Ya the BBC Player and VIU app for Android TV is new. For other Android devices and iOS has been available long ago. BBC Player has been available free for Ultimate Pack subscribers for quite some time, probably over 2 years. I've used it on Android and web. VIU for Android TV seems to only work with a premium subscription account. The one for phone and tablets can watch free with ads.

Regarding Unifi TV, I never bothered to use it on Android TV as it's not designed for remote navigation. Unless they will make the new Android TV one compatible with other Android TV devices other than the STB. They did make Unifi TV app available on some Samsung TV isn't it.

Same like astro.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 02:31 PM

The two new channels are only 977kbps SD on playTV app instead of 4.8Mbps HD.

The new app can install on Android TV but can't be used because blocked by the app. Only get a screen that says device not supported.

Source: https://unifi.com.my/tv/help/faq/playtv.html

https://www.lowyat.net/2020/203992/unifi-tv...netflix-though/

Confirmed not using VLAN and recommended 5Mbps. This make it seem very likely that the new STB is using the same 4.8Mbps stream as the playTV app which doesn't look as good as the old STB on VLAN600. The new channels doesn't even have the correct 4.8Mbps bitrate in the app. Hope they use higher bitrate. Anyone with the new STB can check on the bitrate used?

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 07:37 PM

Can it be used?

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 07:39 PM

The channels should be constant bitrate. If we monitor from router, that is the download speed which fluctuates as it fills the buffer. So we need to take the average speed to get the estimate bitrate.

I can confirm phone app is 4.8Mbps since it is shown in the app. Now just need to know if new STB also same or better.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 08:57 PM

Doesn't work... Still shows not yet available for this device everytime open even after clear data, reinstall, force close...

From what I know, the bitrates are as follows
Unifi TV on Unifi STB - 8Mbps
Unifi TV on Streamyx STB - 2.8Mbps
Unifi playTV old app - 2.8Mbps
Unifi playTV new app - 4.8Mbps
Unifi new STB - ???

The 2.8Mbps and 4.8Mbps ones are max for HD channels. It will auto drop resolution and bitrate all the way to kbps range if network is congested. 2.8Mbps ones can't switch subtitles while 4.8Mbps one can.

Also depends on whether the video is interlaced or progressive and the framerate. Movies usually encoded at 24fps in online downloads and streaming. TV channels have higher framerate so require higher bitrates. The amount of movement in the video and the quality of the encoder used also makes a difference. The artifacts will be more visible when watching live music performances and sports on the playTV phone app. Movies with no much movements will look okay. TV channels have to be encoded in real-time whereas on demand streaming and downloads can be encoded slowly with high quality encoder.

Well if HEVC is used that'll be another story.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 10:31 PM

Hope the Android TV app that's used on the STB can be installed on 4K Android TV and used to access whatever 4K channels there might be. Then no need STB.

Is channel 502 really in 4K on the new STB though? It's HD on old STB and SD 977kbps on new playTV phone app. Even TV1 has 1.9Mbps option. HD channels should have up to 4.8Mbps in the quality options.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 16 2020, 11:09 PM

There are two more STBs... One that looks like the bottom one but has a LED screen instead of three LEDs and another one is the big old STB that doesn't run on Android.

Edit: looks like these two are the same thing in different casing and both not running Android

Found photos:



This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 18 2020, 02:35 PM

From my understanding based on limited information available, the new STB is using playTV account. Based on FAQ, old STB can still be used after installing new STB. The account migration is because there are now two different playTV systems, the old one with 2.8Mbps and hardcoded Malay subtitiles and new one with 4.8Mbps and switchable subtitiles. Seems the new STB requires account that can use with the new playTV app. My playTV account has been migrated and I can use the new playTV phone app using same old playTV ID and password. Can't test the new Android TV app as it still refuses to let me use on my TV.

Still need users of new STB to check if it is indeed using the same stream as the new playTV app like how STB on Streamyx used to use same stream as old playTV app. Also need to know if there are any 4K channels.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 18 2020, 03:40 PM

Ah, that's what I thought after reading FAQ and looking at new Android TV app. So new STB same account as playTV and nothing to do with old STB account.

I just keep trying to sign in the new playTV app on phone. One day suddenly it works. Then I try sign in old app there's a popup that tells me about the new app. Since then I've only used the new app and have uninstalled the old app so I don't know if old one still continue to work or not.

Where did you get it?

Looks like not available for PC at the moment after they started upgrading the apps.

Just found out that the new playTV phone app (com.tm.playtv) version 1.2.10 can be casted to TV. Here's a screenshot. Notice the cast icon in status bar of phone.

Let me post this again in more detail...
Unifi TV on Unifi STB - 8Mbps, switchable audio and subtitles
Unifi TV on Streamyx STB - 2.8Mbps, hardcoded subtitles
Old Unifi playTV app (com.huawei.phone/pad.tm 7.9.11) - 2.8Mbps, hardcoded subtitles, casting blocked
New Unifi playTV app (com.tm.playtv 1.2.10) - 4.8Mbps, switchable audio and subtitles, able to cast to TV
Unifi TV for new STB / Android TV (com.tm.unifitv 1.1.4) - probably same as com.tm.playtv but with TV interface.

*the bitrates stated are max available bitrate for most HD channels. Some channels / network conditions may have lower bitrate.

Since the new Love Nature channel is 977kbps in com.tm.playtv, I guess it's not available in HD or 4K on the new STB too. Anyone with new STB can check?

I can use com.tm.playtv since last year so I have been migrated. Been subscriber for few years. A newer subscriber that I know hasn't been migrated yet.

Addon: suggest we use the package name (com.xxx.xxx) when mentioning the apps to prevent misunderstandings.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 19 2020, 01:35 PM

I can sign in to com.tm.playtv since December. Before that I get the not migrated message as well. My white box has changed to new interface for quite some time now. The box is still using same old customized Android 4.x. There is no migrating to new ATV OS. The only change is launcher, UI and Netflix pre installed but not launchable.

So now with new STB we can sign in to 5 devices and the STB is also counted together with the other playTV devices? I haven't sign in on more devices after 15 Jan.

Update: Just tested by signing in to web. Still shows 2 devices. Is the new STB / Android TV app actually counted together with other playTV devices?
Update2: I can sign in new app (com.tm.playtv) and STB changed to new interface around early December. The new app was released on 19 November.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 19 2020, 04:07 PM

Can you check the bitrate of the Love Nature channel when watching on new black STB? Because here I see that this channel is clear 1080i on white STB on Unifi but is blurry and only 977kbps on the playTV (com.tm.playtv) app on my phone. Even SD channels are supposed to be 1.9Mbps on phone app while HD channels should be 4.8Mbps.

The app in white STB (EC6108V8) or silver STB without LED screen (EC6106V5) is STB app which is not playTV app. It is an app which can work on both Unifi or Streamyx with a toggle in the customized Settings app. When on Unifi, it runs on VLAN600 and has high bitrate (similar with non-Android STB EC2108E), switchable audio and subtitles, TV Mosaic etc. When on Streamyx, it runs on Internet and has 2.8Mbps bitrate with limited features (hardcoded subtitles). It is IMPOSSIBLE to sign in this STB built-in app without a proper STB account. playTV ID/password will NOT work. These Android STBs have channel numbers and EPG so can use remote to key-in numbers. I can check the app package ID and version later and will update this post.

EDIT: Here are the apps pre-installed on EC6108V8 as at latest system update:
iflix version 2.8.0-1015
Netflix version 1.0
HyppTV version 1.20
They only renamed the launcher icon and UI to Unifi TV but the app name is still HyppTV.

PS: Hope no one confuse EC6106V5 and EC2108E-TM as both look exactly the same in silver colour. The difference is one has 3 LEDs and the other has LED screen that can show channel numbers.

This post has been edited by AV_2018: Jan 19 2020, 06:21 PM

If the app/interface doesn't show then have to monitor using router.