The player
One player for live channels, films, episodes, recordings and downloads. What it offers changes with what is playing, not with the platform.
On a phone
Section titled “On a phone”Tap the picture once to show the controls, again to hide them.
| Drag the bar | Seek. A burst of taps sends one seek, not a queue of them |
| Double tap left / right | Back or forward 10 seconds |
| Drag up and down, left half | Brightness |
| Drag up and down, right half | Volume |
| Pinch | Zoom the picture |
| Options | Subtitles, audio, aspect, versions, sleep timer, stream info |
| Swipe from the left edge, or Minimize | Close the player |
Turning the phone sideways while a channel plays opens the full screen, if Rotate to full screen is on in Settings → Player. It only opens it, turning back to portrait never closes it.
The full screen is sideways unless Player turns with the phone is on in the same place. Then films and channels open the way you hold the phone and turn with it, back to upright too, without closing. See Player settings.
The picture-in-picture button in the bottom bar shrinks the picture into a corner so you can use the rest of the phone. On an iPhone or iPad it also happens on its own when you leave the app; on Android you press the button first. Background audio keeps the sound going with the screen off.
On a television
Section titled “On a television”OK shows the controls. The bottom bar hides again after 2.5 seconds.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| OK | Show the controls, then act on what is focused |
| Up / Down | Previous and next channel, live only |
| Left / Right | Seek, on anything with a length |
| Hold Left / Right | Another version of this channel |
| Back | Close the player |
The row of buttons carries what applies: Versions, Subs, Record, Stop, Aspect ratio, Send to TV, and previous / next channel or episode.
Stream info
Section titled “Stream info”Options → Stream info reads out what is actually playing: resolution, frame rate, bitrate, the audio track, and the engine.
Frame rate is worth a note. For a film the app reads the rate the provider states. Live channels
state nothing, so there you get ~N fps, measured from the frames actually drawn. A stated rate
always wins over a measured one when there is one.
The engine line
Section titled “The engine line”The header says Player · Native or Player · VLC. Three decoding paths sit under the player:
- Native. The player built into the system. Hardware decoding, lowest power, first choice everywhere.
- Software decoding for codecs the hardware refuses.
- A second engine as a full fallback, for streams the native path cannot open at all. That is VLC on Android, Android TV, Fire TV, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, and mpv on Windows. The macOS build has no second engine, so its picker shows one option.
Settings → Player → Player engine offers Auto, Native and the second engine under its own name. Auto starts Native and switches only when needed; a fixed choice never falls back, which is what you want when you already know one of them works and you are tired of the switch.
See Picture, sound and engines for the rest.