And that's a shame.īecause it's one hell of a handy feature on Android TV. (And we should.) But there's just not enough incentive for employing the TV input framework. We can lobby the app developers all we want. What can we, as users, do about this? Probably not much, unfortunately. (Often promotions to other things to watch on PlayStation Vue.) Why would it give that up just to pipe its live channels into Live Channels? You can now stream DIRECTV STREAM on Android TV. Once installed, log in using your DIRECTV STREAM credentials.
Alternatively, Click here to install the app. Launch the app store and search for DIRECTV STREAM on your Android TV. PlayStation Vue has a bit of display advertising within its live guide. Once you’ve signed up, go to the Home Screen on your Android TV. They allow users to install a wide range of applications. Where's the incentive there?Īnd there's no stronger incentive than advertising. Android boxes are a type of versatile media streamer that function as your at-home 4K TV box. Why would an app developer go to the trouble to have you install their app, only to not actually use some other to get the content. Why don't more apps use Live Channels? Incentives. The only other service I've used that uses Live Channels is PlutoTV.
The answer is "Too few." (And there's a pretty good chance you've never heard of the ones that do.) Google Play Movies & Music uses it as a preview channel, which is kind of cool. The question then becomes which third-party apps take advantage of Android TV's Live Channels interface. The channels are nicely listed into categories. It’s an excellent choice for music, movies, breaking news, live sports, and more. Too few apps take advantage of Live Channels. Pluto TV offers free live TV streaming of 250+ channels. What's better about that than just using the HDHomerun app? For one, "Live Channels" is far more intuitive than "HDHomerun." Plop an Android TV novice in front of the UI and there's a pretty good chance they'll figure out what "Live Channels" is long before "HDHomerun." It's just cleaner. But once that's done, all of your over-the-air channels will be available in the Live Channels app, alongside anything else that also uses the TV input service framework. The premium version (9/mo) of the App supports more demanded channels which can be accessed by paying some amount. You can get access to 60+ free channels which you can watch without any pay.
You'll need the app installed on Android TV, and you'll still need to run a channel scan like normal. TV Player lets you watch over 80 Live TV channels on your for free on the Web or any Mobile App.