Stream Links on Android/Google TV

I've been testing out Stream Links on both a TS4K+ (de-TiVO'd) and a CCWGTV. Thus far, I have been fairly happy. It will take a lot of work to manually keep up, but I figure if I add/remove links on a regular schedule once a week it should be all good. Some other observations/issues:

  • Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ seem to work with no issue. Often times links go to the program page where you have to click play again within the app instead of auto-playing, but that isn't Channels' fault. I've seen the same issue with TiVO and Realgood deep linking and do not believe there is a way to work around it. Unless there is something that can be appended to the end of the link, something like "?autoplay" or the like?

  • I cannot get Peacock Free to work. I have tried the link both ways (front page to a program and the address when it is playing) to no avail. The links work fine in the web version, so it has to do with Android/Google TV and deep linking. Realgood seems to have the same issue. Anyone have any ideas what can be done here, if anything?

  • Although it is not listed as supported, I have put in links to Hoopla. Again, in the web, there is no issue. But on the sticks, it opens up the phone version of Hoopla instead of the Android TV version. Any idea why that might be and how I might get that to work?

  • Similarly, I put in links to Kanopy. On the web there were no issue, but on Android TV it was like with Peacock where the link doesn't seem to trigger the app for deep linking (just gives an error saying no app is available). Is deep linking just a function of the app and the app developers have to put it into place themselves? Are there other apps that might work because they support deep linking (IE Discovery+) that have not been listed?

You might be able to download the APKs for those apps and check the AndroidManifest.xml to see what url schemes they have registered for deep links.

Can you share examples links for Hoopla and Kanopy?

FYI you can use the "Refresh Metadata" option on the web UI to have the DVR reload the underlying link from the strmlnk file.

I see the option for "Refresh Metadata" in the individual movies/episodes. Just gave it a test try and it worked perfectly. Good to know!

As an example of Hoopla and Kanopy, we'll go with "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" on both:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11516306
https://kanopy.com/video/nine-lives-marion-barry

I did some digging:

  • Hoopla has a bug where their deep links are hooked up to the mobile views instead of TV views
  • Kanopy seems to have no deep link functionality

On my Shield TV, Amazon links don't work (the app is not opened). Did something change? Also, are Stream Links possible with VUDU?

In my google searches, this thread keeps coming up so I thought I would update it with my findings as of 9/2/2022.

In a nutshell, Vudu stream links in channels work fine on my android phone- the link in my library opens the app to the requested show and it automatically plays. But on my Chromecast/Google TV I keep getting a message that there is no app available to play. The reason why is Vudu's fault.

Per the recommendation above, I learned how to decompile the APK so I could read the AndroidManifest.xml. The android version has a deep link config to handle URL's, and the Android TV version has no deep link reference to use a URL whatsoever. I'm trying to modify the .xml and recompile it so I can sideload it to my Chromecast, but its going to be a silly thing to keep up with every time there is an update. If I can even get it to work by recompiling with a modified AndroidManifest.

For those looking for the url format that is working for my stream links, here is an example to Chicago Fire.

Season 1 episode 1:
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366152/PURCHASED_CONTENT
Season 1 Episode 2:
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366156/PURCHASED_CONTENT

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I took a quick look at the AndroidManifest, and seems like both mobile and TV versions respond to some sort of vuduapp:// links. You can try those and maybe figure out what its expecting for specific pieces of content.

EDIT: looks like it uses vuduapp://play?contentId=

EDIT2: I updated the beta APK to automatically do this, so the existing URLs you have should work now with that version

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May be worth emailing [email protected] to see if they can add this. Here is the official Android doc on how to do it: Create Deep Links to App Content  |  Android Developers

Shot Kanopy Support an email, so we'll see!

FYI, I also emailed Hoopla a year and half ago to fix their issue, so just responded to our last message in that chain to remind them they haven't done anything yet.

I know I've mentioned it in other threads, but the issue with Hulu is insanely annoying. The first time you launch a program from Hulu, everything works perfectly as expected. But if Hulu is running in the background, if you launch a new program from Channels, it just sits on whatever the last page was on Hulu and does not go anywhere. Seeing what you did with Vudu, I'm wondering if something can be done with Hulu? It seems like it should be possible because Reelgood does not have this issue. I realize that Hulu probably has something wrong in their programming, but they have not been responsive, either, about this, so I'm hoping Channels can implement whatever Reelgood did to work around this.

This is amazing and a quick reply, thank you! I tried the beta app on my Chromecast w/ Google TV, and Vudu is indeed working sometimes! A couple observations-

  • On the stable release, the following is an example URL I used for the Vudu stream link that currently works on Android phones.
    https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366164/PURCHASED_CONTENT

    I got that URL from the original URL in the address bar when watching Vudu on a browser
    https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366164/PURCHASED_CONTENT?returnUrl=%252Fcontent%252Fmovies%252Fdetails%252FChicago-Fire-Pilot%252F366152

  • On the beta release, the Chromecast/Google TV now opens the app when using the previous streamlink, but it takes it to blank page with a search magnifying glass that's not clickable. I found that using a different URL in the stream link, the Chromecast will now work with Vudu. The format that works on Chromecast is the following:
    https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Chicago-Fire-Pilot/366152

    This is from the original URL from the address bar, but unfortunately it is for a different episode as a "return url." The return URL isn't a consistent or reliable source for a stream link. For this return url episode to work on Chromecast you have to delete /content/movies/play/366164/PURCHASED_CONTENT?returnUrl= and replace all %252F with a /

  • This new URL that works on the beta app for Chromecast does not work on the stable release for Android phones, but does work on the beta release for Android phones. So if the current beta fix becomes the standard, it will break any current stream links being used (even if it only works on phones)
    Working in stable release
    https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366164/PURCHASED_CONTENT

    Working in beta release
    https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Chicago-Fire-Pilot/366152

Question.
Can you make it so that the stable link will work with the Chromecast Beta release? It's the only way I see to easily get urls for streamlinks, as the new format also requires knowing the episode name with hyphens added

Does this work?

https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/play/366164

YES! Thank you! That is so much easier. It does not work on phones on stable release though

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Okay the intention was that the URL you used originally would work. I will take a look.

Found it. Fix uploading

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Amazing! Vudu is now working flawlessly with both link formats, on Chromecast beta release and Android phone beta release. This is huge for me, so thank you!

This is now resolved: