mpvNova Release: An Android TV Focused Fork Of mpv-android
Hey everyone, I’m finally putting mpvNova out there publicly.
mpvNova is a personal project I made for myself first. If anyone else wants to use it, feel free. If it helps your Android TV setup, awesome. If it does not, no hard feelings.
What mpvNova Is
mpvNova is an Android TV / Google TV focused fork of mpv-android. Under the hood, it still uses libmpv, so the goal was not to reinvent mpv. The goal was to make mpv feel better from ten feet away, with a remote in your hand, without constantly digging through mpv.conf every time something needs tweaking.
A lot of mpvNova is basically taking things mpv can already do through configuration and bringing them into easier TV-friendly UI toggles, panels, and settings.
Why I Made It
I still kind of cannot believe I had to go out of my way to make this. There are a bunch of Android mpv forks, but basically none primarily targeting Android TV. Yes, mpv-android can run on Android TV, but the UI and accessibility for actual remote/couch use just were not where I wanted them to be.
Stremio is also so close to greatness, but the lack of a lot of these accessibility/playback toggles drove me a little nuts. I mainly use mpvNova with Stremio as an external player, plus another app I cannot really name here. Continue watching and autoplay should work now unlike original mpv-android, thanks to extra intent handling for external player launches.
I have also been experimenting with the native Stremio app itself, mostly around bringing the grid-style layout from Android mobile over to the TV app. That is a separate side project, but it is already about 75% complete.
Main Things mpvNova Adds
- Android TV launcher support and a TV-first home screen.
- Remote-friendly player controls with stronger D-pad focus behavior.
- Custom subtitle, audio, chapter, decoder, and settings panels.
- Smart subtitle matching when Persist subtitle settings is enabled.
- Dual subtitle controls, including primary and secondary subtitle handling.
- Subtitle size, position, delay, and styling controls.
- Chapter markers, quick chapter skipping, and a compact chapter picker.
- Decoder controls with HW+, HW, SW, G-NEXT, and Shield Anime modes.
- NVIDIA Shield decoder mode for H.264 Hi10P anime/video playback.
- Voice Boost, Volume Boost, DRC, Audio Normalization, and downmix options.
- Multiple color themes, AMOLED mode, and pure black surfaces.
- In-app GitHub update checks and APK update handoff.
- Support and debug export tools for easier issue reporting.
Subtitles, Audio, And Shield Stuff
There also are not many Android TV players that handle ASS/SSA subtitles properly while also giving you useful audio filter controls. Standard mpv can do a lot of this through config, but that is exactly the problem: it is powerful, but not exactly friendly when you just want your TV setup to behave.
On NVIDIA Shield specifically, I also wanted a sane software decode path for H.264 Hi10P anime, since the only other player I knew handling that well was VLC.
Important Scope Notes
This is strictly an Android TV player. There will be zero Android mobile support. There are already a ton of mpv forks for phones and tablets, and this project is focused on Android TV, Google TV, sideloading, remotes, and playback from the couch.
Video playback issues are still mostly down to mpv, libmpv, FFmpeg, device decoders, Android media quirks, and the dependencies mpv uses. I do have control over updating some bundled dependencies, but I do not control every decoder, device, or mpv-level issue.
HDR and Dolby Vision are not supported in the way people usually mean when they ask for proper TV HDR/DV playback. mpv tonemaps HDR. If you are expecting proper HDR or Dolby Vision passthrough/support, this is not the player you are looking for.
Audio Filters
The audio filters for Voice Boost, Volume Boost, DRC, Audio Normalization, and downmix tools are subject to change.
Current filters are here:
If you know FFmpeg audio filters better than me and see something that should be changed, feel free to let me know. I also reverse engineered some of Vimu’s DRC / Center Channel Boost behavior for reference. Sorry Vimu.
AI Note
AI-assisted tooling was used during development, mainly for UI iteration, build script work, release workflow cleanup, documentation, and debugging support. It did not replace project direction, testing, or final review. This is still a personal project built around my own use case and decisions.
If AI-assisted development bothers you, that is completely fair, but this probably is not the project for you. If you do not care, I hope mpvNova helps your Android TV setup.
Icon Note
If anyone wants to make a better icon for the app, feel free to make a request or open something on GitHub. I am very open to help there.
Bugs And Issues
All in all, this is a personal Android TV player project. If you find bugs or weird behavior, feel free to report them, but I cannot promise every issue will take priority. Some things will get fixed depending on the issue, how reproducible it is, and whether it is actually in mpvNova’s control.
GitHub, APKs, screenshots, and README:
