GenX Streamer

Good TV never gets old.

Free live TV, a program guide and a public-domain film library for Windows, Android TV, Google TV and Amazon Fire TV, plus Android phones and handhelds. Pass it along to a friend with no app store.

Website • Installation and setup • User guide • Pass It Along • Install on TV • Updates • Verify a download • Architecture • Contributing

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If GenX Streamer earns a place on your screen, please star the repo. It helps keep it going.

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Release status

0.1.25 / build 1025 has been withdrawn after reports of unusable phone and handheld layouts and incorrect Football/NFL search results. Its public release and downloads are unavailable while fixes are developed and verified.

The current public release is 0.1.27 / build 1027. It provides the signed Android APK and Windows x64 downloads. The earlier 0.1.3 / build 1003 remains available in release history.

Development candidate	Value
Candidate version	0.1.27
Android build	1027

The signed 0.1.26 / build 1026 audit covered the physical Samsung S25 and Google TV Streamer, including phone touch and fullscreen controls, remote navigation, saved scans, Free and Paid TV, Guide, and casting. Build 1027 received targeted checks on both devices. Device audit · Search and Guide verification

The signed universal APK’s version, build number, SHA-256 and test results are in the candidate record.

The historical features and checks below belong to the withdrawn 0.1.25 release. Those checks did not establish usable phone and handheld layouts across the reported browsing states.

Historical 0.1.25 checks — release withdrawn

0.1.25 / build 1025 adds a live buffer meter with saved per-stream adjustments, History for Free and Paid TV, and focused Sports/Guide browsing.

• See and adjust this stream: read measured incoming rate and buffered seconds. Supported players offer Auto or a saved 1–20 second target for this stream, including fullscreen controls and unchanged-stream rescan retention.
• Return to watched channels: History keeps successfully decoded Free and Paid live channels newest first. Remove an entry or clear the current Free/account history; adult visibility remains in effect.
• Find the sport: choose a sport and league, or search cached channel and programme metadata with explicit league/full NFL team names. A specific sport/league or unambiguous league/full-team query includes positively matching PPV with visible disclosure; ordinary browsing keeps it separate.
• Keep each tab's choices: Free TV and Paid TV retain their own category, query, sport/league, chosen geography and sort. The Guide follows the active tab.
• Read the full name and matchup: channel names and programme headings use smaller, fully wrapping text while retaining the original channel name. On short screens, the controls scroll within the sidebar so focused text stays reachable. Unknown teams and abbreviations are not invented.
• Reuse saved listings: Specific sport/league and semantic searches use saved Guide mappings and reuse metadata work, without per-keystroke network searches or stream rescans. My Local, Web TV and nearest-affiliate discovery remain design/research.

Current evidence	Scope
Version	0.1.25
Development checks	All 17 development checks passed: 4,006 unit tests across 356 files, 600 UI checks, 1,702 native tests with 7 existing ignored, 117 casting checks and 45 Python tooling tests; type, lint, format and the remaining tooling checks passed
Android	Signed universal ARM32/ARM64, com.tmg.tv, minimum API 24, target API 36; 93,111,678 bytes. SHA-256: 91e2fb538e3cad35e1d2ccbdca03658c7c3ca8cc2d622da7ea5b2b8b5e50f0e5
Windows	0.1.25 x64 Release; four fresh native fixture decodes and a joined ordinary exit passed
Local checks	Current local Google Streamer and Thor checks cover one public Free source each, viewing modes, remote controls, buffering controls and normal Exit; Thor also covers the cached Guide and focused two-card layout. Both apps are closed. Platform image-acquisition warnings remain documented; new Firestick/Flip 2 and current Paid-provider checks are pending. Sport/league, matching PPV and tab/account boundaries passed controlled source tests. Current physical browsing checked cached US/Sports Guide rows on Thor and one Free History channel on Google; broader Paid-provider and all-channel coverage is not claimed.

New-version Fire TV Stick and Flip 2 follow-up testing is pending. No new local Paid-provider playback is claimed. Historical 0.1.23 development/Windows and internal 0.1.24 PPV checks remain version-specific; see technical evidence and limits. Historical physical Fire TV verification applies to 0.1.3 on AFTKA, not every Amazon model or this new version.

Archived 0.1.3 release · Verify a download

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👋 Start Here

1. Want to watch? → Download the latest release, then read the User guide
2. Got it from a friend? → Check your copy is genuine
3. Want to pass it on? → Pass It Along and Install on TV
4. Developer? → Architecture, component guides and Contributing

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🎬 Pass It Along: phone to TV, unedited

An unedited recording (watch, 2 min 33 s) of a Galaxy S25 and a Google TV Streamer side by side:

1. The TV starts in its screensaver.
2. Install on TV on the phone wakes the TV and finds that it has no app to download with.
3. GenX opens the free download helper in the TV's Play Store.
4. GenX sends itself from the phone over Wi-Fi.
5. The TV owner approves each step with the TV remote.
6. The phone confirms "Ready! GenX Streamer is installed." only after GenX on the TV reports the very file it was sent.

No app store, no GitHub link, no typing on the TV.

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⚡ What Makes GenX Different

	Most TV apps	GenX Streamer
Getting it	An app store account	A friend's phone or TV, a QR code, or a link
Installing on a TV	Store search, or sideloading by hand	Install on TV: pick the TV, enter its code, approve on the TV
Channels	A catalog chosen for you	Free channels found and health-checked on your device; your own playlists and accounts
Old TVs and handhelds	Often unsupported	32-bit Android TVs, phones and handhelds; its own MPEG-2 and MPEG audio decoders where the device has none
Your data	In the cloud	On your device; no account, no tracking
Testing	Tested for success	Tested for failure: rules (invariants) with codes, real-device runs, recorded evidence

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📸 Screenshots

On a TV

On a phone

Settings	Pass It Along	Install on TV	About

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📺 Features

• Free TV: finds public channels, checks they actually play, and keeps the ones that do. Favourites, filters, search and voice search.

• Paid TV: your own provider accounts (Xtream), kept in your device's protected storage and played through a local relay.

• GenXtra: a public-domain film and TV library with downloads.

• Program guide (XMLTV), instant replay, captions, a remote and D-pad friendly interface on TVs, and casting to Chromecast and DLNA screens.

• Pass It Along:

  • send the app phone to phone (Quick Share, Bluetooth);
  • share with everyone nearby with a QR code or a short six-digit address, no internet needed;
  • install on a Google TV or Android TV from your phone;
  • send a download link.

  Every device gets the build that runs on it, or a plain "this won't run here". (How it works)

• Voluntary updates: Check for Updates in About, verified against the published SHA-256 before anything installs. (Rules)

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📦 Get GenX Streamer

Download from Releases:

Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are supported on Android-based Fire OS devices meeting the Android/ARM requirements below. Verified with 0.1.3 on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, first generation (AFTKA/kara), Fire OS 7 / Android 9: launch, embedded video, fullscreen, returning to embedded, sound and channel switching all passed owner testing. Other Amazon models have not been individually verified. Fire TV uses the same Android APK.

File	For
GenX-Streamer-<version>-Android.apk	Android TV, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV with Android-based Fire OS, plus Android phones, tablets and handhelds (ARM, 32- and 64-bit), Android 7.0 or newer
GenX-Streamer-<version>-Windows-x64.exe	Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime
GenX-Streamer-<version>-Windows-x64-portable.zip	Windows, portable: extract to a folder of its own and run GenX Streamer.exe
SHA256SUMS	Checksums to verify any copy

The Android app is signed with the GenX Streamer release key. The Windows app is unsigned by decision, so SmartScreen may show an unknown-publisher prompt on first run.

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🧭 Provenance

GenX Streamer includes two decoders of its own, for formats that some devices offer apps no decoder for (for example Samsung Galaxy phones and MPEG-2 video):

• Trier MPEG Video decodes MPEG-2 video (Main Profile, 4:2:0). It was written from the published standard, ITU-T H.262 | ISO/IEC 13818-2. Its variable-length code tables are extracted from the text of the free ITU-T edition by scripts/trier-video/extract_tables.py, not retyped from other software. Design and measurements: docs/trier-mpeg-video.md.
• Trier MPEG decodes MPEG audio Layers I and II. It was written from ISO/IEC 11172-3 and the lower-sampling-frequency extension in ISO/IEC 13818-3. Design: docs/trier-mpeg.md.

Neither decoder contains code from FFmpeg, libmpeg2 or any other decoder, and the Windows and Android apps do not include or link FFmpeg.

During development, FFmpeg (the ffmpeg-static development dependency) and libmpeg2 serve only as outside measuring tools:

• FFmpeg encodes the test streams;
• both decode the same streams so Trier's pictures can be compared with an established decoder.

Trier's output is not bit-identical to FFmpeg's: in the recorded comparison it matched exactly in 1 of 12 streams. That is expected of an independent implementation, since MPEG-2 defines an accuracy bound for the inverse DCT, not one exact result. Tests that need FFmpeg skip themselves when it is not installed.

Other formats (H.264, HEVC, AAC and the rest) are decoded by the platform: Android's Media3/MediaCodec and the system WebView.

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⚙️ Build and Test

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or newer, npm
• Rust (stable) with the aarch64-linux-android and armv7-linux-androideabi targets for Android builds
• Windows: Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (the app does not install it)
• Android builds: Android SDK, NDK 28.2.13676358 and a JDK (Android Studio's jbr works). The build scripts use ANDROID_HOME if set.
• PowerShell 7.5 or newer (the build helpers and some tooling tests)
• Python 3.11 or newer for the license inventory tooling

Build

npm ci
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts/build-windows.ps1 -Profile Release
pwsh -NoProfile -File src-tauri/scripts/build-android.ps1 -Architecture aarch64 -Optimization 2

• Windows: scripts/build-windows.ps1 writes src-tauri/target/release/GenX Streamer.exe.
• Android development builds: build-android.ps1 makes debug-signed APKs. Use -Optimization 2 for anything installed on a device.
• Signed Android releases: src-tauri/scripts/build-android-release.ps1 makes the one universal APK (arm64-v8a and armeabi-v7a), signed with the owner's key. It refuses a key kept inside the repository and checks the signer against the fingerprint compiled into the app. See docs/release-signing.md.

Test

npm run verify runs every development check in order:

• types, format and lint;
• unit and interface tests;
• the privacy scan;
• Rust format, lint and native tests;
• the casting harness;
• the tooling tests.

It writes a receipt under artifacts/development-verification/. Run it from PowerShell 7. The checks one by one:

npx vitest run                         # unit and browser-component tests
npx playwright test tests/ui           # interface tests
cd src-tauri; cargo test --lib         # native tests
node --test tests/tooling/*.test.mjs   # tooling tests
python -B -X utf8 -m unittest discover -s tests/tooling

Packaged acceptance runs (Windows, isolated data folders, owned fixtures):

node scripts/native-smoke.mjs "src-tauri/target/release/GenX Streamer.exe"
node tests/native/playback-fault-matrix.mjs --exe=<absolute exe> --sha256=<sha256>
node tests/native/channel-switch-smoke.mjs <exe> 500 <sha256>

Device checks need an approved device in the environment: GENX_APPROVED_FLIP_SERIAL, GENX_APPROVED_TV_SERIAL, and ADB for the adb path. Without them the device scripts refuse to run.

Use Playback diagnostics to capture playback, buffering, errors and expected versus measured player bounds across Free TV, Paid TV, GenXtra and Web Stream. The release quality gate uses short targeted Scan, Menu, Guide and remote-navigation checks on the exact candidate, with scoped local physical results. Fire TV Stick/Flip 2 follow-up testing is pending. Existing sustained captures remain supporting evidence; no additional five-minute interval is required by the current owner request.

Release

Every public release needs a higher version and Android version code. Check for updates compares versions; Android normally refuses lower version codes. Unpublished test rebuilds can share a version when installed manually with the same signing key. The version is written in several files; one command changes them all and checks they agree:

node scripts/bump-version.mjs patch    # 0.1.0 -> 0.1.1: fixes
node scripts/bump-version.mjs minor    # 0.1.0 -> 0.2.0: new features
node scripts/bump-version.mjs check    # do all files agree? (run by npm run verify)

Then build, package and publish:

1. Run npm run verify.
2. Build Windows with build-windows.ps1 -Profile Release, and the signed Android APK with build-android-release.ps1.
3. Make the notices and the package (below).
4. Publish a GitHub release tagged v<version> with the APK, the exe, the ZIP, SHA256SUMS, release-manifest.json and the Android notices.

node scripts/release-notices.mjs --inventory <inventory.json> --crates <crate list> --product "GenX Streamer for Windows" --output <new file>
node scripts/package-candidate.mjs --windows-exe <exe> --output-dir <new folder> --windows-profile release --mode windows-only --notices <notices> --source-revision <commit>
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts/windows-sandbox-launch-check.ps1 -Zip <zip> -Out <new folder>

The package holds the release files named with version and platform (above), a release-manifest.json and SHA256SUMS. The version comes from src-tauri/tauri.conf.json unless --version is given. The in-app updater picks its file by these names from the latest GitHub release (docs/updates.md).

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🔐 Privacy and Security

• No account, no analytics, no tracking. Channel lists, favourites, history and Paid TV accounts stay on your device; Paid TV credentials live in the operating system's protected storage.
• Shared links carry only a channel's name, logo and public stream address, never Paid TV details. Incoming links are treated as untrusted (share-links.md).
• Nearby sharing:
  • answers only devices on your own network, with a fresh six-digit code each time;
  • locks out guessing and ends after ten minutes, on Stop, or when you leave the Wi-Fi.
• Install on TV:
  • pairs only with the code the TV shows;
  • opens only GenX's own links on the TV;
  • never approves anything for you: every install is your choice on the TV (send-to-tv.md).

Before publishing or copying this repository anywhere, run:

node scripts/clean-repo.mjs scan

It blocks credentials, keys, databases, user-profile paths and private network addresses. Your own device serials, addresses and paths belong in an untracked .private-patterns.json (already in .gitignore); reviewed test placeholders are listed by fingerprint in scripts/clean-repo-allow.json.

Design notes and rule registers are in docs/. The rules carry codes such as SH-019 or TV-006 in comments and tests: docs/codes.md. Requirements: Engineering Spec.MD. Open work: TASKS.md.

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❤️ Support the Project

GenX Streamer is free, with no ads and no subscriptions. If it has earned a place on your screen:

• GitHub Sponsors
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Open Collective

The same links are in the app, in About GenX Streamer.

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🤝 Contributing

Developers are welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md explains how to set up, make and check a change; docs/components/ has a guide for each part of the app (playback, scans, the program guide, the Trier decoders, the interface and more) so you can start with the one you know best.

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📜 License

GenX Streamer's source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Copyright 2026 Doug Trier. See NOTICE for the third-party components and their licenses.

The GenX Streamer name, logo and brand artwork are not covered by the Apache License: a fork you publish should use its own name and icons. See TRADEMARK.md.