Android (LiveTV) Faster channel loading and channel surfing

[pcm2a 9]

This post is to request several features to make the Android LiveTV experience more like cable. Videos demonstrating all of these items will be below, sorry for the bad quality.

 

1. Channels could load instantly! On TiviMate (Android) the channels load instantly, video for proof.

--- Anyone testing #1 should also try turning on Direct Stream in options to see if this improves speed

2. Channel surfing, when on a channel pressing up/down could change channels.

3. Guide on screen. Already implemented for Emby Android.

4. A way to jump to the last channel, think watching sports channel 400 and news channel 2. Pressing UP brings up recent channels. Pressing OK and selecting the < arrow will take you to the last channel! 

 

Android - TiviMate: Instant channel loading and other channel surfing features (has bad commentary by me explaining which buttons I'm pressing):

 

Android - Emby: Guide on the screen and faster loading than on Roku:

Edited March 12, 2019 by pcm2a

[ebr 16176]

1. Channels could load instantly! On TiviMate (Android) the channels load instantly, video for proof.

 

Does TiviMate provide you a server that will share Live TV streams among different people watching the same channel?

 

 

4. A way to jump to the last channel, think watching sports channel 400 and news channel 2. That's a lot of scrolling...and scrolling on Roku isn't fast.

 

This already exists - two different ways actually.

 

1) Press that "

2) Press the "up" button during live TV playback (or select the --- button on the OSD) and you will get a list of channels showing you what is on now that you can scroll around in and quickly tune to one of them.  If you sort your guide by Last Played, then this list will give you a very quick way to jump between the same three or four channels (think NFL sunday).

[pcm2a 9]

Thanks! I will test out those items today and update the original post with my findings.

 

TiviMate is just some IPTV app the like Emby, Perfect Player, Smarters, etc. I'm using the same IPTV provider (Beast IPTV) in all of the examples to make sure it was a fair test. In addition to that on Emby I'm using a stripped down version of my m3u for maximum speed and guide loading. On TiviMate I'm using the full 1000+ channel m3u since it has support for m3u categories.

[ebr 16176]

TiviMate is just some IPTV app the like Emby

 

Just want to make a point that Emby is not "just some IPTV app" .  We support Live TV in many forms and do a whole lot more than front IPTV.

 

Having said that, my IPTV channels load in about a second on my Shield.  If you want the fastest loading experience on Android TV, turn on the option to Direct Stream Live TV in the app settings.

[pcm2a 9]

I wasn't trying to diminish Emby's great feature set but in terms of the IPTV playing that I was demonstrating Emby is just playing the m3u that I provided it. I provided the same thing to the other clients.

[ebr 16176]

I wasn't trying to diminish Emby's great feature set but in terms of the IPTV playing that I was demonstrating Emby is just playing the m3u that I provided it. 

 

But its not "just playing" that source.  It is providing you the ability to share that stream among multiple people, record that stream, pause and seek within that stream, etc.

 

And, if you enable the option I referenced, we can also allow you to quickly tune those streams.

[pcm2a 9]

From the Roku thread it was mentioned that "play" will tune right to the channel. My remote doesn't have a play, I don't think the Shield does either. I did try Play on the roku and it tuned right to the channel.

 

- Tested direct play. Maybe a little bit faster but not the speed of yours. I will chalk this up to my box (RK3328/4GB ram) I guess.

- Tested the back from the OSD, worked great

- Tested the last channels, worked but was slow to come up and seems cut off compared to yours. Strange?

 

Cut off at bottom:

 

OSD for reference isn't cut off, unless I'm missing something below it:

Edited March 12, 2019 by pcm2a

[ebr 16176]

I can tell from your displays that you are using some sort of non-standard Android box as opposed to a true Android TV one...

 

Double-tapping the volume slider on the Shield remote is a shortcut for "play".

[pcm2a 9]

Yes it is a China Android box (RK3328 cpu, 4gb ram) but I have installed an Android TV launcher and the Android TV versions of apps. I bought it specifically to test out Emby and other IPTV apps to see if I am missing anything huge by having only Rokus.

 

I did double check the box on two different tvs to make sure the cut off area wasn't some overscan TV setting.

[ebr 16176]

The problem is the OS on the box is designed for a touch interface and does not report its DPI properly for the TV. 

[pcm2a 9]

Makes sense, maybe that is why it is getting cut off. Why does the OSD or tv picture not get cut off?

[ebr 16176]

They actually are - they just have a bit more tolerance for the issue.

 

Also, the OSD is not showing at the proper size (it should fill the whole bottom of the screen).