[ChristianTroy]

This is interesting. I have been told by Minix/Amlogic that the SoC doesn't support more than 6 channel PCM (only 3 stereo I2S channels) and they cannot enable multichannel LPCM due to Dolby licensing restrictions. Even on OpenELEC it doesn't do anything more than 2.0 PCM.

Since you are getting 8 channel LPCM from Dolby TrueHD tracks, if you install Kodi 16 beta, you should get the same from DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks also.

I will give it a try, honestly I was surprised as well

Stock firmware or a modded one? Also are you using only the remote or one with air mouse enabled? The reason I ask is because I only use Harmony remote and on wetek play I can't browse netflix app without a mouse. Thank you and great work

Stock, I had no time to work on a 5.1 (I only have 5.0) CM or other for it but I really don't feel the need because apart from Theme Engine you would get nothing more. I'm proud of what I did for the Core that is working great, I never experienced a FC or an ANR caused by the framework, just sometimes because of bad apps.
I am only using a remote and a Logitech K400 for text input, you will need an airmouse for Netflix because the one you see there is the Android TV one but I can't "release" it for many reasons, unless you guys collect some money and put a fund for an eventual lawsuit from them (I had to reverse engineer the decompiled apk, I did it only for my "internal use")

Is the background colour of the app drawer customizable?
No, and will never be because I don't even like the idea

How many apps can be displayed on the home screen?
favourite apps? Infinite

Can apps be hidden from the app drawer?
That is a nice idea, I will add it to the TODO list

Can custom backgrounds be used instead of solid colours?
Honestly I don't even like the idea because this launcher was born for being Material Design based, using MD palette, etc. IF quite some people ask for it I will bend and add it but like for the color of the drawer I don't even like the idea.
Who is skilled can edit (once decompiled the apk) the layout xml file of both and add a custom background though...

Is the mouse required for any functions within the launcher?
No, you can forget about it. It was born with the idea of improving Android TV launcher that is nice but can't do much, the very first thing I wanted to add was notifications because, right now, any TV box offers an easy way to read/dismiss notifications (it's awkward expanding the status bar and selecting a notification using the airmouse)

Still hoping we get a release date and price soon. I'm still debating between this and the shield.
It's the same hope I have, I keep asking for news every day