I have a few questions for the more knowledgeable, resp. for the people with rooted AFTVs:
Has anybody tried any Airplay-Out app like AirAudio or AllStream. I don't have a rooted AFTV yet and the only thing I am actually missing on mine is airplay out (I only intend to use AFTV for music playback), so I wonder if any of those apps work as advertised and if I should go through the troble of trying to find a rootable AFTV in germany (new ones sold aren't rootable anymore).
If nobody has tried this yet, maybe someone is curious and test and let us know?
Install Pushbullet on your fire tv. You can send and recieve just about anything through Pushbullet. You can even send inbrowser video for most websites by simply sharing the url with pushbullet. Another nice thing is that XBMC has a Pushbullet service addon, which means you can send everything to your XBMC. Pushbullet has got to be the best XBMC addon of the past year. Best of all, its free and simple to use, and its cross platform. XBMC, Android, Windows, Mac etc plus firefox and some other browsers also have a pushbullet addon. Pushbullet in my opinion is by far the easiest and best way to send content instantly from one device to another. You can be 10 thousand miles away from all your devices running Pushbullet and can still instantly send anything to them. Its all done through your Gmail so there is no need to be connected to the same router.
Thanks, but I am not trying to send video or anything TO the AFTV/Kodi. I want to send music FROM AFTV to Airplay devices and pushbullet can't do that.
But apart from that pushbullet seems nice for other tasks, will have a look at it.
I tried it a couple months ago while I still had root. Neither Airaudio nor Allstream worked.
Ah, I feared as much. Thanks for the info, that spares me a lot of trouble.
If only I could find a device capable of outputting via Airplay - that is not from Apple, that is
My Eny M8 Android box does it, so I guess most of the Amlogic s802 boxes will do it. However no HD Netflix, Vudu ... Most streaming services are limited to 480p and there is no Amazon instant. Linux can output via pulse audio. There is Airfoil for Mac( only if you what multi zone) and Windows systems.
I am running Mediamonkey on Windows with Eric Mille's awesome Remote Speakers Output, but running a windows machine 24/7 only for Music is a bit overkill. I love the possibilties with Mediamonkey though (Dynamic playlist, Auto DJ, a lot of nice plugins) and find that almost no other platform is so versatile. And it is actually not easy to get Windows and Mac to output Airplay reliably and in sync to a few Airport Expresses without hiccups, no matter if I use iTunes (bah), RSO or Airfoil. So I was hoping to use Kodi, which is not bad at music playback, but Airplay is one of my output channels and I am looking for a stable and reliable platform, with not too much power consumption. I was so hoping AFTV could be the one...
I've read a litte about pulse audio, but I am a complete Linux lamer...
The first time that I read about FireTV I was excited, so much power in a tiny box and I was hoping to replace my aging WDTV live for good. I'm one of those guys whom prefers local media and some quality so I'm not into the streaming bandwagon also broadband speed still a little expensive and slow in my country.
So with that in mind, I would like to ask you guys, do you believe that someday soon would be able to homebrew the fireTV for a modified OS which allow real local content (without the need for Plex).
I would like to know the possibilities for this in a near future, near future being before this year end for example.
Regards
Nehemoth said:
The first time that I read about FireTV I was excited, so much power in a tiny box and I was hoping to replace my aging WDTV live for good. I'm one of those guys whom prefers local media and some quality so I'm not into the streaming bandwagon also broadband speed still a little expensive and slow in my country.
So with that in mind, I would like to ask you guys, do you believe that someday soon would be able to homebrew the fireTV for a modified OS which allow real local content (without the need for Plex).
I would like to know the possibilities for this in a near future, near future being before this year end for example.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that with Kodi no need for Plex unless you really like plex for example : SMB,DLNA (I use my nas server via SMB) plenty of ways
Oh no, no DLNA please. Tried several times with different options and there's always an issue with subtitles. I really like the WDTV but feels like slow to many times.
Nehemoth said:
Oh no, no DLNA please. Tried several times with different options and there's always an issue with subtitles. I really like the WDTV but feels like slow to many times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try nas server,I use buffalo linkstation. It even has torrent app
I have a Diskstation. It supports SMB, NFS and DLNA.
Thank you guys but still I would like to know something about my main cuestión.
Nehemoth said:
Thank you guys but still I would like to know something about my main cuestión.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think we understand what you meant by "a modified OS which allow real local content (without the need for Plex)." Do you wish to connect a USB hard drive and store your files there? You can do that if your Fire TV is rooted. I believe what others were saying is that you don't need plex at all since Kodi (XBMC) can stream files locally or over a network without the need for transcoding. Usually people need plex because the device doesn't support the right codecs or doesn't have the processing speed. (Roku for example.) The Kodi app can handle pretty much any video format you throw at it, so no need for plex. Just point it to a SMB, NFS, or DLNA server and it just works.
Sorry, my bad English as Always. Image that I could be able to load on a FireTV a custom version of Android or something else, which transforms the firetv in a local media server ala WDTV and also support to apps like Netflix
If I understand you correctly, you're going to want to run a variant of XBMC - either kodi or SPMC.
Side load SPMC and see if it works for you.
Do you have the ability to root? You cannot add external USB HDD directly to the fire TV without root. However, you can add a USB HDD to your computer and share it to your fire TV for playback.
Nehemoth said:
Sorry, my bad English as Always. Image that I could be able to load on a FireTV a custom version of Android or something else, which transforms the firetv in a local media server ala WDTV and also support to apps like Netflix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking you want the fire TV to store local media files via USB HDD and you want it to act as a server as well for your other devices.
The answer is yes, BUT you MUST BE ROOTED. AND rootable fire TVs are getting harder to come by so if you're in the US I'd start looking now at bestbuy and staples.
If you're not in the US you can't get a rootable one in stores. EBay might be your only chance and you will pay a lot more. If craigslist is an option, I've found items to run cheaper there but of course there is less options and more traveling on your part.
Running fire tv as a server is useless it has 8gb of storage.. without root it's even worse.. nas server is best and easiest and most comfortable option. I also have Samsung home sync before I got fire tv it has 1tb drive I also have root on it but it's almost useless no netflix,hulu nothing.
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
guys is the stick worth buying i bought the box around a year ago but it was very locked down, im looking to use it for apps like showbox ,xbmc etc
is it easy enough to do and how does it compare to s802 boxes?
Geekbench
Fire TV Stick
Single Core: 299
Multi Core: 558
s802
Single Core: 488
Multi Core: 1012
-
The Fire TV Stick is still closed down - with only adb and sideloading enabled, there is no software root for the device. Launcher functionality can be added by installing AFTV Launcher Helper and Fired TV.
Kodi runs great, no hardware limitations noticable at all, except when you use the EPG in Kodis Live TV section.
Retroarch can emulate SNES roms on it "fine" (not perfectly), and GBA roms "boarderline acceptable". N64 roms are out of the question.
Also Android 4.2 is getting old.
-
So whats so great about the FIre TV Stick?
Great form factor, good remote, fully capable Kodi device, for a third of the price of other Kodi boxes.
Are there limitations that you will run into? Yes (For both of your usecases - no). But its still the probably most attractive Kodi device on the market right now, because of its price scaling. And because Kodi is running perfectly in almost all use cases. Its not usual that you only sacrifice performance in lower price tiers - but in this case, you really only sacrifice performance.
edit: Also all Android Boxes right now are incapable of outputing 24p without the pulldown stutter (which can be compensated by the TV if it is new enough) - so spending too much money on such a box might not be advisable. Spend considerably less on them - and you suddenly might find yourself to be able to live with it... (Most people dont even recognize it, but then - who cares about most people.)
I have a Stick and a S802 Matricom G-Box Q (which has some firmware issues, but is overall pretty decent):
- The Stick is flat-out better for premium streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon (not available on standard Android boxes) due to the custom UIs that only need a d-pad remote (not a mouse/touchscreen) and availability of HD streaming. I hear it's better for things like SlingTV and HBOGo as well, but I haven't tried them.
- They are pretty equivalent for Kodi/XBMC; really, I haven't had any issues on either device.
- The Stick is worse for Showbox, HD Cinema and Mobdro because they REQUIRE a mouse/touch screen to work correctly and, because of the locked-down FireTV UI, they don't show up on the home screen and it's just more steps to get to them. There are several bluetooth mini keyboards with touchpads that will connect to the Stick (you can't use a 2.4GHz mouse/keyboard because you don't have anywhere to plug in the USB receiver), I'm not a big fan of those so I use Remote Mouse for FireTV on my iPhone, it actually works pretty well.
It really comes back to which apps you expect to use most of the time and what kind of remote control/mouse/keyboard you are comfortable with.
EDIT: With respect to speed, the Stick UI is pretty fast and responsive. If you run the devices side by side you can see that apps open faster and seem to "work" faster on the S802 box, but it's not a big deal. I'd say the stick generally takes 2-4 seconds to open an app, while the Q takes 1-2 seconds. Interestingly enough, the Stick reboots much faster than my Q.
After two days with an Nvidia Shield Android TV , there are many pluses and minuses, but over all, it has BY FAR the best hardware of any android based box on the market... no question at all about that, and here are what I think are the biggest pluses and minuses.
PLUSES
- amazing smoothness in interface - no jerky, delays etc at all
- superb playback of all media, smoother than any box I have seen
- 192khz 24 bit audio output (kodi and mxplayer but I am not sure if they are able to output at that HD rate)
- very well built, sexy touch activated standby button
- very easy to get up and running with controller etc
- shield game streaming service is flawless, fast, smooth, HD
- gaming controller is high quality, has a microphone for voice input and a headphone socket, which work well.
- Voice search within Play Music for artist or track works very well, extremely fast.
- playing Flash-based websites like TennisTV.com etc on Dolphin in Desktop mode is way better than any other box I have tried (and I have tried MANY)
MINUSES
- have to sideload many apps you may want, like TED, BBC iPlayer, IMDB, Spotify, Movie Mate etc.. even Chrome Browser - but relatively easy to work around using APK Extractor to get APK's from your phone, and Chainfire's sideload launcher.
- no up front display of non-Android TV specific apps
- no recent apps
- no way to get to "now playing" with some apps like Spotify if you had returned home, unless its a leanback app
- no notifications
- no mouse on desktop, backpace key on keyboard not working as backspace but as left mouse click
- Keyboard is USA only, so UK users have to know, for example, that " and @ have swopped places
- voice search from the home screen does not find music artists on google play music or spotify, but only youtube... so "play van morrison" will play a track from youtube, and not from the 25 van morrison albums I have already uploaded to Play Music.
- my tv keeps on cropping a lot off the screen, there is no way to adjust the screen crop size, to reduce size so it fits better on my screen... I can adjust my screen but that is a hassle.
- very little customisation, settings limited too.
There is at least one NON-Android TV ROM for this device, so you can fix almost all of those Minuses, and you can run it using Squarehome or NovaLauncher or whatever you like, but I am not sure I actually NEED to customise the box. Personally I use it for Kodi, Spotify, Play Music, TuneIn Radio, Youtube, Movie Mate, all of which works fine... so for the moment, I am not rooting the box, and am adjusting my expectations and enjoying what works fantastically well, pretty much everything.
This is FAR and away the best box I have ever had, goodbye Tronsmart Drako, Minix Neo X8H+ etc, this is WAY beyond. At some point I may change to plain android, but so far I am fine with a couple of extra steps to be able to enjoy the voice input and superb power and playback capabilities.
Mark.
Hi. I'm located in Ireland and looking for android TV box for my FHD projector. I'm considering MINIX Neo X8H+ or Nvidia Shield TV box (not yet available). What advantages of one over the other would you point? Thanks!
The Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is: CLEAN FLASH.
Natakranta said:
Hi. I'm located in Ireland and looking for android TV box for my FHD projector. I'm considering MINIX Neo X8H+ or Nvidia Shield TV box (not yet available). What advantages of one over the other would you point? Thanks!
The Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is: CLEAN FLASH.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Minix Neo offers access to almost all the play store apps without needing to sideload, with the Shield you need to sideload some apps, which isnt hard. The Shield has far better hardware, so you will get smoother HD playback, no question. If playing video is your main think, then the Shield's faster graphics, faster processor is the way to go. They are both good boxes, but my Minix Neo x8hplus is currently UNPLUGGED!
fredphoesh said:
Minix Neo offers access to almost all the play store apps without needing to sideload, with the Shield you need to sideload some apps, which isnt hard. The Shield has far better hardware, so you will get smoother HD playback, no question. If playing video is your main think, then the Shield's faster graphics, faster processor is the way to go. They are both good boxes, but my Minix Neo x8hplus is currently UNPLUGGED!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to connect external 2GB HDD USB 3 to the box. Make it media storage to play on the connected to the box projector and available for all devices in home through my local WiFi.
How could I remotely control the box to manage utorrent on it from my phone, at home thorough local WiFi or externally when I'm away. Possible?
The Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is: CLEAN FLASH.
Natakranta said:
I'd like to connect external 2GB HDD USB 3 to the box. Make it media storage to play on the connected to the box projector and available for all devices in home through my local WiFi.
How could I remotely control the box to manage utorrent on it from my phone, at home thorough local WiFi or externally when I'm away. Possible?
The Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is: CLEAN FLASH.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, sorry, no idea, I use it for streaming...
Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
fredphoesh said:
MINUSES
- no up front display of non-Android TV specific apps
- no recent apps
- no way to get to "now playing" with some apps like Spotify if you had returned home, unless its a leanback app
- very little customisation, settings limited too.
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Mark! For your minuses mentioned above, you might want to consider HALauncher found in the Play Store. I'm using this on my Nvidia Shield Console/TV and it looks and works better than the default Android TV "Home" launcher. This apps allows you to create your own Home screen with rows of your customized apps. For example, I have a row for my Emulators, Racing Games, Space Shooters, Sports Games, TV apps, etc. You can arrange these rows and apps anyway you want. You can also use your own background image. You can also rename the apps to your liking and edit the icons for higher quality 320x180 images. Everything looks great now. This is what Android TV home launcher should be like. The only thing that is missing now is a button for rebooting the system, and another one for shutting it down!
Check out the images below to see what HALauncher can do:
http://postimg.org/image/kuncrk5tf/
http://postimg.org/image/57w3e6s1f/
http://postimg.org/image/fkie09lkj
http://postimg.org/image/mjwfzmlir/
-- Manny
funtasticguy said:
Hi Mark! For your minuses mentioned above, you might want to consider HALauncher found in the Play Store. I'm using this on my Nvidia Shield Console/TV and it looks and works better than the default Android TV "Home" launcher. This apps allows you to create your own Home screen with rows of your customized apps. For example, I have a row for my Emulators, Racing Games, Space Shooters, Sports Games, TV apps, etc. You can arrange these rows and apps anyway you want. You can also use your own background image. You can also rename the apps to your liking and edit the icons for higher quality 320x180 images. Everything looks great now. This is what Android TV home launcher should be like. The only thing that is missing now is a button for rebooting the system, and another one for shutting it down!
Check out the images below to see what HALauncher can do:
http://postimg.org/image/kuncrk5tf/
http://postimg.org/image/57w3e6s1f/
http://postimg.org/image/fkie09lkj
http://postimg.org/image/mjwfzmlir/
-- Manny
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Manny,
Yep, I've been using it for a few days and like it a lot.
My gripes are that the voice search doesn't work properly and always shows empty results, and there is no "now playing" function... and the lack of a power button. For some reason ALT-Tab doesn't show recent apps. Oh, there is no ALL APPS function either, so new apps are invisible till you edit the home screen. But yeah, the best home screen for the SATV for sure.
Cheers,
Mark
Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
I agree with pretty much everything you said, I've had mine for two weeks and I love it. I have Kodi running to play local media, plex to stream stuff from friends servers, Netflix (which really upped their game since the last time I subscribed a year or two ago), along with tons of games. This will only get better over time, its still a relatively new product. I'm still debating on whether or not to root it, I think I'm going to but will be keeping the stock launcher because I like it, despite the lack of "recent apps" which I still don't understand why they didn't include it. The only reason I want to root it is so that I can install the Xinstaller module from Xposed so all my apps will install to my sdcard and not the internal memory.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
I have had mine a few weeks and it is definitely a really nice device and it is crazy fast!
Really the only gripe I have is 4K support but that isn't Nvidia's fault. Basically because I am running through a processor (more or less an AVR without an amp) and HDMI 2.0 standard is not used on them, Netflix won't show 4K content on the device unless I am directly connected to the TV.
Fortunately Ultraflix works at 4K and everything else does as well.
brando56894 said:
I agree with pretty much everything you said, I've had mine for two weeks and I love it. I have Kodi running to play local media, plex to stream stuff from friends servers, Netflix (which really upped their game since the last time I subscribed a year or two ago), along with tons of games. This will only get better over time, its still a relatively new product. I'm still debating on whether or not to root it, I think I'm going to but will be keeping the stock launcher because I like it, despite the lack of "recent apps" which I still don't understand why they didn't include it. The only reason I want to root it is so that I can install the Xinstaller module from Xposed so all my apps will install to my sdcard and not the internal memory.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try HALauncher, it is good enough for me to not install a custom rom and root... So far! Also once you root you'll have to manually install rom updates and reinstall apps etc... Also you can move most apps to sd card. DON'T set to Automatically Move apps to SD card, that doesn't work. Install to system then move them to SD card in app settings after player no the game once.
Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
Had mine for about a week and like it an awful lot.
As someone who bought an Ouya, I must say focusing on the media services first THEN worrying about gaming made this a MUCH BETTER product.
I am a bit disappointed I can't have my HBO Go on it, there's currently no Amazon Video and the Netflix app needs better voice options, but I'm really digging the Gamestream from my PC upstairs to the downstairs TV, It works most of the time without a hitch. The only time it doesn't is when I'm playing my Steam games and the Ubisoft games try to go through Uplay and Uplay crashes or its a game I've never ran before and Steam itself crashes because it doesn't seem to like running a game in Big Picture mode if it has never been opened and ran at least once on my PC in normal Steam mode first, and those are client problems, not Nvidia issues so can't fault them there.
Yes, having to install some of my apps from the PC through the Play Store is a bit of a pain, but it also keeps the kids from loading it up with a bunch of useless crap, so I'd say its a fair trade.
tobalaz said:
Had mine for about a week and like it an awful lot.
As someone who bought an Ouya, I must say focusing on the media services first THEN worrying about gaming made this a MUCH BETTER product.
I am a bit disappointed I can't have my HBO Go on it, there's currently no Amazon Video and the Netflix app needs better voice options, but I'm really digging the Gamestream from my PC upstairs to the downstairs TV, It works most of the time without a hitch. The only time it doesn't is when I'm playing my Steam games and the Ubisoft games try to go through Uplay and Uplay crashes or its a game I've never ran before and Steam itself crashes because it doesn't seem to like running a game in Big Picture mode if it has never been opened and ran at least once on my PC in normal Steam mode first, and those are client problems, not Nvidia issues so can't fault them there.
Yes, having to install some of my apps from the PC through the Play Store is a bit of a pain, but it also keeps the kids from loading it up with a bunch of useless crap, so I'd say its a fair trade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, speaking of Gamestream, what does everyone think of the quality?
I tried it both before and after the update that was supposed to improve the quality and have not been that impressed. The bitrate seems somewhat low and I get random stutter and both the PC and Shield are wired gigabit.
Well as far as Gamestream goes for me, I've got my win7 gaming rig w/ an i5, 12gb ram and gtx 750ti hardwired to my Buffalo AC1750 and the Shield on 5g to a 42" 1080p TV and I've no problems with it, everything runs smoothly, well, smoothly when Uplay isn't f*cking everything up...
I had issues initially so I had to go into my router and change the settings for my 5ghz channel.
OK interesting, maybe it is is an issue with SLI since I am running 3 Titan Xs, i7, 32GB RAM, etc through an Asus RT-AC3200. I will try disabling SLI and see if that helps.
mutelight said:
OK interesting, maybe it is is an issue with SLI since I am running 3 Titan Xs, i7, 32GB RAM, etc through an Asus RT-AC3200. I will try disabling SLI and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've really peaked my interest here, was the SLI making it not work correctly? Like maybe the video encoding being slit amongst the cards wasn't working too well?
I'm about to upgrade my 750ti so it'd be nice to know if it was SLI or just isn't playing nice with your Titan.
tobalaz said:
You've really peaked my interest here, was the SLI making it not work correctly? Like maybe the video encoding being slit amongst the cards wasn't working too well?
I'm about to upgrade my 750ti so it'd be nice to know if it was SLI or just isn't playing nice with your Titan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is honestly hard to say, I still need to try disabling SLI to see if it helps. Also I should mention I have been running Windows 10 for a couple months now there have been a few driver updates for it since I tried it last.
Video calling only available for the Shield ATV
One unique feature on the Shield ATV is the camera support.
Just plug a camera and it works! I've been checking out other Android SmartTV's and set-top-boxes, but yet couldn't find any other device having this support.
And, there is already a video calling android tv app on google play called "Tellybean - Easy video calling". It works perfectly on the Shield ATV.
furkna said:
One unique feature on the Shield ATV is the camera support.
Just plug a camera and it works! I've been checking out other Android SmartTV's and set-top-boxes, but yet couldn't find any other device having this support.
And, there is already a video calling android tv app on google play called "Tellybean - Easy video calling". It works perfectly on the Shield ATV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, but surely Hangouts works just fine, and even Skype?
fredphoesh said:
Nice, but surely Hangouts works just fine, and even Skype?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your right. Since shield has camera support basically any video calling app might work. But I don't believe they work as smooth as Tellybean. Skype and hangout does not have Android TV apps (not gonna have one any time soon). They don't exist on google play for Android TV. You need to sideload their default android app.
Also, their UX is fine for a mobile app but not so much for a TV app. They don't really fit into the leanback UI. Not so usable if you are sitting on the couch and just want to have a video call. I use hangouts and skype on my smartphone and laptop but Tellybean on my TV
Tellybean is an Android TV app, shows up on Leanback launcher and it works smoothly on the shield ATV.
tobalaz said:
Well as far as Gamestream goes for me, I've got my win7 gaming rig w/ an i5, 12gb ram and gtx 750ti hardwired to my Buffalo AC1750 and the Shield on 5g to a 42" 1080p TV and I've no problems with it, everything runs smoothly, well, smoothly when Uplay isn't f*cking everything up...
I had issues initially so I had to go into my router and change the settings for my 5ghz channel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello! From Italy here! 10 days I have a 16Gb unit I struggle with Ethernet AND wifi 5Gb connection! Wifi N working about fine. Netgear R7000 and Fastweb FTTS connection 85MBps! I only get 10 MBps at most, and this is the only device that gets this low! Need to solve this or ask for replacement the soonest! Any help much appreciated.
Regards
Alessandro
Hey there,
I have my shield (16GB 2017 version) for quite a while now, but I feel like I'm not using it to it's full potential.
Right now what I did is: Install Kodi and use Kodi... and that works as there is nothing wrong with Kodi. But why work with Android TV if the first thing I do is install a different media system?
So how to get the features I use from Kodi moved out of .. euh.. Kodi? Like I use IPTV, (DL'd) movies, (DL'd) series. I can imagine with the channels system in Android TV the same "experience" can be achieved. Like how do I make a "channel" based on a share in my network? And how to add "information" as Kodi has (so description, thumbnails, etc etc), EPG information for my IPTV, and stuff like that.
Furthermore, the channels also bug me (2 edged sword I guess). Some part of NVidia/Android wants to force themselves on me.. suggested channels always come back up no matter how often I disable them in the settings. Is there a way to just remove all channels except the ones I use? And I mean physically remove so that they never ever pop back up again, unless I hard-reinstall them. (and yes I'm rooted)
Lastly the bluetooth range bugs me, I've read through all the guides and yes they do work, but the range is still mediocre. Now I am looking at the hardware mod to add a 2.4Ghz antenna now is my soldering .. terrible to say the least, but I'll figure that out, but is there a more clear "guide" out there on how to open the shield and stuff like that?
Anyhoo thx for any information
Android TV by itself is not a media player. You can use google's media player if you wish , but don't expect it to be better than kodi. You can have kodi show whatever you want on the Android homepage , look at this : https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=332589 I use NEXTpvr to handle my IPTV on kodi, but it requires a pc that is running next pvr. Kodi has numerous IPTV addons for you to choose from. I am not sure how you've disabled the channels you don't want to see , but those that I have disabled have never showed up again. The only channels displayed on my shield are the Apps channel and Netflix, everything else is removed. A typical class 2 bluetooth will only have a 10 meter range (33 feet) and it's even less with interference and all the other 2.4 ghz signals around (Wifi , cordless phones , etc) so short range is perfectly normal. Youtube has a bunch of videos on how to disassemble your shield. Has for soldering skills , find a crap piece of electronics somewhere and pratice soldering on this before you attempt to solder in your shield if you have no experience.
All this info was easily found using your favorite search engine.. Probably why nobody bothered to answer you..