Reddit is one of the internet's greatest sources of funny and interesting videos. Its user base is extremely active, and a system of upvotes and downvotes ensures that the best content always rises to the top.
With Android TV's casting abilities, you might think that the best way to watch Reddit videos on your Shield TV, Mi Box, or Nexus Player is to install a good Reddit client on your smartphone, then cast the content over to your big screen. But that's the same experience you'd get with a $35 Chromecast, which is quite a letdown considering how powerful the Android TV platform can be.
As a Redditor and Nexus Player owner, developer Justin Ghan recognized this problem, and set about creating the first Reddit client made specifically for Android TV. The end result of his work is an app that makes it incredibly easy to browse Reddit videos and discover awesome content on your Android TV.
Step 1: Install HopWatch
Ghan's app is called HopWatch for reddit, and the full version is available on the Google Play Store for $0.99. To get the app installed, simply log into your Google account from any web browser, then head to the HopWatch install page at this link. After purchasing the app, make sure to select your Android TV device from the drop-down menu before clicking the "Continue" button.
Step 2: Watch Reddit Videos
HopWatch is incredibly easy to use, and doesn't require any setup before you can jump in and start watching great videos. By default, the developer has included a handful of popular video-related subreddits, and each of these gets its own row in the interface.
Subreddit rows that are sortable will have a red icon at the beginning of the list. Simply click this icon to change the sorting method from "Hot" to "Top - Day," "Top - Week," and so on.
After a series of updates, HopWatch can now diplay almost all GIFs and photos posted on Reddit, in addition to being able to play YouTube videos and even Streamable links. To view any content, simply click the thumbnail.
When you launch a video, you'll get a handy toast message that shows the title of the corresponding post on Reddit. This helps provide context, and it allows you to read the entire title when portions are cut off in the thumbnail view.
Step 3: Add Your Favorite Subreddits
To customize your HopWatch experience, scroll down to the "Actions" section at the bottom of the app and click "Customize Rows."
From here, you can reorder or delete subreddit listings by using the up and down arrows and the delete button.
To add a new subreddit, start by clicking the "+" button at the bottom of the screen.
This will add another "/R/VIDEOS" entry to the bottom of the list. Click the subreddit name in this new entry to change it.
From here, use the on-screen keyboard to enter the name of your favorite subreddit. Keep in mind that only subreddits which contain YouTube submissions will display any content.
This is one of those apps that truly showcases Android TV's capabilities as a platform, and I'm personally a big fan of HopWatch now. What subreddits did you add to your HopWatch stream? Let us know in the comment section below.
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