1. Android TV or Google TV - does it matter?
Not really. Google TV is a newer home screen layered on the same Android TV system. The app is the same, from the same Play Store, and behaves identically. It requires Android 8.0 or newer, so it also runs on older TVs and set-top boxes, not only on Chromecast with Google TV.
The app is registered in the Play Store as a TV app, so you can find it by name in the store on your TV. You can also install it remotely: in the Play Store in a browser, pick your TV next to the install button.
2. Remote control in the player
While watching a channel:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| OK | Opens the channel panel. In the panel: hold for 0.6 s on a channel to open its menu (guide, favourite, lock, archive, group). |
| ◀ ▶ | Previous / next channel. In the archive: seek within the recording. |
| ▼ | Function bar: play, previous/next, list, favourite, picture scaling, decoder, archive. |
| ▲ | Details of the current programme with description and progress. |
| CH+ CH− | Next / previous channel, same as the side arrows. |
| 0–9 | Channel number. Up to four digits; after a short pause the app switches. |
| ⏯ | Pause and resume. |
| Back | Closes the bar or the panel; from a clean picture it leaves the player. From the archive it first returns to live. |
The function bar hides itself after a moment of inactivity. Channel numbers come from the full list, not the filtered category, so "12" is always the same channel.
3. The channel panel
The panel is a channel list overlaid on the picture - at the side or in the centre of the screen, your choice in Settings. It shows number, logo, name and the current programme from the guide. The header has category tabs: All, Favourites, your own groups and the groups from the playlist; switch them with the side arrows.
The panel navigates with its own cursor, not the system focus. That is deliberate: Android's focus on a TV can "escape" to a tab or a button, and then OK does something other than switch the channel. The cursor remembers its position separately for the side panel and the centre window.
4. Decoders: what to do when the picture freezes or stutters
This is the most common IPTV problem on a TV and the biggest difference from other devices. The TV's hardware decoder is fast and efficient, but some streams - above all interlaced 1080i - play with a frozen picture, jumps, or not at all. On the same channels VLC works, because it uses the FFmpeg software decoder.
IPappTV has both decoders and a rescue ladder: when a channel will not start in hardware, the app retries with the same decoder, then switches to software (FFmpeg). The choice that worked is remembered for that channel, so next time it starts with the right one immediately.
- Globally in Settings: "Hardware (default)" or "Software (FFmpeg)" as the starting point for all channels.
- Per channel from the function bar: Automatic, Always hardware, Always software. The channel setting overrides the global one.
- "Clear remembered decoders" in Settings undoes all decisions, should channels start with the wrong decoder.
An honest caveat: the software decoder loads the CPU. On a weaker box a 1080p stream in FFmpeg may drop frames the hardware decoder would not. That is why hardware is the default.
5. Tunneled playback
The "Tunneled playback" setting passes audio and video through one path straight to the hardware, which lowers CPU load on Android TV. On some TVs, however, it produces a black screen with working sound - if that happens, turn it off. It applies to the hardware decoder only.
6. Picture scaling
Three modes, available from the function bar and remembered per channel: Fit (whole picture, black bars at other aspect ratios), Fill (crops the edges, no distortion), Stretch (full screen, distorted picture). The default for all channels is set in Settings. Useful for 4:3 channels broadcast inside a 16:9 frame with bars.
7. Connecting to the stream
A few things the app does quietly that decide whether a channel starts at all:
- Identifying to the server. Some IPTV panels reject connections without a known User-Agent. The app presents itself like a popular player, and on a network error retries with a different identifier.
- https → http redirects. Panels often redirect the stream to an unencrypted server. The app allows that - without it a channel "spins" forever even though it works in another player.
- Fresh segments. For live streams the app bypasses intermediate caches that hand out stale playlist fragments.
- Buffer is adjustable: larger helps on a poor connection, smaller makes channel switching faster. Default 2.5 s.
8. Settings that only make sense on a TV
- Autostart last channel. When the TV is switched on, the app goes straight to the channel you were watching instead of the home screen. A channel behind the parental lock still asks for the PIN.
- Background guide refresh on a TV runs on any connection, not just Wi‑Fi - TVs usually hang on a cable.
- Picture-in-picture is available on phone and tablet; on a TV it has no use.
These settings are visible on the phone too - marked as working on Android TV and Google TV - so you know they exist.
9. PRO on the TV
PRO is a one-time purchase in Google Play, no subscription, tied to your Google account. Bought on the phone, it works on a TV signed in to the same account - just use "Restore purchase" in the PRO window. On devices without Google Play services (some boxes running unofficial Android) the purchase is not possible and the app says so; everything free works there as normal.
10. When something does not work
- Picture frozen, sound plays - function bar → decoder → "Always software" for that channel (section 4). In detail: frozen picture, 1080i.
- Black screen, sound plays - turn off tunneled playback (section 5).
- Channel loads forever - wait for the automatic retries; if an error message follows, check the channel in another player. If it fails there too, the problem is on the provider's side.
- OK in the panel does not switch the channel - make sure you have the current version from Google Play; this was fixed in 1.6.34.
- No guide - see IPTV EPG, section 7.
Anything else: kontakt@ipapptv.com - with the TV or box model and Android version.