[HN Gopher] Google TV channels forced on the homescreen
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       Google TV channels forced on the homescreen
        
       Author : woranl
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2024-02-25 16:17 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (old.reddit.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (old.reddit.com)
        
       | mvdtnz wrote:
       | Not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing in that screenshot but
       | that's exactly how my android tv home screen has looked forever.
        
       | altairprime wrote:
       | Does this only affect people who login to a Google account on an
       | Android TV?
        
         | kaanyalova wrote:
         | I think you are forced to login with a Google account on
         | Android TV, I remember when setting up an emulator on Android
         | Studio it wouldn't let me get past the setup without an
         | account.
        
           | altairprime wrote:
           | Ah, I see -- it isn't required on Sony's variant of Android
           | TV, but I guess it is on other variants?
        
             | paranoidrobot wrote:
             | Sony's pushing of random streaming services isn't much
             | better, IMO.
        
       | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
       | I turn off automatic updates, set DNS to my adblocker, and delete
       | app data for the TV system apps. My shield doesn't pull down the
       | BS updates and has been on the old interface for about a year
       | now.
        
         | HeatrayEnjoyer wrote:
         | How do you make sure to still receive security and other
         | updates?
        
           | wholinator2 wrote:
           | You don't. That's the trade off to make. You gotta pay a
           | premium for the dumb TV's if you can even find them. If you
           | can't find or pay, you either don't connect to the internet,
           | connect but block every update, or you accept that you can
           | never have actual control of the physical device you paid
           | hundreds of dollars for.
           | 
           | I got given a "smart" tv a couple months ago. If blocking
           | samsung's planned obselence, ever slowing, ad parasite
           | updates mean my tv is slowly more out of date on security
           | patches then whatever. All my sensitive traffic is over https
           | anyway these days. All sensitive data is airgapped.
        
           | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
           | I manually update the few apps that I use but yeah, I don't
           | let any of the TV system apps update. I only use Plex, PBS,
           | and NewPipe
        
           | pxmpxm wrote:
           | Security updates for your tv? Exactly what do you think is at
           | risk?
        
       | donmcronald wrote:
       | I don't know if it's exactly the same, but the ads and BS that
       | get pushed onto my TCL / Google TV are infuriating. I'm convinced
       | it'll become unusable with a few years of updates because they
       | can't help themselves and will keep shoveling crap onto the Home
       | Screen.
        
       | smusamashah wrote:
       | Best solution is to install another launcher, set that one as
       | default and remove/disable default launcher. I installed
       | projectivity launcher and effectively disabled default launcher
       | using one of these adb commands.
       | 
       | > If you are using Android TV Launcher,
       | 
       | > $ adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.tvlauncher
       | 
       | > If you are using GoogleTV Launcher,
       | 
       | > $ adb shell pm uninstall --user 0
       | com.google.android.app.tv.launcherx
       | 
       | Source : https://www.tvusage.app/use-as-launcher
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-25 23:02 UTC)