Android TV Channel App (TV Input)

Wow. That builder should be shot. No coax for cable tv even? Base housing?

Given what you’re working with, I’d switch the remote to something programable so you can force it to go to the streamer input and not the TV’s guide.

No coaxial cable run throughout the house? Did you specifically ask for that?

It’s pretty default with homes so people can have cable TV services or even to put in cable internet anywhere in the house.

I just purchased a house that was already built. It doesn’t have Coax, so that is why I am looking for a solution. I can’t change anything about not having coax, so I am looking for the best solution.

I just purchased a house that was already built. It doesn’t have Coax, so that is why I am looking for a solution. I can’t change anything about not having coax, so I am looking for the best solution.

Hi Kartajan,

  1. I have 2 Sony TVs with AndoridTV and 2 Fire TVs.
  2. I have one drop to my office in the bonus room, above the garage, there are no coax cables anywhere in the house.
  3. I have a gigabit back-end wired switch to my office and a very stable Orbi AC3000 MESH network throughout the house.
  4. Myself (Live TV and DVR), Wife (just wants to turn on the TV and click watch TV, she doesn’t want to search around for things), guest bedrooms, parents and kids visiting (these two Fire TVs need to work easily for our parents)
    Like I said, I need simplicity and I would like DVR service.

I love the DVR service Tablo offers, I just am not impressed, at all, with the live interface. I wish they would just offer a “source” to the android app “Live TV”.

That way I could use the DVR service, when I need, brows recorded shows with Tablo UI and watch live TV with a standard interface.

I am about to return the Tablo device and go with something else, I am just hoping they have a solution and I don’t have to start over. It’s so close, but a deal breaker.

The Android TV app isn’t very high on the client app list (in terms of user base), so it’s unlikely they would put the development effort into it for this one feature. I think the mobile apps, Roku, and AppleTV all have more users. In any case, even if they do it in the future, it doesn’t solve your problem now.

I don’t think there’s anything out there that does what you want. Tivo requires using their mini boxes at all remote locations. All the other OTA DVRs/Tuners only work with the TV they’re directly connected to (and require an antenna input at that location).

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Assuming that you like the DVR service Tablo provides and just need to add simple TV functionality to the Sony’s (FireTV boxes are a different animal) you could run a setup very similar to mine by adding the following:

1x splitter at the office
(amplification //might// be needed to make up for the 3db of signal loss due to the splitter)
1x HDHR connect tuner (You would want to size that based on # of live simultaneous clients, they have 2 and 4 tuner models)

This would allow the 2 Sony’s to be configured with the HDHR acting as the live channel tuners, which will appear to the user the same as a regular antenna feed.
The Fire TV’s would still be needing to fire up an app to watch either way, so no help there


The alternative would be to run coax lines from the TV locations to your “office” drop, and use a small distribution amplifier to split/ distribute your antenna feed. You could then directly connect all your TV’s to your feed for live.

I would look into running coax lines, as that is more “device agnostic”. If you are not comfortable running your own, there are services/ contractors that will do it for you. I know someone who actually signed up for CableTV service for 1 month in order to have them wire up their TV’s for cable, and then when he dropped CATV service he attached his roof antenna where the cable feed used to run in. (seems kinda shady, but it was his house…)

lol love this… cable companies have been ripping people off for years so why not

@Kartajan,
I am actually thinking about the solution you are running.
It does look like HDHomeRun does offer the “Source” I am looking for https://www.cordcutters.com/android-tvs-live-channels-great-app-youre-probably-not-using
I do wish Tablo would offer this feature, it would completely avoid me having to get two different systems, to watch and record live TV.

I may also look into HDHomeRun’s Servio https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-servio/ as the DVR solution, have one system for everything. I am finding out more about it now.

I actually ran HDHR’s DVR for a while, but I never could get the wife to accept the way thier DVR worked, so you may want to keep that in mind.

We prefer the Tablo for DVR as well as the “outside the home” TV, but that is where the methodology of Tablo works best.

Are your Fire TV’s the box connected to a dumb TV, or the integrated TV?

The Fire TVs are actual Toshiba Fire TVs, not the box, so the boot up with the FireTV OS.

Modifying your house wiring to meet your needs would be easier than getting Nuvyyo to modify tablo’s code, something to consider if the other options need mods as well.

You may be interested in this thread.

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions.

I finally was able to have a solution that works great.

I ended up going with the HDHomeRun and Plex, using a WD My Cloud NAS.

Very simple and straight forward.

Now I can watch live TV trough the Live Channel (guide) on all 4 of my AndroidTVs, two were Sony TVs and two are WestingHouse. They both act the same.

I also loaded Plex for live / DVR solutions, now I am able to watch live TV outside my house and I can also watch all of my media library of past movies.

In my opinion this was the best option because I can change out my tuner, in the future for a different solution and I can change out my DVR software, if something better comes along, without loosing my media I already recorded.

It really works seamlessly, and my parents and my 20+ year boys both find it easy and more advanced.
So it works for all ages!

This will technically work, but the goal is to reduce the number of clicks/interfaces that viewers need to engage with. Using the Android TV interface, having it be a “Channel” makes it appear as a top level app in the UI, and could also showcase your recorded shows or live TV shows much like Netflix, YouTube, or Hulu… do in the Android UI.

Wouldn’t the TV it’s self, with it’s digital tuner, be the primary interface? It’s a TV, designed to watch, among other inputs, broadcast OTA programing.

Pressing TV on my remotes puts it right at the top of everything. Then channels are actually channels.

The biggest selling point to Cable/Satellite TV was the “single interface” that gives you all the channels you could watch, whether it be live TV, recorded programs (DVR) or on-demand programs.

Today, there are often multiple applications that give the TV viewing experience. There is streaming (multiple apps) and OTA channels that many people view. There are a few that try to combine the experience (channels DVR kind of does it, but you can’t view/record everything). Plex is another that kind of does it, but it is still missing quite a bit.

It took Cable & Satellite 20-25 years to really get the experience perfected, and 10 years after that, streaming started coming into the picture and changed everything again. It might be another 20-25 years before something is perfected out there. I have no idea what it will look like. Technology changes, apps change and the viewing experience will change - that is the one thing I know.

When cable first started in the 1970s, there was maybe 30 channels. Imagine trying to explain to someone what 200+ channels with DVR and pausing live TV was to someone that had cable back then…

I miss the “one interface”. I don’t like having multiple apps to view the programs I want to watch, and getting used to the on-demand (i.e. Hulu, Netflex, Paramount Plus, etc) vs. recording items and watching them later (DVR). And it can be a pain juggling the services to view what I want.

Time will tell.

I will say this - I have owned many different DVRs over the years (everything from TiVo, Windows Media Center, HDHomerun, Tablo and a few others), and Tablo is the winner in my book. The TiVo is the closet, Windows Media Center is dead, and HDHomerun doesn’t have a great DVR interface. Not to mention, Tablo works with virtually all of my devices.

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The one-stop-shop analogy for the cable/satellite seems to sum it up eloquently for me. Puts the different “UIs” in a different perspective to me.

Thing about streaming only services, someone had told me, particularly ~40+ generation - they want to turn on the TV and have it just have something on. With my antenna and “TV” button on my remote, I’ve always had that (ok, I just got a new TV and I have to go through INPUT, but it’s antenna only).

So as OTA DVRs don’t have a 1:1 comparison, not every user can likely have every need or desire met with device and services …even if they assemble their own system.

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95% of my viewing is OTA TV channels, so I basically have the “one interface”. The other 5% is shows on my DVR, and a few streaming shows. My biggest beef with streaming is you each one has it’s own interface. Not sure if they will ever get it under one interface (the closest thing will be streaming live TV like HuluLive, YouTubeTV, etc).

It may be another 20 years until it is all worked out…

The tablo device is my signal terminator. My displays are distributed across my network. Need a simple viewing experience for various levels of comfort and competence.