I basically gave up on finding a custom ROM for this TV so I'm looking for alternative TV apps to at least change the default app. Do you know if there is an app like this exist? It should work with satellite, I'm not looking for IPTV or streaming services, just something that supports plain satellite TV.

Edit: Currently experimenting with KODI, no luck yet though. If you also have suggestions regarding to it, I'm all ears.

Edit 2: KODI (and so Jellyfin, Plex etc.) needs a backend server for Live TV so add-ons alone won't work. According to KODI Wiki, currently there are no backends that work on Android. I also tried Google's older app called Live Channels but Google doesn't let you to run it because it's old ~~more useful~~.

Edit 3: I at least blocked ~~all~~ many of those ad streaming domains on pi-hole. Here is the regex I added to my blacklist. Maybe it will be useful for another poor soul who bought TCL TV.

There are also some cloudfront domains however they use hash, so it's not possible to block the future hashes by now and they will appear again.

Edit 4: After some hiatus, I have one more update to add here. I decided to go uninstalling apps via adb, since it's always possible to factory reset. However it didn't go as planned at first.

After enabling developer options on TV, I connected to it with adb connect 192.168.X.XX. You'll need android-platform-tools package on your PC to do this (it basically provides adb and fasboot). Anyway, after connected to it, I deleted apps with adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 app.name.here. I went medieval at first and deleted everything that has TCL in it. And that broke everything. I couldn't even factory reset. Apparently TCL swapped some system apps with theirs. After some adrenaline, I realized that I can create another user, so that would bring all the apps I deleted.

I created user via adb with:

adb shell

pm create-user "NewUser"

and switched to that user via

am switch-user userID. To see users command pm list users. In my case the user ID was 10. After this, I was able to factory reset.

These are the apps I deleted to remove bloatware:

com.netflix.ninja
com.tcl.tv.tclhome_passive
com.tcl.dashboard
com.tcl.partnercustomizer
com.tcl.t_solo
au.com.stan.and
tv.wuaki.apptv
com.tcl.suspension
com.amazon.amazonvideo.livingroom
com.tcl.ui_mediaCenter
com.tcl.MultiScreenInteraction_TV
com.tcl.hotelmenu
com.tcl.guard
com.tcl.channelplus
com.tcl.miracast
com.tcl.inputmethod.international
com.tcl.waterfall.overseas
com.tcl.ttvs
com.tcl.useragreement
com.tcl.keyhelp

And these are the one I didn't delete:

com.tcl.initsetup
com.tcl.factory.view
com.tcl.system.server
com.tvos
com.tcl.providers.config
com.tcl.autopair
com.tcl.android.webview

Since there is no Google account login this time, I had to install some apps via adb as well.

I did it with this command: adb install app_name.apk

I installed Projectivity Launcher for a better default launcher experience.

I also played with Shizuku and Canta and it's great to be able to use those too.

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[–] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sounds nice. What can I do with rooting though? Since there isn't a replacement for the default TV app. I know I can remove the TCL stuff, but besides that? Also, now I wonder if shizuku would work too.

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Shizuku would absolutely work. I can use adb either wirelessly or through a USB A to USB A cable with the 5 volt line cut (which is also how I interact witth fastboot). Activating developer settings is as simple as tapping build number 7 times, like on every Android device.

Rooting can help you replace built in apks. For example, there is a Magisk module that lets you replace the system's WebView with an alternative, like the one from GrapheneOS, for instance. App signing is the problem here, so that's what that specific module helps bypass.

Modules work on top of an OverlayFS, which essentially lets you write to /system without actually writing to /system, similar to rwfus on the Steam Deck.

Also your current TV app is one made by TCL and not a stock Android app. I wonder if it can be substituted with a different one from a different vendor, or maybe an older version of the TCL app. The only issue I forsee is if the app attempts to communicate with hardware in a non-standard way. Alternatively, I wonder if you block internet to the TV app using a firewall if the TV functionality would still work without showing ads. There is AFWall+ if you're rooted and DNS/Android VPN based firewalls if not. There is also DNSNet, which is a DNS based ad blocker that uses Android's DNS service.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago

That's nice to hear. I wouldn't mind playing with shizuku to see what can I do.

Modules work on top of an OverlayFS, which essentially lets you write to /system without actually writing to /system, similar to rwfus on the Steam Deck.

I see. So if something goes wrong, I can do factory reset without any problems. I guess.

I actually did another way. I blocked these streaming domains on pi-hole. Now none of those ad channels can connect to internet. I'm assuming the list would also disappear if I factory reset and rescan the channel list, those ad channels wouldn't get into the list in the first place. Cannot try this right away but will definitely try this.