ANDROIDTV Help

My new Minix Neo T5

New Minix Neo T5

Love cobbling my own home made media center with these android boxes since the SMP8635 back in the popcornhour A-110.

I'm a minimalist guy who likes a simple setup so no where near tested all the options and features.

My Setup

Sony Bravia 55W700B

Yamaha RV-1700

T5 HDMI to Bravia / TOSLink to Yamaha

Rii+ Remote

+++

Sharing my thoughts for anybody who is like me

Smaller than expected, about 1/3 smaller than my T95Z clone which was surprising. Took pictures of my Kodi audio as I've had issues with passthrough in the past. Unplugged old device and plugged in T5.

Wouldn't pick up my cabled ethernet connection or my 5G Wifi. Had to connect through 2.4 Wifi. Set the language and small wizard popped up. Asked me if I wanted to install a bunch of apps which had a few that were nice (Kodi, X-Plore, VLC). Included remote doesn't have voice. Simple IR and tiny. Had to figure out how to "return" with my Rii+. Frustrating for a minute but was fine. In the midst of exploring an automatic firmware update came in which I applied.

Loaded Kodi and streamed Avengers.Endgame.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264.DTS-WiKi.mkv locally from my Synology NAS to test passthrough. Just worked. This was amazing to me because all my other android boxes I'd have to tweak the advancedsettings.xml. No need here but may configure in the future.

Installed Seren + RD and tested with Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Automatically played a 2160p DTS file which actually streamed like butter. My old box would stutter on 2160p anything. Seren ran a tad faster on this box which I liked, but the simple fact what ever played just played (no skipping, no buffering) was a huge plus. Best part for me was the picture quality. It has some HDR-like feature that when I turned it on it made the black BLACK. So that is making my movies pop.

Netflix and Amazon Prime are non existent in the play store. I tried a simple side load with X-Plore and it would only play Netflix sideways. I figure I can fix this, but with seren+RD I might not even bother. Amazon prime... Well I never actually watched it now that I think about it.

Just have to add Nixtoons for my 70s toon fix and I think I'm good.

First time with AndroidTV and I dont like the limitations it has, but thats coming from full android OS TV boxes. I DO like the fact that AndroidTV just works out the box making it feel more like a commerical product. Box quality was nice and aesthetics were smooth. The UI passes the "non-tech wife" test with flying colors. She likes that the boxes are big and easy to navigate.

Looking to see if I can get KODI more prominent on the first page. There is a smaller banner up top that you can use but it doesnt bring attention to itself.

TLDR; small compact device that had all the inputs I needed and just worked out the box. Took me longer to setup KODI than to configure this. Would recommend as a solid media device that is a bit easier to navigate given AndroidTV

AMA :)

4 Answers

MX player not reading externally HDD

Am hoping for some help with the issue in the title. Last year I had no issue using mx player to read videos off of my external HDD but for the past 6 months it's stopped recognising it and the only app that has worked for me is the stock media player app pre installed on the TV.

Just wondering if there is any sort of fix for this that I'm missing. I have a Toshiba U77 android tv and my HDD is formatted to NTFS. Thank you

1 Answers

Shield remote keeps reconnecting to other shield

I have both 2017 and 2019 shield tvs. I moved my 2017 shield to the bedroom and took the 2019 remote and unpaired it from the 2019 since I use Logitech setup on it. The 2019 remote every day or other day keeps reconnecting to the 2019 shield. I have to hold the back and home button for 3 seconds to get it back to the 2017 shield. Then the next morning I'll tell the 2019 shield to forget remote 2 accessory. That night or next night it does it all over again. What can I do to the 2019 remote to make it stop pairing back to the 2019 shield because obviously what I'm doing isn't working.

3 Answers

Automatically Volume-Down when talking to Google-Home issue!?

Hello! I'm very new to Android-TV, my first TV now with it (Sony-Bravia-XG8096), and I have also Google-Home to control nearly everything on Electronics with my voice at Home, and of course I want to join my new Sony-TV to this system! The most works, but I have to learn what are the right commands, but my problem is, there is a setting in the Google-Home-App for automatically turn the Volume down when I talk with the Google-Home, and automatically turn the Volume up again after, and this works only when the Sound comes only from the TV-Speakers itself, but not when the Sound goes over a Soundsystem (Homecinema and so on)!? - It do something, because it is to see, that the volume goes down, but only 1-Point, and sometimes it turns off the volume fully, but don't turns it on again!? - I think this is a CEC Bug, but maybe there's a solution for this!? Thanks!

2 Answers

Philips android TV latest update

Hi, today I got an update for my pus7303/12, quite big I think, because install was approximately 5 minutes. Does somebody have any clue about release notes, because there's nothing on official site.

3 Answers

What Android tv box to buy.

I am looking to buy a android TV box with either an optical audio output or usb dac to go with the android tv box. At the moment im looking at the New Nvidia shield Pro, only problem is that it does not have an optical audio output. I want a box with good specs and a recent version of android ( id prefer oreo or newer). It would also be nice if it supported 4k streaming on YT and Netflix.

Thanks in advance

7 Answers

Google Play Movies & TV plays advertisement at boot

I just got a new Philips TV with Android 8. I'm massively disappointed with it in many ways, but there's not good alternatives, and the image quality is ok.

However, every time I start the TV it automatically starts playing a trailer from Google Play Movies & TV, and they are not child friendly. I've removed Movies & TV from the channels on the home meny, but that did not solve the issue.

Anyone got any tips how to remove this?

3 Answers

G20 Remote Help

I bought a G20 remote from Amazon today based on these two posts:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/bb871p/g20_remote_is_great_after_one_modification/

and

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/bhej4x/g20_remote_issues/

I'm wondering if something is wrong with mine, or if I'm doing something wrong.

I plugged in the dongle into the back of my NVidia Shield TV, but the remote hardly works. The red power light is flashing slowly all the time, hitting buttons to move right/left/select works 30-40% of the time--other times, the buttons don't do anything.

Hitting the red mic button brings up Assistant, but doesn't recognize a single thing I say.

My version didn't come with instructions. Am I supposed to program it somehow?

2 Answers

The JBL Link Bar Sucks - Dont Buy it

The Google Assistant is so laggy it is not usable.
The builtin Chromecast does not have the ability to cast to itself. So if the assistant on the device answers you will not be able to cast to the same device.
The Android TV instance is non-standard and riddled with bugs.

As other people have said in other threads here - buy a stand alone soundbar with an external device. The all-in-one nature of this device makes it a disaster.

5 Answers

Tcl l55p65us dimming issue

I own a tcl l55p65us and it dimm the brightness on and off all the time (mainly when the picture is dark.). I looked for the dynamic contract setting under advance picture setting but i dont have it... How can i fix it?

4 Answers

Where can one sideload games from for the android box?

Hi,

I have a Mi Box S. I would like to sideload games on my box. Are there any trustable sites where I can android tv supported apk from? I know apkmirror, f-droid works for mobile but how about an android tv box.

I am fine with sideloading and not just looking for an alternative playstore.

2 Answers

Any economical game controller for Mi Box S?

Hi,

I own a Mi Box S. I would like to sideload some games and start gaming with it. Any good and economical game controllers that fits good for Mi Box S? Thanks

2 Answers

Sony Bravia Sync shortcut / button remap solution

Hi,

does somebody have idea how to create string to revoke the same action as happens when you go to Action menu -≥ Home -≥ Home button with Sony remote and it sends CEC command ''Home button'' to in my case Nvidia Shield ? That way we can create shortcut on Sony and map button on remote to revoke that shortcut and send command to connected device without going trough Action menu.

Here are logs from both Sony and Shield when I press Home in Action menu:

SONY:

12-04 10:04:38.438 1648 2215 I HdmiCecController: [S]:<User Control Pressed> src: 0, dst: 11, params: 09

12-04 10:04:38.439 3175 3175 I com.sony.dtv.braviasyncservice.BraviaSyncService: MSG_SEND_REMOTE_CONTROL_KEY keyCode:3 isPress:0 remoteControlKeyInfoXml:null

12-04 10:04:38.557 1648 2215 I HdmiCecController: [S]:<User Control Release> src: 0, dst: 11

Shield:

12-04 09:40:52.136 3348 3460 V TegraHDMICEC: cec_worker: 0b:44:09

12-04 09:40:52.137 3733 3733 D WindowManager: handleComboKeys keyCode: 3, keyAction: 0

12-04 09:40:52.137 3733 3733 D WindowManager: isOnHomeScreen mLastTopComponent: null, componentName: ComponentInfo{com.android.tv.settings/com.android.tv.settings.MainSettings}

12-04 09:40:52.137 3733 3733 D WindowManager: handleComboKeys isOnHomeScreen: false

12-04 09:40:52.235 3348 3460 V TegraHDMICEC: cec_worker: 0b:45

12-04 09:40:52.236 3733 3733 D WindowManager: handleComboKeys keyCode: 3, keyAction: 1

12-04 09:40:52.236 3733 3733 D WindowManager: isOnHomeScreen mLastTopComponent: null, componentName: ComponentInfo{com.android.tv.settings/com.android.tv.settings.MainSettings}

12-04 09:40:52.237 3733 3733 D WindowManager: handleComboKeys isOnHomeScreen: false

Here is example but we need to know string for our action:

www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/95r1q5/remap_android_tv_remote_button_possible_sony/

I also checked here but I cannot find something ...: pro-bravia.sony.net/develop/

Maybe here ? www.reddit.com/r/shortcuts/comments/9oh4zh/control_sony_tv_power_offon_and_other_tv_commands/

2 Answers

Nokia TV

8 Answers

Is Xiaomi Mi Box S doing well now?

Planning to buy a Mi Box S as I dont have enough budget to go for the Shield. How's the bugs? Are they already fixed like no more 4K streaming issues? No more frame rate drops?

9 Answers

Play Next doest work?

So I have Nvidia Shield TV 2017 and the Play Next doesn't work for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Hulu. It works for Disney+ and the service just launched.

2 Answers

Mi Box S - VLC cast with subs?

[deleted]

1 Answers

Best games for two players using two controllers on the same device?

I have an android TV box and two DS4 controllers, would really like to know some good and fun games to play on it. Any help is much appreciated.

6 Answers

RW and FF when casting YouTube videos on Android TV and you are using your remote.

Now you can RW & FF when you Google Cast a video from YouTube to Android TV using your remote. Previously you couldn't do that.

(It's not working for Google Photos when cast from phone). :(

2 Answers

Compatible gaming pad for MI box

Kindly which is currently compatible ..... Xbox or Play Station gaming pads on mi box 3

4 Answers

Never going to leave Nvidea shield. (Cirkeljerk)

Wow. what a difference there is in running kodi/plex/netflix/youtube on a dedicated box .

I've had android tv on 2 sony tv's a both have had issues with small and big lags in the ui. I've also been running

Kodi on an Odroid c2 and kodi have had issues there to. Now when I finally decided to get Nvidea shield 2019 I can't recommend it enough. I love everything about it.. I can even forgive them for not supporting HDR on youtube (I mean how often do you want to watch hdr on youtube.. 4k is really enough for youtube)

Thanks for reading :P

2 Answers

Does TCL Android TVs always recieve the latest ATV updates?

I'm planning to buy an Android TV from TCL, and aside from the resolution, quality, bla bla, I also check this thing. Do they? (e. g Oreo to Pie)

11 Answers

HELP. Box not downloading APKs

So I am trying to sideload sone apps (Which I've done before) and my Mecool KM3 keeps saying

"Download is not supported on this device yet"

What do I do/can I do to fix this? Hard reset?

1 Answers

Side loading mi box

Kindly any app I can use to sideload APK to my mi Android box

4 Answers

Disney Plus on TCL Android TV

Hi all,

Has anyone managed to get the Disney Plus app to install on a TCL Andoid TV? Bonus points if you are in Australia.

I've got my TV up and running with Android TV 9.0 and everything else works basically the same as my nVidia Shield, but the Disney Plus app is missing from the Google Play store. I'm trying to work out what the secret sauce is.

Anyone?

10 Answers