This industry and the pressure to turn everything into a money grab is digusting?
- heroprotagonist 6y ago
  Yeah, I'm pretty irate as well. I finally gave in and got a Shield a couple weeks ago to reduce complexity. Now this? Maybe it's not too late to mail it back to Nvidia. Perhaps wrapped in this week's snailmail spam catalogs.
blackrobot 6y ago
What's the best external tv hardware box these days? It needs to be something easy enough for my non-technical family to use, that's also stable enough that I don't have to worry about upgrading or debugging it, and provides all of the popular providers controlled by a remote -- or is at least compatible with a universal remote. Up until recently, my Roku ticked all of the boxes -- Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Now/Go, Plex, CNN, Hulu, all controlled by a Logitech universal remote. But as of August 1st, HBO has pulled their apps from Roku. Is one of these a better option? - Android TV - Amazon Fire - Apple TV (without other iOS devices?) - something else?
- drewg123 6y ago
  The nice thing about Android TV and firetv is that you can sideload apps like NewPipe (better YouTube client without ads) and Kodi. Android TV has been better than FireTV until now, as it has not had an annoying homescreen littered with ads, like the FireTV. I'd switch to an AppleTV, if I could sideload things like NewPipe, but for now I'm sticking with my Nvidia Shield, which runs Android TV.
panpanna 6y ago
Next up: Chromecast (We desperately need an alternative to Chromecasts, they are becoming too dominant)
nominated1 6y ago
The Android Debugger is best for wrangling these unfortunate creations. Here are some random notes I took while beating my Sony Bravia into submission. # Enable Develepor Tools TV > Home menu > Settings > About. Click the build number 7 times to activate the developer tools menu item. Open it and click on "enable ADB debugging." # Default ADP Port TCP - 5037 and 5555 adb connect 192.168.x.xx A popup will appear on your TV. Use your remote to check the box to always allow connections from your PC # Sideload app TV > Settings > Security & restrictions > Unknown Sources adb install apkname.apk # List all apps adb shell pm list packages -f > bravia-tv-packages.txt # Uninstall an app. adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 tv.samba.ssm adb uninstall tv.samba.ssm # Reinstall (example only) adb shell pm install -r --user 0 tv.samba.ssm # Disable an app if uninstall fails adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 <package_to_disable> # Re-enable a disabled app adb shell pm enable <package_to_enable> # Safe Mode Unplug or Reboot (Settings > About) Press and hold volume down # Factory Reset Unplug On lower left (ports side) Press and hold bottom two Plug back in # Filter to only show system packages. adb shell pm list packages -f -s # List including uninstalled packages. adb shell pm list packages -f -u # List all disabled apps adb shell pm list packages -d # Force stop app adb shell am force-stop com.netflix.ninja adb shell top adb shell ps > android-processes.txt adb shell dumpsys wifi > dumpsys_wifi.txt adb shell logcat > logcat.txt adb shell dumpsys package com.foo.bar > dumpsys_com.foo.bar adb shell pm [grant|revoke] [package] android.permission.CAMERA When done, turn off ADB debugging on the TV for security.
shp0ngle 6y ago
Seeing all this hate about smart TVs here I have a smart Samsung TV, I don't remember the exact name, and it's... fine? I changed my opinion on Smart TVs It does its job, the 3 apps I have there work fine, there are no annoying ads. There is also working AirPlay for iOS (funnily enough, it's easier to stream from iPhone than from Samsung Galaxy on Samsung TV). The UX is great overall. The "browser" there is horrible, but you won't be doing much browsing on TV anyway
lvturner 6y ago
Are there any FOSS alternatives for the operating systems on current smart tvs? I haven't heard of any, but it's certainly something I'd be interested in.

67 points by radus 6y ago

I've been wanting to replace my Android box with a Linux box for a while, and I think this signals my Android TV exit. The main reason I have an Android TV box is because of its easy to use UI. I haven't found a suitable desktop environment or web browser configuration that supports a TV-scale UI on Linux. Does anyone have a Linux HTPC setup they're happy with? I really don't want to need a mouse and keyboard to watch Netflix, etc.

moviuro 6y ago
Kodi + Kore on the smartphone might be a replacement? Though I mostly just stream files that I already have on my NAS, it should be more than capable of streaming straight from YouTube and others. [0] https://kodi.tv/ https://kodi.tv/ [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore [2] https://kodi.tv/addons https://kodi.tv/addons
- JackMcMack 6y ago
  I've run this for a while, but Kodi seems to be focused on the "old" way of having your UI run on your TV, whereas I would like to be able to browse through my content on my phone. Yes, Kore can do this, but it feels much more like an afterthought. Prior to this I was running Windows (Vista I think) MCE with a dual channel analog cable capture card. That was truely the pinacle of home theater. Easy TV recording + easy local content. Raspberry Pi + Kodi (+ NAS) feels underpowered, and a bit dated. I haven't properly tested something like Plex. NVidia Shield seems like it would do, but now ads might be coming... Are modern smart tv's somewhat capable of local content browsing? Or is it like very basic file browsing?
  - opencl 6y ago
    VLC on Android can stream from an NAS to a Chromecast.
  - boring_twenties 6y ago
    > I've run this for a while, but Kodi seems to be focused on the "old" way of having your UI run on your TV, whereas I would like to be able to browse through my content on my phone. It's been years since I used it, so I don't know if it's still any good, but the (paid) Yatse app was pretty good for this.
radus 6y ago
I've been happy with my Nvidia Shield, which so far has not received this update. The HTPC that it replaced ran on Ubuntu and automatically booted into Kodi. This worked okay, but having the hardware setup to support the latest audio/video features (eg. HDR, Dolby Vision, Atmos) can be a frustrating experience. The Shield has been great because it "just works", and also makes it easy to switch between streaming services and local media. So depending on your viewing habits, and must-have features, it can be very difficult or impossible to replicate the experience.
gen3 6y ago
KDE has a tv environment. I’m not sure how good it is though, I use an Apple TV. https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ https://dot.kde.org/2020/03/26/plasma-tv-presenting-plasma-bigscreen https://dot.kde.org/2020/03/26/plasma-tv-presenting-plasma-b...
- zzo38computer 6y ago
  I don't like the voice control, but I suppose some people do like, OK, but ensure it will work without Mycroft and without a microphone, too. Better might be assign a numeric code to each file, and then you can key in those numbers on the remote control to select them. The remote controls they show there isn't very good. Put numbers, play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, stop, previous-track, next-track, high-volume, low-volume, mute, main-menu, and perhaps a few more, rather than what they have there it isn't very good I think. Is there such a better remote control that you can use instead? Instead of up/down/left/right/enter, you can have the numbers and the playback controls.
  - gen3 6y ago
    I find voice control helpful when entering text. Instead of trying to arrow in "The Simpsons season 6 episode 3" on a remote, you can just get it transcribed.
    - zzo38computer 6y ago
      Yes, that is one reason why you might like it (especially if you do not know how to spell the name of the show you want to watch, although voice recognition can also get it wrong sometimes). However, I would ike numeric input. Key in some ID number of the show (after you can first figure out what that ID number is), and optionally the season number and episode number. If you omit the season number, it will list them; if you omit the episode number, it will list the episodes with descriptions; you might also search by the original broadcast date. Of course, that doesn't help if you do not know the ID number of the show, so text search (and voice, if you have a microphone and voice recognition software) is still useful too, and then you can learn what is the ID number. For text entry, I would like Hollerith chording (or a full keyboard if you happen to be using one, which some people do), but that won't work if the remote control doesn't support chording, so other methods may also be used. Category numbers (in various classification schemes) may also be helpful, if you do not even know the name of the show, or what show you want, perhaps.
virtue3 6y ago
not what your asking, but I've found the Roku interface on my TV to be really easy to use by all my household members. Solid enough and low impact. Of course, it does have ADS on the start page for content on services, which might defeat the whole point.
rohan1024 6y ago
Try https://osmc.tv/ https://osmc.tv/ Not sure if it will fulfill all your requirements though.

Kique 6y ago

I don't see the outrage. This looks pretty similar to the design of every streaming service these days? Netflix, Prime, etc. The top bar is the largest and displays the newest/trending things to watch. The only difference is what they might display on the top bar. On Netflix they just show you the newest/trending stuff regardless of I'm interested in it based on my viewing habits. Netflix really wants me to watch Tiger King. So if these streaming services were smart they would pay Google for this ad space based on my viewing habits, or it'll be the newest/trending stuff from these services and it's basically the same/useless then.

radus 6y ago
I paid good money for a Nvidia Shield in part because I liked the simple interface. Would you like it if in the next Android update you had "trending stuff" occupying a third of your smartphone home screen? I wouldn't mind it if it were optional, but it seems that it will not be.
- panpanna 6y ago
  I agree this is shity design, but is it "ads"?? To be clear: I don't like been forced "recommendations" that some AI algorithm digged up for me. But this is still far far from the consumer product ads you see will on traditional TVs.

criddell 6y ago

I bought a Sony XBR65X950G (great name) a year ago and the hardware is nice but the software is terrible. I noticed the ads a couple of days ago and tried to find a way to hide them but there's nothing. The ads combined with the shitty Android TV software is making me think I need to unplug the TV from the internet and buy an Apple TV or similar device. Either that or get a Homekit power outlet so that I can power cycle the TV every night.

chrisjc 6y ago
I'm missing your point... What would power cycling the TV daily do?
- criddell 6y ago
  It usually fixes the software glitches. The longer the TV runs, the less reliable it is. All of the software problems seemed to be fixed by rebooting the TV.
  - chrisjc 6y ago
    Wow! That's awful.
    - criddell 6y ago
      Yeah, it's pretty bad. Netflix having no sound, the TV mode having no video, and Spotify hanging are the worst offenders for me. A nightly reboot would be excessive, but if I'm going to automate it, might as well do it daily.
- tbeseda 6y ago
  It's bad enough that I set up my Sony Android TV on a "smart outlet" that power cycles each night. And I can yell at my Google Assistant to restart it when it breaks down on occasion
  - deleted 6y ago

rohan1024 6y ago

I have said this before. Few reasons why I prefer dumb TVs, just a flat LED panel: 1. You have control over bullshit like this 2. You can make them smart by attaching the external box (like Raspberry PI with osmc) 3. You don't have to throw the TV because your Software is now old, just change the box. 4. There's new format which requires hardware support (av1 is coming), change the box. 5. Want to add new hardware? Upgrade the box.

chrisjc 6y ago
> You can make them smart by attaching the external box The problem is that if the box is Android TV, it's now displaying ads. Android TV (Shield) is now the last remaining Android device in my household. I've transitioned to Apple devices over the last couple of years as my frustration with the google "ecosystem" grew. I guess I'll give Apple TV a go next.
- guerrilla 6y ago
  Much cheaper to throw out that box and setup an RPi or whatever than buy a new TV, no? Seems like a better problem to have.
  - chrisjc 6y ago
    My point was that if you're buying a box to work around the problem of having a TV with ads, but now the box has ads too, things have gotten pretty bad. The problem with RPi solutions as far as I'm aware, is that the content services now have DRM that prevent content from running on RPi. Is that no longer the case? Can I use RPi to watch Netflix and YoutubeTV for instance?
    - fuzxi 6y ago
      A cursory search tells me that it is possible to use a version of Chromium that's been modified to enable WideVine DRM support to watch DRM-protected content on an ARM device such as the RasPi.

jeroenhd 6y ago

Does anyone have a proper replacement for a "smart" TV interface that runs on plain Linux instead of some random Chinese Android box? My TV is relatively old and the Netflix app just can't keep up anymore. I was considering running some Android TV box but if those show ads now I'm not interested anymore. Right now my TV is hooked up to my server running Kodi, but I'd like something that plays YouTube at full resolution (as opposed to Kofi's 720p limit because of some obscure dependency issue) and is also capable of running Netflix. I'll probably have to cave eventually and get myself a Chromecast but if there's an option that doesn't rely on Google, I'd like to hear about it.

noja 6y ago
Kodi runs fine on a Fire TV Stick.
- morrbo 6y ago
  Which is also littered with ads and prevented side loading of kodi before iirc* Like a few other people in this thread I tried roku, firetv box/stick and landed on an nvidia shield to get away from ads. At the time of writing (now that shield/androidtv are showing ads) I don't believe a decent ad-free box exists.
  - noja 6y ago
    > Which is also littered with ads and prevented side loading of kodi before iirc I use it just fine. Not sure what adverts you are referring to past the tv season suggestion on the home screen, but I use a pihole. You can use a recent Pi if you want plain Linux. It evens works with CEC. No idea about YouTube though (I share the video to the Fire TV Stick and it plays).
    - morrbo 6y ago
      Idk if pihole blocks these but here you can see the ads https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-specs/fire-tv https://advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-specs/fire-tv It also requires signing in at all times (not 100% sure on this) to use the device so I don't consider it a viable alternative to a "dumb" android box which has a plain experience throughout

intsunny 6y ago

These homescreen ads are really interesting because in the future of television, they might be the only thing viewers are guaranteed to see a glimpse of. In the era of linear TV, the masses had to watch what the networks put in front of them. People had to watch whatever was available in the broadcast medium of their choice (air/cable/satellite). Channel flipping meant that the networks had a brief moment to expose themselves to viewers, and maybe even hook them with those repetitive post-commercial recaps. But non-linear television means that the network execs can fuck right off because people will watch whatever they want, whenever they want, on the subscription service they want. The fragmentation is real. The homescreen ads present themselves as a rare chance for channel producers to say "hey! come look at our amazing content!". Right before a viewer fires up Netflix or whatever. (On a personal note, those overly loud and obnoxious homescreen ads are fucking annoying and usually turn me off from whatever the hell is being advertised. Turning on my TV should be a source of joy and relaxation, not a a desperate desire to pull up Netflix as fast as humanly possible. I'm also certain that in the future when all of our smart TVs have 128-core RISC-V CPUs with 16GB of RAM and can run k8s, TV software producers will intentionally slow down the loading of apps so viewers are forced to watch the homescreen ads.)

msluyter 6y ago
FWIW, we have an LG smart TV and I've never seen ads on it because our standard use case is a) turning it on and b) immediately pressing the built in Prime/Netflix button. I barely even know what the home screen looks like.
criddell 6y ago
> Channel flipping meant that the networks had a brief moment to expose themselves to viewers Offtopic, but modern TVs are terrible at channel flipping. I don't know if it's the TV or the cable box or the DRM, but something makes it take 3-5 seconds to change a channel. This feels like something they could fix. There not being a reasonable way to opt-out of the homescreen ads tells me that Google knows they are garbage. Google has 20+ years of data from many of us. They promised us that sharing our data with them would let them produce targeted ads that we would value. The ads on my TV homescreen feel less targeted than the ones I see during a baseball broadcast.

e12e 6y ago

I'm guessing it's not possible to just write an app that replaces the homescreen? :/

nunodonato 6y ago

I bought a Mi TV 2 months ago. Worst thing ever. I was much better off just using my chromecast. I was hoping a much richer ecosystem of apps for android tv, but they pretty much suck. Dumb tv + chromecast is perfect, or plug a pi for something more complex.

ffpip 6y ago
Block everything on your router or via PiHole. Setup and forget
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Sargos 6y ago

Note that there is no open source version of Android TV like there is for phones. You can't just throw on a custom ROM with the modifications you want. This was a purposeful choice by Google to enable anti-features like this and prevent any kind of ad blocking or customizations that would help make TVs into an open platform.

kmonsen 6y ago
This is not true, see here for example: https://www.google.com/search?q=aosp+android+tv+devices https://www.google.com/search?q=aosp+android+tv+devices There are vendors shipping aosp devices, particularly in cost sensitive markets.
- efreak 6y ago
  Not sure about currently, but I'm the past there were quite a number of options for running Android on a set top box, but very few options for running Android TV on one. You need to make sure the device you're looking at is actually running Android TV, not the standard version of Android.
saagarjha 6y ago
How much does it differ from mainline AOSP? Do targets not exist for those devices at all?

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HumblyTossed 6y ago

This ticks me off. I have an Nvidia Shield TV and it's supposed to get this "update" also. I can live with some ads in apps (as long as I didn't "pay" for the app). But I HATE the idea of ads in my OS. This industry and the pressure to turn everything into a money grab is digusting?

heroprotagonist 6y ago
Yeah, I'm pretty irate as well. I finally gave in and got a Shield a couple weeks ago to reduce complexity. Now this? Maybe it's not too late to mail it back to Nvidia. Perhaps wrapped in this week's snailmail spam catalogs.

blackrobot 6y ago

What's the best external tv hardware box these days? It needs to be something easy enough for my non-technical family to use, that's also stable enough that I don't have to worry about upgrading or debugging it, and provides all of the popular providers controlled by a remote -- or is at least compatible with a universal remote. Up until recently, my Roku ticked all of the boxes -- Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Now/Go, Plex, CNN, Hulu, all controlled by a Logitech universal remote. But as of August 1st, HBO has pulled their apps from Roku. Is one of these a better option? - Android TV - Amazon Fire - Apple TV (without other iOS devices?) - something else?

drewg123 6y ago
The nice thing about Android TV and firetv is that you can sideload apps like NewPipe (better YouTube client without ads) and Kodi. Android TV has been better than FireTV until now, as it has not had an annoying homescreen littered with ads, like the FireTV. I'd switch to an AppleTV, if I could sideload things like NewPipe, but for now I'm sticking with my Nvidia Shield, which runs Android TV.

panpanna 6y ago

Next up: Chromecast (We desperately need an alternative to Chromecasts, they are becoming too dominant)

nominated1 6y ago

The Android Debugger is best for wrangling these unfortunate creations. Here are some random notes I took while beating my Sony Bravia into submission. # Enable Develepor Tools TV > Home menu > Settings > About. Click the build number 7 times to activate the developer tools menu item. Open it and click on "enable ADB debugging." # Default ADP Port TCP - 5037 and 5555 adb connect 192.168.x.xx A popup will appear on your TV. Use your remote to check the box to always allow connections from your PC # Sideload app TV > Settings > Security & restrictions > Unknown Sources adb install apkname.apk # List all apps adb shell pm list packages -f > bravia-tv-packages.txt # Uninstall an app. adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 tv.samba.ssm adb uninstall tv.samba.ssm # Reinstall (example only) adb shell pm install -r --user 0 tv.samba.ssm # Disable an app if uninstall fails adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 <package_to_disable> # Re-enable a disabled app adb shell pm enable <package_to_enable> # Safe Mode Unplug or Reboot (Settings > About) Press and hold volume down # Factory Reset Unplug On lower left (ports side) Press and hold bottom two Plug back in # Filter to only show system packages. adb shell pm list packages -f -s # List including uninstalled packages. adb shell pm list packages -f -u # List all disabled apps adb shell pm list packages -d # Force stop app adb shell am force-stop com.netflix.ninja adb shell top adb shell ps > android-processes.txt adb shell dumpsys wifi > dumpsys_wifi.txt adb shell logcat > logcat.txt adb shell dumpsys package com.foo.bar > dumpsys_com.foo.bar adb shell pm [grant|revoke] [package] android.permission.CAMERA When done, turn off ADB debugging on the TV for security.

shp0ngle 6y ago

Seeing all this hate about smart TVs here I have a smart Samsung TV, I don't remember the exact name, and it's... fine? I changed my opinion on Smart TVs It does its job, the 3 apps I have there work fine, there are no annoying ads. There is also working AirPlay for iOS (funnily enough, it's easier to stream from iPhone than from Samsung Galaxy on Samsung TV). The UX is great overall. The "browser" there is horrible, but you won't be doing much browsing on TV anyway

lvturner 6y ago

Are there any FOSS alternatives for the operating systems on current smart tvs? I haven't heard of any, but it's certainly something I'd be interested in.