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 many 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|kedo-tclrestream\.b-cdn\.net|now\.amagi\.tv|huan\.tv|rttv\.com|kaltura\.com|plex\.tv|otteravision\.com|ads\.ottera\.tv|sofast\.tv|jwplayer\.com|fuelmedia\.io|molotov\.tv|mcncdndigital\.com|evrideo\.tv|aniview\.com|partytymestreaming\.com|playmoviesdfe-pa\.googleapis\.com|ov-static\.ottera\.tv|ottera\.tv)$
There are also some cloudfront domains however they use hash, so it’s not possible to block the future hashes by now and they will appear again.
Edit 4: After some hiatus, I have one more update to add here. I decided to go uninstalling apps via adb, since it’s always possible to factory reset. However it didn’t go as planned at first.
After enabling developer options on TV, I connected to it with adb connect 192.168.X.XX. You’ll need android-platform-tools package on your PC to do this (it basically provides adb and fasboot). Anyway, after connected to it, I deleted apps with adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 app.name.here. I went medieval at first and deleted everything that has TCL in it. And that broke everything. I couldn’t even factory reset. Apparently TCL swapped some system apps with theirs. After some adrenaline, I realized that I can create another user, so that would bring all the apps I deleted.
I created user via adb with:
adb shell
pm create-user "NewUser"
and switched to that user via
am switch-user userID. To see users command pm list users. In my case the user ID was 10. After this, I was able to factory reset.
These are the apps I deleted to remove bloatware:
com.netflix.ninja
com.tcl.tv.tclhome_passive
com.tcl.dashboard
com.tcl.partnercustomizer
com.tcl.t_solo
au.com.stan.and
tv.wuaki.apptv
com.tcl.suspension
com.amazon.amazonvideo.livingroom
com.tcl.ui_mediaCenter
com.tcl.MultiScreenInteraction_TV
com.tcl.hotelmenu
com.tcl.guard
com.tcl.channelplus
com.tcl.miracast
com.tcl.inputmethod.international
com.tcl.waterfall.overseas
com.tcl.ttvs
com.tcl.useragreement
com.tcl.keyhelp
And these are the one I didn’t delete:
com.tcl.initsetup
com.tcl.factory.view
com.tcl.system.server
com.tvos
com.tcl.providers.config
com.tcl.autopair
com.tcl.android.webview
Since there is no Google account login this time, I had to install some apps via adb as well.
I did it with this command: adb install app_name.apk
I installed Projectivity Launcher for a better default launcher experience.
I also played with Shizuku and Canta and it’s great to be able to use those too.
Added an update.
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.
Yeah it sucks. I believe it shouldn’t be hard to replace the default TV app but I couldn’t find any alternative so maybe it is.
It is technically possible to use a separate tuner but my mother got this TV because she didn’t want a separate box laying around in the first place. So I don’t think she would want that. Personally I’m a home server guy but I don’t want my mother to use her TV with Google’s bullshit either.
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.
No, I’m not looking for a launcher. For example this is FLauncher but it doesn’t change the default TV app, it just changes the UI.
This is a built-in TV app along with the other apps where Google pushes things I don’t want to see.
What “TV app” is this exactly? I’ve never seen or heard of that before, and none of my google/android TVs or dongles have anything like that.
Also what make and model TV is this?
They basically hid the satellite tuner behind this with an app and it’s plagued with Google stuff. Now I have checked the app details and it says
com.tcl.tv. It didn’t occur to me before since I don’t know any other Android TV, so thanks for this. That’s nice to know. So what is the default TV app on standard Android TVs?The TV is TCL P635 by the way.
By satellite do you mean like a dish physically plugged in with a cable? I wasn’t aware of any “app” used for that on any TV… I just switch the input with the remote to like HDMI/component/RF/etc. and the normal android tv interface goes away completely.
Exactly. The DVB-S tuner is included in the TV. There is indeed input switch that includes HDMI 1,2,3 and AV and yet they made the TV input only accessible through an app.
- Invest in an Nvidia Shield
- Install LineageOS Android TV
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.
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.
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.
Idk if this helps, but I recently learned Plasma BigScreen is a thing.
Sadly it’s unavailable while it is being re-worked, but I am really hoping it turns out to be good. It’s not all too hard to find a cheap or free used/refurb PC that’s good enough to play video on a TV
Sounds nice but does it work on Android, especially without a backend?
It won’t work on Android, but you could probably replace Android or attach a mini PC.
Well, I need an all-in-one solution within this TV. Otherwise it’s neat.
deleted by creator
Damn, my bad for mentioning a thing that may become relevant if they need new hardware.
I guess I’ll just leave them along with the other comments, which… suggest they’ll probably need new hardware.
Maybe I don’t know enough of this, but would it be possible to install Kodi and use that and it’s plugins for satellite? Plex also had this, and maybe Jellyfin is a good option?
In that way, you can show your satellite channels but in their interface.
Maybe that can do the trick?
Actually I was hoping to use KODI but apprently it needs a backend server to reach Live TV which doesn’t work on Android. Needs a self-hosted solution. Same thing with Jellyfin or Plex.
Nintendo switch (w/ dock) with android installed buggy but daily drivable, you can get it with or without gapps. (You need to homebrew the switch first)
Smarttube
It’s great and already installed.
Stremio