What this setup asks of you
- An Android TV, Google TV, Fire OS stick or Android box
- Your Tivo8k username, password and server address
- About half an hour, once
- Optionally, TiviMate Premium for favorites, hidden groups, recording, multi-view and several playlists
No login yet? The Tivo8k free trial opens a full account for 24 hours, with no card taken.
Be clear about what you are taking on
TiviMate suits somebody who watches live television the way people watched it before streaming, and it is a poor first player. It asks you to understand playlists, guide data and groups before it gives you anything, and then it gives you the closest thing to a cable box that exists on Android. If you want to be watching in five minutes, use Smarters today and come back to this when you have time.
Install it on the device itself
TiviMate is in the Play Store for Android TV and Google TV. On a Fire OS stick it installs through Downloader exactly as Smarters does, and the Firestick walkthrough covers that route; the Fire TV Stick 4K Select runs Vega OS and cannot install it. TiviMate is Android-only, so there is no version for Samsung or LG televisions, Apple devices or computers.
Add the playlist as an Xtream login
On first run it asks you to add a playlist. Choose the Xtream Codes option rather than the M3U one and enter the Tivo8k username, password and server address. The Xtream route gives TiviMate the group structure and the on-demand sections; the playlist route gives it a flat list and noticeably less to work with.
Let it process the guide
TiviMate downloads the line-up and then the guide data, and the second part takes longer than people expect on a list of this size. Leave it to finish. When it has, you will have a program grid covering the days ahead rather than a bare channel list, which is the entire reason for using this player.
Shape the channel list once
This is where the half hour goes. The free version shows the full grid exactly as it arrives; hiding groups and building favorites are Premium features. With Premium, hide every group nobody in the house will open and gather the channels you actually watch into favorites, which for most households lands somewhere between twenty and forty. Without it, move by group rather than scrolling from the top, and the grid stays complete, only less tidy.
Find the audio and subtitle controls
TiviMate handles tracks competently and hides them more than Smarters does, which is the one place beginners get stuck. With a channel playing, open the playback menu and look for the audio and subtitle entries. Confirm on a channel you know carries two languages that switching works. Knowing where this lives before you need it is worth doing now rather than during a game.
Decide about TiviMate Premium honestly
The free version plays everything and is complete as a viewer. Premium adds recording, multi-view, several playlists, favorites and group hiding, and it is a fee paid to the TiviMate developer through its companion app, not to us. The developer sets its price and how many devices it covers, so check those terms with them. It is worth it if you record, run more than one playlist or want a trimmed list; nothing about your Tivo8k account changes either way.
Check it on a real evening
Open the grid, pick something familiar, and let it run. Confirm the guide names match what is actually playing, that your groups behave, and that the sound is what you expect on your own speakers. A guide that matches reality and a steady picture on a familiar channel means the setup is done and will not need touching again.