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Experimental features

Four features are experimental and off by default. Three are turned on under Server → Advanced → Experimental features, and Native Tv Home on its own Home tab.

Hiding home screen system apps

Hides built-in LG apps, such as Gallery, Music and Sports, from the Home screen ribbon. Once it is turned on, the apps to hide are chosen on the Apps tab. It is experimental on every TV.

Custom screen savers on webOS 12 and later

Replaces LG's screen saver with one of the dashboard's own, chosen on the Screensaver tab. It is experimental only on webOS 12 and later, where it has not been tried, and where the Screensaver tab itself also has the switch, above the list. On webOS 11 and earlier, custom screen savers work without turning anything on.

On webOS 10 and 11 they were experimental too, until TVs had run them. Switching to one there no longer restarts the app manager: since 0.98.1 it rereads the screen saver app alone, which held through switching, standby and restarts on a C5 (webOS 10.3.1), a C2 (webOS 10.3) and, from 0.102.2, a G3 (webOS 11.2). If the app manager does not take the switch that way, the switch is undone and LG's screen saver kept, rather than the app manager restarted; at start-up, likewise. Native Tv never restarts the app manager for a screen saver.

Home screen layout on webOS 10

Switches off parts of LG's Home screen, chosen on the Apps tab under Home screen layout, which also has the switch, with its warning. On webOS 9 it works without turning anything on.

webOS 10's home app keeps its layout on the TV's read-only system and looks nowhere else for it, so Native Tv lays its own over LG's with an overlay mount and restarts the home app to read it. The mount does not survive a restart of the TV, so it is put back when Native Tv starts, and LG's Home screen can show for a moment before that. It has been tried through Native Tv on a C2 with webOS 10.3.1, and on a few other webOS 10 TVs outside it. Put back LG's Home screen, or switching it off, takes the overlay away and brings LG's Home screen back. It does not restart the app manager, so the problem below does not apply to it.

Native Tv Home

A home screen of Native Tv's own in place of LG's, switched on from its own Home tab rather than under Advanced. It is offered on webOS 9, where it has been tried (a G3 and a C2 with webOS 9.2.2), and on webOS 10 (a G5 with webOS 10.3.1); on webOS 11 only with "allowExperimentalHome": true in config.json. While on, it is laid over LG's Home app in its place, which switching off takes away. The one TV setting it changes is LG's Home auto launch, which it turns off and puts back when Native Tv Home is switched off. A view that stops answering, and a server that stops or keeps failing, each give LG's Home its place back.

Why the first two are experimental

To apply either one, the TV's app manager has to read its apps again. Up to now that meant restarting it when the TV starts up, and on some TVs that restart has been followed by a black picture or lost sound that only a full reboot clears:

  • On a B8 (webOS 4), live TV and HDMI went black. The TV's kernel log showed its video pipeline crashing and locking up during start-up, at the same moment as the restart, while a source on HDMI was changing its picture mode.
  • On webOS 10 and 11, picture, sound to a soundbar over ARC, and HDMI-CEC have been lost, alongside reports of a black screen and stuck picture settings.

It doesn't happen on every start-up, or on every TV. A TV that already used either feature before it became experimental keeps it after updating.

Where the TV has the setting LG uses to block apps by region, the dashboard now has the app manager reread its apps through it, without restarting it, and restarts it only if that doesn't take. webOS 9 has the setting and webOS 4 doesn't; other versions are checked on the TV itself, and fall back to the restart without it. Both features stay experimental until TVs that have shown the fault confirm it is gone.

If it happens, please open an issue with the output of these, run before restarting the TV:

dmesg | grep -i -E "Unhandled fault|blocked!!|kadp"
luna-send -n 1 -f luna://com.webos.service.videooutput/getStatus '{}'
cat /var/lib/webosbrew/tvweb-boot.log