Install another TV launcher app (I like Simple TV Launcher). Once installed, use Android dev tool on a remote laptop/workstation (platform-tools, adb.exe) to remotely connect to the Shield device and disable Google TV. The command to disable Google TV launcher is something like 'adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 google.android.tv'

Once Google TV Launcher is disabled, Shield picks the next installed Launcher on your system as the default TV Launcher. Be aware that most 3rd party TV launchers aren't very configurable or polished but will launch your other apps. Maybe try a few different ones before disabling Google TV Launcher.

Thanks, I was not aware the launcher could be swapped out so easily. This seems like a decent option if I want to keep my Shield.

There's only one correct answer: https://kodi.tv/

Works fine, but it is not the most stable software. Plenty of add-ons and themes, and (probably the reason why it's popular) you can sideload some pirate TV add-ons.

Last I used Kodi, it was a great app for, like, DIY entertainment management but utterly useless if you are expecting to use something like Spotify or YouTube.

It has been a while though, so I might be outdated on this, but I'm guessing it's still not possible to log into spotify from it, browse the spotify library / your playlists, use device remote play from your phone to the tv, and so on. Same goes for youtube (though I do remember some useful-ish youtube plugins, they didn't go beyond logged-out browsing)

Logged in YouTube works fine. I use both (android and Kodi) and honestly it's not so much worse on Kodi. Plus you don't need to sideload apks to disable the current ad flood

If you have Kodi on Android, you can have "links" (I don't remember the name in Kodi, sorry) for the Spotify, Youtube, Netflix, etc Android apps within Kodi.

Pretty sure Spotify works fine. They have a fully functioning API for premium users. Netflix might be a problem though.

Aren't most of those add-ons depending on real-debrid now, meaning a $5/month subscription? Why not Netflix then?

No? Not the Kodi I have at least, it feels like a huge open source community with many clunky but usually working apps.

I have a Sony tv with Android, and I disabled or uninstalled anything google I could find. Still works perfectly. (Disclosure, I’m probably in HN’s bottom 5th percentile in tech skills)

There are some workarounds in this Nvidea thread: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/4579...

None of them perfect, but you can roll back to what you had before.

Not being snarky but an Apple TV

I briefly considered it. I've been entirely out of the Apple ecosystem so far (save for airpods). It sounds like Apple is gaining traction over time because the competition keeps getting worse and worse.

I'm frankly not sure opting into Apple is a solution to the problem at large. It might be a temporary fix, but at the end of the day you're still using a proprietary system which might decide that ads are lucrative tomorrow.

I would have gone for an Apple TV in a heartbeat if not for one, huge, problem: no support for bitstreaming audio. This means no DTS:X or Dolby Atmos in apps like Plex.

It supports Atmos (not sure about DTS:X) but the reasoning behind decoding on device is for audio mixing for things like Siri. That said, I wouldn’t have minded having a setting to let my receiver do the decoding.

I think it supports DD + Atmos, not TrueHD + Atmos.

Look for Launcher Manager Ultimate, it lets you disable Google stock launcher and rolls back the basic Android TV launcher.

you can replace launcher on shield

That's a great Ask HN question actually, as opposed to a comment here.

Fair point. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27644017

Apple TV?

LG WebOS has all this, except Spotify which was there but is gone now.

I just use my Windows laptop, it's pretty good. You're not limited to anyone's apps, you choose what goes on. And you're probably already used to disabling whatever dumb ads Microsoft tries to put onto your machine.

Using a Windows laptop does not solve the part of the problem where Windows is not a friendly user interface for TV use. Android TV and Apple TV are nice to use because the interface is designed around sitting at your couch and controlling it with a remote with limited inputs.

There's no such launcher on Windows that doesn't deal with the pitfalls of it being Windows. Even something like Steam's Big Picture doesn't really work very well in certain circumstances because you can be thrown out of the launcher onto the desktop unexpectedly by games it launches.

I think the only way we could see a good implementation of this is if Microsoft themselves made it. They tried doing something like this with Windows Media Center but I think that they're better positioned to try again now that streaming services are ubiquitous.

I prefer it because I can just launch whatever program I like. Don't have to rely on somebody making the right app, I can just drag an MPC-HC window over, a web browser over, a game over, photoshop over, whatever. Don't need custom integration, the TV screen is just another monitor.

Most tvs have multiple HDMI inputs, why not have your Windows PC for gaming and a Linux PC with Kodi or whatever you like.

I personally just run mpv on my Linux box plugged into my TV and connected to a DLNA media server in my home and use my Android phone as a remote with KDEConnect, I'm not a big app person. I mostly watch YouTube videos my media server auto downloads when they are available from creators I like. For my family I have Netflix.

You're right it's not as nice as using a TV remote though! I bet Kodi or Plex, etc. would be more navigable with a remote. I wonder if you can get a Bluetooth remote that connects to a PC...

The shield remote does use Bluetooth I believe, I haven't dug into its internals though.

I kinda imagine that a "real solution" would involve some kind of Android environment, though. Your solution works, if the user has not opted into the youtube/spotify/netflix ecosystem. If they have, it's not a real solution.

I care about my youtube account -- I pay for it, in fact. The recommendation engine is extremely good if you curate it, and I've curated it a ton. YouTube is a beast for knowledge/learning center. Spotify has a really good and extensive music library which makes "not pirating" a real option.

At the end of the day, you need a good UI that implements the features of those services. No third party is working full-time to implement these in open source, and they'd likely shut down if they did. So relying on the upstream apps somehow makes sense.