MediaHub 0.5.5-beta — Accounts, Browsing & Stability Update
MediaHub 0.5.5-beta is now available for Android TV.
This release combines several new features with quality-of-life improvements and another round of stability work based on feedback from people using MediaHub across different Android TV devices, Fire TV hardware, IPTV providers and Media Server platforms.
The biggest new addition is support for multiple IPTV accounts.
Until now, switching between IPTV services meant signing out of the current provider, entering the details for another account and then doing the same again whenever you wanted to switch back.
With 0.5.5-beta, multiple IPTV accounts can now be saved inside MediaHub at the same time.
Each account can be given an optional friendly name such as Main IPTV, Backup IPTV or Sports, and the currently selected provider is clearly marked as being in use. Switching provider is then simply a case of opening Settings → Accounts and selecting the account you want to use.
MediaHub keeps provider-specific information separate as well, including favourites, category configuration, Recent Channels, watched/resume information and IPTV cache data. This means switching between providers should feel like returning to that account rather than starting from scratch each time.
Existing single-account installations are automatically migrated into the new account system when upgrading.
Easier IPTV Category Management
Another common piece of feedback has been around IPTV providers that return hundreds of Live TV, Movie or Series categories.
Managing these one at a time with a TV remote can become particularly time-consuming, so Hide All and Show All controls have now been added to the IPTV category manager.
This allows an entire section to be hidden first, after which only the categories you actually want can be enabled.
Existing category ordering and pinned categories are retained, so using the new visibility controls does not unnecessarily reset the rest of your setup.
Improved Media Server Browsing
Jellyfin, Emby and Plex users also get improved library browsing in this release.
Media Server library pages now support Search, Sort and Filter controls similar to those already used throughout the IPTV Movies and Series sections.
Content can be searched directly from the TV, sorted by options such as A-Z, newest, oldest and rating, and filtered by favourites, in-progress, watched or unwatched content.
These improvements are shared across applicable Media Server areas including normal Libraries, Collections, Recently Added, Next Up and Playlists.
The aim is to make large personal libraries much easier to browse without changing the familiar MediaHub interface.
Fire TV and Low-Memory Stability
0.5.5-beta also includes another substantial stability pass aimed particularly at lower-powered Android and Fire TV devices.
A small number of testers reported MediaHub unexpectedly closing when entering Live TV on some Fire TV Sticks. Investigation highlighted a number of areas where EPG and catalogue loading could create unnecessary temporary memory pressure on smaller devices.
Normal Live TV browsing now uses lighter programme data where the full TV Guide information is not required, while MediaHub automatically reduces background EPG activity when Android identifies a device as low-memory.
Artwork memory usage has also been made more conservative, and IPTV/EPG cache handling has been strengthened so problematic or unusually large saved data can be safely rebuilt rather than repeatedly causing problems.
These changes are designed to happen quietly in the background. MediaHub should look and behave the same, while placing less pressure on devices with limited resources.
Diagnostics has also been expanded with additional memory information to make reports from different Android TV and Fire TV hardware easier to investigate.
What Else Is Included?
0.5.5-beta retains everything introduced in recent versions, including two-channel MultiView, Live TV pause and rewind, automatic stream recovery, Recent Channels, Last Channel, Jellyfin/Emby/Plex support, Continue Watching improvements, Previous/Next Episode controls and MediaHub VPN support.
MediaHub Management 0.9.1-alpha is also being released alongside 0.5.5-beta.
Management now supports multiple centrally configured IPTV providers. Administrators can give each provider a friendly name while keeping the underlying provider address hidden, and users simply choose the provider they want before entering their own username and password.
The updated Docker and Native Ubuntu packages also include the latest 0.5.5 managed Android app engine.
MediaHub remains in Beta, so feedback is always appreciated. In particular, I’d be interested to hear from anyone regularly switching between multiple IPTV providers or testing the new release on lower-powered Fire TV hardware.
You can join the MediaHub Discord for troubleshooting, suggestions and development updates:
https://discord.gg/8dyJPJYMF5
Thanks again to everyone testing MediaHub and sending feedback. A number of the improvements in 0.5.5-beta came directly from real-world tester reports, and that continues to be one of the most useful parts of developing the app.