Develop Bugs

[Q] Fire TV in UK

I have an Amazon Fire TV imported from the US,,, Is it possible to use my UK Prime Instant Video account? I can link it up to my UK account (the apps seems to reflect this) but I seem to be seing US Movie/TV content. Also no way to set timezone to UK.
Any views?

(sorry m8 I'd never noticed the default list of TZs was so dang restricted...)

ipxsystems said:
I have an Amazon Fire TV imported from the US,,, Is it possible to use my UK Prime Instant Video account? I can link it up to my UK account (the apps seems to reflect this) but I seem to be seing US Movie/TV content. Also no way to set timezone to UK.
Any views?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi buddy i'm in the same boat as you.... If you figure out how to change the time let me know.

imtiajmeah said:
Hi buddy i'm in the same boat as you.... If you figure out how to change the time let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the Netherlands, got this problem as well. Opened the Amazon settings apk, and those few time zones are hardcoded in the app/xml, so looks that amazon doesn't have any outside US plans for now.
Sideloaded a default Android Setting apk, but switching time zones didn't stick, same as via adb shell setprop persist.sys.timezone, so think we'll need to wait for root access to make it stick.

I installed "Time Zone Changer" from the playstore, worked for me, +2 GMT, even after reboot.

ipxsystems said:
I have an Amazon Fire TV imported from the US,,, Is it possible to use my UK Prime Instant Video account? I can link it up to my UK account (the apps seems to reflect this) but I seem to be seing US Movie/TV content. Also no way to set timezone to UK.
Any views?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
So are you saying that you have an amazon.co.uk account, but the Fire TV prime movies on your box are the USA movies? (I think that means you get about 2x as many choices AFAIK... which is fantastic. So is that true?
Also, how about NetFlix, is that UK or USA content?
tx
Mark.

..

JJ-KwiK said:
Everything on the FireTV is region restricted to the US. Including Prime, Netflix and Hulu. If you try from any other region, like UK or Canada as an example, you'll get an error msg when you try to load a video. The only way to get around the error is to use a VPN. So far, vpn apk's, like Hola, don't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap, so why are some people buying it in the UK on eBay... Some sellers saying it's UK ready...
Perhaps we'll get lucky with an Android TV announcement at Google IO.
Mark
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Here is my experience so far...
If you use a service like SmartDNS or Unblock-US, you can watch Netflix from anywhere in the world using your UK Netflix account. No need for VPNs. The services costs an extra $5 a month but worth it. Works great on all devices, including my Fire TV.
The service also works a treat for Hulu, but the Fire TV app is for Hulu. This needs a US credit card to subscribe.
For Amazon Instant Video (the pay to rent/buy service), you need a US Amazon.com account and a US credit card. You can use a service like US Unlocked (not to be confused with Unblock-US mentioned above ) which lets you register for a virtual US credit card with a US billing address and works great on Amazon and Vudu. Been using it a few years, but it does require a huge leap of faith to sign up for it - you need to send bank details etc for initial setup. I haven't had any issues so far, but appreciate many won't want to do this.
You can probably also get Amazon.com vouchers but have not tried this for Instant Video . Lots of sites sell them
The kick in the teeth for me is Amazon Prime and not having access to the UK service. On the Fire TV it's not an app that you launch so to speak, it's integrated into the menus. Everything that is served is the US content. Unlike Netflix, which uses the same app to server different content based on your region, Amazon has different apps for each region.
So to get UK Prime content, we need a UK version of the app sideloaded. At least that's my conclusion. The best version would be the Google TV apk (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod) and there are some discussion around about ripping it, but I don't think anyone succeeded. We would also need it to be the UK version of the app.
As an example, on PS3, to get UK Prime, I need the app from the US PSN store, and for US Prime you need the one from the US PSN store.
The other challenge is sideloading it. I tried sideloading this Amazon Instant APK just as a test, and I got an error saying com.amazon.avod already installed, which is the main Prime app on the Fire TV. Someone much smarter than me would need to figure out how to change the name of the app/package so it can be installed alongside each other. Even if you could, this app won't work anyway to get UK content (or even work at all with a remote), but it's one step closer if we can get two versions of the Amazon app installed side by side.
Hope that helps someone somewhere It's still a great piece of kit - only thing I'm missing is UK Prime.
Cheers

eskay993 said:
Here is my experience so far...
If you use a service like SmartDNS or Unblock-US, you can watch Netflix from anywhere in the world using your UK Netflix account. No need for VPNs. The services costs an extra $5 a month but worth it. Works great on all devices, including my Fire TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Netflix UK work for you? Mine (also using Unblock Us) does show the content, and can navigate, but will refuse to play movies. It will start loading but then stalls after about 40% loading.
adb logcat gives java cert errors.

JPDeckers said:
Does Netflix UK work for you? Mine (also using Unblock Us) does show the content, and can navigate, but will refuse to play movies. It will start loading but then stalls after about 40% loading.
adb logcat gives java cert errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm you're right. I've been mostly watching US and only tested accessing UK content, not playing. Tried playing and it stalls at 40%.
As a test, I tried a different Netflix apk that I found and it works fine in terms of playing the movie, but this apk is designed for touchscreen and a bit crappy to use with the Fire TV remote.
So, either it's a bug with v1.0.1 of Netflix which comes with the Fire TV, or it' an extra region check they've added, which sucks. I suspect it's just a bug/restriction of this old version.
If we can find a version Netflix apk that works well with a remote, then this would be solved. Unfortunately most results that come up are for touch screens.
Sooo close to being the perfect box! Hopefully someone can figure out a way round it.
Cheers
UPDATE: Netflix UK now works for me as I mention below.

Unfortunately I haven't found a way around this. I am in the UK and bought a Fire TV whilst in the US. When returning none of the videos play, none of the applications load (apart from the ones I've sideloaded).
It is still useful, as I put XBMC on there but it would be great to be able to use an Amazon Prime UK account or even just set the timezone without faffing about.

boxst said:
Unfortunately I haven't found a way around this. I am in the UK and bought a Fire TV whilst in the US. When returning none of the videos play, none of the applications load (apart from the ones I've sideloaded).
It is still useful, as I put XBMC on there but it would be great to be able to use an Amazon Prime UK account or even just set the timezone without faffing about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex works i use it everyday on fire tv,even with the things that dont work yet in the uk for the price and gta games working great it is a brilliant box.

JPDeckers said:
Does Netflix UK work for you? Mine (also using Unblock Us) does show the content, and can navigate, but will refuse to play movies. It will start loading but then stalls after about 40% loading.
adb logcat gives java cert errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if it's something I inadvertently did, or something that changed server side at Netflix/Amazon, but Netflix UK now works on my Fire TV! I tried US, Mexico and UK and all movies and TV shows play (no longer get stuck at 40%). Worth trying it again if you were having trouble before.
All that's left now is for the new Netflix client (coming soon later in the year) and for a way to get Amazon UK, and I'm sorted!

eskay993 said:
Not sure if it's something I inadvertently did, or something that changed server side at Netflix/Amazon, but Netflix UK now works on my Fire TV!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, somewhere around the last firmware update, Netflix started working! Uninstalled the sideloaded version, because this client is actually usable. Now wait for the updated one, but already really helps in usability.

[Q] Fire TV bought in US wont register on Amazon Account

I bought a Fire TV in the US from an Amazon Kiosk on the 8th July and on getting it back to the UK it wont accept my Amazon login details. They are prime enabled and on checking in the web browser and my Kindle work perfectly. Has there been a change in firmware to stop UK users loggin in on the Fire TV box?

Have you set it up with Unblock-US or another DNS "changer"? Mine has no issues with my US account from the UK

I remember reading a blog post where a guy created a US amazon account with bogus info and funded it with gift cards purchased through amazon.co.uk

Thanks cant get to those settings
Smithy71 said:
Have you set it up with Unblock-US or another DNS "changer"? Mine has no issues with my US account from the UK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if its a newer version of the firmware but the wireless settings onto let me tailor any of the required items to link to a US proxy. I above a US account but its not linking to that for some reason.
I may try rooting it and see if I can modify network settings after that.

Do I need update FIRE TV by VPN, I am out of the USA?

Hi,
Now I am in China where Amazon don't sell to.
1. So do I need set up a new FIRE TV by VPN?
2. do I need update FIRE TV by VPN?
thanks

blackantt said:
Hi,
Now I am in China where Amazon don't sell to.
1. So do I need set up a new FIRE TV by VPN?
2. do I need update FIRE TV by VPN?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) If you are not rooted and want to use US/UK content, you will have to subscribe to a smart dns provider. VPN is not possible in fire tv if you are not rooted(unless of course if you have a router with VPN capabilities). But if you don't want to use US/UK content but want to play few games and may be use Kodi, then you don't need VPN or DNS
2) To update the Fire tv there is no need of VPN or DNS

gopichandpai said:
1) If you are not rooted and want to use US/UK content, you will have to subscribe to a smart dns provider. VPN is not possible in fire tv if you are not rooted(unless of course if you have a router with VPN capabilities). But if you don't want to use US/UK content but want to play few games and may be use Kodi, then you don't need VPN or DNS
2) To update the Fire tv there is no need of VPN or DNS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My parents are in India and their earlier firetv got updated to the latest firmware thus loosing root. If what you said were true, that would have saved me a whole cross country swap.

navigates said:
My parents are in India and their earlier firetv got updated to the latest firmware thus loosing root. If what you said were true, that would have saved me a whole cross country swap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sorry. I didn't understand what you said Are you agreeing with me that VPN is not required for Fire TV upgrade?

Yes VPN is not required to upgrade the firetv's firmware.

I'm hoping someone can help me.
I'm in Canada and have firestick.. I have ironsocket's SmartDNS, and it works for the basic content from FireTV.
I sideloaded the XFinity app (I have a valid Xfinity login -- my friend has service in California).
Unfortunately the Live TV channels don't work within the XFINITY app. (When I use the XFINITY app on my Android phone using OPENVPN client with a US server, it works fine).
I have a Fire TV stick and Fire TV (That can't be rooted as it's brand new).
I plan to get a router that supports VPN in the next couple of weeks.
Is there anything I can try before that to get xfinity app working?
Thanks in advance.

YYZviaYUL said:
Is there anything I can try before that to get xfinity app working?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Unlocator and see if it works

gopichandpai said:
Try Unlocator and see if it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've emailed IronSocket and they're working on it.
Hope they get a working solution in place soon.

Just wanted to follow up about XFINITY app.
IronSocket (after I submitted a trouble ticket) got it working within a few hours using.

Latest Amazon fire stick with smart vpn - will iplayer apps etc show up? :)

Hi,
I'm outside the UK. Using a smart VPN service, will apps like iPlayer, all4 etc show up or are Amazon too clever for that? Does anyone have any experience using the fire stick outside UK/US. Set up should be nor problem, I'm fairly technical.
Background: I already have a smart VPN service and have an new Android TV (Sony). The issue is that on the TV, apps like BBC iplayer don't show up - I have sideloaded the normal one but have to use a mouse.
Many thanks
:good: :fingers-crossed:

If you have an amazon account set to the region you want the apps from you'll be fine, I recently purchased a fire tv, for us over here in Korea and I used my UK account to download the UK apps I wanted, such as iPlayer, ITV Hub etc and then online I switched my UK account to US region setting, pretty easy to do, you don't need a VPN to download the apps, only when using them to watch content on. Hope this helps.

jupinkorea said:
If you have an amazon account set to the region you want the apps from you'll be fine, I recently purchased a fire tv, for us over here in Korea and I used my UK account to download the UK apps I wanted, such as iPlayer, ITV Hub etc and then online I switched my UK account to US region setting, pretty easy to do, you don't need a VPN to download the apps, only when using them to watch content on. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much! Gives me some hope. Currently using a Sony Android TV and I have no iPlayer etc working ..

The only way I got vpn working with kodi was to use vpn on my phone, have kodi on my phone, then mirracast it to your aftv then watch which ever addon from which ever region you like. I also tried putting a vpn on my fire stick but it just crashed everytime I loaded it, but it wasn't rooted. Will try again Once my aftv 2 it's rooted!
(Update)
No still no VPN even though I now have root, never mind

Netflix on FireTV in other countries

Hello,
Is it possible to get Netflix to work in other countries than "US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan", without using VPN? (is root get it to work...?)
Thank you for your suggestions

a.speen said:
Hello,
Is it possible to get Netflix to work in other countries than "US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan", without using VPN? (is root get it to work...?)
Thank you for your suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is very hard to get it with VPN at the moment, Nextflix is cracking down on VPN users. Google this subject and you will find your answers.

Yes, local Netlifx will work on Fire TV outside "US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan"

gopichandpai said:
Yes, local Netlifx will work on Fire TV outside "US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, good. Could you please tell me how to achieve that? I have a Netflix account and Netflix is avaliable in my country, but not in FireTV.
Thanks.

a.speen said:
OK, good. Could you please tell me how to achieve that? I have a Netflix account and Netflix is avaliable in my country, but not in FireTV.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't have Netflix app on your Fire TV, you need to create Amazon.com(USA) account. Use this account in your Fire TV. You will be able to search and download Netflix from Fire TV. You don't need VPN or DNS to create the Amazon.com account or using this ID on Fire TV. During Amazon.com account creation, if it asks for an address in the US, enter a US address.

You can always load a netflix different than amazon appstore's. I loaded the apk from my phone for example or you can use something like aptoide and install it from there