What's new for TV in Android 13

Android 13 adds further customizations to improve the user experience and increase compatibility with TV devices. Some of the highlights for this release include performance and quality improvements and continued advancements to how users interact with Android TV.

See the following sections for more information about what's included.

Performance & quality

Anticipatory audio routes

You can now anticipate device audio attribute support and prepare tracks for the active audio device. You can use getDirectPlaybackSupport() to check whether direct playback is supported on the currently routed audio device for a given format and attributes:

val format = AudioFormat.Builder()
    .setEncoding(AudioFormat.ENCODING_E_AC3)
    .setChannelMask(AudioFormat.CHANNEL_OUT_5POINT1)
    .setSampleRate(48000)
    .build()
val attributes = AudioAttributes.Builder()
    .setUsage(AudioAttributes.USAGE_MEDIA)
    .build()

if (AudioManager.getDirectPlaybackSupport(format, attributes) !=
    AudioManager.DIRECT_PLAYBACK_NOT_SUPPORTED
) {
    // The format and attributes are supported for direct playback
    // on the currently active routed audio path
} else {
    // The format and attributes are NOT supported for direct playback
    // on the currently active routed audio path
}

AudioFormat format = new AudioFormat.Builder()
        .setEncoding(AudioFormat.ENCODING_E_AC3)
        .setChannelMask(AudioFormat.CHANNEL_OUT_5POINT1)
        .setSampleRate(48000)
        .build();
AudioAttributes attributes = new AudioAttributes.Builder()
        .setUsage(AudioAttributes.USAGE_MEDIA)
        .build();

if (AudioManager.getDirectPlaybackSupport(format, attributes) !=
        AudioManager.DIRECT_PLAYBACK_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
    // The format and attributes are supported for direct playback
    // on the currently active routed audio path
} else {
    // The format and attributes are NOT supported for direct playback
    // on the currently active routed audio path
}

Alternatively, you can query which profiles are supported for direct media playback through the currently routed audio device. This excludes any profiles that are unsupported or would be, for instance, transcoded by the Android framework:

private fun findBestAudioFormat(audioAttributes: AudioAttributes): AudioFormat {
    val preferredFormats = listOf(
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_E_AC3,
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_AC3,
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_DEFAULT
    )
    val audioProfiles = audioManager.getDirectProfilesForAttributes(audioAttributes)
    val bestAudioProfile = preferredFormats.firstNotNullOf { format ->
        audioProfiles.firstOrNull { it.format == format }
    }
    val sampleRate = findBestSampleRate(bestAudioProfile)
    val channelMask = findBestChannelMask(bestAudioProfile)
    return AudioFormat.Builder()
        .setEncoding(bestAudioProfile.format)
        .setSampleRate(sampleRate)
        .setChannelMask(channelMask)
        .build()
}

private AudioFormat findBestAudioFormat(AudioAttributes audioAttributes) {
    Stream<Integer> preferredFormats = Stream.<Integer>builder()
            .add(AudioFormat.ENCODING_E_AC3)
            .add(AudioFormat.ENCODING_AC3)
            .add(AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT)
            .add(AudioFormat.ENCODING_DEFAULT)
            .build();
    Stream<AudioProfile> audioProfiles =
            audioManager.getDirectProfilesForAttributes(audioAttributes).stream();
    AudioProfile bestAudioProfile = (AudioProfile) preferredFormats.map(format ->
            audioProfiles.filter(profile -> profile.getFormat() == format)
                    .findFirst()
                    .orElseThrow(NoSuchElementException::new)
    );
    Integer sampleRate = findBestSampleRate(bestAudioProfile);
    Integer channelMask = findBestChannelMask(bestAudioProfile);
    return new AudioFormat.Builder()
            .setEncoding(bestAudioProfile.getFormat())
            .setSampleRate(sampleRate)
            .setChannelMask(channelMask)
            .build();
}

In this example, preferredFormats is a list of AudioFormat instances. It is ordered with the most preferred first in the list, and the least preferred last. getDirectProfilesForAttributes()returns a list of supported AudioProfile objectss for the currently routed audio device with the supplied AudioAttributes. The list of preferred AudioFormat items is iterated through until a matching supported AudioProfile is found. This AudioProfile is stored as bestAudioProfile. Optimum sample rates and channel masks are determined from bestAudioProfile. Finally, an appropriate AudioFormat instance is created.

HDMI state surfaced to MediaSession

HDMI state changes are now surfaced to the MediaSession lifecycle. If you handle these events accurately, then playback is stopped if the HDMI device is powered off.

Input & accessibility

Keyboard layouts API

From Android 13 (API level 33) onwards, you can determine keyboard layouts using getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(). For example, your game supports movement using the WASD keys, but this may not work correctly on an AZERTY keyboard, which has the A and W keys in different locations. You can get the keycodes for the keys you expect at certain positions:

val inputManager: InputManager? = requireActivity().getSystemService()

inputManager?.inputDeviceIds?.map { inputManager.getInputDevice(it) }
    ?.firstOrNull { it.keyboardType == InputDevice.KEYBOARD_TYPE_ALPHABETIC }
    ?.let { inputDevice ->
        keyUp = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_W)
        keyLeft = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_A)
        keyDown = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_S)
        keyRight = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_D)
    }

InputManager inputManager = requireActivity().getSystemService(InputManager.class);
InputDevice inputDevice = Arrays.stream(inputManager.getInputDeviceIds())
        .mapToObj(inputManager::getInputDevice)
        .filter( device -> device.getKeyboardType() == InputDevice.KEYBOARD_TYPE_ALPHABETIC)
        .filter(Objects::nonNull)
        .findFirst()
        .orElse(null);
if (inputDevice != null) {
    keyUp = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_W);
    keyLeft = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_A);
    keyDown = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_S);
    keyRight = inputDevice.getKeyCodeForKeyLocation(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_D);
}

In this example, with an AZERTY keyboard, keyUp is set to KeyEvent.KEYCODE_Z, keyLeft is set to KeyEvent.KEYCODE_Q, while keyDown and keyRight are set to KeyEvent.KEYCODE_S and KeyEvent.KEYCODE_D respectively. You can now create key event handlers for these key codes and implement the expected behavior.

Audio descriptions

Android 13 (API level 33) introduces a new system-wide accessibility preference that allows users to enable audio descriptions across all apps. Android TV apps can follow the user’s preferences by querying it with isAudioDescriptionRequested().

private lateinit var accessibilityManager: AccessibilityManager

// In onCreate():
accessibilityManager = getSystemService(AccessibilityManager::class.java)

// Where your media player is initialized
if (am.isAudioDescriptionRequested) {
    // User has requested to enable audio descriptions
}

private AccessibilityManager accessibilityManager;

// In onCreate():
accessibilityManager = getSystemService(AccessibilityManager.class);

// Where your media player is initialized
if(accessibilityManager.isAudioDescriptionRequested()) {
    // User has requested to enable audio descriptions
}

Android TV apps can monitor user’s preference change by adding a listener to AccessbilityManager.

private val listener =
    AccessibilityManager.AudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener { enabled ->
        // Preference changed; reflect its state in your media player
    }

override fun onStart() {
    super.onStart()

    accessibilityManager.addAudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener(mainExecutor, listener)
}

override fun onStop() {
    super.onStop()

    accessibilityManager.removeAudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener(listener)
}

private AccessibilityManager.AudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener listener = enabled -> {
    // Preference changed; reflect its state in your media player
};

@Override
protected void onStart() {
    super.onStart();

    accessibilityManager.addAudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener(getMainExecutor(), listener);
}

@Override
protected void onStop() {
    super.onStop();

    accessibilityManager.removeAudioDescriptionRequestedChangeListener(listener);
}

Validation Tools

• Media Controller Test allows you to test the intricacies of media playback on Android and helps verify your media session implementation.
• MediaSession Validator provides an easy and automated way to verify your media session integration on Android TV.