SUPPORT AND USER GUIDE
RANDOM TV TIME, the Android app and the browser edition. Questions to Elliott Lipinsky at elliottlipinsky@gmail.com.
What it is
A television set that plays random public video from the Internet Archive. Switch it on and see whatever comes on. Every channel is a real item at archive.org, played from there, and every channel links back to its page. There are no accounts, no ads and no analytics; the app talks to no server but archive.org.
Getting it
In a browser, open randomtvtime.com and press Switch on. On an iPhone or iPad, open it in Safari, tap the menu button and then Share, tap Add to Home Screen, leave Open as Web App on, and tap Add; it then opens from its own icon like an app. On Android, install the app from Google Play, or download RandomTVTime.apk from the front page and open it; allow installs from that source when asked. On Android TV or Fire TV, install the file with the Downloader app or send it from a phone, then open RANDOM TV TIME from the launcher.
Using the set
On a phone or tablet
| Next channel | Swipe up on the picture, or tap the next button in the bottom row |
| Previous channel | Swipe down, or tap previous; it returns to where that channel left off |
| Sound | Tap the picture once, or the sound button |
| Save a channel | Swipe right, or tap the save button; swipe left or tap again to unsave |
| Lineup of everything that has played | Double-tap the picture, or tap the lineup button |
| Open what is on at archive.org | Tap the title at the bottom; tap the collection line for its collection |
| Channel | Tap channels in the top row: the sets (Default, Cartoons, Silent Pictures, Classic Films, Film Noir, Cable TV), a set for each decade from the 1950s to the 1990s, and Commercials, News and Newsreels, Old Sports, Game Shows, Public Access and Home Movies, and Late Night |
| Settings | Tap settings: look, colours, channel display, type, screen fit, static and hiss, sleep timer, picture in picture, channels per request, start point, safe filter, hidden list, reset |
| Information, report and hide | Tap info: what the channel is, the privacy policy, and for whatever is on a report button and a hide for good button |
| Power off | Tap power off (or all done, the end, sign off, depending on the channel) for the session summary and the lineup |
On a television remote or a keyboard
| Next and previous | Down and Up (also Channel Down and Up, Page Down and Up, N and P) |
| Save and unsave | Right and Left |
| Sound | Select, Enter or Space |
| Channels | Guide, M, G or C for the channel list |
| Settings, lineup, info | Menu or S; L; I |
| Open at archive.org | O |
| Power off | Back or Escape |
| Browser edition extras | The mouse wheel changes the channel; F is full screen |
Questions
Static, and then nothing comes on
The set is waiting on archive.org. It gives a channel nine seconds to show a picture and twelve to recover from a stall, then skips it; if a whole hand fails it deals another. If static lasts longer than half a minute, check the connection. The Archive itself is slow at times and nothing in the app changes that.
The same kind of thing keeps coming on
Every hand mixes up to four channel groups, but a run can still happen. The set keeps at most two items of one series in a hand and never seats two neighbours from the same collection; for something else entirely, tap channels and pick another one. Hide for good keeps a particular item off the set.
Something objectionable came on
Tap info, then report to send its details to the maker, or hide for good to keep it off your set. The item's own archive.org page (tap the title) has the Archive's reporting controls. The safe filter in Settings is on by default; it works on titles and tags, so unlabelled material can slip through.
Is it free, and what does it collect
Free, no ads, no accounts. It collects nothing; the privacy policy is a page long. Settings, saved channels and the viewing record stay on the device and go when the app is uninstalled.
Sound does not start on an iPhone
Safari allows sound only after a touch. Tap the picture once after the set comes on.
The Android app says this copy is not the original
The app checks its own signature at launch. A copy that has been altered and repackaged is refused. Install it from Google Play or download it again from the front page.
Can I run it on a television
Yes. The Android app installs on Android TV and Fire TV (see Getting it) and drives from the remote; the browser edition runs in any smart television's browser with a keyboard or the on-screen buttons.
Reporting a problem
Email elliottlipinsky@gmail.com with what you saw, which channel, which device, and if possible the archive.org link from the lineup. The report button on the info panel fills most of that in for you.