Your libraries, live TV and files on the big screen. Browse on your phone, watch on TV, and choose how your videos are played.
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Why?
Ambient TV started with a few things I wanted for my own movie nights: wake the server from the couch, choose the player and adjust the picture to suit the film.
It grew into one place for media libraries, network folders and live TV, with a remote-friendly interface on TV and touch controls on phones and tablets.
What's inside
All sources, one app
Bring Plex, Jellyfin and Emby libraries together with YouTube through SmartTube, Spotify and DLNA sources.
Phone & TV together
Pair by QR code on the same home network. Use your phone as a touchpad or keyboard, start supported content on TV, and transfer accounts and settings with confirmation. Keep Ambient TV open on both devices.
Files without a media server
Open local folders or connect via SMB, NFS, WebDAV or SFTP. Browse your own videos and music directly on the NAS or network storage.
MPV · VLC · Media3
Three engines in one shared player, picture settings remembered per title. A-B repeat, frame step, bookmarks and screenshots.
Upscalers & SVP
GPU shader upscalers like NNEDI3, RAVU, FSRCNNX, Anime4K, FSR – plus experimental SVP motion smoothing.
HDR
Display-mode matching, HDR tone mapping and optional SDR → HDR10 (Android 14+).
Wake-on-LAN
Wakes sleeping servers and NAS sources before connecting.
WireGuard on the go
Built-in WireGuard, switchable per system – your libraries away from home.
Live TV, at your pace
TVHeadend and IPTV playlists with a programme guide and reminders. Enable timeshift to pause and rewind supported MPEG-TS streams; schedule, edit and delete recordings and timers.
A home screen of your own
Arrange Continue watching, recently added titles, favourite channels and library shortcuts in the order that works for you. Android TV system and voice search find your titles too.
Subtitles that fit
Choose preferred languages and your own look for text subtitles, load subtitle files beside your videos and adjust their timing – or let a downloaded subtitle sync itself to the server's. Online subtitle search is available with your own OpenSubtitles API key.
Music & photos
Browse music folders with album tags and cover images, play albums without gaps with synced lyrics, try spectrum or projectM visualisations, or show photos as a slideshow with gentle pans and zooms.
Spotify setup
Ambient TV does not include a Spotify client ID. Create your own in the Spotify Developer Dashboard and enter it in the app to sign in.
- Open the Spotify Developer Dashboard, choose Create app, enter a name and description, and select Web API.
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Add and save both redirect URIs:
ambienttv://spotify-auth— sign-in on the devicehttps://seinist.github.io/ambient-tv-spotify-callback/spotify-callback.html— QR sign-in on TV; the page forwards the code to the TV on your local network
- Copy the Client ID from your Spotify app's Settings.
- In Ambient TV, open Settings › Media sources & accounts › Spotify › Spotify account, enter your Spotify client ID, then choose Sign in.