I basically gave up on finding a custom ROM for this TV so I’m looking for alternative TV apps to at least change the default app. Do you know if there is an app like this exist? It should work with satellite, I’m not looking for IPTV or streaming services, just something that supports plain satellite TV.
Edit: Currently experimenting with KODI, no luck yet though. If you also have suggestions regarding to it, I’m all ears.
Edit 2: KODI (and so Jellyfin, Plex etc.) needs a backend server for Live TV so add-ons alone won’t work. According to KODI Wiki, currently there are no backends that work on Android. I also tried Google’s older app called Live Channels but Google doesn’t let you to run it because it’s old more useful.
Edit 3: I at least blocked all of those ad streaming domains on pi-hole. Here is the regex I added to my blacklist. Maybe it will be useful for another poor soul who bought TCL TV.
^(.*\.)?(leiniao\.com|b-cdn\.net|now\.amagi\.tv|huan\.tv|rttv\.com|kaltura\.com|cloudfront\.net|plex\.tv|otteravision\.com|ads\.ottera\.tv|sofast\.tv|akamaized\.net|jwplayer\.com|fuelmedia\.io|molotov\.tv|mcncdndigital\.com|evrideo\.tv|aniview\.com|partytymestreaming\.com)$
It definitely does replace the TV app however…if you have shield you need another app to do that
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kzirqjm1ww73ry4/TDUK_LauncherManager-ATV_1.0.3.apk/file
Found this from a kind soul at reddit who uploaded this their MediaFire.
This works as I use it and I never see that horrible ad ridden tripe.
I checked both apps and all I got is this:
Which is just a launcher where I place shortcuts. I put the TV app on it to show. If there is an app inside this to replace it, I’d like to hear. However I couldn’t find anything like that.
No the default TV app doesn’t go away if that’s what you’re looking for. The launcher bypasses it though. With both of these apps the sideload launcher starts up at boot and you never see the default one. It’s almost like it has been replaced
There are no other options.
That’s what I’m talking about. I want to replace the default TV app, not the launcher. Though it seems the tuner is vendor locked so I won’t find any alternative most likely. And the easiest thing is to get a separate satellite box and plug it into HDMI and use that instead of the built-in one. That launcher manager works great though.
Oh shit I just read this you want to replace the LIVE TV.
Yeah I think those “channels” are pulled from Xumo and Pluto.
You can get the same (but not integrated) experience by installing both
Yes, exactly. The app I have to use to view satellite channels but there are also some bullshit channels inside, and they are a lot, like 20K+. No idea what Xumo or Pluto is but if that’s all maybe it’s possible to block them via pi-hole. Though probably they’ll still occupy the channel list because when internet is not connected those channels still occupy those places.
The Google TV “Live TV” that’s free sources from those two sources.
Thanks for the insight. I specifically checked those channels one by one (not all of course, just enough to get the streaming service domains) and blocked them on pi-hole. Now none of them can connect to internet. :)
Now is find a way to clear that hollow list. Factory reset might pull the trick but currently it’s not convenient before backing up smarttube etc.
That’s baked into android. Not going to happen. You could try ADB commands to disable the stock launcher but I highly advise NOT disabling core android functions as there may be unintended consequences.
As what they used to say on the Internet" “there be dragons.”
Yeah it seems so. It sucks that it’s not possible to use it peacefully. I wouldn’t disable the core functions as well. I once disabled the default file manager on a phone and learned surprisingly almost everything is tied to it. :)