Clean Your TV for VIDAA GitHub
For Hisense and other VIDAA TVs

Your VIDAA TV, calm again.

A clean home screen with only the apps you use, a proper search with Brave, and Stremio that actually streams. No hacking, nothing uninstalled, and one press takes you back to VIDAA's own home.

Set it up on GitHub →
Free and open sourceNo firmware changesBuilt and tested on a real Hisense TV
After: the new home screen, with Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and Disney+ in a dock under the clock Before: VIDAA's own home screen
BeforeAfter

The new home screen, as the TV shows it.

What you get

Everything you open, nothing you don't.

The look of CleanYourTV's launcher, rebuilt for VIDAA, which isn't Android and has no way to install launchers.

A calm home

Your four favourites in a dock, every other app in a grid below, a glass highlight and the focused app's colour glowing behind. No banners, no rows of things to buy.

Netflix and the rest, from Home

Native apps, the TV's inputs and settings open from the launcher. When Netflix, YouTube or Prime Video close, it comes back by itself.

Search with Brave

A keyboard made for the remote, suggestions as you type, and your recent searches. Results open in the TV's browser, where the remote moves a pointer.

Stremio that streams

Torrents, transcoding and your addons on the TV's Stremio, with the streaming server running on your computer and kept healthy for you.

Remove from Home

Hold OK on any tile to hide it. Nothing is uninstalled, and one menu brings everything back.

Back to VIDAA in one press

The VIDAA button returns to the TV's own home and stops the launcher taking over, until you turn it back on.

What it doesn't do: block ads for the whole TV. On VIDAA that means blocking its servers, which can break the store, updates or the home screen, so it was left out on purpose.

On the TV

Every screen, at the TV's own size.

How it works

A web page and a small helper.

VIDAA can't install launchers, but it can add a web page as an app. That page is the launcher. A small program on a computer at home does what a page isn't allowed to: open native apps, switch inputs and press keys, over the same channel Hisense's phone remote uses.

On the TV

The launcher

A web page added as a "Home" tile, hosted for free, so it works even when the computer is off.

On your computer

The helper

Python, on Windows or Linux. Opens apps, runs Stremio's streaming server, brings the launcher back.

On the TV again

The remote channel

Paired once with a 4-digit PIN through Sidee, exactly like the phone remote app.

  1. Pair with the TV

    Run Sidee on your computer and type the PIN the TV shows.

  2. Start the helper

    Copy config.example.json to config.json and run python helper/cyt_helper.py. Open http://localhost:8765 to see your launcher.

  3. Host the page

    Publish the web/ folder to Vercel or any static host.

  4. Add the Home tile

    One command adds it to the TV, pointing at your page and your helper.

  5. Keep the helper running

    An installer sets it to start with Windows, or as a service on Linux.

Read the full guide →
The challenges

Nothing here worked the first time.

The TV wasn't Android, pages couldn't open apps, tiles couldn't be changed, and Stremio refused to stream. Here is what stood in the way, and what got around it.

It isn't Android

CleanYourTV cleans Android TVs over ADB. This Hisense runs VIDAA, a Linux system with no ADB and no way to install a launcher.

Rebuild the launcher as a web page the TV adds as an app.

A page can't open Netflix

VIDAA ignores the launch message from any page but its own, and its casting service refuses web pages.

A helper on the home network sends the same command Hisense's phone remote does.

Secure pages can't call home

The hosted page is https, and https pages may not talk to a plain-http address on your network.

The page navigates to the helper instead, which acts and sends the TV straight back.

No signal when you press Home

The TV never tells anyone the Home button was pressed, and its status message goes unanswered on this firmware.

Watch Netflix, YouTube and Prime close, and the TV switch on, then bring the launcher back.

Stremio wouldn't stream

Its streaming server ignored the TV, addons were missing, and videos failed with "transcoding" errors because the player asked for all five audio tracks at once.

The helper serves the app, runs the server open to the TV, and lets it transcode eight tracks together.

A browser that can't be installed

Brave won't install on VIDAA, and pages opened as apps can't click links. A test server on the computer showed the TV's own browser opens any address we send.

Search in the launcher, browse in the TV Browser, which has a pointer.

A small one: the new Search button pushed long dates under the header buttons…
The date running under the Search button
…so the button became round, and the date shortens only when it would collide.
The date shortened to Wed 30 Sep beside a round search button
All twelve challenges →
Help it grow

Made your TV nicer?

Star the repository, tell us how it runs on your VIDAA model, or take on one of the open problems.

★ Star on GitHub