I am interested in Android TV.
I need to control core TV functions from an App:
- Live TV in the background of my App
- List the channels the TV knows of
- Selecting a channel on the TV
Is that possible with an Android TV through the SDK?
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Knossos
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AFAIK, no, because Android TV is not necessarily a TV. Set-top boxes powered by Android TV (e.g., Nexus Player) have only an HDMI connection to the TV. A regular TV does not "know" channels, let alone have a means of delivering that data over HDMI. I don't recall if these standalone Android TV devices are required to ship with "IR blasters" to control the TV tuner, or whether there is SDK options for using one. – CommonsWare Dec 03 '15 at 13:36
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We acquired a Philips 6500 Android TV. So it is a fully fledged TV, not a STB. However, if the code is supposed to work on both - and has no access to the underlying functions, then this could be quite a roadblock for us. – Knossos Dec 03 '15 at 14:42
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I don't think that this is possible with the SDK right now, especially not for a third party app. – Nick Felker Dec 14 '15 at 04:27
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@CommonsWare: If you would write your comment as an answer, I think it is enough to answer my question. I am relatively certain that there is no way to do what I want to do. At least, right now. – Knossos Dec 14 '15 at 08:59
1 Answers
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I think it is not possible, if you are building third-party app.
> 1. Live TV in the background of my App
It is not recommended by TV App Quality, it says
TV-TR: App does not partially obscure other apps. App fills the entire screen and has a non-transparent background.
> 2. List the channels the TV knows of
> 3. Selecting a channel on the TV
Android TV provides a TV Provider platform which stores the channels and programs from TV inputs. However you need ACCESS_ALL_EPG_DATA permission to access other app's TV Provider database which is only available with signatureOrSystem app.
There is another related post here, Android Tv: get list of channels.
