TiviGlass records to the device, to attached storage, or straight onto a network share. Recording needs a paid plan (Essentials or Premium).
Stopping and recovery: Stop cancels a stalled stream connection and finishes saving the buffered footage before updating the recording. A slow or disconnected drive can still delay that final save. Interrupted recordings respect your simultaneous-recording limit when restarting and keep their original planned end time. If a provider returns an invalid byte range during a catch-up resume or HLS download, TiviGlass rejects it before adding those bytes to the recording. If storage cannot report the saved size at Stop, the recording keeps its file reference and last known size.
Fusion recovery (Premium): with Settings › While watching › When a channel fails · Fusion › Switch service when a channel fails set to Automatic, a live recording can recover onto a verified alternative of the same channel, including an HD or SD feed. Your cross-playlist setting and “never switch automatically” channel choices still apply. Suggest alternatives and Off keep recordings on the selected source; only Automatic enables recording recovery. Recovery tries at most three replacement sources, keeps the original stop time and never changes the channel you are watching. A recovered recording stays one library entry and plays its saved parts in order. There can be a gap or overlap at a switch; missing footage is not restored. On USB, NAS or Plex, the parts are separate media files. Storage failures do not trigger channel switching, and catch-up downloads keep their existing recovery behaviour.
The Recordings screen: one list with Recording now, Scheduled, Series Link and Library, each headed with its count, and Storage, New timer and Recording settings along the top. With a remote, the panel on the right shows the row you rest on: what it is, when it was made, how long and how big it is, and for anything that did not record properly, the reason in full. Press OK to play a recording. On a timer, a Series Link or a recording that can’t be played, OK takes you to the panel’s actions; Right does that from any row. The actions are Stop recording, Delete recording, Change recording limit, Cancel timer and Remove series link, depending on the row. Left or Back returns to the same row. On a touch screen, tap a recording to play it, or tap anything else (or long-press any row) to open the same details and actions from the right.
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Record what’s on now Essentials
Path: Guide → hold OK → Record, or player → press OK → REC
How
- In the Guide, hold OK on the channel and choose Record live (or Record programme). While watching full screen, press OK, move to REC and press OK again.
- The Recordings section shows it live with its current size or percentage.
- Open that channel’s Record menu again and choose Stop recording, select Stop on its row in Recordings, or use Stop & keep on the recording notification where your device exposes notification actions. On Android TV, the silent recording notification is offered in the system notification panel; selecting it opens TiviGlass. You can always stop from the app. Everything captured so far stays in your library and can be watched.
Good to know
While anything is recording, a red dot sits on the Recordings icon in the sidebar, so you can see it from wherever you are without opening the section. It is on the icon rather than the label, so it shows on the narrow rail too.
Recording continues in the background while you carry on watching something else — you don’t need to stay on the channel. If your provider cuts the stream short, the recording says so. A capture that stops well before the programme was due to finish is marked Partial with the length it got — it still plays, and everything captured is kept, but it is never presented as a finished recording. The line under it says what TiviGlass could see at the time, not a guess. If this box was also watching live or running another recording, it says so and points you at your plan’s connection limit, which is the usual cause. If nothing else on this box was streaming, it says that instead — because then the connection limit is unlikely to be the answer and counting your connections is the wrong errand. Take the channel name and the time to your provider in that case. (It can only see this box: another TV, a phone, or another app on the same line still counts against your plan and TiviGlass has no way to know.) If the recording is still within its scheduled window, TiviGlass picks it back up on its own. You do not have to leave TiviGlass open. A recording in progress keeps going in the background, and carries on if you go back to your TV’s home screen or swipe TiviGlass out of recent apps. It stops early only if the TV force-stops TiviGlass or restarts, and even then everything captured up to that point is kept and plays. If TiviGlass is stopped or restarted only after a recording has already reached its planned end, that recording is saved as complete rather than marked as interrupted, and the line under it says which happened. And if the programme is still on air, TiviGlass picks the recording back up by itself — you do not have to open the app for that to happen. It checks about every ten minutes for as long as the scheduled window is still open, so a recording interrupted overnight carries on into the same library entry rather than waiting until the next morning. It cannot recover the minutes between the interruption and the next check, so a long recording that was cut short may have a gap; everything either side of it is kept. If the line under a recording says Android closed TiviGlass because the box ran low on working memory (RAM), that is the memory apps run in, not storage space. It does not mean your drive is full, and more free space would not have prevented it. A window with under a minute left is not reopened, because restarting the stream for it would not be worth the discontinuity.
Recording continues in the background while you carry on watching something else — you don’t need to stay on the channel. If your provider cuts the stream short, the recording says so. A capture that stops well before the programme was due to finish is marked Partial with the length it got — it still plays, and everything captured is kept, but it is never presented as a finished recording. The line under it says what TiviGlass could see at the time, not a guess. If this box was also watching live or running another recording, it says so and points you at your plan’s connection limit, which is the usual cause. If nothing else on this box was streaming, it says that instead — because then the connection limit is unlikely to be the answer and counting your connections is the wrong errand. Take the channel name and the time to your provider in that case. (It can only see this box: another TV, a phone, or another app on the same line still counts against your plan and TiviGlass has no way to know.) If the recording is still within its scheduled window, TiviGlass picks it back up on its own. You do not have to leave TiviGlass open. A recording in progress keeps going in the background, and carries on if you go back to your TV’s home screen or swipe TiviGlass out of recent apps. It stops early only if the TV force-stops TiviGlass or restarts, and even then everything captured up to that point is kept and plays. If TiviGlass is stopped or restarted only after a recording has already reached its planned end, that recording is saved as complete rather than marked as interrupted, and the line under it says which happened. And if the programme is still on air, TiviGlass picks the recording back up by itself — you do not have to open the app for that to happen. It checks about every ten minutes for as long as the scheduled window is still open, so a recording interrupted overnight carries on into the same library entry rather than waiting until the next morning. It cannot recover the minutes between the interruption and the next check, so a long recording that was cut short may have a gap; everything either side of it is kept. If the line under a recording says Android closed TiviGlass because the box ran low on working memory (RAM), that is the memory apps run in, not storage space. It does not mean your drive is full, and more free space would not have prevented it. A window with under a minute left is not reopened, because restarting the stream for it would not be worth the discontinuity.
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Schedule a timer Essentials
Path: Sidebar → Recordings → New timer
How
- Search for and deliberately pick the channel; TiviGlass never silently chooses the first one.
- Pick the date and the start and end times. Five-minute steps carry across the hour, and a timer made near midnight starts tomorrow.
- Set it to repeat daily or weekly if you want, then save — it appears under Scheduled. Once a one-off timer has recorded, it leaves Scheduled and the recording is in Library, so there is only one thing to delete. A timer that could not record stays under Scheduled saying why (for example Missed or Not recorded) until you remove it.
- The line under New timer says what will be recorded in plain words (for example “Records News 24 every Mon, Fri, 18:00 – 18:30 · 30 min”) and changes as you do, so you can check it before you press Schedule.
Good to know
A timer does not need TiviGlass to be open — it wakes the app at the right moment and records on its own. If your TV has blocked exact alarms for TiviGlass, the Recordings screen says so at the top; allow Alarms & reminders for TiviGlass in your TV’s app settings, or timers may not start while the app is closed. As soon as you allow it, TiviGlass re-arms the timers and reminders you have already set so they fire on time. You do not need to restart the TV or the app. If the alarm and a restart recovery arrive together, they still create only one library recording. Start recording early and Finish recording late (Settings › Recordings › Start early & finish late) start every timer a few minutes early and end it late, which covers broadcasters who never quite run to time.
Safe removal. Canceling a timer, stopping or deleting a recording, and removing a Series Link all ask for confirmation. Cancel receives focus first so an extra OK press cannot remove anything.
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Series Link Essentials
Path: Guide → hold OK on a programme → Series link
Choose Series link on this channel on the exact regional or quality version you want. This also changes the channel of an existing rule for that title, without deleting the rule or its existing timers. New scans use only that channel; if it is missing, another variant is not substituted. Older rules retain their playlist-wide scope until you choose a channel. Review already scheduled variant timers separately: changing a rule does not cancel them. Update every recording device before relying on channel-specific rules; older app versions do not understand the new scope.
How
- Set the Series Link from any episode of the programme.
- New episodes are found in the guide and recorded automatically.
- Review or remove rules in Settings › Recordings › Recording › Series Links.
Good to know
A Series Link matches on the programme, not on a time slot, so a schedule change doesn’t break it. Saving or re-enabling one queues a scan straight away, and background scans cover every playlist, not only the one currently open. It obeys your storage cap and retention settings like any other recording. Android may defer an archive download until TiviGlass next opens, so set a timer as well for anything you absolutely must not miss.
Two Series Links can want the same hour. A Series Link creates its timers for you overnight, so nobody is there to be asked about a clash. Open Recordings and look at Scheduled: a timer that will lose is marked Clashes with another timer while you can still act on it. Raise Maximum simultaneous recordings (how-to 37) if your TV service allows more than one connection at a time; otherwise cancel one of them. If it has already happened, the one that lost appears in your Recordings list as Not recorded with the reason.
Two Series Links can want the same hour. A Series Link creates its timers for you overnight, so nobody is there to be asked about a clash. Open Recordings and look at Scheduled: a timer that will lose is marked Clashes with another timer while you can still act on it. Raise Maximum simultaneous recordings (how-to 37) if your TV service allows more than one connection at a time; otherwise cancel one of them. If it has already happened, the one that lost appears in your Recordings list as Not recorded with the reason.
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Choose where recordings are stored Essentials
Path: Settings › Recordings › Where recordings are saved › Recording storage
How
- A plugged-in USB stick or SD card appears under On this box on its own — just select it. There is no folder to pick and nothing to set up.
- Under Somewhere else, A folder you choose opens your TV’s own file picker and is only needed for a folder that isn’t listed. Some TV boxes make that picker awkward to drive with a remote, so use the listed drive where you can.
- For a NAS choose Network share (SMB) and enter host, share, folder and credentials, then select Test. Put only the address in Host —
192.168.1.50ormynas.local, with nosmb://orhttps://in front of it and no share name after it. Android TV’s own network-share screen asks for the fullsmb://…form, so it is an easy habit to carry over; TiviGlass now tidies that up for you if you do. - For a Plex library, add the Plex server URL, token and library section so Plex rescans when a recording finishes.
Good to know
SMB2 and SMB3 are supported; the old SMB1 is not. On Android/Fire TV devices whose security provider can’t complete SMB3’s signing setup, TiviGlass automatically retries that connection in SMB2.1 compatibility mode. Network recordings play straight inside TiviGlass — you don’t need a file manager. Changing storage affects new recordings only; existing ones stay where they are, and any recording still in progress when you change it is stopped rather than moved. Unplugging a drive mid-recording ends that recording — whatever was captured stays on the drive.
A nearly full drive stops a recording cleanly. On the box’s own storage or a plugged-in drive, TiviGlass will not start a recording unless the drive has more than about 320 MB free, and it stops a running recording when free space falls to about 256 MB. Everything recorded up to that point is kept, and the recording says the drive is almost full rather than blaming your provider. Free up space, or choose another location here. A network share, a Plex library and a folder picked with A folder you choose are not measured this way.
If TiviGlass itself is installed on a drive rather than on the box, every drive in this list is that same drive. Android only ever offers an app the volume it lives on, so there is no box-storage row to pick. The list says so: the top row is named after the volume the app is actually on instead of being called Internal storage, and it is marked TiviGlass is installed here. To record onto the box’s own storage in that case, move the app back to it in Android’s own app settings, or use A folder you choose or a network share. The app disappearing when you unplug that drive is Android’s own behaviour for an app installed on one, not something TiviGlass does.
A nearly full drive stops a recording cleanly. On the box’s own storage or a plugged-in drive, TiviGlass will not start a recording unless the drive has more than about 320 MB free, and it stops a running recording when free space falls to about 256 MB. Everything recorded up to that point is kept, and the recording says the drive is almost full rather than blaming your provider. Free up space, or choose another location here. A network share, a Plex library and a folder picked with A folder you choose are not measured this way.
If TiviGlass itself is installed on a drive rather than on the box, every drive in this list is that same drive. Android only ever offers an app the volume it lives on, so there is no box-storage row to pick. The list says so: the top row is named after the volume the app is actually on instead of being called Internal storage, and it is marked TiviGlass is installed here. To record onto the box’s own storage in that case, move the app back to it in Android’s own app settings, or use A folder you choose or a network share. The app disappearing when you unplug that drive is Android’s own behaviour for an app installed on one, not something TiviGlass does.
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Keep storage under control Essentials
Path: Settings › Recordings › Where recordings are saved
How
- Recording storage limit is the most space you want recordings to use. It is not applied on its own: when your recordings add up to more than it, this page says by how much, and Clean up recordings now deletes the oldest until the rest fit.
- Keep recordings for deletes recordings older than that automatically. TiviGlass does this in the background about once an hour, never while something is playing (if you start watching part way through, it stops and finishes later), and also whenever you open Recordings.
- Maximum simultaneous recordings sets how many programmes may record at the same time. It is under Recording at the top of the page, while Record programmes is on.
- Clean up recordings now applies both rules immediately, and it is the only thing that applies the storage limit. A recording saved to a network share that cannot be reached is kept rather than deleted without its file, and the message says how many were kept. The share may be switched off or asleep, or no longer set up in Recording storage: switch it on or set it up again, then try again. To remove a recording whose share is gone for good, delete it in Recordings; its file stays on the share.
Good to know
Maximum simultaneous recordings starts at 1. That is deliberate: every recording running at once uses one of your provider’s connections, and so does anything you are watching. Most plans allow two or three, some allow only one, and there is no way for TiviGlass to ask — a provider that refuses a second connection often answers with an empty file rather than an error, which is far harder to spot than a recording that plainly did not happen. So if you know your plan allows more, set it to 2 or 3 once and it stays.
If two programmes overlap and only one can record, TiviGlass tells you which and why. Nothing is dropped in silence any more. Before it happens: a timer that will clash is marked in Recordings under Scheduled (“Clashes with another timer”), and creating one by hand offers Raise limit or Schedule anyway. After it happens: you get a Not recorded notification, the timer says Not recorded: something else was recording, and a Not recorded entry appears in your Recordings list naming the limit and where to change it. That entry holds no video and deleting it removes nothing from your drive.
A missed recording of this kind is our limit, not your provider’s. If the line under it names the limit, there is nothing wrong with your TV service and nothing to ask them about — raise the setting, or record the two programmes at different times.
Record programmes, at the top of this page, turns the whole feature off. While it is off, nothing records and nothing can be scheduled: the guide, the player menu, the manual timer and Series Links all refuse and say Recording is turned off in Settings, rather than accepting a timer that would never run. The same switch puts Recordings in the menu, and it works even when your plan does not include recording: turn it off to take the padlocked entry out of the menu, and back on to bring it back. While your plan does not include recording, See plans just below it opens Account & plan.
A timer only says a recording needs a paid plan once your account has actually been checked. If a recording is due before TiviGlass has been able to check your plan, for example on a box that has just woken up without internet, it tries again about a minute later instead of skipping the programme, and keeps trying until shortly after the programme ends. If the plan still cannot be checked by then and your provider keeps that programme on catch-up, the timer stays under Scheduled and TiviGlass looks again about once an hour, for up to 14 days after the programme started, recording the programme from catch-up as soon as it can check your plan. Otherwise the timer shows Missed and says TiviGlass could not check your plan in time. A Series Link in the same situation simply waits for its next scan.
If two programmes overlap and only one can record, TiviGlass tells you which and why. Nothing is dropped in silence any more. Before it happens: a timer that will clash is marked in Recordings under Scheduled (“Clashes with another timer”), and creating one by hand offers Raise limit or Schedule anyway. After it happens: you get a Not recorded notification, the timer says Not recorded: something else was recording, and a Not recorded entry appears in your Recordings list naming the limit and where to change it. That entry holds no video and deleting it removes nothing from your drive.
A missed recording of this kind is our limit, not your provider’s. If the line under it names the limit, there is nothing wrong with your TV service and nothing to ask them about — raise the setting, or record the two programmes at different times.
Record programmes, at the top of this page, turns the whole feature off. While it is off, nothing records and nothing can be scheduled: the guide, the player menu, the manual timer and Series Links all refuse and say Recording is turned off in Settings, rather than accepting a timer that would never run. The same switch puts Recordings in the menu, and it works even when your plan does not include recording: turn it off to take the padlocked entry out of the menu, and back on to bring it back. While your plan does not include recording, See plans just below it opens Account & plan.
A timer only says a recording needs a paid plan once your account has actually been checked. If a recording is due before TiviGlass has been able to check your plan, for example on a box that has just woken up without internet, it tries again about a minute later instead of skipping the programme, and keeps trying until shortly after the programme ends. If the plan still cannot be checked by then and your provider keeps that programme on catch-up, the timer stays under Scheduled and TiviGlass looks again about once an hour, for up to 14 days after the programme started, recording the programme from catch-up as soon as it can check your plan. Otherwise the timer shows Missed and says TiviGlass could not check your plan in time. A Series Link in the same situation simply waits for its next scan.