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The general consensus seems to be "buy a dumb TV or at least the dumbest 'smart' TV you can find and never connect it to the net" and then "buy the media box that behaves the way you want."
Where I am, cable and satellite TV providers still have you rent a box for their service.
Edit: the lone review on this page suggests there is an "old" TCL TV app. Another but they don't have good reviews...
I'm full behind of buying a big monitor and plug a mini pc or raspberry pi kind of thing. But my mother wanted to experience smart TVs, no matter what I told. So here I am, trying to reduce the damage. :)
By the way, that first TCL app is still included and it's way worse than default TV app.
Oof, well you know what you are doing. Good call on the pi-hole. See if the satellite provider has a box, convince them that the device rental is supposed to be already part of customer's bill whether they need it or not. Otherwise it's $5 per month per box where I am.
Thanks! Only Cloudfront domains I couldn't add to blacklist as regex because they use hash and adding a general block to it breaks many websites. That's a bummer. I can only temporarily block them so that means, even if I factory reset the TV, some of those channels will reappear some time later.
Here we don't have additional fee if you have the satellite dish yourself so at least it's not a problem.
Get her a universal remote, seamless experience
Well, if i go this way, it's definitely a due.
Stremio
Think I use FLauncher, gets rid of ads on the home screen, and Smarttube for youtube. Instead of Netflix etc, I host my own plex server on my gaming pc for whenever I wanna watch some linux ISOs
I wish I could get those Linux ISOs through satellite tuner.
It's paid but I use Sideload Channel Launcher. Best customization I've seen
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dxidev.sideloadchannel4
I checked it but it's just a launcher that changes the UI, it doesn't replace the default TV app.
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. :)
Smarttube
It's great and already installed.
I'm not aware of an alternative TV App for android tv. On my android TV live tv is also wrapped within the android interface but other sources like HDMI inputs are not.
If you can switch to HDMI sources outside the android apps then maybe the best thing to do is get a separate basic satellite tuner device?
It seems shitty that google are effectively hiding your inbuilt tv tuner behind an app with all their advertising and other crap.
I have two of these in the household, one of the best tech investments I made. No more homescreen ads.
I would install LineageOS if it was possible, there are no ROMs. I'm not even sure if the bootloader is unlockable.
I was able to unlock the bootloader and root my Hisense Android TV just fine. I think you can also root TCLs, but I'd check xda first.
I didn't even need to enable OEM unlocking first to unlock the bootloader. Dumping the boot.img was a different story. Someone did it for me for my model, since my model's UBoot firmware is missing a lot of functionality. You may have better luck dumping through UBoot using the UART interface, or maybe there's an alternative. If your TV is a GKI device and you can boot a generic kernel, yhen you can use KernelSU without needing to first dump the stock boot.img (or init_boot.img), then you might be able to upgrade and dump the stock one from the other partition before rebooting
I couldn't figure out how to get into BROM mode on my TV.
Make sure there is a reliable way to reflash the firmware in case of a brick. Hisense provides firmware packages that can be flashed from the bootloader without needing to boot an OS.
That's the initial thing I wanted to do but there seems to be no ROM for this TV yet. I really prefer this to replace the default app.
I just hope there is some work from some developer but currently I don't know any.
Mine doesn't have a custom ROM either because Hisense refuses to release the kernel source for my device. Didn't stop me from rooting anyway. Magisk/KernelSU modules can also do a lot of heavy lifting for replacing things.
Sounds nice. What can I do with rooting though? Since there isn't a replacement for the default TV app. I know I can remove the TCL stuff, but besides that? Also, now I wonder if shizuku would work too.
Shizuku would absolutely work. I can use adb either wirelessly or through a USB A to USB A cable with the 5 volt line cut (which is also how I interact witth fastboot). Activating developer settings is as simple as tapping build number 7 times, like on every Android device.
Rooting can help you replace built in apks. For example, there is a Magisk module that lets you replace the system's WebView with an alternative, like the one from GrapheneOS, for instance. App signing is the problem here, so that's what that specific module helps bypass.
Modules work on top of an OverlayFS, which essentially lets you write to /system without actually writing to /system, similar to rwfus on the Steam Deck.
Also your current TV app is one made by TCL and not a stock Android app. I wonder if it can be substituted with a different one from a different vendor, or maybe an older version of the TCL app. The only issue I forsee is if the app attempts to communicate with hardware in a non-standard way. Alternatively, I wonder if you block internet to the TV app using a firewall if the TV functionality would still work without showing ads. There is AFWall+ if you're rooted and DNS/Android VPN based firewalls if not. There is also DNSNet, which is a DNS based ad blocker that uses Android's DNS service.
That's nice to hear. I wouldn't mind playing with shizuku to see what can I do.
Modules work on top of an OverlayFS, which essentially lets you write to /system without actually writing to /system, similar to rwfus on the Steam Deck.
I see. So if something goes wrong, I can do factory reset without any problems. I guess.
I actually did another way. I blocked these streaming domains on pi-hole. Now none of those ad channels can connect to internet. I'm assuming the list would also disappear if I factory reset and rescan the channel list, those ad channels wouldn't get into the list in the first place. Cannot try this right away but will definitely try this.
This is why I recommended a Shield for which there is an actively maintained LineageOS. Yes, it's an investment, but well worth it nowadays.
Not sure when we'll fed up but I'll keep this in mind, barely 2 years passed with this TV.
Projectivy launcher.
I've never used the tuner/TV part of my sony x900f, only HDMI inputs and apps. Is google pushing ads to live tv now?
Not exactly like that but there are 20K+ ad TVs in the same list with the satellite ones which has only 400 channels. It is possible to switch to satellite only list but it always reverts so you have to do this every time. So I need either a separate app or the modified version of this current one. However it's possible that TV producers most likely don't open their SDKs so no one can create an app without reverse engineering.
Oh wow, that sounds highly inconvenient. I wish it was as easy to re-flash android TVs as it is to re-flash android phones. Best of luck, and keep us updated if you find a solution!
Yeah, it is. To be honest, I lost hope for all-in-one solution. Currently the cheapest option seems to be get an HDMI satellite tuner and plug it in one the of the HDMI ports and use that as a TV source instead of the built-in one.
Thank you! If I find an app solution instead of this, I'll edit my post. I can also try installing a backend for DVB-S on the network and connect the TV and use KODI but apparently that also requires a separate tuner, so the previous one seems easier.
I don't have traditional TV service so I'm unfamiliar with what "shit" Google is pushing through the TV app. However, if it's what I suspect (ads), a possible option would be using a local DNS server (like pi-hole or Unbound) to block Google domains on your TV.
With my android tv I put the main menu in "Apps Only" mode to cut down on the ads... There is still the main screen ad you cannot avoid but thats it.
Then i sideloaded SmartTube, which is youtube but it skips the ads for you.
I also have a Plex server i stream from.and update by torrenting shows to the server separately when theyre interesting enough. This takes more time and effort but is definitely worth it to have control over your media.
By "default app" I assume you mean the launcher. Just google for "android tv launcher".
If by "plain satellite TV" mean using one of the input sources on the TV (like HDMI, component, RF etc.)... this is unrelated to the launcher and would still work regardless of which one you used.