They basically hid the satellite tuner behind this with an app and it's plagued with Google stuff. Now I have checked the app details and it says com.tcl.tv. It didn't occur to me before since I don't know any other Android TV, so thanks for this. That's nice to know. So what is the default TV app on standard Android TVs?
The TV is TCL P635 by the way.
Well, I need an all-in-one solution within this TV. Otherwise it's neat.
Sounds nice but does it work on Android, especially without a backend?
There are no ads in the UI (thanks to launcher) but the problem is not the ads. There are ad TVs in between the TV channels list, which you can switch to satellite list to lose them but it's not a default behaviour so every time you had to do this, which is not convenient. I also sideloaded SmartTube but was hoping to find an alternative to default TV app as well.
Actually I was hoping to use KODI but apprently it needs a backend server to reach Live TV which doesn't work on Android. Needs a self-hosted solution. Same thing with Jellyfin or Plex.
Launcher is not the problem here. The built-in TV app is the problem, as you cannot watch satellite without it and I couldn't find alternatives for it. So it's not possible to remove those "suggestions" from the whole TV list.
It's worse. They add "personalized" ad TVs between the normal ones so these clutter the whole list. While it's technically possible to just use the satellite list, it's not a default behaviour and always revert to it when you switch to something else. While adding the domain on Pi-hole would solve the streaming part, it wouldn't solve the cluttering part sadly.
Yeah it sucks. I believe it shouldn't be hard to replace the default TV app but I couldn't find any alternative so maybe it is.
It is technically possible to use a separate tuner but my mother got this TV because she didn't want a separate box laying around in the first place. So I don't think she would want that. Personally I'm a home server guy but I don't want my mother to use her TV with Google's bullshit either.
Well, technically it's my mother's TV and I'm trying to find a solution for the useless and infuriating parts of it. I installed SmartTubeNext for Youtube for example. But this default TV app is plagued with Google's bullshit. The older TV had a satellite box and at least it didn't have these problems. I suggested a custom Android box previously where I was gonna install a custom ROM but she didn't want it, so I have to improvise.
No, I'm not looking for a launcher. For example this is FLauncher but it doesn't change the default TV app, it just changes the UI.
This is a built-in TV app along with the other apps where Google pushes things I don't want to see.
Yeah, the older TV had a separate box for it but that's included in this one. Just plugged into the cable that connects to satellite dish.
Yeah they do. :) Personally I don't watch TV at all when I'm alone but this is my mother's TV. Also no problem! And thanks!