FireTV or Android TV as MM client

[korey_sed]

I want to run the MM server on my PC and use FireTV or Android TV connected to my TV to display it. So far I tried getting a cheapo Android TV off of amazon and use Chrome to display MM but the experience is very bad. The Text is way too big (sure I may be able to fix with CSS) and the refresh/layout is just not right.

is Fire TV Stick 4K Max a better option?
is there a way to do this on the Roku 4K sticks?
Has anyone done this before?

The ultimate goal is to use Fully Kiosk Browser so it displays in full screen but I thought FireTV maybe too locked down and the Android TV boxes I tried are not good at all.

Any suggestions?

Background: given that rpi is hard to find and if found 3x the price, I want to use go down this route. Also casting is not an option I am looking at.

Thanks

[sdetweil]

@korey_sed I haven’t tried the built in browsers on the smart tvs

now I have

it gets the title of the page, but no content

says javascript is enabled but doesn’t act like it… np keyboard other than on screen so any checkout any debug options

[OldSunGuy]

The built-in browser on my older LG smart TV doesn’t display MM, but I loaded the TV Bro app on my Google’s chromecast with Google TV and it looks pretty good.

P.S. ‘Chromecast with Google TV’ is a Google branded user interface on Android TV in a chromecast capable dongle.

[sdetweil]

@OldSunGuy my Chromecast does have any externally accessible function. only cast to.

[OldSunGuy]

@sdetweil Right. There are different hardware devices: Wikipedia Chromecast

[kayakbabe]

@OldSunGuy That’s because the browser software itself built into older TV’s and (even firestick, chromecast, appletv if they aren’t ever updated by their owners ) etc might not be compliant with the full newer html spec.

You also can find the situation where a web browser app on one of those older devices might have newer software insdie the app so it can display a website, that the builtin browser of the tv itself can’t display.

If that old TV/app/computer is running a really old browser software, it isn’t going to be able to execute the newer javascript versions.

So using the built in browser on older equipment is a crap shoot at best - especially with older televisions and old hardware that can’t be updated.

In those cases “casting” the output from the hardware running the serverside and clientside software over to the television is the only way to get it on the tv. The quality of the “casting” device is going to matter a LOT. Hardwiring with direct cables is always going to be the best.

But screen casting is really good now days. That said if you device only casts 720 and you have a 4k computer output and a 4k monitor it will look like crap. The screencast device can’t push the 4k info through it and will downgrade the signal to 720.
If you get a casting setup that matches the computer and monitor, it will look a lot better.

My old screen cast device looked horrible on my new 4k tv. So I gave it away and got a newer J5create screencast device that matches the output display on my pi and the capabilities of my best tv.
I can cast anything I want to the tv and it looks good.

many Chromecast /roku/hulu type devices are capable of recieving… but you might need a dongle added to your computer to send to it. I don’t use chromecast,firestick, etc.
Becuase I run the same software locally on my laptop and I just use the J5create to send the screen to my tv.

[OldSunGuy]

@kayakbabe I am not casting to my TV.

My MM does not screencast. I have MM setup to accept connections from the local WiFi network. The TV Bro app is just a browser installed on a dongle, that is connected to my TV.

[kayakbabe]

@OldSunGuy Thats really cool! I’ll have to check that device out.

[korey_sed]

@OldSunGuy Thanks.

I played with my setup some more and realized that it is the animation in MMM-Background that was causing most of my issues. Once i stopped that, it seems to work fine with the exception of the fonts being too big. Did you run into that latter issue as well?

Also took a look at Chromecast with GoogleTV. Looks like a better alternative to an official device that may last longer. I could not find specs on it, but I hope it can handle the animations.

TV Bro is also good but just in case you are interested, I was looking at Fully Kiosk Browser since it is also controllable from Home Assistant although i have not looked into it just yet.

[OldSunGuy]

@korey_sed Fonts were adjusted via CSS and/or (un)zoom.

The following was copied from Google Store

Length: 6.4 in (162 mm)
Width: 2.4 in (61 mm)
Height: 0.5 in (12.5 mm)
Weight: 1.9 oz (55 g)
Colors: Snow, Sunrise, Sky
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz); Bluetooth®

Operating System: Android TV OS
Resolution: Up to 4K HDR, 60 FPS
Supports resolutions up to 4K and high dynamic range (HDR)
Video Formats
Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+ for stunning picture quality.
1Ports
HDMI to plug directly into the TV
USB Type-C power