Fresh install to flipping channels, in about five minutes.

What you need

• A device to watch on: iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac (also Raspberry Pi or Windows if you self-host).
• A Plex Media Server on the same network, with some shows or movies in it. No Plex yet? You can still try dumbTV — it ships with a built-in demo. See Just want to look around?

Step 1 — Install dumbTV

Open the app. Because dumbTV is a television, it opens straight into the picture — no menus.

Step 2 — First launch: the SET UP card

The first time you open dumbTV with nothing configured, it shows a SET UP card on screen: a QR code and a web address like http://192.168.1.118:8080.

That address is dumbTV's built-in setup page. All configuration happens there, from your phone or laptop — there's nothing to type on the TV itself.

Step 3 — Open the setup page

On your phone or laptop, on the same Wi-Fi/network as the TV:

• Scan the QR code with your phone camera, or
• type the address into any browser, or
• on iPhone/iPad/Mac, just tap the address on screen — it opens the page right there.

You'll land on the dumbTV config app. The three things you'll use are Server, Channels, and (optionally) Commercials and Settings.

Step 4 — Link your library

1. Go to Server (under CONNECT).
2. Choose your backend — Plex (or Jellyfin).
3. Under Link your account, click Link Plex. dumbTV shows you a short PIN.
4. In another tab, go to plex.tv/link, sign in, and enter that code.
5. Come back — dumbTV finds your server and lists your Libraries.

Your token is stored only on the device running dumbTV. dumbTV never touches your Plex watch state — nothing gets marked watched, nothing lands in Continue Watching.

(Jellyfin: pick Jellyfin instead, enter your server address, and sign in with your username/password.)

Step 5 — Build your first channel

1. Go to Channels, then New.
2. Give it a number and a name (e.g. 2 · "Retro Toons").
3. Click Add content and use Search to find shows or movies from your library. Add as many as you like — a channel can be one show or a whole grab-bag.
4. Pick an ordering mode — how the channel decides what plays next:
   • In order — sequential, episode 1, 2, 3…
   • Release order — by air date.
   • Shuffle — mixed up, but deterministic (the guide always tells the truth — if it says a show is on at 4:00, it's on at 4:00).
   • Marathon — long blocks of one thing.
5. (Optional) Under Advanced, toggle Run Ads if you want retro commercial breaks between programs. It's off by default.
6. Click Create this channel.

dumbTV immediately builds a two-week schedule for that channel and starts broadcasting it — whether anyone's watching or not. Add a few more channels the same way.

The TV updates live as you make changes — glance over and your new channel is already there.

Step 6 — Watch

Turn to the TV. Tune to a channel and you join whatever's already airing, mid-show, exactly like real cable. Here's how you drive it:

Bringing up the channel info also gives you a Guide, Mute, and CC (captions) row on phone/tablet/Mac.

The guide

Open the guide for a Prevue-style grid — channels down the side, time across the top, a red line marking now, and what's on next. Highlight a channel and select it to tune. Tapping the channel you're already watching just closes the guide; tuning to a new one waits until the picture is up before it leaves the guide, so you never land on a black screen.

Optional extras (Settings)

• Kids Mode — lock the TV to the channels you've marked kid-safe. Turn it on/off from the (PIN-protected) settings.
• Bedtime / dark hours — have channels go dark (a "please stand by" card) overnight, e.g. 8pm–7am.
• Household PIN — gate the settings so kids can't reconfigure the box.
• Commercials — drop in your own retro ad clips/bumpers (a media/ads folder) to play in the ad breaks.

Just want to look around?

You don't need Plex to see how it works. On first launch with nothing linked, dumbTV runs a built-in demo lineup — a few channels off a bundled test clip, complete with the guide and join-in-progress. A DEMO chip shows in the corner. Link Plex whenever you're ready and the demo disappears.

Troubleshooting

The setup page won't load.

Make sure your phone/laptop is on the same network as the TV, and that you allowed local network access on iOS. Re-type the exact address shown on the SET UP card.

"Link Plex" isn't finding my server.

Confirm the code at plex.tv/link while signed into the same Plex account that owns the server, and that the server is powered on and on your network.

A show won't play / gets skipped.

dumbTV never transcodes — it direct-plays only. A file your device can't play directly is excluded and logged rather than transcoded (that's what keeps channel changes instant). Most standard formats play fine; some exotic containers won't.

The channel is showing "please stand by."

That channel has nothing scheduled right now (empty channel, or it's inside your Bedtime window). Add content to it, or check dark-hours in Settings.

Nothing is on / colour bars.

Colour bars mean the picture is still coming up (tuning). If it persists, the channel may have no playable content — add shows in the web config.

Why it works this way

dumbTV doesn't stream on demand — it precomputes a schedule and plays from the clock. That's what makes channel changes instant, lets you join shows in progress, keeps a truthful printable guide, and survives a power cut (turn it back on and the right thing is on). The "limitations" — no pause, no menus, no endless choice — are the product. What's on is what's on.