Enable Richer Sound with Dolby on Mi TV
Wait, Dolby is not enabled by default? Yeah, I know, right? That was my reaction as well. Anyway, you need to switch on Dolby on the Mi TV manually. For that, scroll down to the apps carousel, head into the settings, then sound and lastly, Dolby.
Clear Cable Watch and Search History on Mi TV
To feed data to its artificially intelligent recommendation engine, the Mi TV logs all your cable activities like what channels you’ve searched for or which ridiculous Indian soap opera you binge-watched. Thankfully, you can clear these if you want. To get rid of your cable watch or search history, navigate to the settings page, then “set-top box”, “TV guide”, and you’ll find the options located at the bottom.
Install Android Apps on Mi TV
Mi TV, at its core, breathes Android which is why you can side-load compatible applications. It’s not as straightforward as a regular Android TV, though. There’s no Play Store, therefore you’ll have to go through the strenuous process of installing them from an external drive. Once you’ve copied an APK on a USB pendrive or something, connect it to the Mi TV and wait for a pop-up. Hit “Open” and click on the file to begin the installation process. If successful, it will be added to the apps section. You can also launch the TV manager, click the “Install via USB” or browse the external drive manually in case you skipped or missed the pop-up.
Clear Memory and Storage on Mi TV
One of the small letdowns of all the three Mi TV variants available in India is the lack of ample onboard storage. It’s especially disappointing when you consider that the software consumes roughly 3GB and you can not mount an external drive as an inbuilt memory on PatchWall, unlike Android TV. PatchWall does, however, come with a nifty manager that lets you quickly exterminate unnecessary data and cache building up in the background. You can read more about it here.
Cast Your Smartphone Screen to Mi TV
The only seamless way you can cast your screen to the Mi TV without any external accessory is if you have a Miracast compatible phone like the OnePlus 5T. If you do own one, head into the apps section, then wireless screen sharing and connect both the Mi TV and your phone to the same network. On your phone, open up settings, search for “cast”, and in the three dots menu at the top, enable “wireless display”. All set. Mi TV will show up in the list and you can simply click it to begin casting.
Set an Image as Screensaver on Mi TV
The Mi TV also lets you configure any picture as the screensaver. Once you’ve transferred the files, go to the Gallery from the apps section, click the image, press the menu button on the remote, and select set as a screensaver.
Mi User Experience Program
The telly is collecting my data?! Well, kind of. But there’s no need to freak out. It’s entirely anonymous, as per Xiaomi. You can also turn it off too if you’re THAT paranoid. The option — called Mi User Experience Program — is situated in the security settings. Once you head there just do what you’re supposed to do!
Enable Eye Protection on Mi TV
The Mi TV also features a nifty eye protection tweak which alters the screen’s hue to marginally bring down the blue light effect. It’s present in the display settings. It can seem a bit unorthodox at first on a television but you will get used to it in just a few minutes.
Mi Remote App
Xiaomi has bundled a series of intuitive tools on the Mi TV which allow you to operate content from all the sources through a single remote. But if you own an Android phone, you can get rid of that as well thanks to the company’s Mi Remote app. In addition to just letting you control the Mi TV, the app comes with a bunch of handy shortcuts like taking a screenshot. Here’s how to set it up.
Uninstall Apps on Mi TV
In addition to cleaning the memory, you can also uninstall applications on the Mi TV. There are two ways you can do that. The first one involves heading into the apps list and clicking the delete button on the top. You can also launch the TV manager we discussed earlier and choose the uninstall apps option.
Cast YouTube Videos From a Different Network on Mi TV
The YouTube app which comes preloaded on the Mi TV allows you to cast clips from your phone irrespective of which network you’re connected to. To enable the feature, launch the app, go to the settings from the left pane, and click “link with TV code”. Fire up the YouTube app on your phone, enter settings, and tap watch on TV. Enter the code which is being flashed on the TV and hit “link”. So those were eleven tips for your Mi TV. We hope it helped you get the most out of it. Let us know in the comments section if we missed any good ones.
