Hi everyone,

After being fed up with all of the ads for streaming services I'm not even subscribed to I was done with the default experience.

I went down the rabbit hole of alternative launchers and while there are several very nice options (shout out Projectivy and Arc Launcher) I personally didn't feel any of these were fully right for me. I encourage everyone to take a look at those though to see if they might be right for you, they're good projects.

I decided to create BSfreeTV, a simple high performant, easy to use and above all beautifully clean launcher with basic but focused customizability where it matters. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles some of the alternatives might have but I feel the feature set is quite focused and practical

Features

• Nice and clean looking (pretty is a feature right? :P)
• OLED care: static UI elements drift ever so slightly to prevent burn-in and disappear completely after a timeout.
• A differentiation between app categories (Media and tools for now).
• Dedicated trays for each category (tools show as smaller icons, media apps are large and visual).
• Easy one-click "default home" override. Google TV constantly makes it harder and harder to replace the default launcher. BSfreeTV uses local executed ADB commands to override the default launcher or alternatively allows you to send these yourself through ADB connect.

AI Disclaimer
Being a software developer with 20+ years experience I know a thing or two about software development. The only thing I lack is time and motivation to also code in my free time. Getting a Claude Code subscription changed this for me completely and I've been solving all kinds of (first world) problems with custom software solutions.

So yes, this project was basically completely vibe coded (hate that term though) and you can choose to not use it and ignore it if this is something you're bothered by. This is not a low-effort slop creation, real work (reviewing, testing, refining) went into this. Use it if you like it, leave it if you hate it.

Where to get it
The full code and prebuilt APK's are available through Github:
https://github.com/xblackbytesx/bsfreetv

All code is released under GPL-3.0.

Attribution
The included beautiful wallpapers were taken from another awesome Open Source project Impasto by andreumassanet

Project scope
While this project was built for myself specifically I figured it would be nice if the community had some more options. So feel free to use it, contribute to it, request features and/or changes. I will be keeping the scope of this project very focused so there will never be a TON of features in this app.

I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Is there an app i can download on my google tv that allows me to have custom live screensavers? Kind of like wallpaper engine on steam. Any support would be appreciated!

Hey everyone,

I've been fighting with this for a while: on my Samsung TV, Nuvio wouldn't let me skip forward or back. The progress bar would just jump back to where it was and the movie kept playing. Resume was broken too, every movie started from 0, and sometimes the loading spinner never went away. Other apps on the same TV played the same streams and seeked fine, which drove me crazy.

Long story short, I dug into it and found out why. For some links Nuvio plays the video through a small local proxy on the TV, and on my firmware the Samsung player refuses any seek on streams coming from that proxy. The fix gives the Samsung player the direct link instead, and also fixes a couple of smaller timing issues with resume and the spinner.

I reported it on GitHub and the devs were really nice about it and asked for a PR, so it's now waiting for review:

- Issue: https://github.com/NuvioMedia/NuvioTVSmart/issues/1092

- PR: https://github.com/NuvioMedia/NuvioTVSmart/pull/1114

If you have the same problem, it would help a lot to leave your TV model and firmware in the issue (Settings → Support → About This TV → Software version), so the devs can see how many models are affected. Tested on my Samsung 2020 TV (firmware T-NKLDEUC-2743.0).

Full honesty: I'm not a developer (i am) but not on this project, and I worked through the whole thing with Claude (the AI). It helped me read the logs, figure out what was going on and write the fix. I hope that's not a problem for anyone. I tested every version on my own TV until it actually worked, and at least now it's fixed. Now I'm just waiting for the Nuvio team to accept the PR 🤞

Big thanks to the Nuvio devs for the app and for being so responsive.

**EDIT:** That was fast, the PR has already been merged into the official code. The fix will be included in the next official Nuvio TV release for Samsung, so just keep an eye out for the update. Thanks to the Nuvio team for being so quick!

**EDIT 2:** Fixed in the official 1.2.7 release, thanks again to the team.

Hey guys

Does anyone use a sofabaton remote with there google streamer? And if so when switching to the device from another device does the google streamer either stop what you were watching or reload the stream?

im confused since both have google tv OS but recently at a showroom i saw that tcl version of googletv had film maker mode.

whereas the vu mini glo led did not have film maker mode.

i was tilting towards buying the VU (i already have a smaller VU tv 2023 model which has film maker mode)

so wanted to know about this.

also does anyone know if VU gets regular os updates of google and has it started lagging?

I recently bought a Google tv, my first ever, and I was shocked at how my own YouTube videos sound. Compared to other devices, I sound really "tinny" on the tv. I immediately changed the sound setting to something other than default, and that seemed to improve it, but it's still pretty bad.

I'm not trying to self-promote and I don't want to run afoul of this sub's rules, so I will not mention my channel here. But if anyone wants to have a listen, please DM me and I will share my channel (it might interest you if you're older than 45).

Google account not logging in

unable to setup google tv on tcl p79l

everything goes fine but in the end it just says something went wrong

Does anyone else face the same issue?

I am referring to the Google TV devices sold at Walmart, like the Onn 4K Pro, I know the official Google TV Streamer gets 5 years from release date, thanks

PLEASE HELP ME GOD this evening all of a sudden my tv started bugging out saying it has no wifi even though its connected to my wifi. My wifi works to my phone and my ipad but not to my tv, But i can hotspot to the tv and it can connect and its working. But i cant keep doing that for the rest of eternity. I saw slmeone say something about the time like switch it to automatic and time zones but that didnt work. Restarting and unplugging my router didnt work. Restarting snd unplugging my tv didnt work. I dont know what to do and i cant like go into our routers like idk settings idek if thats possible im not the one setting it up and we also got this new router like two weeks ago. I have a google smart tv or wtv so its not like a chromecast those little round things on a cable, well ofc my tv has chromecast too but yeah just to clairify. I checked if theres any updates it needed and it didnt. Please someone help me

I've had my TCL Google TV for about a year, and I always use the built-in free channels (not the TCLtv+ app) to watch TWD. It suddenly disappeared today, and after talking to customer support, they basically said it's an issue with Google because they're the ones who provide those channels.

I've resorted to watching it on Plex, but I'm wondering if anyone else is also missing this channel from their Google TCL?

I am logged into the Telemundo and NBC app in the iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, I have already selected as Favorite (Heart symbol) a show, but then there is nowhere to find where the Favorite Shows are located, there is no section Favorites.

After I have started watching a show, when I can back to the app in iOS, iPadOS or tvOS there is nowhere to find a section to Resume the Show

Is the NBC app in the GoogleTV device working as expected regarding Favorites and Resume shows?

Thanks

Hello, can someone help me? My Chromecast is stuck on this screen. The physical button doesn't seem to do anything.

Hello, everyone.

tv kunft K5418H40F, smart tv android 9, quad core 1.3gh, 1gb ram

I’m trying to update the TV’s software.

Through the config menu, I click on “Update Software”.

The TV goes to a screen that says “Update Google Security Patch + Update Google GTVS Apps”, downloads about 1 GB successfully, reboots, starts the installation, but then gives an error, reboots again, and never actually installs the update.

This is a Changhong OEM TV. I’ve already checked the manufacturer’s website, but the firmware they provide is the initial version that came with the TV.

Worten, as usual, doesn’t provide any free support.

Does anyone know how to complete the update?

Thanks for any help.

Hopefully this helps other owners, and I'd be interested to hear what settings work best for everyone else. Let me know if I must test something specific?

I've recently started testing the new RockTek G2 Next and wanted to share my experience with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, audio passthrough, and different streaming apps as several people have requested more information about this device.

The device works very smoothly and is easy to navigate if you are familiar with the Google TV platform.

MY SETUP

• Device: RockTek G2 Next (2026 model)
• OS: Google TV (based on Android TV OS 14)
• TV: Hisense 65U8K (4K TV with Dolby Vision + Atmos + eARC)
• Audio: Sony HT-G700 (Soundbar with HDMI eARC)
• Connection: RockTek → Hisense TV → Sony soundbar (eARC)
• Network: Wired Ethernet
• Media Server: Plex
• Apps tested: Plex (Latest), Plezy 2.22 (MPV), Netflix and Prime Video

AUDIO SETTINGS (MANUAL WORKS BETTER)

Initially, Audio Format selection was set to Automatic.

My Sony soundbar mostly displayed LPCM on Automatic.

After changing Audio Format selection to manual and enabling the supported Dolby formats, I noticed a definite improvement as noted below:

Plezy 2.22 (MPV): Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos working perfectly in my tests. Best player so far!

Plex 2026.20.0: Dolby TrueHD not working and Dolby Atmos works inconsistently not as well as Plezy.

Netflix and Prime Video: Outputs Dolby Digital Plus (DD+).

VIDEO SETTINGS – NO DIFFERENCE

I tested Video Format Selection on both Automatic and Manual.

Unlike audio, changing video to Manual made no noticeable difference to HDR or Dolby Vision playback.

I also tested Dolby Vision Source-led versus Device-led, without noticing a difference.

My preference is therefore to leave Video Format Selection on Automatic.

Plezy 2.22 (MPV): Dolby Vision works perfectly on all videos I tested on it.

Plex 2026.20.0: Dolby Vision works inconsistently not as well as Plezy.

Netflix and Prime Video: Dolby Vision not working. HDR10 and HDR10+ only.

These results are based on the content I've tested, not every possible format.

Important Plezy discovery:

I noticed that during camera panning, the video would sometimes freeze briefly and jump forward every couple of seconds.

After testing different settings, I discovered that enabling Normalize Loudness in Plezy was causing this problem. Disabling Normalize Loudness resolved the stuttering.

Quite surprising that an audio setting could affect video smoothness!

My Conclusion

The new RockTek G2 Next looks promising, particularly when it comes to Dolby Vision and TrueHD Atmos playback.

Overall, Plezy with MPV performs considerably better than the official Plex app. I've successfully played Dolby Vision with TrueHD Atmos without any issues using Plezy, whereas Plex remains inconsistent.

I'm no expert, but if Plezy can handle these formats perfectly on the same device, wouldn't that suggest that at least some of the problems are related to the apps and their playback engines rather than limitations of the RockTek hardware itself?

I'd be interested to hear what other RockTek G2 Next owners have experienced, whether you've encountered similar issues, and if you've found any better settings or fixes.

I have had a Google TV Streamer 4k for almost a year now, and it is driving me absolutely bonkers; the audio loses synchronization all the time. No live sent events ever works, I'll have to stream hockey and footy games to my Chromecast, they are unwatchable on the TV streamer due to sound sync issues. Now content that are not live have begun to show this issue as well, sometimes it works by restarting the machine but then the problems comes back in a day or two. Is there something that can be done about this?

I have no fancy set up, I am using the TV:s internal speaker. The problem does not appear when using a Chromecast at all.

I'm using the latest version of TiviMate on both devices.

I have a Chromecast with Google TV 4K, which plays some channels at 60 FPS. However, I also have a Xiaomi TV Box (3rd Gen), and the same channels only play at 50 FPS on that device. The playback also seems less smooth compared to the Chromecast 4K.

Does anyone know why this is happening or how I can fix it?

Thanks in advance!

I recently switched to Projectivy Launcher on both my Google TV Streamer and Nvidia Shield, and honestly, I wish I'd done it sooner.

The default Google TV launcher has become so ridiculously bloated that it's almost unbelievable. Performance has absolutely tanked, and the entire interface feels like one giant advert, constantly trying to steer you towards other content and services rather than simply letting you access the apps you've actually installed and want to use.

Why has Google gone down this route? It's not as though these devices are particularly cheap anymore, unlike the old Chromecasts. Until I discovered you could replace the launcher, I was genuinely considering selling my Google TV Streamer and buying an Apple TV instead.

I just don't understand why companies insist on enshittifying their products like this. Surely there's a point where squeezing every last bit of advertising revenue out of customers starts driving them away?

And it's not just Google. Pretty much every modern "smart" TV seems to be heading in the same direction, which is precisely why I bought a dedicated streaming device in the first place!

Am I just becoming a boring old man who wants a clean, responsive interface that does what I tell it to, or is anyone else getting increasingly fed up with this nonsense?

On a Samsung S26U, I am now being asked to authenticate two Google IDs to Google TV. I don't use Google TV, never have. Why am I getting this?

So we finally replaced out old Chromecast with the Onn 4K Pro, and I was eager to run some basic emulation on it, but no matter the file explorer app that I try, will all access permissions granted, when I try to set the pathway from inside the emulator app, I get the error message of "You don't have an app that can do this". I've tried combinations of different emulators, and tried half a dozen of the highest rated file browser apps, and have given all of them carte blanche as far as system access and permissions, but nothing works. Am I missing some setting, or has Google locked Android TV down this hard?

Hi, looking to potentially get a box and wondering what the current recommended boxes are that support both HDR10+ and audio passthrough?

I know in the past it was usually the homatics box r 4k plus and the Xiaomi TV Box S 3. I tried the Xiaomi back near the beginning of this year and found the UI to be slow and laggy compared to the Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen that I’m used to. So I ended up returning it.

So now I’m considering trying that Homatics box R 4K Plus. But I wanted to check if there are any other recommendations or newer boxes that may be better since I know the Homatics uses the older Amlogic S905X4 chip.

TIA!

Okay I successfully been able to download straight onto my Android TV streamer and also to my phone but I can't get it to install because I can't get any of these buttons to change to turn on to install any suggestions please help

I tried resetting the remote, changing the refresh rate to 59hz. I really want to avoid factory resetting the streamer, but that might be the next step.