Develop Bugs

AFTV XBMC Buffering Annoying - Options?

I've been reading forums all over the place related to the buffering issues I'm experiencing using Gotham 13.2 on my new Fire TV box.
The settings that get me the best results here: (Can't remember what forum I found them on)
<network>
<autodetectpingtime>30</autodetectpingtime>
<buffermode>3</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>708669603</cachemembuffersize>
<curllowspeedtime>5</curllowspeedtime>
<curlclienttimeout>30</curlclienttimeout>
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor>
</network>
The streams start really quick, but if it's 1080p, it buffers every 2 minutes 22 seconds or so. 720p works fine.
I've tried many many settings I find here and at other forums with worse results. With this one I tried the buffermode at 1 and 3.
There must be a setting I'm missing to try out.
I'm using the exact same networking connection as my old WDTV LIVE that had zero problems with these files. I just wanted to replace it with the Fire TV. Tried wired and wireless, same issues.
Thanks for any help anyone might have here.

Thered a tweeks xml that gets copied to your drive and helps with buffering.
Basically it caches some of the stream and you play catch up viewing.
Or if u pause it make coffee or wat ever the whole thing will cache for you and you can watch with our stops.
I use it and it works well.
Some more than others
Id link you but a quick google search will get you what your looking for

mychaelp said:
<buffermode>3</buffermode>.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from kodi wiki:
0 Buffer all internet filesystems (like "2" but additionally also ftp, webdav, etc.) (default)
1 Buffer all filesystems (including local)
2 Only buffer true internet filesystems (streams) (http, etc.)
3 No buffer
So....
<cachemembuffersize>708669603</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor>
aren't really helping; since buffer needs to be enabled to be cached or read.
Also; default readbufferfactor is 1 but all examples use 10 or 20 rather than placing a decimal such as you did. Your setting may be resulting in a factor of 0.40 due to formatting
I am using mode 1 and caching to disk rather than use RAM.
The wiki warns this may shorten disk life (but I think I can afford another $10 usb stick if this one fails)
Never have any buffering issues with these settings on latest SPMC.
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>0</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>

Here is the "official" Kodi thread: http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache.

gurnted said:
from
0 Buffer all internet filesystems (like "2" but additionally also ftp, webdav, etc.) (default)
1 Buffer all filesystems (including local)
2 Only buffer true internet filesystems (streams) (http, etc.)
3 No buffer
So....
<cachemembuffersize>708669603</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor>
aren't really helping; since buffer needs to be enabled to be cached or read.
Also; default readbufferfactor is 1 but all examples use 10 or 20 rather than placing a decimal such as you did. Your setting may be resulting in a factor of 0.40 due to formatting
I am using mode 1 and caching to disk rather than use RAM.
The wiki warns this may shorten disk life (but I think I can afford another $10 usb stick if this one fails)
Never have any buffering issues with these settings on latest SPMC.
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>0</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the input and tips to test out. Family is visiting right now, but shortly after the holiday I will test out. It seems there is no one-size-fits-all approach to get things working over a network with the Fire TV. Yet with my old WDTV Live player, absolutely zero issues.
I had found the settings I posted on another forum. They had the best results with zero buffering unless 1080p.
Will report back with results

gurnted said:
from kodi wiki[/URL]:
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>0</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, reporting back. These settings causes rebuffering every 20 seconds or so. My settings I posted above get me to about a minute in. It appears with my setup I won't be able to use this to play 1080p movies and will need to use my ancient WDTV box for that. I had high hopes but maybe XBMC just isn't set up to work as easily as the ancient WDTV's?
I hooked them up to HDMI1 and 2, tried each in succession and the WDTV plays flawlessly while the Amazon Fire TV buffers over and over again.
I may hold on to it in case someone comes up with a method or there is a special fork just for it that works better with my system.
Thank you for your easy to read analysis. It's appreciated. But it appears by googling, that many others are having my issue as well and have returned the boxes.

gurnted said:
from kodi wiki:
I am using mode 1 and caching to disk rather than use RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you allow kodi to cache to disk instead of RAM? Isn't the disk flash based and less likely to get worn out compared to a spinning disk? I don't know but it seems like there is nothing to wear out if isn't spinning...
If you allow it to cache to disk then if you were to pause a movie and your sd had enough space, would it download the whole movie to disk and delete when more space is needed?
If so is there a setting where we allocate a maximum amount of disk space for the temporary downloads to fill so kodi knows when to delete other cached videos?
edit: I found the answer to my questions... setting buffer size to 0 and the temp download is deleted when the video is stopped.

От: реставрация на автомобили по света и у &#1
I am using mode 1 and caching to disk rather than use RAM.
The wiki warns this may shorten disk life (but I think I can afford another $10 usb stick if this one fails)
Never have any buffering issues with these settings on latest SPMC.
____________
Arslan1

smithdevil1 said:
I am using mode 1 and caching to disk rather than use RAM.
The wiki warns this may shorten disk life (but I think I can afford another $10 usb stick if this one fails)
Never have any buffering issues with these settings on latest SPMC.
____________
Arslan1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you monitor your network's activity or just watch the buffer available as the greyed out area increases when you pause a video it will show much cache is building up. I have also set it to cache to disk and it does not cache very much of a video by using cache to disk.
I posted a question about this on kodi.tv They said that kodi will only cache about 1Gb of data per 3.5Gb of free disk space, as that is the amount of free space i had at the time of posting, not sure of official caching numbers. But there is no way that kodi cached a full gigabyte as it only showed network activity for a few moments when I was trying to stream the interview through kodi's youtube.
The wiki warns about disk life but I think that pertains to spinning disks that get worn out with constant use.

mychaelp said:
I've been reading forums all over the place related to the buffering issues I'm experiencing using Gotham 13.2 on my new Fire TV box.
The settings that get me the best results here: (Can't remember what forum I found them on)
<network>
<autodetectpingtime>30</autodetectpingtime>
<buffermode>3</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>708669603</cachemembuffersize>
<curllowspeedtime>5</curllowspeedtime>
<curlclienttimeout>30</curlclienttimeout>
<readbufferfactor>4.0</readbufferfactor>
</network>
The streams start really quick, but if it's 1080p, it buffers every 2 minutes 22 seconds or so. 720p works fine.
I've tried many many settings I find here and at other forums with worse results. With this one I tried the buffermode at 1 and 3.
There must be a setting I'm missing to try out.
I'm using the exact same networking connection as my old WDTV LIVE that had zero problems with these files. I just wanted to replace it with the Fire TV. Tried wired and wireless, same issues.
Thanks for any help anyone might have here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
set your advanced setting to 0 cache file, this will cache to your hard drive. You can use program such as xunity maintenance or maintenance tools to do this, just go into one of these program, i think it is under tweaks or fixes. It works great most of the time i am using this setting on my raspberry pi and on my fire tv. i have watched full 1080 movies and shows without any issue.
The buffering also depends on your internet speed. Have you try Ethernet connection if you are on wifi?
Also, test your internet speed to make sure. It also depends on the source it self, your connection may be fast enuf but the source it self is just slow or too much traffic.
Thank you

ashsha7877 said:
set your advanced setting to 0 cache file, this will cache to your hard drive. You can use program such as xunity maintenance or maintenance tools to do this, just go into one of these program, i think it is under tweaks or fixes. It works great most of the time i am using this setting on my raspberry pi and on my fire tv. i have watched full 1080 movies and shows without any issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will look into xunity maintenance since I'm new to XBMC and have not heard of it. I have a SMB share from an old laptop. Old laptop may be the reason 720p works well but not 1080p. It's just odd how the WDTV Live works perfectly. Oh, I tested wired and wireless and they both give me the same issues. I thought about buying a NAS, but I read here that many still have buffering issues.
Here are the latest settings I ended up with that give me the best results. 1080p gives a cache full error and rebuffers every 30 seconds or so. 720p is perfect. I can't recall where I found these, might have been here somewhere, or other forum. Tested way too many and getting tired of it.
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>20971520</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
</network>
</advancedsettings>
So thank you for the information, it appears I need to read up as to what xunity is and how it might help me or where tweaks/fixes are within XBMC (hope I don't need to buy anything new).
Maybe with the popularity of the Fire TV there will be more guides on it one day. I got the box for $14 with an amazing deal so probably will keep it at least for streaming and use the ancient WDTV for movies if I can't figure this out.

mychaelp said:
I will look into xunity maintenance since I'm new to XBMC and have not heard of it. I have a SMB share from an old laptop. Old laptop may be the reason 720p works well but not 1080p. It's just odd how the WDTV Live works perfectly. Oh, I tested wired and wireless and they both give me the same issues. I thought about buying a NAS, but I read here that many still have buffering issues.
Here are the latest settings I ended up with that give me the best results. 1080p gives a cache full error and rebuffers every 30 seconds or so. 720p is perfect. I can't recall where I found these, might have been here somewhere, or other forum. Tested way too many and getting tired of it.
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>20971520</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
</network>
</advancedsettings>
So thank you for the information, it appears I need to read up as to what xunity is and how it might help me or where tweaks/fixes are within XBMC (hope I don't need to buy anything new).
Maybe with the popularity of the Fire TV there will be more guides on it one day. I got the box for $14 with an amazing deal so probably will keep it at least for streaming and use the ancient WDTV for movies if I can't figure this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) just add this path under file manager http://xfinity.xunitytalk.com
2) add XunityTalk_Repository
3) go to add on --> get add-ons
4) click on .xunitytalk repository
5) click on programs add-ons
5) click on xunity maintenance and install it
6) then run xunity maintenance --> tweaks --> click on "Add 2 cache advanced xml"
You can also use Maintenance Tools program which is under http://fusion.xbmchub.com (fusion) --> xbmc repos --> TVaddons repo --> program add-ons --> Maintenance Tools --> systems tweaks --> "ZERO CACHE"
here is link for advance settings....
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache
thanks

ashsha7877 said:
1) just add this path under file manager http://xfinity.xunitytalk.com
2) add XunityTalk_Repository
3) go to add on --> get add-ons
4) click on .xunitytalk repository
5) click on programs add-ons
5) click on xunity maintenance and install it
6) then run xunity maintenance --> tweaks --> click on "Add 2 cache advanced xml"
You can also use Maintenance Tools program which is under http://fusion.xbmchub.com (fusion) --> xbmc repos --> TVaddons repo --> program add-ons --> Maintenance Tools --> systems tweaks --> "ZERO CACHE"
here is link for advance settings....
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you certain they're still using the old xbmchub address for fusion? I used http://fusion.tvaddons.ag to set up a ouya the other day. Add-on installer installed but wouldn't work and config wizard gave a script error on 4 different builds (2 SPMC, xbmc for ouya and Gotham 13.2) Couldnt get it to work. Also I've had on & off issues with aftv even though I did get add-on installer working with helix and 13.2
Does it matter? What I mean is if fusion shows up at that point does the address used make a difference? Just trying to make sense of issues I didn't have before the hub became tvaddons.

KLit75 said:
Are you certain they're still using the old xbmchub address for fusion? I used http://fusion.tvaddons.ag to set up a ouya the other day. Add-on installer installed but wouldn't work and config wizard gave a script error on 4 different builds (2 SPMC, xbmc for ouya and Gotham 13.2) Couldnt get it to work. Also I've had on & off issues with aftv even though I did get add-on installer working with helix and 13.2
Does it matter? What I mean is if fusion shows up at that point does the address used make a difference? Just trying to make sense of issues I didn't have before the hub became tvaddons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you click on http://fusion.xbmcub.com it will take you to tvaddons so they are both good. It does not matter which one you use since both http are being pointed at one location.
on my ATFV i am using this path http://fusion.xbmcub.com and it works fine. I have used the config wizard and it is ok but i like to add the addons only i want to keep, to keep my set up clean. As far as add on installer it is generally ok but i used this file manager to add repo http://i.totalxbmc.tv this is one has all the repo in one place and easy to find, i like it better than add on installer when i want to add 3rd party repo's.
Thank you

ashsha7877 said:
1) just add this path under file manager http://xfinity.xunitytalk.com
2) add XunityTalk_Repository
3) go to add on --> get add-ons
4) click on .xunitytalk repository
5) click on programs add-ons
5) click on xunity maintenance and install it
6) then run xunity maintenance --> tweaks --> click on "Add 2 cache advanced xml"
You can also use Maintenance Tools program which is under http://fusion.xbmchub.com (fusion) --> xbmc repos --> TVaddons repo --> program add-ons --> Maintenance Tools --> systems tweaks --> "ZERO CACHE"
here is link for advance settings....
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good info. Thanks!
In a strange twist , I'm now having issues with a videos crashing on both aftvs, both 13.2 Gotham. This keeps occurring on 2 1080p videos. I assumed the op was trying to play movies from an add-on which could be effected by the speed of the server greatly.
No buffering for me. It plays perfect then crash. The files are 5 and 8 gb. Typically I watch tv shows and if I do play 1080p they're compressed mkvs.
I found messing with buffer size can cause other issues but can't say I've got much experience with it--didn't really need to. Would pushing a advanced settings.xml to increase buffer size help? Any other suggestions?

There really seems to be some variability and misinformation regarding this stuttering, so I wanted to share my observations by experimentation so far:
Testing setup is full switched gigabit network with FireTV at 100FDX. Server is capable of 1Gbps full throughtput and is sharing files via SMB/CIFS. The network is stable.
Test PC on wired ethernet on same switch can stream any speed up to 1G
Test PC on wireless ethernet can stream any speed up to typical speed of 802.11n @ 5Ghz double-width channels (approx 200Mbps).
Appears to only affected WIRED FireTV boxes. Switching to wireless with good signal removes the buffering issue experienced.
FireTV stick is not affected (wireless only obviously).
Only applies to large bitrate MKV files (typically 1080p @ > 20 mbit). Anything lower (e.g. 720p or less) is not affected as the low throughput via wired is able to keep up.
This affects any variant of XBMC that I've tried:
Gotham 13.2
Kodi 14.0
SPMC 13.X
Affects at least 51.1.4.0_user_514006420 & 51.1.4.1_user_514013920 versions of FireOS.
None of the internet-suggested settings for the advancedsettings.xml file appears to alleviate the issue even though there are posts suggesting otherwise.
This may be true for those users, but not for all. I can't find a commonality besides the "being wired" issue.
It may be a combination of factors (OS, settings) that produce the symptom.
I'd really like to hear comments on this. Perhaps this is a network stack issue with the FireTV. Perhaps this is a buffer handling problem. I've heard others using Plex that experience these issues as well, so perhaps this leans the issue towards something on FireOS. I'm not familiar enough with detailed network settings on this OS to diagnose.
Other observations:
Oddly, setting <cachemembuffersize>XXX</cachemembuffersize> to any value causes it to be halved when in use. I've set it to 50MB, and the cache readout shows 25MB when full. Is this right?

smartymcfly said:
The wiki warns about disk life but I think that pertains to spinning disks that get worn out with constant use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a word of caution: this warning also pertains to flash based memory (such as the onboard storage on the FireTV). If you're caching to disk (or the sdcard, in this case), you'll wear out the flash memory rather quickly. The flash memory used in the FireTV is not designed to write/rewrite it's data all the time. It might take a couple of years (maybe 3ish), but it will eventually wear out due to high read/write operations. After that you're kinda SOL...
If you have the RAM space available, and your internet connection is fast enough, I strongly suggest using that for caching rather than disk. I'm currently evaluating the advancedsettings.xml below. For me, they've made a significant difference in my ability to stream video to my FireTV box. It will cache 150.9Mbytes of data while streaming both local and internet content (requires ~450MBytes of free RAM for XBMC). Assuming you're streaming a 5Gbyte file (that's a very high estimate, online HD video is compressed to around half that), it will cache at least 5 minutes of video. If I run into any issues I'll try upping the RAM available for caching and let you guy's know what changes I make.
Code:
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>1</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>157286400</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>20</readbufferfactor>
</network>
</advancedsettings>

sirwoogie said:
There really seems to be some variability and misinformation regarding this stuttering, so I wanted to share my observations by experimentation so far:
Testing setup is full switched gigabit network with FireTV at 100FDX. Server is capable of 1Gbps full throughtput and is sharing files via SMB/CIFS. The network is stable.
Test PC on wired ethernet on same switch can stream any speed up to 1G
Test PC on wireless ethernet can stream any speed up to typical speed of 802.11n @ 5Ghz double-width channels (approx 200Mbps).
Appears to only affected WIRED FireTV boxes. Switching to wireless with good signal removes the buffering issue experienced.
FireTV stick is not affected (wireless only obviously).
Only applies to large bitrate MKV files (typically 1080p @ > 20 mbit). Anything lower (e.g. 720p or less) is not affected as the low throughput via wired is able to keep up.
This affects any variant of XBMC that I've tried:
Gotham 13.2
Kodi 14.0
SPMC 13.X
Affects at least 51.1.4.0_user_514006420 & 51.1.4.1_user_514013920 versions of FireOS.
None of the internet-suggested settings for the advancedsettings.xml file appears to alleviate the issue even though there are posts suggesting otherwise.
This may be true for those users, but not for all. I can't find a commonality besides the "being wired" issue.
It may be a combination of factors (OS, settings) that produce the symptom.
I'd really like to hear comments on this. Perhaps this is a network stack issue with the FireTV. Perhaps this is a buffer handling problem. I've heard others using Plex that experience these issues as well, so perhaps this leans the issue towards something on FireOS. I'm not familiar enough with detailed network settings on this OS to diagnose.
Other observations:
Oddly, setting <cachemembuffersize>XXX</cachemembuffersize> to any value causes it to be halved when in use. I've set it to 50MB, and the cache readout shows 25MB when full. Is this right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am seeing exactly the same behaviour and have come to a similar conclusion that there maybe some hardware/OS specific issues.
I have a gigabit lan to which the fire tv is connected and experience buffering during playback of "raw" bluray mkv rips. I've tried to disable the cache/buffer but I'm not convinced if this is making any difference. I have a wired PC running the same Helix build and advancedsettings.xml file. I see from task manager that during playback the Ethernet connection bursts between 35 mbps up to 89/90 when connected at 100 mbps, and as high as 300 mbps when I've enabled gigabit speeds. This is even with the cache apparently disabled. These bursts seem to correspond with the cache filling up.
It feels like there are wired Ethernet throughput issues that when combined with the read ahead buffer result the "Buffering n%" messages. Plus the setting to disable the cache in advancedsettings.xml doesn't seem to work either due to a bug or because I'm not configuring it correctly.

sskuk said:
I am seeing exactly the same behaviour and have come to a similar conclusion that there maybe some hardware/OS specific issues.
I have a gigabit lan to which the fire tv is connected and experience buffering during playback of "raw" bluray mkv rips. I've tried to disable the cache/buffer but I'm not convinced if this is making any difference. I have a wired PC running the same Helix build and advancedsettings.xml file. I see from task manager that during playback the Ethernet connection bursts between 35 mbps up to 89/90 when connected at 100 mbps, and as high as 300 mbps when I've enabled gigabit speeds. This is even with the cache apparently disabled. These bursts seem to correspond with the cache filling up.
It feels like there are wired Ethernet throughput issues that when combined with the read ahead buffer result the "Buffering n%" messages. Plus the setting to disable the cache in advancedsettings.xml doesn't seem to work either due to a bug or because I'm not configuring it correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI , firetv only has a 10/100 nic so it wont get gigabit speeds.

I may have stumbled upon a fix for my buffering issues. I've checked over and over so many things these days with my network (router, modem, laptop with SMB external drive) and began moving in a different direction than just the advanced xml file (I tired about 100 options!). I looked at how to speed up serving up my files in case it really is just that simple. I found postings of editing Samba settings in the registry, but it was way beyond what I was willing to try. Then I stumbled on this blog
http://night-ray.blogspot.com/2010/03/improving-windows-xp-smb-file.html An old post from 2010 which looked promising. Since it's an old laptop I'm using I gave it a shot. Tested through 12 movies and no rebuffering yet. This may have given me just enough extra serving power to get enough data transferred. If you're brave as well and have XP (or maybe something similar can work for other versions) give it a shot.
I still have the huge buffer of 400mb someone posted in my settings but I've been clicking play about 2 seconds into it, so I probably need to adjust that down quite a bit and see how it goes.
The guy's blog is pretty interesting as I looked at it more, strange mix of topics, but I'll be writing him a thank you!

[Q] Fire TV Stick & playing MKV files

Hi folks
Got a Fire TV Stick there and have XBMC/Kodi sideloaded. I also have a QNAP NAS which is hardwired to my Virgin Superhub 2 router. When I play most of my MKV's, which are stored on the NAS, the playback is kinda sluggish/low frame rate.
Is there anything I can do to sort this for smooth playback? Does the stick just not have the power to play the MKVs? Is it the network?

takkischitt said:
Hi folks
Got a Fire TV Stick there and have XBMC/Kodi sideloaded. I also have a QNAP NAS which is hardwired to my Virgin Superhub 2 router. When I play most of my MKV's, which are stored on the NAS, the playback is kinda sluggish/low frame rate.
Is there anything I can do to sort this for smooth playback? Does the stick just not have the power to play the MKVs? Is it the network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine plays mkv from smb shares with no problems. Are these really large files? Id suspect its a network issue. How good is the signal in the room with the stick? Maybe do a speedtest or if possible move the stick to a tv closer to the router.

KLit75 said:
Mine plays mkv from smb shares with no problems. Are these really large files? Id suspect its a network issue. How good is the signal in the room with the stick? Maybe do a speedtest or if possible move the stick to a tv closer to the router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They range from 2-4GB in size. The router is right beside the TV, so dont think it would be a range issue. I'll check the router setting this evening to see if I can maybe change the signal frequency to get faster speeds.
But the Fire TV Stick should play MKV files smoothly, even if they're around 4GB?

Press O on a Keyboard in Kodi, while a video is playing to see both the CPU stress (in percentages), as well as the cache fill rate, dropped frames, ...
You guys are all treating this problem like you were banging on a black box. Just use the obvious diagnostic tools baked into the platforms. Act like you weren't part of the Smartphone generation that is seen as being too dumb to do any kind of problem solving using diagnostics. Start by RTFM.

harlekinrains said:
Press O on a Keyboard in Kodi, while a video is playing to see both the CPU stress (in percentages), as well as the cache fill rate, dropped frames, ...
You guys are all treating this problem like you were banging on a black box. Just use the obvious diagnostic tools baked into the platforms. Act like you weren't part of the Smartphone generation that is seen as being too dumb to do any kind of problem solving using diagnostics. Start by RTFM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be dumb, but how do you press O without a keyboard?

The little problems you have to solve...
Because I've leaned myself out of the window in other topics so recently - I'll just name the solution in here -
If you have an Android Phone (or tablet), or an iPhone (or iPad), or access to someone who has - install the FIre TV Remote App (or any similar app) on it and it will provide you with an on screen keyboard that can also be used to send "O" to Kodi.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.storm.lightning.client.aosp&hl=en
In fact - amazon notifies you, that this App exists in the setup process of the Fire TV if I am not mistaken.
If you have only access to a PC, or Mac - there are other solutions out there. Look for them in the Kodi Wiki (xbev).
---------- Post added at 05:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 PM ----------
edit: it is even possible to send the O command via adb -
adb shell input text o
Next time, you try to find one of the solutions yourself, promised? Maybe even share them. Like if this place would be something else, different to a consumer product support infrastructure.

harlekinrains said:
The little problems you have to solve...
Because I've leaned myself out of the window in other topics so recently - I'll just name the solution in here -
If you have an Android Phone (or tablet), or an iPhone (or iPad), or access to someone who has - install the FIre TV Remote App (or any similar app) on it and it will provide you with an on screen keyboard that can also be used to send "O" to Kodi.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.storm.lightning.client.aosp&hl=en
In fact - amazon notifies you, that this App exists in the setup process of the Fire TV if I am not mistaken.
If you have only access to a PC, or Mac - there are other solutions out there. Look for them in the Kodi Wiki (xbev).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks for the info. I completely forgot about the app, as I've just been using the remote. I'll give that a whirl later to see what it says.

FireTV Stick and Plex

Stupidly bought a FireTV Stick with the intention of putting it in the offpsrings room so they can watch stuff from my Plex server in their own rooms.
Installed Plex, it wants to activate, £3.99, fair enough, bought it, it then says I can't watch stuff until I activate it, so I try again and it just errors..
Plex forums are about as much use as a fart in a cullender, so ended up here..
Any root or custom ROM options for the stick so it actually becomes useful?

Same LAN network correct?
I've noticed that if Plex uses a WAN address it behaves differently and nags for money. If your on a local network and you've attached to the correct server than you should be good to go.
Maybe you've already done this but make sure you are connected to the correct server and on your local network. And also if the content is HD make sure you are using h.264 encoding. I've noticed the firetv stick struggles with MPEG2 HD.

I've got my Plex server locally with a static as well as the FireTV stick having a static IP, the problem lies in the fact that you cant get Plex to work for more than a minute, says it needs activating, charges you the £3.99 then when you try to play something it again says it needs activating, try to activate it a second time and it errors...
Might have to go down the sideloading Kodi or similar although I would prefer something that just launched straight in rather than having to go into Settings, Apps, Manage Apps then fire kodu up from there, hence the request for some sort of custom ROM...

Trig0r said:
I've got my Plex server locally with a static as well as the FireTV stick having a static IP, the problem lies in the fact that you cant get Plex to work for more than a minute, says it needs activating, charges you the £3.99 then when you try to play something it again says it needs activating, try to activate it a second time and it errors...
Might have to go down the sideloading Kodi or similar although I would prefer something that just launched straight in rather than having to go into Settings, Apps, Manage Apps then fire kodu up from there, hence the request for some sort of custom ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had that problem, ate you in the uk? Works gangbusters in the us. I'm also plexpass, so maybe that's why...

Trig0r said:
I've got my Plex server locally with a static as well as the FireTV stick having a static IP, the problem lies in the fact that you cant get Plex to work for more than a minute, says it needs activating, charges you the £3.99 then when you try to play something it again says it needs activating, try to activate it a second time and it errors...
Might have to go down the sideloading Kodi or similar although I would prefer something that just launched straight in rather than having to go into Settings, Apps, Manage Apps then fire kodu up from there, hence the request for some sort of custom ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say much about plex. I tried it. It was good to very good, depending on my device, but kodi is better in my opinion. However, if that tedious navigation in getting to the app is really your only issue, you can use llama to put it right on the recent section, or boot right to it. Adbfire makes the setup simple. There's also firestarter that allows side loaded apps on the home screen.

I've been using Plex for years and I'm pretty regular on the forums, and I agree, the issue with the repeated activation requirement doesn't seem to fix itself. Here is the most complete thread on the subject (http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/151349/app-already-purchased-but-still-prompting-for-activation/p1), I seem to remember that the main suggestions are (1) do a factory reset on the stick, (2) contact Amazon, and (3) PM one of the Plex devs with your amazon account name and maybe the receipt info from the app purchase (I don't remember the details of that). Like ldeveraux I have a Plexpass membership, that seems to provide the magic to avoid the issue (but I'm not promoting the purchase, the price now is kind of high).
Kodi+PlexBMC+Amber Skin works very well and looks similar to Plex Home Theater, sideloading is pretty easy (http://sideloadfiretv.com/sideload-apps-amazon-fire-tv-windows), and I think it's just a better solution to avoid any issues with surround sound.
Firestarter (http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/themes-apps/app-root-home-launcher-replacement-app-t3118135) is an awesome app to easily access your sideloaded apps.

Ahh, llama might sort me out then if I can boot the stick straight to Kodi/XBMC, dont have a Plexpass here which might be why its working for you guys and not me..

AFTV ver.1 Video Playback micro stutters (local media files over network)

Ok So I have an AFTV ver. 1 Running Fire OS 5.0.5 and Kodi 16.0. and all of my media files will micro stutter (doesn't matter if the file is High Bitrate or not) my settings are as follows:
I have Audio Pass through enabled with Resample rate set to Low (my receiver can handle DD and DTS and the sound comes out as expected)
I have also set in video settings set display to match source refresh rate (i have tried both "Always" and "On Start/Stop")
For the Most Part the video files play fine, but every so often the file will micro stutter. All of my files are h.264 mkv's (either blu-ray rips or HD TV shows) The TV shows seem to do it the worst. I have searched the web for answers and can't figure it out. One theory that I have is that the AFTV can't output and any other refresh rate than 60hz so that is causing a problem with things that were filmed in 23.97fps or 29.97fps. If anyone has any advice for me I would really be thankful.
I may be making a big deal out of nothing, but coming from a WD TV Live box I didn't have any problems like this, don't get me wrong I wont be going back to the WD now that I have the speed of KODI, but I just want to know if its a limitation of the Hardware.
Edit I have come to the acceptance that it is a limit of the hardware. I grabbed my roommates FTV ver 2 (also updated to Fire OS 5.0.5 and running KODI 16.0 and configured it the exact same way) ran the same files and they played flawlessly. Looks like I will be upgrading.

jdawg0024 said:
Ok So I have an AFTV ver. 1 Running Fire OS 5.0.5 and Kodi 16.0. and all of my media files will micro stutter (doesn't matter if the file is High Bitrate or not) my settings are as follows:
I have Audio Pass through enabled with Resample rate set to Low (my receiver can handle DD and DTS and the sound comes out as expected)
I have also set in video settings set display to match source refresh rate (i have tried both "Always" and "On Start/Stop")
For the Most Part the video files play fine, but every so often the file will micro stutter. All of my files are h.264 mkv's (either blu-ray rips or HD TV shows) The TV shows seem to do it the worst. I have searched the web for answers and can't figure it out. One theory that I have is that the AFTV can't output and any other refresh rate than 60hz so that is causing a problem with things that were filmed in 23.97fps or 29.97fps. If anyone has any advice for me I would really be thankful.
I may be making a big deal out of nothing, but coming from a WD TV Live box I didn't have any problems like this, don't get me wrong I wont be going back to the WD now that I have the speed of KODI, but I just want to know if its a limitation of the Hardware.
Edit I have come to the acceptance that it is a limit of the hardware. I grabbed my roommates FTV ver 2 (also updated to Fire OS 5.0.5 and running KODI 16.0 and configured it the exact same way) ran the same files and they played flawlessly. Looks like I will be upgrading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same issue running the aftv1, but using plex not kodi. I'll try my aftv2 like you to see if it makes a difference. It shouldn't [emoji2]

Try turning off rate switching. AFAIK Android does not yet support this.

jmerrilljr2 said:
Try turning off rate switching. AFAIK Android does not yet support this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried rate switching on and off. Same problem. Doesn't happen on the FTV 2

I have no idea what is going on with your set-up but I can tell you that I have 4 FireTv1 units in my home and I can watch different content from my NAS without any issues at all.
I do not think we should be blaming the hardware......... just saying

bula1ca said:
I have no idea what is going on with your set-up but I can tell you that I have 4 FireTv1 units in my home and I can watch different content from my NAS without any issues at all.
I do not think we should be blaming the hardware....I am just saying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind posting your video and audio settings? Also what version Kodi are you running?

jdawg0024 said:
Would you mind posting your video and audio settings? Also what version Kodi are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will post them when I get home tonight but honestly I do not remember doing anything special other then install zero cache. BTW have you ever use Raw Maintenance to clean cache etc. I will recommend using it once a week at least. BTW I am on v16 at the moment just updated few days back from v15.2

bula1ca said:
I will post them when I get home tonight but honestly I do not remember doing anything special other then install zero cache. BTW have you ever use Raw Maintenance to clean cache etc. I will recommend using it once a week at least. BTW I am on v16 at the moment just updated few days back from v15.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have zero cached enabled already and I will try to clean the cache

jdawg0024 said:
I have zero cached enabled already and I will try to clean the cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do a search on youtube on how to install Raw Maintenance, it has three options Clear Cache, Deletes Thumbnails and Purge Packages

bula1ca said:
Do a search on youtube on how to install Raw Maintenance, it has three options Clear Cache, Deletes Thumbnails and Purge Packages
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All that can be done from the maintenance tool add-on. Under general maintenance.

bula1ca said:
I have no idea what is going on with your set-up but I can tell you that I have 4 FireTv1 units in my home and I can watch different content from my NAS without any issues at all.
I do not think we should be blaming the hardware......... just saying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about your video encoding settings, what file formats, codecs you use that work well...

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I have purchased a Fire TV gen 2 and it has fixed all my problems. I have it set up the exact same way as the gen 1 and everything plays great

jdawg0024 said:
Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I have purchased a Fire TV gen 2 and it has fixed all my problems. I have it set up the exact same way as the gen 1 and everything plays great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you didn't "fix" the problem at all, you circumvented it by buying another piece of hardware [emoji6]

ldeveraux said:
What about your video encoding settings, what file formats, codecs you use that work well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, been busy with my kids for the last few days. I did not change any of the video encoding settings from what I remember.

bula1ca said:
Sorry, been busy with my kids for the last few days. I did not change any of the video encoding settings from what I remember.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant the files you're playing, not the FireTV. I think it may be a combination of video/audio encoding and the FireTV1 not playing well. What container and audio/video codec for your video files? What does MediaInfo output on them? This may be the key to understanding how best to store media for the device...

ldeveraux said:
Well, you didn't "fix" the problem at all, you circumvented it by buying another piece of hardware [emoji6]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, I did not fix the problem with my FTV gen 1. Over the past couple of days I had the FTV 1, FTV 2, and the Fire Stick (was setting up the stick for a friend). Both the FTV 1 and Fire Stick showed the same issues while trying to play large bitrate files. They would stutter. (not to the point that the file was unwatchable, but it was bad enough.) The FTV 2 however plays the same video file smoothly.

jdawg0024 said:
You are correct, I did not fix the problem with my FTV gen 1. Over the past couple of days I had the FTV 1, FTV 2, and the Fire Stick (was setting up the stick for a friend). Both the FTV 1 and Fire Stick showed the same issues while trying to play large bitrate files. They would stutter. (not to the point that the file was unwatchable, but it was bad enough.) The FTV 2 however plays the same video file smoothly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about the stick? Is that Stick1 or Stick2? I mean, your results aren't surprising, it would be cool to figure out exactly why.

ldeveraux said:
What about the stick? Is that Stick1 or Stick2? I mean, your results aren't surprising, it would be cool to figure out exactly why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is the firestick 1 and I am not surprised that it had a little stutter problem. I was more surprised about the Fire TV 1 that had a problem. It streams Netflix and Hulu just fine. I know that may be comparing apples to oranges

FIOS Mobile on stick?

Has anyone actually gotten the FIOS Mobile app installed and working on a fire tv (or preferably stick)? I want a portable device so that I can watch my dvr when on the road. The current version (5.2) won't allow access to shows, the previous version (5.0) won't connect, and the modified version to avoid root didn't work either. I thought @aftvnews might have a post about it, but nothing there. I can't find any solutions through Google either. Anyone have anything?

If anyone cares, the only way to run FIOS Mobile app is to unroot my stick. Root wasn't really necessary, so I did it an it's working now. Stupid Verizon appears to be blocking DVR access if it detects root, which is annoying.

ldeveraux said:
If anyone cares, the only way to run FIOS Mobile app is to unroot my stick. Root wasn't really necessary, so I did it an it's working now. Stupid Verizon appears to be blocking DVR access if it detects root, which is annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How well does the FiOS Mobile app work on the FireTV? I've considered it, but figure it would be a pain since the app is designed for phones and not devices like FireTV which needs a remote.

RedBullet said:
How well does the FiOS Mobile app work on the FireTV? I've considered it, but figure it would be a pain since the app is designed for phones and not devices like FireTV which needs a remote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works poorly at best, or it did last I checked. That was months ago, and VZ has pushed out a mandatory app update that renders it unusable unless you update. I should try it again though! Also a mouse was required, or an app that turns your remote into a mouse. And it would randomly force close while watching DVR. So really not worth it...

Coincidentally, I was just playing around with the FiOS Mobile app on my FireTV yesterday, since I'm interested in finding a way to stream my FiOS TV channels to my FireTV box in my computer room. I thought I'd share my experience with everyone here.
It's true that with the latest version of the OS and app, it just says it can't run without Google Play Services.
-However-
I side-loaded the v5.8 FiOS Mobile app, signed into my FiOS account, and what do you know, it worked*!
* Ahem. Well, it mostly, sorta works.
First, the app was designed for a touch screen, not the FireTV w/remote. So scrolling means using a BT keyboard w/touch pad, and holding down the "left mouse button" while swiping up on the touch pad. Bit of a pain, but at least I could scroll through the live TV channel list.
Second, not all the live TV channels have the "watch now" button. Remember, this app was primarily meant to be able to control your FiOS DVR, and so it's focus is on being able to get the DVR to record shows.
Third, streaming a live TV channel was...interesting. The video quality starts out very blocky, low-res. But after a few seconds it starts to gradually improve, until it eventually matches what you would normally see via a real decoder box. The HD channels actually looked very good, given a minute to "ramp up". (Oh, and I think I changed the video quality settings to the highest in the app - that may have helped.)
Fourth (and this is the most mysterious part), after some minutes playing around with the app, my network started to have...problems. First the FireTV suddenly said it couldn't access the network (it was attached via a wired ethernet cable). Then the web browser on my PC couldn't access the internet (some sort of DNS issue). I unplugged the power on the FireTV and within seconds my PC browser was all fine again. As a software engineer, I naturally decided to re-test just to see if it would happen again, which it did. Eventually I gave up and uninstalled the FiOS Mobile app.
<sigh>
I'm really hoping that Verizon will release something similar for Android boxes like some other cable systems have done. (e.g. DirecTV Now!) Wouldn't that be nice?

software_samurai said:
Coincidentally, I was just playing around with the FiOS Mobile app on my FireTV yesterday, since I'm interested in finding a way to stream my FiOS TV channels to my FireTV box in my computer room. I thought I'd share my experience with everyone here.
It's true that with the latest version of the OS and app, it just says it can't run without Google Play Services.
-However-
I side-loaded the v5.8 FiOS Mobile app, signed into my FiOS account, and what do you know, it worked*!
* Ahem. Well, it mostly, sorta works.
First, the app was designed for a touch screen, not the FireTV w/remote. So scrolling means using a BT keyboard w/touch pad, and holding down the "left mouse button" while swiping up on the touch pad. Bit of a pain, but at least I could scroll through the live TV channel list.
Second, not all the live TV channels have the "watch now" button. Remember, this app was primarily meant to be able to control your FiOS DVR, and so it's focus is on being able to get the DVR to record shows.
Third, streaming a live TV channel was...interesting. The video quality starts out very blocky, low-res. But after a few seconds it starts to gradually improve, until it eventually matches what you would normally see via a real decoder box. The HD channels actually looked very good, given a minute to "ramp up". (Oh, and I think I changed the video quality settings to the highest in the app - that may have helped.)
Fourth (and this is the most mysterious part), after some minutes playing around with the app, my network started to have...problems. First the FireTV suddenly said it couldn't access the network (it was attached via a wired ethernet cable). Then the web browser on my PC couldn't access the internet (some sort of DNS issue). I unplugged the power on the FireTV and within seconds my PC browser was all fine again. As a software engineer, I naturally decided to re-test just to see if it would happen again, which it did. Eventually I gave up and uninstalled the FiOS Mobile app.
<sigh>
I'm really hoping that Verizon will release something similar for Android boxes like some other cable systems have done. (e.g. DirecTV Now!) Wouldn't that be nice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You bumped a 5mo old thread! But I'm OP so here goes...
The app is up to version 5.9 now but was working for me before. Apart from the logistical issues already mentioned, out should play fine. I have to test out 5.9

ldeveraux said:
You bumped a 5mo old thread! But I'm OP so here goes...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I know. But if I had started a new thread discussing the exact same thing, someone would have undoubtedly taken me to task for duplicating an already existing thread.
ldeveraux said:
The app is up to version 5.9 now but was working for me before. Apart from the logistical issues already mentioned, out should play fine. I have to test out 5.9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do, and let me know if it works for you without Google Play Services. I didn't feel like rooting it and installing it just to get one app to run.
What worried me so much about v5.8 was how it somehow wrecked my home's network somehow. I suspect the app started doing hundreds of DNS lookups which swamped my internet gateway box.

software_samurai said:
I know, I know. But if I had started a new thread discussing the exact same thing, someone would have undoubtedly taken me to task for duplicating an already existing thread.
Please do, and let me know if it works for you without Google Play Services. I didn't feel like rooting it and installing it just to get one app to run.
What worried me so much about v5.8 was how it somehow wrecked my home's network somehow. I suspect the app started doing hundreds of DNS lookups which swamped my internet gateway box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5.9 seems to work on my stick. I do have google play services installed on there, but I don't think it's working. The stick is on the newest firmware, so it's definitely not rooted. I don't think you can root on this firmware anyway. Regardless, I was able to watch FIOS on an unrooted stick..
I tried to install Google Play Services from this link:
https://flixed.io/install-google-play-fire-tv-stick/

Got it working with Alexa-enabled stick
Side loaded it onto new non-rooted stick that has alexa remote - not the latest 4K stick.
Followed multiple google hits to get it done. It kept wanting google play services, so i had to side load and start the right google play apks.
Am using an ethernet adapter to get best picture. Wifi was ok but panning shots jumped a bit too much for me.
Lastly, got an OTG cable for a Logitech dongle for a keyboard mouse that works great. Recognized at boot - no config. Mouse mandatory for fios app, keboard arrow & enter key drives stick. Reasonably spouse friendly. Lost my remote - nay not matter now!
I'm posting this because i couldn't find a recent confirmation that fios app works on current fire stick.
Good luck.

Two things for root users to try: There are two XPosed apps you should install. One hides your root status and the other emulates Google Play Services.

I also want to state that I got the latest version of Verizon FiOS Mobile working on a FireTV stick without root. First, I enabled Apps from Unknown Sources and ADB Debugging under Settings-Developer Options. It seems like the FiOS Mobile app requires the Google Play store to be installed, so I found a site with instructions on how to install it and completed that task. I needed to download and install four .apk files. Strangely, I can't seem to launch the Google Play Store on my stick, but the FiOS Mobile app no longer complains that it's missing.. Next, I installed the FiOS Mobile app via APPS2FIRE. That's all I needed to do to get the FiOS Moble app running on my stick.
As another poster noted, the FiOS Mobile app was designed to be used on a touch device, such as a smartphone or tablet. Because of this, you cannot easily navigate the app and do what you want it to do easily using the Fire Stick remote. Someone recommended connecting a bluetooth keyboard and I think that's probably a good suggestion. Instead, I downloaded an app called Mouse Toggle which, when activated, provides a cursor on the screen that you can move around with the Fire Stick remote. I can now select items and enter channel numbers when I previously couldn't do so. It's not a perfect solution, but it gets the job done.
- LKNY