I fixed it
I’m tired of having so many ads for show pop up when I want to stream my shows. Roku ads, tivo ads all terrible stuff full of horror movie ads, very adult show ads and all kinds of non kid appropriate stuff.
I did some research because I’ve wanted to get away from a set top box that has so many ads that aren't family friendly and avoid so many ads I didn’t want my kids seeing. Some people suggest pi hole router modifications but I couldn’t figure that out so I went out and found how to do it with the best streaming device out there.
Chromecast with Google tv with the remote. I also tried doing it with my smart tv itself but the remote from my smart tv isn’t as intitutive for my kids as a streaming box remote.
This article describes how to set up a tv launcher on Chromecast so you can have a nice clean interface that is ad free! I pulled together a few articles and talked with developers about tweaks to make it happen. I did this on a LG tv and with an android phone.
Plug in Chromecast
Select hdmi input on your tv remote that you plugged chromecast into
Set it up with your Google profile following instructions on the screen. This takes a while with the google home app but after a bit you’ll see the google tv/chromecast screen on your tv.
You'll see the default Chromecast screen . It's not as busy as Roku or tivo but it's definitely not perfect. Don't worry we'll fix this in a second
If your screen seems darker than normal don't freak out with tv settings and trying to change the brightness.
This fixes it most times
Go to your Google profile on right, go to settings,go to dynamic range and color format, by default it's going to say "Dolby vision" . Change that to hdr and wait. That fixes the darkness problem in almost all cases.
Go to apps
Start downloading your favorite streaming apps . Netflix,Hulu, etc
Once those are all downloaded go back to apps and add three new apps. One called top tv launcher 2 (sometimes called IOp tv launcher for some reason) and an app called button mapper and finally an app called send files to tv (quick plug he asks for a donation.. pay it this app makes your setup easier)
Click on the app top tv launcher 2. It's going to look like a very boring and weird plain black screen. It is confusing at first but it will have a clean interface eventually. Here's how
Push the down button on the circle on the chromecast remote.
You'll see 3 little icons, the one to the far right looks like a little TV. Hit edit layout.
Click add a large tile, it’s going to take you back out to main page of tv launcher and now you see a weird blue folder,long press the weird blue folder, select change tile image, change to an included tile, takes you back out to main page of launcher again, click it again, hit add remove applications, add the app that matches what you made the image for. I.e if you made it Hulu image then add Hulu as the app,. From here on out it's kind of self explanatory, you can add rows, make icons bigger and do a lot of stuff
Next get out your phone. Download the send files to tv button app again (but this time on your phone)
Now go to the internet or look thru your own pics. Figure out a few cool wallpapers for your background. Download them to your phone. Might be a good idea to name them to when you save them to your phone. Later when selecting these you'll just get whatever the default file name is.Mines static image by the way I didn't try making it a live video or whatever as my wallpaper.
Now on your phone open the send files to tv app and also open it on your tv. On your tv hit receive and on your phone hit send and start sending over some wallpaper ideas.
Once it's done go back into the TV launcher app. Press down and select the little TV looking icon again. You'll see something that says wallpaper limited capability. Hit set wallpaper. Next to get a weird bunch of folder names that seem all empty, go to download , once you open that up you should see the names of the files of the pics. If you renamed them then this will be easy if not you'll have to click on each file hit ok and see what comes up as wallpaper.
Once you are done then Play around. You can change tile size, move rows. Put important apps in one row and less used ones in another etc.
Next up your going to want to set your screen saver. Hit the home button. This will take you back to Chromecast default screen. ,Go to far right to your little Google profile, hit settings,go to system,go to ambient mode. Lot of options here. I created a folder.jn my Google photos called tv and then followed the instructions to set them up as my screensaver. All of this is pretty self explanatory when you get there so just go nuts with whatever you decide. Really cool you can add local temp and time for screen saver.
Next up we want to program the home button to open the TV launcher not the default Chromecast view.
Open button mapper app that you downloaded to tv.
When you open it may ask for some accept it things, if not it should show you a screen that says button mapper and then a list that lists all the buttons on the remote.
Click on home button, click customize, it will say single tap, double tap and long press. Go to single tap, go to actions,click it, go to applications,click it, select top tv launcher 2, do the exact same thing for double tap, go to long press and change it from applications to actions and then select the home option (has an icon of the house). Back out again
Now when you hit home button it will take you automatically to your cool, and free interface that you created with just your apps. And if you need to get back to the Chromecast default view for some reason you know you can get there by simply doing a long press on home button.
And now you will have top tv launcher on your tv, it’s a clean interface with just your apps anda background you choose. No Roku ads, no tivo ads, no google tv ads.
