I am not sure where the admins prefer to post TV interface topics so I'll just try right here. I am running a Beelink S82 and, unlike earlier devices, I am happy to say this box is adequate for Internet TV browsing.
My primary goal was to replace cable TV with Internet videos. Many of the broadcasters my wife and I watch record weekly shows and post them to the Internet for free viewing. Therefore, a system of visual web links was exactly what I was looking for.
The great majority of screen real estate is currently taken up by 31 web shortcuts. I used the 3x3 Bookmarks Widget and expanded it out, full width and three rows. I configured the Nova Desktop for 4 rows by 6 columns which maximized the viewing size of the icons. I don't know if the paid version allows for bigger icons. If it did I would likely get the paid version. Most of the paid version features seemed to be designed for touch interfaces.
Edit: I bought the Prime version and it allows icons to be up to 30 percent larger and works well. Alas, it doesn't make the browser bookmarks widget to display larger (yet) so it doesn't help.
I adjusted the Height/Width Margins to zero and unchecked Show Notification Bar to maximize use of the screen. I set Screen Orientation to Force Landscape (it's a TV!) I set the dock for 9 icons, full size, with captions.
Under Add to Home Screen/Nova Actions I found several useful shortcuts, the most desirable of which is the Recent Apps screen so that you can remove previously used apps from running in the background - using up precious CPU resources. By adding this shortcut to the Dock I no longer needed the Status Bar which sat annoyingly at the bottom of the screen during videos reducing the viewing area on the bottom and the sides. You can remove the Status Bar by selecting SettingsMbox, selecting Display and setting Hide Status Bar to On.
Another Nova Actions shortcut I found very useful is Jump to Page. I reduced the number of Home pages to two and created two corresponding Jump to Page shortcuts and placed them on either side of the App Drawer button to select the two pages. While air mouse scrolling in the vertical direction may seem intuitive I don't think horizontal scrolling is and I prefer to have a button to efficiently move between Home screens.
Three other Nova Actions shortcuts that intrigued me were Toggle Notification Bar, Expand Notifications and Expand Quick Settings. These are not of sufficient need for a TV interface and I relegated them to the second Home screen for now. None of the the other Nova Actions seemed useful. <shrug>
I added the Google Drive app and was pleasantly surprised to find I had instant access to all my documents stored there including a folder of publicly shared mountain hiking photos which i took last summer in 1920x1080 TV format. I was able to show them full screen and use the right and left arrow navigation keys on my air mouse to quickly page through all the photos. Super nice!.gif "HELL YEA!!")
Finally, I tried the Media Center (Player-MediaCenter) app. I selected DLNA_DMP from the menu and was astonished to see it find every media file on the two Windoze 7 PCs on my peer-to-peer network! I have tried using DLNA media servers/players before and found them to be a configuration nightmare. This thing worked so well, too well, right out of the box - it was scarey!
I will have more to say about this app further down the topic thread.
Here are a few links for the Nova Launcher on the web:
There is a problem with the Bookmarks widget not showing thumbnails in the Chrome browser:
Ken
My primary goal was to replace cable TV with Internet videos. Many of the broadcasters my wife and I watch record weekly shows and post them to the Internet for free viewing. Therefore, a system of visual web links was exactly what I was looking for.
The great majority of screen real estate is currently taken up by 31 web shortcuts. I used the 3x3 Bookmarks Widget and expanded it out, full width and three rows. I configured the Nova Desktop for 4 rows by 6 columns which maximized the viewing size of the icons. I don't know if the paid version allows for bigger icons. If it did I would likely get the paid version. Most of the paid version features seemed to be designed for touch interfaces.
Edit: I bought the Prime version and it allows icons to be up to 30 percent larger and works well. Alas, it doesn't make the browser bookmarks widget to display larger (yet) so it doesn't help.
I adjusted the Height/Width Margins to zero and unchecked Show Notification Bar to maximize use of the screen. I set Screen Orientation to Force Landscape (it's a TV!) I set the dock for 9 icons, full size, with captions.
Under Add to Home Screen/Nova Actions I found several useful shortcuts, the most desirable of which is the Recent Apps screen so that you can remove previously used apps from running in the background - using up precious CPU resources. By adding this shortcut to the Dock I no longer needed the Status Bar which sat annoyingly at the bottom of the screen during videos reducing the viewing area on the bottom and the sides. You can remove the Status Bar by selecting SettingsMbox, selecting Display and setting Hide Status Bar to On.
Another Nova Actions shortcut I found very useful is Jump to Page. I reduced the number of Home pages to two and created two corresponding Jump to Page shortcuts and placed them on either side of the App Drawer button to select the two pages. While air mouse scrolling in the vertical direction may seem intuitive I don't think horizontal scrolling is and I prefer to have a button to efficiently move between Home screens.
Three other Nova Actions shortcuts that intrigued me were Toggle Notification Bar, Expand Notifications and Expand Quick Settings. These are not of sufficient need for a TV interface and I relegated them to the second Home screen for now. None of the the other Nova Actions seemed useful. <shrug>
I added the Google Drive app and was pleasantly surprised to find I had instant access to all my documents stored there including a folder of publicly shared mountain hiking photos which i took last summer in 1920x1080 TV format. I was able to show them full screen and use the right and left arrow navigation keys on my air mouse to quickly page through all the photos. Super nice!
Finally, I tried the Media Center (Player-MediaCenter) app. I selected DLNA_DMP from the menu and was astonished to see it find every media file on the two Windoze 7 PCs on my peer-to-peer network! I have tried using DLNA media servers/players before and found them to be a configuration nightmare. This thing worked so well, too well, right out of the box - it was scarey!
I will have more to say about this app further down the topic thread.Here are a few links for the Nova Launcher on the web:
There is a problem with the Bookmarks widget not showing thumbnails in the Chrome browser:
Ken
if you like my work please buy me a pepsi
thanks for the effort !!
Truly mysterious.
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