Hi All
I am researching set-top box application development. I want to understand how you learn the platform. Do you start with the documentation portal for Android TV? Do you find the portal useful? Do you skip it and learn from a blog or video post?
Please DM me if you have any questions.
Learn Java or kotlin (bleh, imo), then Android studio. That's all there really is to it
For the learning process find a Java book, read the whole thing doing the programming excersizes
edit: i'm currently doing a java class, learning from book Big Java, 6e, Cay Horstmann, John Wiley and Sons, Inc , it's not so bad
I'm already an Android developer so I know the fundamentals. I've been interested in building an app for Android TV so I've been looking into what Google has provided in the Leanback library as those are the building blocks of an app.
Download Android Studio if you haven't already. Then go to the Google Codelabs GitHub and run through some labs: Convert a mobile app for TV and ATV Homescreen row apps are good to get familiar with the general ecosystem.
If you want to hook into Live Channels, which I'd highly suggest, check out the docs and code samples in Android Studio for Android TIF (TV Input Framework)...this explains the key concepts of how to wire up your content to Live Channels.
If you want to make a standalone app, look into standard app development, then adapt to the TV platform/ui.
It's not easy, even for experienced developers, but the documentation is surprisingly well done. Some bits might be a version or two behind, but if you read between the lines, you can generally find your way.
I haven't done much development on the TV platform, I'm just a Android Wear guy, but I've kicked around the TV demo apps enough to know the above. I tried making an IPTV app for Live Channels and ended up starting over too many times to count before surrendering to the true experts.
r/AndroidDev is a great sub for questions you can't find answers to on your own after an hour or so, this sub here is more news and general user discussion.
Hope that helps. Good luck!!
You might want to spend some time poking around here: https://developer.android.com/tv/
And also look into ordering an ADT-2.
/r/androidtvdev
The Android documentation is pretty good. I'd start with an example app and compile it, change some things and run it and see what effect your changes have.