Anyone know how to root an MStar (Kogan) Android TV? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a Kogan KALED55KU8000SZA 55-inch Smart TV - identified by My Device Pro as an "MStar Android TV" from "MStar Semiconductor", using the "arbutus" board and the "monet" hardware. It runs Android TV 5.1.1 ("Lollipop"), Build aosp_arbutus-userdebug 5.1.1 LMY47V 1.1.20170720.153235 test-keys. There is a hardware report attached in PDF, courtesy of the "Device Info HW+" Android application from Andrey Efremov.
I've asked elsewhere on this site about replacing Android TV with another Linux-based operating system (such as Ubuntu), however as I expected, it's looking like this might not be a realistic solution... So now I would like to "root" this "smart" television, in order to remove some of the rubbish which is included and set the "smart" television to either switch to HDMI "x" when I turn it on or automatically run Kodi/XBMC for Android when I turn the "smart" television on.
Courtesy of Xda Developers, I have thus far tried:
* -Key Root Master (MOD Version) 1.3.6, which crashes when I try to run the application;
* KingRoot 5.3.7, which does not seem to work (it counts up to 25% on the "Aquiring Root" screen, then tells me that "root failed");
* Framaroot 1.9.3, which tells me Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in Framaroot.
I can see that KingRoot supposedly has more "root" success via USB debugging, but I cannot seem to get the "developer" mode to appear because when I do the "click on build seven times" thing, nothing happens and no extra menus appear... The "smart" television has multiple USB ports and wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity; I'd need to physically check but (Android) settings seems to think it has an ethernet port too,
Has anyone has any luck "rooting" these "smart" televisions?

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Have U tried this.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2515887&page=2
Another solution is Plex TV which IMHO is superior to Kodi.
Plex apps available for all OS, or you can use a browser.
Obviously you need a server.
The new Kogan Android TV rocks or just use Chromecast & a device to drive it.
Sorry but best I can suggest.

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scottysau said:
Have U tried this.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2515887&page=2
Another solution is Plex TV which IMHO is superior to Kodi.
Plex apps available for all OS, or you can use a browser.
Obviously you need a server.
The new Kogan Android TV rocks or just use Chromecast & a device to drive it.
Sorry but best I can suggest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try 360 root, it work fine for me

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any update
Hi gregoryopera,
Did you find any clues ?
I must thank you for all your post on internet, because you made me learn that your TV is a clone of mine, and I managed to find the mstar_upgrade.bin for yours, that include the google play files i was needed in order to make my tv little bit more clever ^^
I wasn't able to root mine, but as you can get a root access through ADB (thanks to the "user debug" state), you can already do many things..
from what i found, you could remove unwanted apk with this :
./adb connect #ip_of_tv#
./adb root
./adb connect #ip_of_tv#
./adb remount
./adb shell pm list packages
./adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.#copy-paste_package_name#
For launching specified apk at start, you could use Launch on Boot app, which didn't require a rooted devices
For info, after adding my tv device id to the https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/ page, and few hours of delay, i was able to use the google play, and then i was able to update google play services 14.7.99 (020400-223214910)
Now I fighting with it in order to use a bluetooth dongle (all drivers and files are already present in the system, but I'm unable to activate the bluetooth..)
Another point I'm looking at, is to add widevine drm support to it, since the original nexus player build.id=LMY47V was supporting it..
Could you please send me some picture of your system UI (I'm thinking about flashing my "philips" mstar arbutus tv with your "kogan" mstar arbutus firmware... philips created an incredible ****e for this tv, android settings hidden, home page is a philips store app suggestions loader (totally useless)...) or tell me where you may have post it already ?
many thanks,

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Heyy ThAneb!
I have been facing similar problems with you guys. I know this is a somewhat old post but I was hoping how you set up adb in your tv? I cannot turn on developer mode so I don't really know how I go about doing it because evry other step to set it seems to require it to be on the dv mode.
Please tell how I can set it up.

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Hi, I know it's a bit late but I managed to enter in developer mode, you need to connect an external mouse to do that, click several times till enable come back to the main screen and go in settings. It might show developer mode. I'm trying now to enable root mode and then change the build.
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