The TiVo Stream 4K is one of the few Android TV streaming dongles on the market today, and its affordable price tag provides a fair bit of that. Now, a few weeks after the launch, TiVo is rolling out an update to Stream 4K owners that fixes a few problems with Android TV, including where the home screen would go blank and more.
An email that goes out to some owners of TiVo Stream 4K shows the changelog for this latest update. Aside from just standard bug fixes, this update contains two major repairs.
The TiVo Stream 4K has had a problem since its launch where the home screen for Android TV would simply go blank, showing nothing at all. There’s no easy way to restore the home screen when it does. The TiVo app, Netflix and Google Assistant shortcut buttons all work, but the core home screen isn’t available. Using Google Assistant to open the settings and reboot the system is a temporary fix, or simply cut its power and plug it back in.
Another frustrating issue with Stream 4K was the functionality of their HDMI CEC. Technically, when you actually use the feature, there is nothing wrong with it, but for unclear reasons, previous versions of the software caused the Stream 4K to constantly tell the TV to turn on. This will also result in you turning your tv on all day and all night.
In an email, TiVo describes that it has fixed both of these problems. In part the email reads:
Black Screen
Some customers were experiencing a black screen when attempting to access the Android Home Screen. This has been resolved, and you now will be quickly able to reach the AndroidTV Home Screen when you press the ”O” button.
Ghost TV
Also referred to as CEC Hijacking, some customers were experiencing the TiVo Stream 4K randomly powering back on a TV or switching HDMI inputs. This has been resolved, and you can re-enable your TV’s CEC if you had previously disabled it.
I have both encountered on my own TiVo Stream 4K unit, but I still have to see if this update fixes them. I certainly hope that the CEC issue gets patched because, frankly, it’s outrageous. In any event, it’s nice to see TiVo supporting its Android TV dongle already. This will hopefully continue for other issues that plague the 4K TiVo Stream.
