Mecool KM9 (AndroidTV 9) with Kodi and Internet TV

VideoStrong Mecool KM9 Pro Deluxe on Android TV 9. This Box is excellent, runs fast and stable, and features a Blutooth Voice enabled Remote. The box can also be controlled with an IR Remote, so it can be controlled with Logitech's Harmony Remote System.

Setup

  • Set When to start (time until screensaver gets activated), Screen saver, and Put device to sleep in Settings → Device Preferences → Screen saver
  • Set Language to English (United States) or German (Switzerland) in Settings → Device Preferences → Language
  • Sign in to your Google account in Settings → Accounts & Sign In
  • Set date and time in Settings → Device Preferences → Date & time
  • Enable Developer Mode by hitting 8 times on Settings → Device Preferences → About → Build

Pre-installed Apps

  • FX File Explorer
  • YouTube for TV
  • Facebook Watch
  • Spotify
  • Live Channels
  • Gallery
  • Movie Playerunused
  • Sideload Launcherunused
  • OTA Update
  • Android TV Remote Service
  • Google Play Store
  • Google Play Games
  • Google Play Movies & TV
  • Google Play Music
  • Settings
  • Advanced Settings

Install from Google Play Store

  • ATV Launcher Pro
  • Kodi, follow the Kodi Estuary install guide
  • Weather (by MacroPinch)
  • Zattoo TV app (Switzerland) for Android TV OS, must be installed from Swiss app store over VPN (geoblocked) or when located in Switzerland
  • VLC
  • Line TV from Thai app store
  • Haystack TV
  • OpenVPN for Android, follow the Debian OpenVPN install guide
  • TV Memory Cleaner
  • Analiti speed test wifi analyzer
  • AIDA64
  • Haystack TV
  • Spiegel TV
  • tubi

Install from Aptoide TV App Store

  • SSHelper (default username=admin, password=admin)
  • Screenshot Easy
  • TotalCommander

Install from apk file

ATV Launcher Pro Setup

  1. Align apps on the second level home screen.
  2. Change to 7 rows to align size of banners.
  3. Create folder Unused and move all apps which will never be used on this box into it.
  4. Create folder System and move all apps which should only be used by the system admin into it.
  5. Create folder TV and move all TV apps into it.
  6. Create folder Media and move all media apps and Kodi into it.
  7. Create folder Games and move all game apps into it.

Special Apps

Opera for Android TV

  • This app version is very old, but the only one which installs without requirement of running on a Sony TV
  • I might work on a mod for a newer version when I have time
  • When run from the Android TV home screen Opera navigates to Sony's local home page (e.g. in Thai if located in Thailand). To avoid this, I added a local redirect to the DNS resolver (dnsmasq) and a redirect to a special page of my wiki website in Apache's virtual host configuration.
  • When run from within ATV Launcher Opera starts without navigating to Sony's local home page.

Additional Apps

Games

Useful apps with working WIFI

  • AirScreen
  • CetusPlay
  • Simple WiFi Widget, then create a WiFi widget in the top left widget area

Optional for some use cases

  • Steam Link
  • Launch on Boot
  • System app remover

Harmony Remote

  1. For Harmony Remote programming, use MECOOL as mfg, and BB2 Pro as device
  2. The stock remote has a numeric key pad, which we can use to get Playback and Navigation functionality properly set up, as we do not need numeric keys in Kodi.
  3. Open MyHarmony on your PC, then edit the button assignments for the Kodi activity. Assign numeric keys to the Harmony remote keys which correspond to Kodi functions according to below's table.
  4. In Kodi, use Keymap Editor to map the keys to Kodi functions. Run Keymap Editor in Program Addons, then go to Edit → Global and chose the Action Category. Assign all keys, then Save them.
Mecool BT Remote Mecool BB2 Pro Remote Harmony Remote GamePad Kodi Function Action Category
Home Home Exit Home - -
OK OK OK A Select -
OK (long press) Menu Menu - - -
Info - - -
Return Return Return B - -
Voice - - - - -
1 key Play Play Playback
2 key Pause Pause Playback
3 key Stop Stop Playback
SkipBack Skip Backward Previous Playback
5 key Fast Backward Rewind Playback
SkipForward Skip Forward Next Playback
7 key Fast Forward Fast Forward Playback
8 key Ch Page Up Navigation
9 key Pg Page Down Navigation
0 key Record Radio app Addons
LG 3D TV Remote Harmony Remote
3D Red
DirectionLeft Green
DirectionRight Yellow
OK Blue