Dellji asked 5 years ago
I am testing Video Kiosk with a A95X Android TV box with Android 7.1 and no matter why setting I use the display doesn’t change.
I have try my PC monitor and a Viso TV.
Is there some trick to getting Portrait mode to work
Jim
admin Staff answered 5 years ago
Standard TVs vent heat from the bottom of the display to the top of the display in landscape orientation so many TV boxes have firmware that is patched to disable portrait mode. The idea is that the TVs are not to be rotated physically because they may end up over heating.
There are commercially available displays that do work fine in portrait mode but they are quite expensive.
Having said all that, if you are not concerned about the TV overheating, there are some TV boxes, like the V88 which I have tested, that do allow portrait orientation. A more extensive list can be found in the comments of this blog post:
Dellji
replied 5 years ago I must be missing something because I downloaded “set Orientation” and but I don’t see the “Disabled” or the arrow you are talking about. It’s in the notification bar.
adminYou don’t need that App. I did not mean for you to download that App. I want you to read the comments because in the comments folks mention some boxes, in addition to the V88, that support portrait mode. To repeat you don’t need that App you need a box that supports portrait mode – read the comments – uninstall the App – get a different box with the correct firmware.
Dellji
replied 5 years ago I purchased a Scishion V88 Mars and the option to set box to Portrait mode doesn’t exist.
I saw a recommended one from Amazon Canada in different question on this forum but they don’t ship to US
I am trying to use your software in a digital signage at our club.
Does anybody have a verified box that is running in Portrait mode that they ordered recently?
admin Staff answered 5 years ago
On my V88 there is a System Settings > Display > Rotate the contents of the screen that gives the options of 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees. This, for me, works fine. If your V88 does not have that you could try Ugoos UT3 which I have read works but have not tried. Typically though, for portrait mode to work you need to purchase a commercial display and these are quite expensive. Fewer and fewer Android TV boxes provide support for portrait mode in the firmware and you need to check with the vendor prior to purchasing the device since this is controlled by the Android Firmware and not by Applications.
Dellji
replied 5 years ago What model of the V88 do you have?
What version of Android is it running?
I have the original V88. I think its running Android v5. You can’t get this model anymore. I think, rather than looking for the now very rare or very expensive box that supports portrait mode a more pragmatic solution is to rotate the content in the production tools.
Dellji
replied 5 years ago I have found a way to do it with a V88 Mars box running Android 7.1.
It involves modifying the build.prop file, Only one line ro.sf.hwrotstion. Changing it from 0 to 90.
I would attach the procedure here but I don’t see anyway to attach a PDF file.
Please send it to me using email at burningthumb at gmail dot com and I will post it and add it to the users manual.
Dellji
replied 5 years ago Just e-mailed it to you
admin Staff answered 5 years ago
Here is the document provide by Dellji converted to HTML and edited to include other major operating systems and officially supported versions of the adb developer tool.
Changing Android TV box to Portrait mode 11/12/2018
Model V88 Mars – Android 7.1.2
To do this you will need adb, the Android Debug Bridge, if you don’t have/want the full Android Studio you can install adb as a standalone tool. The official download here
If you google “minimal adb for mac or windows or linux” you will find lots of help online.
What is adb?
The Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a development tool that facilitates communication between an Android device and a personal computer. This communication is most often done over a USB cable, but Wi-Fi connections are also supported.
adb is like a “Swiss-army knife” of Android development. It provides numerous functions that are described in detail by the command adb –help
To use adb with a device connected over WIFI, you must enable Internet Adb in the device system settings, under Developer options.
On Android 4.2 and higher, the Developer options screen is hidden by default.
To make it visible, go to
- Settings > About
- Scroll down and tap Build number seven (7) times.
- While in the About item note the IP address of the Android TV box, write it down
- Return to the previous screen to find Developer options at the bottom.
We will be editing a file in the Android system named Build.prop, don’t worry it’s only a text file and can be edited with Windows Notepad or any other Text editor.
First, we will adb connect to your Android TV box, then run adb as root, connect to it again, remount the Android TV box’s filesystem, then pull the current /system/build.prop to the current directory (or wherever you want to save it):
Connect your Android device and adb host computer to a common WIFI network accessible to both.
- Turn on Internet Adb
- Exit the Developer options 7) Exit the Settings
adb connect [ip address of Android TV box] adb root
adb connect [ip address of Android TV box] adb remount
adb pull /system/build.prop
Then, edit the pulled build.prop file with a text editor. You want to focus on this particular line in the file (It was on line 77 on my device’s file):
ro.sf.hwrotation=0
Change it to:
# other possible values:
# 0 = Landscape
# 90 = Portrait
# 180 = Reverse Landscape # 270 = Reverse Portrait
ro.sf.hwrotation=90
Save the modified build.prop file, then push it back to the Android TV box and reboot the device using these commands:
adb push build.prop /system
adb reboot
Note that the “Rockchip Kernel” boot splash will still be upside down. This is normal. Once the Android logo is displayed during boot, it will show the orientation from the newly pushed build.prop file.
Hope everyone finds this useful when using the Android TV box. Also you might want to turn developer option back off