ADBTuner: A "channel tuning" application for networked Google TV / Android TV devices

Thanks. Among other info that scrolls by, I get this:

INFO:root:Tuner: Application (com.google.android.youtube.tvunplugged) is not installed. Exiting.

I'm not sure what that is telling me. For what it is worth, these same streaming devices and encoders work with the HDMI for Channels method.

5 Likes

Fire TV? Try com.amazon.firetv.youtube.tv as the package name.

2 Likes

Thanks. That did the trick. I have a Fire Cube connected to the first encoder, and an onn stick to the second. Is there a way to account for the different devices, since the onn stick I presume won't use com.amazon.firetv.youtube.tv?

1 Like

@cyoungers asked about the same thing this morning!

I just got a new Fire Stick here and I'm going to look into some options for mis-matched hardware.

I was able to sideload com.google.android.youtube.tvunplugged onto the Fire Stick which resolves that issue, but I would prefer to not expect people to do that.

Side note: the new "4K Max" Fire Stick that is on sale for $25 is so much faster than the 2018 Fire Stick 4K I was previously using.

3 Likes

Thanks. I have a Fire Stick on a rarely-used TV in the house. I'm going to try swapping that with the Onn device and see how things go. I'll report back. My impetus for setting this up is I was intrigued by the interface (nice work!), and I also had occasional "tuner lost" issues with my second streamer, so thought I'd compare speeds, etc.

Just pushed an update that adds an "alternate package name" field.
Whichever one of the two packages that is installed will be used.
I think this is a workable solution for the mismatched devices.

To upgrade via docker-compose:

cd /directory/with/your/docker-compose.yml 
docker-compose stop
docker-compose rm
docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d

On a side note, In my testing thus far I strongly recommend using a device with Android 9 or newer. A Fire Stick from 2018 running Android 7 is just not going to provide a good experience. I might end up actually blocking Android 7 devices.

1 Like

I just pushed an update that adds a "Gracenote Station ID" field that can optionally be used for "tvc-guide-stationid." If a value is provided it will be added to the generated m3u playlist.

It's not necessary, but I can see a use case where people would prefer not to have to manually map channels in the Channels DVR interface.

1 Like

I wanted to report back with initial impressions — after my initial hiccups, the setup was very easy. I entered the channels I had been using with the HDMI encoder method, and they load fast, and I don't have the "tuner lost" error I was getting with my second encoder/streamer (probably a glitch with my script, not the process).

One thing I noticed in just my quick use so far is that I don't see the streaming stick's home screen before the channel launches, which is a nice touch. Was that something you added? Either way, very nice work, and thank you for sharing this.

2 Likes

What is the best way to update this? Somehow I have two turtletank99/adbtuner Images showing, so I probably screwed something up.

3 Likes

Glad its working out!

YES! By design, ADBTuner doesn't start the video stream until the actual video starts playing on the Android device. No need to see all of that nonsense before the video starts!

You can just delete them all and pull a fresh copy. As long as you leave the named docker volume in place you won't lose any data.

Stupid question . . . how do I pull a fresh copy after I delete all the images?

2 Likes
docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d

Whoops, should have noticed that you put those instructions in your earlier post about the update. It worked. I couldn't delete the images — said they were in use — but the upgrade stuck.

I'm having an ADB problem - can this co-exist with the HDMI encoder (Go) implementation on the same Windows PC? I never saw the approval popup on the Onn box to enable a connection from the Docker (but the HDMI encoder implementation works)

2023-07-07 19:45:32 INFO:root:ADB: Connecting to device (attempt 1).
2023-07-07 19:45:34 INFO:root:ADB: Connection failed.
2023-07-07 19:45:34 INFO:root:ADB: 192.168.2.48 - dumpsys display
2023-07-07 19:45:34 INFO:root:ADB: Error while running command. Check for approval popup on device.
2023-07-07 19:45:34 INFO:root:ADB: 192.168.2.48 - getprop ro.build.version.release
2023-07-07 19:45:34 INFO:root:ADB: Error while running command. Check for approval popup on device.

One minor glitch I've seen is that if I'm watching on one device, and load a channel on another, there is a brief hiccup in the stream on the first device. This sometimes happens to the first device when going back to the guide on the second device. It only seems to happen when both devices are tuning to channels through ADBTuner. I have this installed on an M1 Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM. The Mac is running the Channels DVR, ADBTUner in Docker (no other containers — I've figured out finally how to delete the superfluous ones), Chrome Capture for Channels, and Plex Server (but with no active Plex sessions).

Try rebooting the android device and then go into ADBTuner, click edit and then save for that tuner. That should prompt for approval.

These android devices can be controlled by multiple ADB servers, but in my experience you can’t pair a new device while it’s actively connected to another ADB server.

4 Likes

Thanks for the heads up. I haven’t seen this in my testing but I will take a look.

1 Like

Sorry - it's working now - I put the IP address of the Encoder into the IP address for the Onn Box - will test some more over this weekend - thanks for all your work, I plan on replacing my HDMI encoder with this new improved version!

EDIT: it's all set up and working well - channels tune faster and no YTTV splash screen - will test some recordings over the weekend

1 Like

Where do I get the url's for Androd TV apps like NBC for all the available streams like syfy_east and syfy_west and all the others. Also how to get url's from other Android TV apps. Whats the secret.