Hi, i tried some TV apps for germany. Summary in the end.
Until my PPM arrived I used a TV with FireTV box/stick. As I have no cable or sattelite and also not zattoo or waipo acoount, I watch everything with the respective apps.
I want to replace this set-up in the living room by the PPM. Using the FireTV on the PPM is not nice because on the limitations by the HDMI compared to using android (bluetooth for audio and automatic corrections are not working). I tried to get it working as good as possible:
To install apps I tried these methods:
-installing the app from apptoide
-copying the app from my FireTV
-copying the app from my android phone from google play
-installing the app from amazon appstore
-for some I tried using the website with the installed firefox
To transfer the apps from the FireTV and my phone to a USB stick I used the app “total commander”. Then i installed the apps from the stick to PPM using the file manager.
The amazon appstore (downloaded on my android phone) only runs in portrait mode.
In my opinion the following are the relevant apps if you want to use the PPM for watching TV.
The public ones:
-
ARD
-
ZDF
-
Arte
The private ones:
-
Joyn (ProSieben, Sat1, Vox, Dmax)
-
TVNow (RTL group)
Additional (normally not needed, as available inside one of the other apps):
-
Tagesschau
-
3sat
-
ARD
Searching the Aptoide store for “ard” there are two apps:
The app “ARD für TV” in Apptoide works fine and would be the one you want, except it won’t start from the home sceen. Unfortunately the app also sometimes does not show up under “installed apps” in aptoide, so you have to search for it to start it. If started from Apptoide it works. Is there a way to fix this by PPM developers?
The app “ARD Mediathek” is a tablet apps so the mouse pointer is needed to use it. Sometimes when going back the screen rotates. Not a good experience.
Via google play I got the same app as “ARD Mediahthek” from aptoide.
The app from the fire tv is probalby the same as “ARD für TV” in aptoide- I cound install it but not start it from the homescreen.
I didn’t try to install it from apazon appstore, as it looks to be the same as in apptoide and goole play.
-> I will use the workaround with starting the TV version via apptoide.
- ZDF
There is no app in the Apptoide store.
I tried to copy the app from google play and the one my FireTV but it didn’t start from the homescreen.
The app downloaded from the playstore shows an error, that it will not run without play services and closes.
The app installed from the amazon appstore is running but only in portrait mode and you need the mouse pointer to control is so very uncomfortable. As soon as a video is started the orientation is ok.
Opening “zdf.de” in firefox is a way to use it but not very comfortable.
-> I will use firefox for now.
- Arte
The app in Aptoide is a tablet app, so not very comfortable. Downloading the app from google play or amazon appstore installen on PPM leads to the same result.
The app i copied from my FireTV (ARTE 1.2.1.apk) works perfect.
In case amazon app store is not installed after a couple of seconds it shows a warning saying “Amazon Appsorte required” and you have to quit the app although it works. If you are fast enough and start a video pressing “quit” brings you back to the app and you can restart the video and watch it without the warning.
-> So to really use Arte the solution is installing amazon appstore and the app from the FireTV.
- Joyn
The app in the apptoide store requires google services and is thus not working. The same happens with the same app from the playstore.
The app copied from the FireTV complains that is it not made for mobile devices and pressing “ok” on the error will close the app.
There is no joyn app in in the amazon appstore.
-> Opening “joyn.de” in firefox works quite good.
- TVnow
I didn’t try the app, because on FireTV (and probably also aptoide) there is only the “TVnow Premium” app, which only shows paid content and I don’t have a premium account.
In firefox using TVnow is ok, but browsing is laggy and video quality was not so good when I tried it.
- Tagesschau
I copied the app from my FireTV and it works perfect.
- 3sat
I copied the app from my FireTV and it works perfect.
To summarize:
-I hope to write this all down will help some of you to save some time testing it for youself.
-please help find a way to start the “ARD für TV” app installed from aptoide from the homescreen
-please help find an app for ZDF for TV that works
-If you have some way how to improve running of the apps I would be happy to get your suggestions