Sure it works better, and yet if I have my TV control in my hand I’d prefer to just use that, over my phone. Voice dictation is spotty in general, and the assistant button never behaves how I expect. Why break a perfectly working solution? 🤦
This happens to me when I have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the Chromecast. Others have already suggested but switching virtual keyboards should fix it.
This is why I’m glad I disabled all the updaters and left the base version of android running on mine. It doesn’t access anything outside the network, so I’m not very worried about potential vulnerabilities.
Never got that ads-on-the-homescreen update, either.
They’ve been this way for over a decade, it’s not Elon. I do believe that early Google actually cared about “don’t be evil” but that ended before 2010.
I’m yet to figure out what I am supposed to do. I have Google Chromecast TV and have seen this popup. Nowhere does it tell me where I’m supposed to start typing on my mobile device.
Pretty sure this is a bug. Gboard can freak out after an update and stop working. Sometimes you need to reinstall Gboard, sometimes switching your language to English makes it work again, sometimes it’s the TV freaking out over some USB device that needs to be unplugged and replugged.
I can’t believe im a the privacy community, and someone is talking about Gboard like a normal product rather than trying to convince us it’s the actual devil.
Because I don’t want them storing recordings of my voice and I don’t want/have Google shit on my phone, and I don’t want to use my phone to type shit in when I have a remote in my and already.
This is an issue because there was nothing wrong with using the remote’s d-pad to operate the OSK. With this removal, a lot of setups are now unusable.
It forces you to sign into your Google account on your TV and link it to your phone. Previously, you could technically get away with not doing that, even though it was a PITA.
The short answer is yes followed by ‘not from netflix/amazon/disney/whoever’ (except maybe sometimes but not really) because they use DRM to protect their content. Very effective DRM that doesn’t really do anything… Their loss I guess…
You can get an minimal distro which boots straight into Kodi, such as OSMC or LibreELEC, and these distros can run even fine even on a Raspberry Pi. Definitely the better option IMO instead of getting Android TV.
But that would mean you first have to pair your phone with your TV. I didn’t even know this was possible, lol. What of you unpair it? Does the on screen keyboard come back?
Think it works via the Google Home app and being on the same WiFi. I know Chromecast devices always need a phone at some point to get set up. Not sure about androidtv. Oddly this doesn’t seem to have gone out to all devices. I have Chromecast with Google TV and it still has an onscreen keyboard. But then again, I guess they don’t need to force me to use a phone with it.
Honestly don’t know and don’t care. I’m not pairing my phone to shit. They keyboard worked fine and the only rational explanation I can come up with is that they’re intentionally fucking shit up just get more of that sweet sweet data.
Been using a HTPC + Fedora + Firefox + ublock origin for at least 7 years now. This computer is the only video source of my TV, and I haven’t regretted this move once.
But what about HDR? Neither Firefox nor even Linux itself support it. I didn’t spend $1800 on an OLED to not be able to take advantage of every feature it has.
I like the look of this. Is there any way to control it through your phone (eg through a locally hosted server and a QR code to connect to the page) or an easy way to hook in and send the control signals so I could make crappy version of a page myself?
I have been looking at it since I am fed up with Fire TV. Can you install it on any Linux distro? I thought it was for raspberry pi. I have an Intel Nuc running Opensuse
The only reason I haven’t just flat out installed LineageOS on my NVIDIA Shield TV is that it’d cause me to lose Dolby Vision & AI Upscaling. I know if I built a PC box unfortunately it won’t have these features either.
I’m currently just using the Shield with all Google apps and other garbage removed through ADB. Isn’t ideal but seems to work well enough without losing Dolby Vision or AI Upscaling or anything like that. That’s what I’d recommend if you stick with this Android TV.
This is why I’m stuck with Google TV as well. The only PCs that support HDR/Dolby Vision + AI upscaling have high-end graphics cards, and I just don’t have $800+ to blow on another GPU just for the living room. Not to mention the increase in heat output from the GPU, and then my power bill goes up.
Nope, I rather put up with Google’s bullshit with their laggyass interface and whatnot, than lose HDR.
yep thats what i do problem is if you only get upto 720p on widewine l3 included with browsers. 1080p/4k on drm’ed streaming apps is not possible without these stupid boxes.
Yeah, I love small builds but the mini ITX components can get pricey. Counterintuitively, the big RGB gaming mega tower form factor can end up saving you money.
You could certainly do both, but there are advantages to having a separate lower spec, low-power machine do your media. It keeps your electric bill lower, and it keeps your very expensive gaming hardware running longer.
Especially with how expensive and power-hungry GPUs are today.
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Google is the new Elon. It’s getting worse and worse by the day and google is breaking it
That’s probably better than the shitty tv keyboard.usong remote. That drives me insane.
Sure it works better, and yet if I have my TV control in my hand I’d prefer to just use that, over my phone. Voice dictation is spotty in general, and the assistant button never behaves how I expect. Why break a perfectly working solution? 🤦
This happens to me when I have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the Chromecast. Others have already suggested but switching virtual keyboards should fix it.
Oh hell they better not do this on NVIDIA Shield
This is why I’m glad I disabled all the updaters and left the base version of android running on mine. It doesn’t access anything outside the network, so I’m not very worried about potential vulnerabilities.
Never got that ads-on-the-homescreen update, either.
Google has become hostile, are they learning from Elon or were they always this way?
They’ve been this way for over a decade, it’s not Elon. I do believe that early Google actually cared about “don’t be evil” but that ended before 2010.
They were always this way
https://github.com/yuliskov/LeanKeyKeyboard/releases
And a launcher to avoid ads on the homescreen: https://github.com/tsynik/LeanbackLauncher/releases/
Projectivity Launcher is my personal fave.
I recommend giving FLauncher a shot: https://gitlab.com/flauncher/flauncher :-)
Doesn’t have an option to select HDMI inputs or live TV like Leanback on Fire has.
Also more resource intensive.
Fair enough. I’m running FLauncher on an Nvidia Shield TV Pro, not on the TV itself.
I’m yet to figure out what I am supposed to do. I have Google Chromecast TV and have seen this popup. Nowhere does it tell me where I’m supposed to start typing on my mobile device.
Pretty sure this is a bug. Gboard can freak out after an update and stop working. Sometimes you need to reinstall Gboard, sometimes switching your language to English makes it work again, sometimes it’s the TV freaking out over some USB device that needs to be unplugged and replugged.
I can’t believe im a the privacy community, and someone is talking about Gboard like a normal product rather than trying to convince us it’s the actual devil.
Would you accept “it’s the actual devil but also it’s buggy”?
What else would you recommend? I’ve been using Gboard forever at this point, but I’m down to explore other options.
Either Florisboard or Openboard, I like the latter
I had to ditch it becuase it’s a damn resource hog.
That too!
Still beats Samsung’s default keyboard on Android devices though. *shudder*
Recently switched from Samsung keyboard to Gboard, and at least Gboard isn’t feeling as sluggish as Samsung… Also the emoji keyboard got a search bar
Shit you were right, thanks
Genuine question, can you explain why this is an issue? You’ve got to type something in either way…
Privacy.
Both of a microphone and a phone app are serious privacy concerns.
Because I don’t want them storing recordings of my voice and I don’t want/have Google shit on my phone, and I don’t want to use my phone to type shit in when I have a remote in my and already.
And because the keyboard worked absolutely fine.
They just became unusable for any deaf/mute person. Big accessibility fail.
And people where the microphone just fucking hates you. It always gets what I am saying wrong so I just use the keyboard
This is an issue because there was nothing wrong with using the remote’s d-pad to operate the OSK. With this removal, a lot of setups are now unusable.
Ah right, but how is it a privacy issue?
It forces you to sign into your Google account on your TV and link it to your phone. Previously, you could technically get away with not doing that, even though it was a PITA.
Gross.
You would know FARTYSHARTBLAST
I may be something of an expert…
Switch to Kodi? does netflix work on Kodi?
Can you get 4k, hdr, dolby vision, etc content through Kodi?
It depends on how you define “get”.
The short answer is yes followed by ‘not from netflix/amazon/disney/whoever’ (except maybe sometimes but not really) because they use DRM to protect their content. Very effective DRM that doesn’t really do anything… Their loss I guess…
Depends on the service, but the big streaming platforms don’t allow past 1080p (or even 720p in some cases) this way.
I thought Kodi was an app?
You can get an minimal distro which boots straight into Kodi, such as OSMC or LibreELEC, and these distros can run even fine even on a Raspberry Pi. Definitely the better option IMO instead of getting Android TV.
yes and no. It is available it multiple forms.
Yes
But you can also use install LIBRELEC, which makes Kodi an operating system and you can install it on a rasberry pi and create your own streaming box.
That’s LIBRELEC being and operating system and KODI still being an application. It’s a application not an OS.
But that would mean you first have to pair your phone with your TV. I didn’t even know this was possible, lol. What of you unpair it? Does the on screen keyboard come back?
Think it works via the Google Home app and being on the same WiFi. I know Chromecast devices always need a phone at some point to get set up. Not sure about androidtv. Oddly this doesn’t seem to have gone out to all devices. I have Chromecast with Google TV and it still has an onscreen keyboard. But then again, I guess they don’t need to force me to use a phone with it.
Honestly don’t know and don’t care. I’m not pairing my phone to shit. They keyboard worked fine and the only rational explanation I can come up with is that they’re intentionally fucking shit up just get more of that sweet sweet data.
There really is no good TV solution…
Kill your television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaTcIzLk880
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Best Marathon level
This is the way.
I’m about to just buy a cheap mini PC and run all my services through the browser on Linux. This shit just continues to get more and more invasive.
E: Hijacking my own top comment: it was a bug. Restarted the device and the keyboard came back.
But what about HDR? Linux doesn’t even support it!
Neither does my TV
so when are you deleting this post?
I’ve tried several times but it’s not working
Been using a HTPC + Fedora + Firefox + ublock origin for at least 7 years now. This computer is the only video source of my TV, and I haven’t regretted this move once.
This is the way.
But what about HDR? Neither Firefox nor even Linux itself support it. I didn’t spend $1800 on an OLED to not be able to take advantage of every feature it has.
Look up OrangePi Zero 3. $15 runs Linux or Android TV. Fully customizable.
I would have done that a long time ago, but most streaming providers limit your bitrate and there’s no dolby vision steaming when on PC.
Then buy a cheap keyboard remote with the track ball for mouse. Program some extra keys for stereo on and off as well as TV itself, it’s a dream.
This is what I do, no trackball but it’s like an air pointer thingy, w keyboard too… works well
Maybe with something like KDE Plasma Bigscreen?
I like the look of this. Is there any way to control it through your phone (eg through a locally hosted server and a QR code to connect to the page) or an easy way to hook in and send the control signals so I could make crappy version of a page myself?
So does this just get installed into a mini PC you plug into the TV and act like basically a Chromecast? It looks beautiful.
I have been looking at it since I am fed up with Fire TV. Can you install it on any Linux distro? I thought it was for raspberry pi. I have an Intel Nuc running Opensuse
Apparently there is a package named
plasma5-bigscreenavailable for OpenSUSE, but I haven’t tried it myself.Oh lord, I have looked exactly for that (chromecast ui but open source). I was close to jailbreaking an old fire tv stick and running AOSP on it.
That looks awesome, thanks!
The only reason I haven’t just flat out installed LineageOS on my NVIDIA Shield TV is that it’d cause me to lose Dolby Vision & AI Upscaling. I know if I built a PC box unfortunately it won’t have these features either.
I’m currently just using the Shield with all Google apps and other garbage removed through ADB. Isn’t ideal but seems to work well enough without losing Dolby Vision or AI Upscaling or anything like that. That’s what I’d recommend if you stick with this Android TV.
This is why I’m stuck with Google TV as well. The only PCs that support HDR/Dolby Vision + AI upscaling have high-end graphics cards, and I just don’t have $800+ to blow on another GPU just for the living room. Not to mention the increase in heat output from the GPU, and then my power bill goes up.
Nope, I rather put up with Google’s bullshit with their laggyass interface and whatnot, than lose HDR.
yep thats what i do problem is if you only get upto 720p on widewine l3 included with browsers. 1080p/4k on drm’ed streaming apps is not possible without these stupid boxes.
I can recommend Beelink products. Good performance for the price and behaves well with Linux.
The cheapest one they have is $200?
I bought the Mini S with a Celeron N5095 and 128GB SSD for 150€. At the time it was cheaper than a Pi4, while having better performance.
The N100 ones are only 170 i think.
or an old laptop with cheap bluetooth keyboard and mouse
Just did this myself, though my cheap build accidentally ended up closer to 1500 bucks. Whoops.
deleted by creator
My setup has a goddamn 3080 in it and cost less than that. What the hell did you spend it all on?
It was shockingly easy:
Turns out mini-itx builds with new hardware will kick your wallet’s ass.
Yeah, I love small builds but the mini ITX components can get pricey. Counterintuitively, the big RGB gaming mega tower form factor can end up saving you money.
What are you doing that needs a 3080?!
Preparing to selfhost ai in the near future maybe.
Yeah, actually. And gaming, obviously. :)
I have a 3080ti and when I eventually upgrade to the 50 series in a couple years that’s exactly what I’m gonna do with the old card.
I assume it’s a gaming setup, not an htpc setup?
Good point, didn’t think it could be a gaming HTPC
Why not both?
You could certainly do both, but there are advantages to having a separate lower spec, low-power machine do your media. It keeps your electric bill lower, and it keeps your very expensive gaming hardware running longer.
Especially with how expensive and power-hungry GPUs are today.
Pure diamond HDMI cables
You could hang a dictator on that cable and I’d still call it an overprice!
How did you manage that?
4x 18TB drives is about 1000 bucks.
This is the way
Does a BT mouse and keyboard work?
Absolutely. But this is just a bug.
Nice, forced spying on customers…