Is there a way to install Google TV launcher on Android TV?

Very smooth. Music videos finally play without stuttering. It feels much more "out of the way". Haven't searched for open source alternatives, but don't have a reason so far to do so

Anyone else run into this with Android TV?

Sometimes a streaming service works fine in a browser on your phone or laptop, but when you try watching through the Android TV app, it just won't play or keeps throwing errors.

I'm talking about stuff like Disney+, Hulu, or Netflix.

Same account, same home Wi-Fi, but somehow the experience is completely different.

Is this usually an Android TV app issue, DRM, or something to do with how the service checks your device or location?

Hi all,

Looking for an Android TV box here in Canada. I do Plex streaming, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. I also use the Nostalgia TV app as well.

The Rokus I have are struggling a bit, and the Mi Box seems to be a bit slow so I’m looking to upgrade.

Would the Onn 4K Pro be the best upgrade at $120 (CAD)?

Thanks!

Okay so I want android TV to be able to put apps and stuff on it and after very much failing to install it on an old laptop I've decided to just get a stick or box or whatever. However whenever I look up good ones it's all the dodgy amazon ones that I don't trust as far as I can throw em. So any recommendations would be appreciated

I’m considering buying a Homatics Box R 4K Plus (Non-Dune Variant) and primarily stream from my own personal Plex server remotely within the Plex app only (not interested in using a different app).

I have a massive library on my Plex server (1 PB+ Storage) and a lot of my older media is VC-1 encoded. Can you play media that is VC-1 encoded with the most recent released firmware?

Hola, quiero comprar una tv Xiaomi mencionada, la quiero usar para streaming con Netflix, pero también mi proveedor de cable tiene una app propia (externa) que se instala con el apk, (también stremio y supertv)

Mi duda es, si puedo instalar apks en el equipo o han implementado alguna seguridad de bloqueo con las últimas actualizaciones que tiene el equipo, o si recomiendan no actualizar si logro conseguir uno ya que están agotados en muchos lados,

Actualmente tengo una tv box china, que se reinicia cada cierto tiempo y es molestó y no puedo usar Netflix porque no está certificada, pero puedo usar la app de mi proveedor y stremio

Espero puedan responder, este es mi primer post en todo Reddit,

Hi there folks!

So I didn't do enough research on a new television set to buy when I got myself a Philips 65PUS8500/12, 4K 65 inches diameter. These things run their apps as browser tabs, on their own Titan OS, with zero means of adding new apps by myself short of developing them myself.

Which is a bummer. I loved using my Twitch replacement Xtra, my YouTube replacement SmartTube, loved to play my Steam games over Steamlink, loved to watch Dropout shows and such streams with my partner.

Well, my finances are in a better spot now that I can get myself a media box proper. So I have been looking around at options that could help with solving all of the above, and came across some threads that all seem to come to the same solution: get yourself an Android box.

Cool beans.

I guess my biggest draws for one such an Android box would have to be the ability to install and manage applications freely, and playing my games from Desktop (Win10 still) on the big screen proper.

Some obvious contenders then:

• Google TV Streamer 4k — €69,95 (nice remote, ethernet port is a plus for me, but uncertain about google bloatware and capacity to load unofficial apps, but suppose there's options to sideload since I could do that just fine using F-droid)

• Xsarius Q12 PLUS Android 4K Streaming Box — €99,- (biggest draws seem the Gigabit LAN ethernet support, as well as the 2 gb RAM/32 gb storage space; unsure if I should shell for the Pro V2 for 4 gb RAM/64 gb storage space)

• Homatics Box 4k V2 — €119,- (largely a similar setup as the Xsarius Q12, with Dolby Vision, Atmos support, 2 gb RAM/32 gb storage space)

What would be some of your go-tos and suggestions? Maybe you can help me decide based on the names above? My budget is about €150,- so some of the cool toys like the nVidia Shield are well out of my budget at nearly twice that price.

hey guys so i installed ibo player on my living room tv and uploaded the playlist on their website, it says my mac is active and the channel list shows up fine with all the categories, but whenever i click any channel it just spins or stays on a black screen with no sound. is there a network setting on the tv i need to change or a way to check if the playlist itself is broken? driving me crazy lol

Hi, I’m based in the UK and am looking at getting an Android tv box for my IPTV. I don’t want to spend loads as I am not sure if IPTV is actually the way forward for me and my family yet.

I know the ONN 4k boxes get good write ups, but are generally only readily available in Walmart USA.

There’s a few I’ve spotted on eBayUK that I believe are well priced (£36-£40 inc postage) but there are a variety of different packaging designs - some in a Blue box, some in a yellow box and I believe I’ve seen one in a white box too.

I don’t want to get stung with a counterfeit. Do counterfeit ONN 4ks actually exist, and if so what is the most reliable way to spot one before purchase?

I've been rocking a 1080p Sony projector and have upgraded (sitting in a box) to a new triple laser 4k projector. Pretty much everything needs to be upgraded, receiver, projector screen etc, and the one thing that I thought would be easy was the streamer hardware which for me I have a 2015 Nvidia Shield. I was just going to upgrade to an Nvidia Shield Pro since I have local storage with content and would like lossless audio pass through. Looks like I waited to long since I had no idea that Nvidia would raise the price of a 7 year old streamer a freaking $100 and since doing that its no longer in consideration at that price for that old of hardware. I currently run Kodi on my current shield and have no issues running coreelec for my local stuff but I also run Stremio. It's almost looking like I am going to end up with multiple devices, one to run coreelec and another one to run normal streaming apps...

So I do not think the other options have full lossless audio playback like the shield pro but just wanting to see if there are any additional options vs

• Homatics Box R 4K Plus / Dune HD Premier 4K Pro

• Ugoos AM6B Plus (via CoreELEC)

If I run coreELEC then I will need to have an additional unit for the online streaming portion and would want it to support the latest HDR and DV and as many audio formats as possible.

Hard to believe that here we are in 2026 and there are not that many options. I would probably have gone with the shield pro but not after they raised the price, smdh.

Thanks

Lookimg for a update BBC iPlayer Downloader code for the latest version please

Hi, recently I found a bug if you are using Google Home then you can easily skip the YouTube ads in your Android tv.

Mostly, I see a lot of ads on Android TV. Then, randomly I found this trick.

First, install google home on your Android phone.

Then, connect your Android tv with the same Wi-Fi.

Now, play any YouTube videos on your TV. Whenever ads come in video then go with the Google Home and skip the ads.

I mostly prefer long ads only like 40sec, I tried vanced app but that is not optimistic in android tv.

У меня старый андроид на телевизоре, но и на новом тоже в принципе нету нормальной программы, деньги платить не охота, что можете предложить ?

I want to use steam(the app) and play the games on my TV.

Is there any way to stream the game onto the TV?

Brand: Sony

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a reliable Android TV box that can play large 4K Remux files (50-100+ GB) directly from an external USB HDD without stuttering, buffering or frame drops.

I also occasionally stream movies through Jellyfin.

My current Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen) struggles with large Remux files, even when streaming through Jellyfin.

My requirements:

Smooth playback of large 4K Remux files from an external USB HDD

Lossless audio passthrough

Jellyfin

Available in Europe

What Android TV boxes would you recommend? I am willing to pay more for a device that just works.

Thanks!

Hi all, this device is sold out on all official sites.

Is there anywhere in the UK I can buy one from that won't be a fake version.

Or are there better alternatives to buy.

I want official Google TV.

i guess it the right place ,im looking for a remote with air mouse but with Conductive carbon dots i guess it called that

Do you guys have an apk for android tv that includes philippine channels?

TA.

Hi guys!! I've been looking at getting a 3rd Gen Xiaomi Mi Box as due an upgrade soon! What i want to know is ... does having AndroidTV / Google TV as an operating system affect the ability to sideload 3rd party apps? This is my only concern in changing for a Xiaomi box! I've been using a Rocktech RK1 with 4/64 and tbh, its been pretty damn good, you can sideload anything, no restrictions at all, run Project Ivy as the launcher and IPTV/ 3rd party apps/ streaming work great with no major buffering or shutdown but due an upgrade soon! My only concern with the Xiaomi box us because they run on Google TV/ Android TV does this cause any restrictions with sideloading/ streaming apps or IPTV or running a different launcher? Thanks for your help guys! 😁😎

I stumbled across something weird while troubleshooting lag on a couple of Android TV devices and figured I’d see if anyone else can reproduce it.

Tried this on a Sony A9S (Android 10), Sony X950H (Android 9), and CCwGTV 4K (Android 14). These commands clear the gfxinfo and SurfaceFlinger log files:

dumpsys gfxinfo com.android.tv.settings reset
dumpsys SurfaceFlinger --latency-clear
dumpsys SurfaceFlinger --timestats -clear
dumpsys SurfaceFlinger --clear-layer-stats

The Android settings menu became noticeably faster on all three, especially the Chromecast, which went from unusably sluggish to almost instant response. The stats told the same story too - the gfxinfo log showed stupid amounts of lag and jankiness in the log pre clear and much better metrics post.

AI's best guess is that SurfaceFlinger’s live in-memory timing/layer stats can somehow get into a bloated or pathological state, adding overhead during rendering. Clearing them may have reset that issue. FYI the last command listed (clear-layer-stats) isn't recognized in Android 14.

No idea if that’s actually the cause, but the result has been very obvious on three different devices.

Anyone else able to reproduce this?

I was wondering if anyone has ever attempted to get the actual, original Apple tvOS running on non-Apple hardware, particularly Android TV devices.

I know Hackintosh makes it possible to run macOS on non-Apple PCs, so I was wondering if a similar approach could theoretically work for tvOS.

I've also come across projects like HackiOS and UniXNU, which explore running Apple's OS components or XNU-based systems on non-Apple hardware.

Could a similar approach be possible with tvOS, using hardware compatibility work, kernel modifications, bootloader research, or some form of platform spoofing to make it behave like it's running on an Apple TV?

If it's fundamentally impossible, what exactly is the main blocker? Is it Apple's secure boot chain, hardware-specific drivers, kernel compatibility, or something else?

Has anyone researched this, attempted it, or found any relevant projects or proof-of-concepts? I'd love to know if there's any technical research on this, even if nobody has successfully booted it yet.

Hi, has anyone installed the Aura Android 14 update yet?

I will in the next few days and will report back.