The hardest part of IPTV on a TV is usually not the player, it is typing a server address and a password letter by letter with a remote. This guide sets up Glaze TV on Android TV so that you type almost nothing on the TV itself.

You need an Android TV or Google TV device (a smart TV running Android TV, a Chromecast with Google TV, or an Android TV box with Google Play), a phone, and your playlist details from your provider.

1. Install Glaze TV on the TV

On the TV: open Google Play, search for Glaze TV and install it.
From your phone or computer: open the Glaze TV page on Google Play, choose Install, and pick your TV from the device list. The app arrives on the TV by itself.

2. Install Glaze on your phone and add your playlist there

Install Glaze TV on your phone as well (Google Play or App Store), create a free account and add your playlist. On a phone keyboard this takes a minute. How to add an M3U or Xtream Codes playlist walks through it.

Xtream and M3U link playlists are saved to your account. That is what lets the TV pick them up in the next step. (A playlist added as a file stays on the phone.)

Open Glaze on the TV. The sign-in screen shows a QR code and a six-digit code.

On your phone, open Glaze and go to Account Management, then Link Device.
Tap Connect with QR code and point the camera at the TV, or type the six-digit code.
Confirm the sign-in on the phone.

The TV signs in within a few seconds, with your profiles, playlists, favorites and watch history. The code stays valid while it is on screen and renews itself; if it ever expires, select it to get a new one.

Do not want an account? Choose Continue as Guest on the TV and add the playlist there with the on-screen keyboard. Everything then stays on the TV only.

4. Find your way around with the remote

Live TV has three views: Strip, List and Guide. The guide is a grid with a timeline, if your provider supplies program data. See Why is the program guide (EPG) empty? if it stays blank.
Search covers movies and series. If your remote has a microphone button, you can search by voice.
Continue Watching on the home screen picks up the episode you started on your phone, from the same second.

5. Settings worth knowing on a TV

These are in the player settings while something is playing:

Match frame rate (AFR): switches the TV’s refresh rate to match the video, which removes the slight judder you can see in films on some TVs.
Hardware video tunneling: for live channels; can make playback smoother on TVs that support it.
Volume leveling: evens out loud adverts and quiet dialogue.

On slower devices Glaze turns on Performance mode automatically, which uses lighter images and animations so that the interface stays responsive.

If your box shows the phone layout

Some Android boxes do not identify themselves as a TV, and the app opens with the touch layout. Go to Settings, Device, and turn on TV interface (remote control), then close and reopen the app.

What works differently on a TV

Downloads for offline viewing are available on phones, tablets and computers, not on the TV.
Multi-view (several channels on one screen) is a Windows feature.

This guide was written by the team that makes Glaze TV. Glaze is a player; it does not sell channels, movies or subscriptions.