What is Reddit's opinion of
TVLauncher?
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Popularity Score: 27
This app was mentioned in 37 comments, with an average of 1.95 upvotes
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I honestly do not like the new home screen at all. I tried living with it for a few days, but this morning I couldn't take it anymore and uninstalled the stock launcher and now I am using TVLauncher instead.
I could see how some people like the new home screen if they are into recommendations. Personally, I feel like it both clutters the screen and often shows content that I am definitely not interested in. And if you have a lot of channels, having to scroll down through a long home screen seems less efficient than just having all of the shortcuts in a grid.
Mine looks exactly the same... Such a shame. I'm going to try a new launcher I saw in some other post, makes it more accessible. This one Edit: it's great, very customisable, and easy to use... Is there a way to make it the default home?
Here is the link, You need to do a bit of cleaning like removing categories you won't use (it can all be done in the settings of the launcher). Might make a vid if it's too difficult for anyone but the process it's pretty easy and straight foward.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
I too do not like the new UI and swapped it out for TVLauncher
As a former Roku owner, I felt right at home with this.
I use TVLauncher and I like it a lot. I prefer having a very simple and sparse menu screen with no suggestions.
Here's how it looks on my TV: https://i.imgur.com/YWB25tL.jpg
I use TVLauncher and I like it a lot. I prefer having a very simple and sparse menu screen with no suggestions.
Here's how it looks on my TV: https://i.imgur.com/YWB25tL.jpg
im on an shield tv 2015 using the TVLauncher
currently if i want to go to the device settings page i have to go into the tv launcher settigns and from there to the device settings page. and from there through info i can shutdown/restart the shield. that annoys me.. thats why im askin. i would love to have a small app wich i could shortcut on my maine page wich offers me these 3 things.
TVLauncher and HALauncher are both unofficial launchers made for Android TV. They might work for your project as well. I do think you'll get a better experience out of an actual Android TV device though.
EDIT: As for missing apps, I'd be interested to see a karaoke app, perhaps? Something that can play CDG or video files, and mix in singing from microphones attached to a USB soundcard or via Bluetooth on the fly...
You won't. All the AliExpress reviews look like shills however in my experience sellers will bend over backwards to make you happy. They know a non-5 star rating can tank their sales when there are dozens of competitors to chose from.
Plus http://www.tronsmart.com/ is an actual company. So if the design is ripped off (which it most likely is in China) at least it was designed by someone that knew what they were doing. It's been about a week and it works great. The default GUI is hard to read. I need to find a better one like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv That's the launcher I'm using. I haven't had any real problems playing Cuphead with the X18S controller. There are some modifications that can be made and there's videos on YouTube detailing how if the stock ones bother you.
I made the Switch from a Roku Premiere+ to the Shield last May. I upgraded to a 4K TV at the time and had a lot of problems getting 4K content to play properly through Plex on the Roku. I upgraded to a Shield and it pretty much solved my problems.
That said... I like the general interface of the Roku more than the Shield's. The stock Shield home screen is so busy and is kind of annoying to navigate. So, I replaced the stock interface with TVLauncher 3, which feels much closer to a Roku-like experience. And as others have said, the Hulu app on the Shield is not as good as on the Roku, but it works.
Overall though, I really like the Shield and I don't see myself going back to Roku. The app/channel selection on the Shield is fantastic, plus you have the ability to sideload apps that aren't on the official Play store. The Shield is certainly more powerful and I think it is more stable as well (less reboots/crashes in my experience).
Those are all great!
Mediabox is the one that came with my TV ��
I'm sticking with TV Launcher, it's simple & good looking.
Even tho it's kinda slow on my shitty smart tv
You can get the Android TV apps from opengapps.org, but it's kind of an involved process. You'll have to unlock your bootloader and flash them using a custom recovery, and even then, there's no guarantee they'll work well on your phone.
There are some other launchers you can try that do work on a phone, and aren't quite as intensive to get working.
Linkme:TVLauncher
EDIT: I think I might have used the Linkme bot wrong, here's the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
Would highly recommend this Launcher for anyone who loves large Icons: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
It has a lot of customisation or you can leave it alone and let it do what it does best.
An example would be https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv the sideload launcher I use on my SHIELD TV. There are also many non Google Play apks that use the MENU command, because Google's dev guideline doesn't get followed everywhere....
You can find TV Launcher on the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv&hl=en
It's MUCH more stable than the HAL Launcher (which looks more like the Android TV launcher). You can absolutely use the default launcher using the right thumbstick as a cursor, but it's definitely not ideal on a giant TV due to it's touch screen interface.
I'm not sure that you can install the Leanback launcher unless you're specifically using Android TV or you modify the build.prop of whatever Android device you chose to fool it into thinking it's running Android TV. I am personally using TVLauncher which isn't the greatest but it works for my needs.
Stalker middleware is just the protocol/software/whatever that most IPTV providers use to allow you to connect to their services. It was created by Infomir (makers of the MAG boxes) I think. So I think for most, if not all, IPTV providers who allow you to connect using a MAG box you should be able to use any application that uses the stalker middleware such as Kodi, or standalone IPTV apps you'll find in the Play store. They might not have all the features that using a MAG box or STB emulator would have like a EPG.
The dedicated apps like the one for IPTVExpress is probably good for a no-hassle setup but may lack features that you can get from Kodi or STB emulator, etc. I haven't used that app before so I don't know how well it works.
I have one and love it. It'll probably replace our Amazon Fire.
I have the Tronsmart Orion R68.
I've tested the 4k Big Buck Bunny video and it plays smooth at 30 fps but studders at 60 fps. (And still plays it better than my laptop with a i7-4910MQ.
I haven't tested optical out yet. Bluetooth works fine.
The biggest downside is it still has an IR remote that is 'eh' at best. However you have to keep it around because Android isn't optimized for TV yet and there are some unreachable areas without enabling 'mouse mode'. HDHomerun's Android app is also useless since the UI is not designed to be used with a remote/keyboard, so I just use the Kodi plugin.
I connected a Bluetooth keyboard and FireTV remote. I'm currently trying to get a PS3 Bluetooth remote paired.
I use TVLaucher which works ok. There are some UI bugs and other issues setting it up however in use it works fine.
After installing cleanrom, I recommend TVLaucher as a replacement launcher. MiXplorer is a good, free file explorer. Wifi File Transfer for transferring files without needing to connect it to the computer. Moonlight or Steam Link for streaming games from a local gaming PC. Tincore for remapping your gamepad as a mouse for when you need to remote into a computer. Those are the most useful things I've found. Hope this helps. :)
TVLauncher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv&hl=en_US
MiXplorer: https://labs.xda-developers.com/store/app/com.mixplorer
Wifi File Transfer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smarterdroid.wififiletransfer&hl=en_US
Moonlight: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.limelight.root
Steam Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.valvesoftware.steamlink
Tincore KeyMapper: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tincore.and.keymapper
Personally, I think this one has a better UI.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
Before you do that, you might try an alternative launcher, such as TVLauncher.
If CM is bad because of a dashboard/launcher issue, you may want to try something like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv to get a more tv friendly ui.
I have used "TV Launcher" in the past on my old android box
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
Could I make the recommendation of TV Launcher. Here's a quick pic of how I have it setup https://i.imgur.com/cButvvE.png. Credit to the YouTuber Izzy Nobre for the console images.
You can setup various sections to your liking. I have mine for Emulators, Android Games, and Utilities. The latter of which contains my file manager, photos viewer, link to the Play Store etc. You can sort the icons to the order you want. It works really nicely on my GPD XD and XD Plus.
The only potential downside would be of course that you aren't getting a box art view for your games unless your emulator of choice contains that option. To me though that doesn't really hurt because of how flexible it is in other ways and it does seem to fit your needs.
Edit: I favour using individual emulators, so this likely wouldn't be a good fit if you use Retroarch for everything.
I think TVLauncher might work for what you're wanting to do.
You don't even need to use the button mapper. Install this app Final_TDUK_CCGTV_LM.apk (from here https://www.techdoctoruk.com/tutorials/use-custom-launcher-on-chromecast-with-google-tv-1-click-no-button-mapper-needed/)
I like this launcher, simple, clean and effective https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
I'm using this one for more than 3 years now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv&hl=en_US
Maybe this one ? But I'm not sure the Shield can make it the default one.
It's the best home screen, can't go back to anything else.
If you want to make a go of this, I'd recommend installing TV Launcher and Rotation - Orientation Manager, and use the latter to force everything to run in landscape. You can try using Allcast Receiver to do casting. Something like this would take care of the control.
I do feel compelled to point out that Galaxy S4s are going for $75 and up on Swappa, which would be plenty of money for you to get an actual TV device such as a MiBox, Roku, or Fire TV. Any of those would be a better experience than trying to fit the square peg into the round hole. But if you simply want to hack around, have at it.
I have an 8-core box I got on Aliexpress that I'm very happy with.
Installed Kodi from the Play store and TVLauncher
Do you mean this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.awe.dev.pro.tv&hl=en
Seems it hasn't been updated in a while
Just looks like a bunch of ads.
I'll be sticking TVLauncher as my home screen. Nothing beats it!