NEW: Android TV app for Channels DVR (experimental)

Beta Community DVR Beta
#213

Basically every directional navigation button brings up the on screen display. This happens using the tiny remote and both the full game controller remote. Just brings up the OSD and from there you have to navigate to the 30 second skip or 10 second rewind. Pretty clunky. Is this how it should behave? Obviously because of this and lack of any knowledge of what keyboard shortcuts (if any?) map to functionality, I haven’t even attempted to try it with the FLIRC and Harmony 650 yet.

The OSD lingers for probably 1.5 seconds too long after a command is finalized too, for whatever that’s worth. :slight_smile:

#214

You might be able to get the media keys to work using flirc. I had an older flirc lying around and tried it this morning with an old ir remote (I dont have a Harmony 650 anymore). I set it up as a keyboard in the flirc software on Windows and programmed in the basic arrow and OK buttons and then set up the media control keys under the keyboard settings. This worked to control the Shield and the skip forward and skip back worked without bringing up the on screen dialog. It was a bit laggy but I only had a few minutes to mess around with it this morning.

I have the simple Harmony hub based remote. It’s set up as a Shield controller and connected with bluetooth. It works very well this way. Play and pause work. Skip forward and skip back also work using the media buttons on the remote. Double tapping on the skip forward button even works to jump to the end of a marked commercial break. None of these commands bring up the on screen dialog box.

1 Like
#215

OK this is definitely worth exploring. Can I ask what profile and commands you used under the Flirc? You used full keyboard mode for what device, Nvidia Shield?

#216

I’m trying to remember exactly what I did. I see an old iir remote that originally came with a hauppauge capture card. Most any device profile on the harmony would probably work.
When you open the flirt app on windows the first screen asks you to define the arrow keys, the ok button and the back key. Then I opened a menu item and selected media keyboard and defined the pause, play skips etc.
once the flirc is setup this way you can just plug it into the shield. No settings are needed on the shield.

Also, look at the first post in this thread and there is a link to another forum topic that covers ir commands for the Apple TV. I think this is at least relavent for the shield also.

#217

I think I semi got it working following some instructions from the FLIRC forums here:

The only issue that I’m seeing now is before I attempted to try to get everything configured “right” using this page as a guide, I actually just plugged in my FLIRC without doing any setup or configuration - it was configured prior to control a laptop Kodi install and was set up on my Harmony with the standard FLIRC device. The DVR control buttons actually worked in Channels DVR with the stock commands there, but obviously I had no back or home button for the Shield mapped out yet.

I followed ixian’s instructions in the thread and added a new device to the Harmony, per his recommendation an ATV-163 and Nvidia Shield. Added a new activity called Shield and added both of those devices to it, set up my inputs, etc. I then went into the Flirc software and selected the Nvidia Shield profile and mapped out the usual directional stuff, select, back, and home to buttons on the Harmony while sending IR commands from the newly created Shield activity. Then flipped over to the Kodi profile in the Flirc software and mapped all the DVR control buttons , play, pause, ff/rw, skips, etc.

These buttons worked as advertised inside Kodi but didn’t work inside of Channels. Must be something about the difference between the codes sent in my Harmony / laptop / FLIRC device profile vs. the Harmony / shield / View ATV-163 device… I’ll figure it out. Just knowing that there’s SOME commands that work to control the ff/rw functionality during live TV without bringing up the UI all the time is enough to go on.

#218

Very neat tip. I’ve been using an Amazon Fire TV (2nd gen with voice) remote with the Shield, which does work without bringing up OSD. The fire remote currently works great on MrMC also. I’m going to try to setup the Harmony Hub remote to jump…on Channels. This would be great.

#219

@tmm1 I know this AndroidTV isn’t the priority but you asked what users are looking for so I thought I would give a detailed response. I’m not a developer so I don’t know the limitations or challenges of integrating the various ATV features, though I do realize there are huge design and controller differences between the two platforms.

  1. I believe TIF (Live Channels) integration would be a welcome addition, it is already deeply integrated within the OS which allows for voice commands and universal search. I would glady use Live Channels for live viewing while scheduling my recordings through the web view and watching them through the beta Channels app. Here is a Github link than may be of use if you decide to look into TIF… https://github.com/googlesamples/androidtv-sample-inputs

  2. Change the OSD and button mapping. Right now the OSD takes up a large portion of the screen and pops up with any button press. I know this is some type of included template for Android TV, if there are other less intrusive. The playback controls OSD within live channels does a much better job of not blocking middle of the screen, maybe that OSD would be an simple change?

  3. Without the ATV touch pad I believe a Kodi style seek function should be implemented at some point. Press and hold to FF/RW and then Kodi style skips for consecutive presses (5sec, 15sec, 30sec,1min, 3min, 5min…) Would also like to have a way of pausing live tv and then hiding the OSD while the image remains paused, right now that is not possible.

Honestly Live Channel’s UI is 90% what I am looking for… A large transparent guide with live video in the background, guide narrowed down by category, small OSD with record option. It would be great if LC would allow 3rd party apps to use their own DVR engine but at this point I don’t see that happening.

#220

Kudos for finding and posting this feature. It works a treat. Love :two_hearts: it.

Edit: Tried the skip function with the Amazon Fire Stick remote (On Shield)…it works also!

#221

I finally had some time to look at this today.
After reading the other thread referenced above (in the first post) about the IR commands on the Apple TV I noticed that my 2 harmony remotes didn’t behave the same way.

The better way - Connect the shield to the Harmony hub using Bluetooth. You have to go in to the settings on the shield and “Add an accessory”. Pair with the Harmony keyboard. This automatically sets up a short press on the fast forward button as fast forward and a long press as nexttrack. Now a short press skips forward 30 seconds and a long press jumps to the end of a commercial break. You can just hold down the fast forward button until the show starts back up. This I can explain to my wife.

My othe (first gen) shield was connected through IR as a nvidia game console. The fast forward button does skip forward 30 seconds. The nexttrack command isn’t available in this configuration. Double clicking the fast forward button does skip to the end of a commercial break.

Remote control button activity changes?
#222

Is connecting to a remote DVR supported in the Android / Fire TV versions?

Thanks!

#223

iOS/tvOS only at the moment.

#224

Quick feedback…

On my Mi Box used on a secondary TV when watching Live TV it appears as if after 10-15 min, the buffer fills up / freezes / crashes the app.

Not a huge deal as I’m about to replace this Mi Box with an Apple TV. But wanted to offer feedback of what I saw.

1 Like
#225

I found an issue specific to the NVidia SHIELD where 1080i channels were playing back at 30fps instead of 60fps. The issue has been fixed in the latest beta app v1.0.33

Are you using a SHIELD? Let me know if the latest beta fixes the issue for you.

#226

i have v1.0.34 on my shield. using the shield for playback of live and recorded tv is now intermittent on what were previously continuously stuttering (1080i broadcast - such as NBC) channels. it will now play smoothly and then judder every 20 seconds or so.

silicon dust’s native app, using the shield (live tv) for the same channel is rock solid.

#227

Now that we are into the new year, any eta on resuming development
for Android tv?

#228

Started using the app today on Shield. Pretty awesome. The one feature I miss from the AppleTV is the “Kids” listing. I would happily throw in some cash for that effort :wink:

Best Regards,

Jon

#229

Just installed and it looks to be a good start. I really hope you continue this project because SD
's DVR is really lacking in presentation, the GUI is frustrating and no major updates are happening.

Hope to see the Apple TV options and display make it over to Android, the Android space is lacking a polished product.

1 Like
#230

I agree that it needs polish but I’m super impressed with the speed, functionality and agility of the product. My understanding is that the Dev team is small (maybe a 1 man army). That is a lot of solid output.

#231

Thanks to everyone who participated in this experimental alpha program and provided feedback!

This version of the app is now defunct, and we have launched an official public beta available to anyone who uses Channels for Android TV.

See the announcement: BETA: Channels on Android TV + Channels DVR

#232