Is there a way to only have picture in picture on Fire TV stick only show while Channels app is the focus? I have a macro on my remote that when I press power it goes to the home screen and then powers off everything.
Unfortunately with PIP enabled, I get the video playing on the Fire TV home screen and I would like it not to play there at all. Is this a something that can be set in Channels or Fire TV settings?
Circling back on this. Is this a function of Channels DVR asking for PIP to be played on the home screen or is this a function of Fire TV OS? Is there any way to turn this off on the home screen.
you could turn off PIP completely. Or, you could fix that macro on your remote so that it works as you expect.
Things have changed since I last posted. I've decided to simplify my life (this never happens!) and I'm using the FireTV remote for control of TV and receiver. As such, I don't have the flexibility/complexibility of the Harmony remote.
PIP is off for now but I do like it and would like to use it. I'm diligent about exiting channels before turning off the tv but my family is not. I prefer not having Channels streaming video for hours when the tv is off. I'm pretty sure this is what is happening.
I agree, it was annoying. Along with the constant freezing I switched back to apple TV
I find it very odd in use as well. I guess I'll stick with the quick guide though it is not ideal. Perhaps that will change with time and development. Overall I'm thoroughly impressed with Channels DVR.
I'm back to thinking about this. I really really don't understand how to best use PIP on the fire tv. How can I make it where PIP is only available within Channels DVR app? I do not want it on my screen but I do want it when looking the the guide. Is this possible? How do you even switch back to the PIP full screen?
I agree with you that PIP on the Amazon Fire TV showing video on the FTV home screen is problematic. In my experience it often requires killing the app of restarting the FTV.
See:
@tmm1 This is not overly intuitive and the chance my family will remember to do all that to get back to the video playing, and more importantly, cleanly exiting Channels when powering off the TV, is highly unlikely. In fact, I dare say it won't happen. So really this feature is not an option for me as it stands and it seems that others feel the same way.
Can you guys implement a better solution? While I understand that this is probably a very easy way to get PIP working in the Android app, it does come with problems. Of note is how the PIP window obscures portions of the configuration window. Does not look like you guys are doing much more than popping up the window. This is my biggest gripe with Channels interface.
I've used SOOO many different other DVRs in the past since I first installed Snapstream in 1998. Channels is by far the best, but lacks PIP in the guide which every single software DVR I've tested has provided. I'm guessing this comes down to a time resource issue with working with the GUI, but being a commercial product with a recurring subscription cost, the expectation is that common features like this would and should make it into the app that many user use daily. I know you guys have a voting system for features but that doesn't seem to matter. The clock request for the EPG is by far the most requested feature but it still has not appeared. Why not? Why does the GUI take a back seat to other features like virtual channels which, I'm guessing, would have a much more niche audience?
Overall I'm very pleased with Channels, but these common, expected features are lacking or nonexistent when it comes to the clock. Will we see any work done on these items in the near future?
Channels doesn't implement PIP; that is handled by the OS. It is not something Channels can change.
It is present in the Android beta, and ought to show up in the next stable release.
I believe you are correct in your assessment that this is how it is currently implemented, but you are definitely incorrect that this is not something channels can change. I can easily point to Jellyfin, Plex, Kodi, and even SageTV who ALL have Android clients that do PIP in the way I described above. Yes, it may be more work than hooking into the system PIP but it is definitely not an optimal, or in my case acceptable, solution.
Would be curious to hear from one of the devs in regards to this. Thanks.
Just so I understand you:
You're dissatisfied with how Google handles PIP on Android TV and/or Amazon handles it on Fire OS. So, instead of using those existing and supported methods, you are requesting that Channels find a way to implement their own version of PIP, ignoring the system–level implementation.
Does that summarize what you are saying?
Plex has it, and its one of the few things that actually works in Plex.
Yep. It doesn't work well. I'm not alone in feeling this way. I may be reading into your question but it does come across as "don't waste dev time doing something that already exists". The problem I have is that it is not intuitive, and it does not exit PIP when leaving channels for the home screen. Now I've got to teach my family to pat their heads and rub their tummies to turn off the tv correctly. You probably don't have this problem or you don't mind the extra key presses. I do. See the list of the apps I mentioned above. They all function the way I explain and there's a good reason: it's better. Channels is the only media player I've used that uses the clunky PIP. Perhaps you like it. Sorry about that.
Thanks for the heads up on the clock update. I just installed it and sure enough it's there. Hooray! Ironically, the clock is obscured by the PIP implementation. Should I file a bug report?
I had a rather long and detailed response prepared, including quotes and references. Then I decided I didn't care.
Thanks. Understand you feel differently. In fact, had you felt the same way I'd be commenting on your thread right? 
@tmm1 Any chance on getting a response from the development side? See my arguments for improvement above. Thanks.
I've had instances where long pressing the home button when PIP is active and overlaid on the firestick menu, does nothing at all and things grind to a slow halt. Maybe this is a Firestick issue?