As happens with our tablets and smartphones, on televisions that have Android TV you can also take screenshots, something that not everyone is aware of. The process is a little more complicated than on a screen that we have in our hands and, just like on them, there are different methods and restrictions that we must take into account.
And no, we are not talking about taking your smartphone out of your pocket and taking a picture on the TV. There are more effective ways that will faithfully reproduce exactly what you want to show to the rest of the world. Just keep in mind that in some applications it will not work, as data protection policies restrict this function.
Don’t worry, whether you didn’t know that this possibility existed or if you knew about it but didn’t know how to do it, after this little tutorial that we are going to leave you next you won’t have a single doubt.
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Take screenshots without apps
The first way to take a screenshot does not require the installation of any external application, but it does require that the manufacturer of the television has decided to provide you with this always useful function. If so, you will only need the remote control and do the following:
- Grab the TV remote.
- Press the power button and the volume down button at the same time
- If an animation has jumped as it would on the smartphone, you already have your screenshot.
Unfortunately, this option is not widely implemented in most televisions, so you will most likely have to resort to the method that we tell you below, which does require an app. Anyway, try this option that never hurts, especially if your Smart TV natively integrates Android TV.
If this method works, congratulations, you don’t need to install anything or do anything to take screenshots, although you will still need an application to be able to send the screenshots to another device such as a PC or mobile phone.
The screenshots you take with this method are saved in the Pictures/Screenshots folder and you can recover them with any application to send files from the TV, such as Send Files to TV, File Commander or Easy Join Go TV.
One of the manufacturers that have thought about screen capture natively is LG, although only on its smart TVs with WebOS. Therefore, taking a screenshot on an LG Smart TV is really easy with the remote:
- Press the pink button that says 123/INPUT. If your controller doesn’t have it, you’ll need to tap a green icon above the settings button instead.
- If you have pressed the correct button, a menu with different options will appear on your screen, among which is the capture function.
- Select the capture function and confirm that you want to perform it.
In these simple steps, owners of an LG Smart TV will have their screenshots available through the remote. It wasn’t that hard, was it?
Take screenshots with Button Mapper
The external application that we referred to earlier that will help us take screenshots on Smart TV is Button Mapper. This is available in the Google application store for Android TV and its download is free, although it also has a paid version that is not necessary for the matter that concerns us today.
Once downloaded, for everything to work as planned, we must provide access to the Accessibility service so that you can edit actions belonging to that field within our Smart TV.
The purpose of Button Mapper is for you to give the buttons on the TV remote the function you want and this is where the screenshot comes in. The procedure is as simple as:
- Select the button you want to give a new use from among those available.
- Then click on “customize”.
- We will see how a menu is displayed to edit actions depending on whether we do “one-touch”, “Double touch” or “Long press”.
- We choose the one we like the most to assign the screenshot action to it.
- It is done. Every time we press the chosen button in the way we have selected, a screenshot will be taken on our Smart TV.
Where are screenshots saved on Android TV?
Ok, we have already learned how to take screenshots on our Smart TV. But where are they? Don’t be scared. You will only have to go to the Photos and Videos application that comes pre-installed on the smart television. There you will find all the screenshots you have taken.
If what you want is to move those captures to other devices, the best option is to send the files to the cloud. So you will have those images wherever you go.
