Context: I'm having issues with the Pik TV remote, which I'll detail in a different post, and I'm now using my TV remote to control the box (over HDMI CEC). I like using my TV remote anyway, because it gives me access to all my devices. One limitation is that most of the specialized keys are not available on my TV remote. I'm limited to the directional pad and the back key. In particular, none of the keys map to the Pik TV "guide" key. I wish I had access to the channel guide on the right side of the screen the same way as when the Android virtual remote is connected. The Android virtual remote is an app that turns your phone into an Android TV remote on the same WiFi network. When it is connected to the Pik TV box, the Pik app behaves differently:
- Without virtual remote: no guide, (right arrow = fast-forward error):
- After connecting virtual remote (right arrow = guide):
Request #1: make these "Menu" & "Guide" options available all the time (fast-forward is never enabled anyway)
That being said, I'm able to navigate through the channels using the smaller channel guide at the bottom of the screen. This guide shows 1 channel at a time and is accessible directly with the down arrow, or indirectly with the OK/Center button + down twice (after the CC/AE options):
- it lists all the channels, including those that are not available (with a key icon overlay). It's nice to see which other channels could be purchased, but since we only see 1 row at a time, it's a bit tedious to skip all the locked channels to reach the available channels below them.
Request #2: filer-out the locked channels in this bottom-screen guide by default. - If I click one of those locked channels by mistake, I'm stuck there and can't get out using my TV remote (none of the directional pad buttons, nor the back button, are doing anything). Request #1 would solve this by allowing access to the right-side channel guide with the arrows.
The bottom guide disappears very fast when idle. You really have to rush to read the descriptions while browsing up/down, otherwise the guide disappears and you have to start over at the current channel. I believe this short dismiss timeout is fine when you enter the bottom panel using the OK/Center button for just glancing at the current program's progress bar or enabling CC and/or AE, but:
Request #3: increase the dismiss timeout when (1) entering the bottom guide directly with the down button, or (2) entering the bottom guide indirectly when already in the bottom panel by pressing down from the CC/AE row:When browsing up/down in the bottom guide, the title of the show in the next row appears and disappears quickly before the transition animation. For example, I'm on row A with "Show A" title/icon/description, I press down, then for a fraction of a second before the slide-up animation, all the info disappears except the show title, which already displays the "Show B" title, then it disappears, and the slide-up animation proceeds (and displays the "Show B" title again). Request #4: hide the title field before the slide-up/down animation.
Thanks,
Dominic
