Android TV and Google TV setup for watching on your own schedule

Getting it ready for the hours you watch

1. Install a player from the Play Store

   Open the Play Store; on Google TV it sits inside the Apps tab. Search for TiviMate IPTV Player or IPTV Smarters Pro. TiviMate draws a grid guide that is quick to scroll back through the hours you missed; its Premium tier adds recording, multi-view and multiple playlists, and favorites and hidden groups are Premium features too. Smarters costs nothing and keeps catch-up on its home screen. If you cannot decide, install both: they take the same login, and switching between them later costs nothing.

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2. Sign in once, in either player

   TiviMate asks you to Add playlist, then choose Xtream codes and enter the server address, username and password. Smarters calls it Login with Xtream Codes API and also wants a profile name, which can be anything at all. Copy the server address exactly, including the http:// and the port at the end. The first launch downloads the channel list and the listings together, which takes a minute or two; after that the player opens straight to live television.

3. Pair the headphones

   Put the headphones into pairing mode, then on the device open Settings, Remotes and Accessories. On the older Android TV layout choose Add accessory; on Google TV choose Pair remote or accessory. Select the headphones when they appear in the list. While they are on and connected, the sound goes to them instead of the speakers. On a television with Google TV or Android TV built in, if the speakers carry on as well, look in the sound output settings, whose name varies by brand; check your model’s settings.

4. Turn on captions and set their size

   System captions live under Accessibility. On Android TV the path is Settings, Device Preferences, Accessibility, Captions; on Google TV it is Settings, System, Accessibility, Captions. Switch them on and raise the text size if you watch from across a dark room. Whether a film or channel actually has subtitles depends on the stream: in the player, open the playback options and pick a subtitle track when one is listed.

5. Set the screen to switch itself off

   Google TV has an Energy saver option inside Settings, System, in the power or energy section (the name shifts slightly between versions), which turns the display off after a chosen period without remote input. The older Android TV layout has Put device to sleep under Settings, Device Preferences, Screen saver. Before relying on either as a sleep timer, choose a short time and leave a stream running: some players keep the screen awake, and if yours does, use the player’s sleep timer if your player offers it. Televisions with Android TV built in usually add a sleep timer of their own; check your model’s settings.

6. Find what aired while you were out

   Say it is 07:20, you are in from a night shift, and the program you wanted went out at 23:00. In TiviMate, open the guide, move left on that channel into the earlier hours and choose the program; when the channel keeps an archive, it plays from the start. In Smarters, choose the catch-up tile on the home screen, then the channel, the day and the program. Catch-up exists only on the channels that carry it, so test the route once on a channel you follow before the morning you need it.

7. Choose a darker picture mode

   On a television with Google TV built in, picture modes usually sit under Settings, Display and Sound, Picture; a mode such as Movie or Cinema, or a lower backlight, keeps the room dim. On a separate box or stick, the picture settings belong to the television, so use its own remote and menu. The exact names vary between brands; check your model’s settings.

8. Keep the channels you watch within reach

   A list of 25,000+ channels is a lot to scroll through half awake. In Smarters, add the handful you watch at odd hours to favorites so they open first. In TiviMate, favorites and hiding the groups you never open are Premium features; if you have Premium, spend ten minutes trimming the list now. In either player, search finds a channel by name faster than scrolling does.

Sorting it out yourself at any hour

The Play Store says the app does not work on this device

Some low-cost boxes run the phone edition of Android, not the television one, and the store hides television apps from them. On those boxes, allow installs from unknown sources in the security settings, install Downloader and follow the sideloading steps in the Firestick guide. On a genuine Android TV or Google TV device, check that a Google account is signed in, since the store happily browses without an account and only refuses when you press Install.

The screen switched off halfway through a film

That is the Energy saver or screen-saver sleep doing its job. Raise the time, or set it to never when you plan to watch something long, and lower it again afterwards. A live channel carries on without you, so reopening the player puts you back at the live point; a catch-up program can be restarted from the guide.

Captions are on but the film shows none

The system caption switch styles subtitles in apps that use it; it cannot add subtitles a stream does not carry. Open the player’s track or subtitle option during playback. If no subtitle track is listed there, that title has none.

The guide is blank after signing in

Give the first download time to complete, then use the guide refresh or update option in the player’s settings. The listings travel with your login, so nothing extra has to be entered in either player.

Players that suit this screen

Maintained by Televixy Team · revised September 5, 2026