Develop Bugs

Hard drive support

Hello, I thought about buying an amazon fire tv and installing xbmc on it. my interent connection is just too slow for plex, netflixh or every other streaming options.
So, If i would install xbmc, could i play mkv 720p files with it?
Im only looking for a streamer that can play this type of files, I've also considered the WD TV Live but the amzon fire tv have better processor, and i doesn't know if it's pay off
Thanks for the future helpers

iii2 said:
Hello, I thought about buying an amazon fire tv and installing xbmc on it. my interent connection is just too slow for plex, netflixh or every other streaming options.
So, If i would install xbmc, could i play mkv 720p files with it?
Im only looking for a streamer that can play this type of files, I've also considered the WD TV Live but the amzon fire tv have better processor, and i doesn't know if it's pay off
Thanks for the future helpers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest if your not gonna stream then it's best to get wd live hub with 1tb hard drive in it. I have all my 1080p mkv movies in them and it works great. I also have the amazon fire also but my downloaded movies I keep on the wd.

iii2 said:
Hello, I thought about buying an amazon fire tv and installing xbmc on it. my interent connection is just too slow for plex, netflixh or every other streaming options.
So, If i would install xbmc, could i play mkv 720p files with it?
Im only looking for a streamer that can play this type of files, I've also considered the WD TV Live but the amzon fire tv have better processor, and i doesn't know if it's pay off
Thanks for the future helpers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fire TV does not support playing files from a connected hard drive. Not through any apps, including XBMC. The only way to get the content on your hard drive to play on the Fire TV is to connect the hard drive to a PC and make the files available over the network through a sharing protocol like SMB. Then XBMC will see the files shared on the network and play them.

Wifey bought me a FTV!

I currently use plex for my media management solution, which is fantastic. I have a quad processor server with 18TB of storage, 12TB usable as its configured for Raid6. I chose plex due to the fact that plexapps are available for my Samsung smart tvs, and for simplicity with my chromecast.
The wife knows my love of tinkering and that I've been eyeballing the AFTV for a while now. Can anyone provide some insight? I'm looking to further enhance my cord-cutting future as we are moving to South Korea next year and will need to rely on my server as well as streaming content for entertainment.
I'm tired of horrible firstrow streams for my football games, as well as UFC matches and indycar/rally races. Are there "alternatives" available with much improved quality?
Anything I should do first to the AFTV? How can I integrate it into my existing content delivery system?
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

cliff p said:
Anything I should do first to the AFTV? How can I integrate it into my existing content delivery system?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to see if you can root the Fire TV before you ever hook it up. This allows for harnessing the power of the device with XBMC and the addons that are available. The How to setup a new Fire TV without blocking Root guide is a great starting point. Otherwise, the Fire TV will primarily be an Amazon centric box. And where is the fun in that?

That was generally the idea (to root the device first before doing anything else with it).
When I first started looking into Media Servers, I worked very little with XBMC. A few friends with Plex suggested it to me, and it seems to fit the bill more for me. With that being said, can XBMC be integrated or coexist with PMS?
EDIT: Disregard the XBMC question, I did a quick search and found that I can install PlexBMC that will work with the PMS backend.

So I've rooted the AFTV, Installed BB and SuperSU, and XBMC. Added a few "add-ons" like 1Chan and some others. Pretty cool little device! Kinda wishing there were more HD capable streams for certain programs, since there isn't much difference streaming the actual website steam via my laptop to my TV via HDMI.
I may put it in my VPN route and see if I can get my NFL games in HD at least.
Quite honestly wondering if it was worth installing Plex on, since my Samsung TV already has Plex and is a bit more seamless. I may use the device in place of the Chromecast dongle I have in the bedroom, though.
Can anyone point me in the right direction for some higher quality feeds, etc?
Almost forgot: Themes for the XBMC? Is it more worthwhile to have XBMC autostart on boot? I don't have a subscription for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc. I use Plex, and use it heavily with Sickbeard/Couchpotato/Headphones/Etc.
THX.

Take a look at the [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root). This XBMC launcher replaces the Fire TV launcher and at the same time allows access to it if you were to have Amazon content.

mjbxx said:
Take a look at the [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root). This XBMC launcher replaces the Fire TV launcher and at the same time allows access to it if you were to have Amazon content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great! Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Video Issues w/ Side Loaded Kodi

So I decided to pick up AFTV a week ago after reading so many good reviews about the device and how well it runs Kodi, but I am having an issue running certain MKV files with dual audio. When I try to play the videos Kodi either crashes to the FTV menu or restarts the whole device. I tried to disable the accelerators in settings and the video starts to play with stuttering and no audio. Anyone know what could be the cause of this and is there a fix available.
BTW I'm running Helix 14.0

hyelife said:
So I decided to pick up AFTV a week ago after reading so many good reviews about the device and how well it runs Kodi, but I am having an issue running certain MKV files with dual audio. When I try to play the videos Kodi either crashes to the FTV menu or restarts the whole device. I tried to disable the accelerators in settings and the video starts to play with stuttering and no audio. Anyone know what could be the cause of this and is there a fix available.
BTW I'm running Helix 14.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issues with both XBMC 13 and 14.. After lots of searching I found
I cant post links yet, but google "Work in Progress - Experimental simple deinterlacing" and you will get the Kodi forum that has an updated kodi for the issue.
Hope this helps

Try SPMC. I had problems of somekind with all versions of XBMC that I have tried on the Fire TV til I installed SPMC. I have not had one problem with SPMC and could instantly tell a difference in the smoothness of streams and video playback.

I think i've tried them all.
porkenhimer said:
Try SPMC. I had problems of somekind with all versions of XBMC that I have tried on the Fire TV til I installed SPMC. I have not had one problem with SPMC and could instantly tell a difference in the smoothness of streams and video playback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem with any version of XBMC whether it be SPMC or KODI is that 720p MPEG-2 always stutters. I've tried everything I think including.
SW only
Listagefright only
Mediacodec only
Listagefright and MediaCodec
SPMC 13.4 & 14.2 (I think these are the final versions i used)
KODI 13.4 & 14.2 & 15.1 (I think those are the final versions)
My next try was going to be to use MX player and the playercorefactory.xml but so far I haven't been able to get that to work. It just flashes really quick and does nothing when I click on a channel.
BTW....I have comcast so everything is in MPEG-2 and I use an HDHOMERUN prime that feeds a windows 7 machine with WMC running serverWMC and Plex (w/ serverWMC plex plugin). I also have an xbox 360 and that works perfectly but the only way I can get fire tv stick to work reliably is by transcoding to h.264. But this adds at least 10 seconds to a channel change and It really complicates the setup and maintenance. I would really like to not have to transcode and use KODI on the firetv stick as my front end. However, without mpeg2 720p support I can't.

HomerunTV - HD Homerun Live TV on Fire TV

Just wanted to share my experience today I bought this app since I own HD Homerun while having it on Kodi with PVR was nice it required a server computer to be running while watching.
Just wanted to let all guys know that the app costs 2.99$ (it's not mine of course I wish I was that skilled) everything works amazingly with fire REMOTE there is only one small issue in order to hit PLAY you must use mouse, I emailed dev asking him about this so it might be fixed soon!
How it works? it uses MX player or VLC media player to play the live channel ( my ISP is Verizon fios ) and channels stream usually around 18 mbps on lan in HD.
My Setup is:
Ethernet Cable
Homerun TV
VLC Media player (newest extracted from playstore) sometimes screen gets black it might be VLC issue (did not try with MX Player)
I'd say it's worth 2.99$ quality over VLC media player is great as well!
Update Feb 06 2015
Small Tips:
In order to play channel you must USE mouse to point it to "play button"
Set VLC media player to "Full hardware accelaration"
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zaren.HomeRunTV&hl=en
Stream live TV from your HDHomeRun device to your phone or tablet. (Unprotected, copy freely channels only)
This application will allow you to stream live TV to your android phone or tablet. It can be streamed to your device in 1 of 2 ways.
1. Directly from the hdhomerun to your device. This requires a strong network connection to your device (wireless N recommended) and a powerful enough device to decode 1080i video.
2. Through the HdhomerunStreamServer. This uses VLC to transcode the video to a lower bandwidth.

you're telling me you can stream HD smoothly with this app? It's been a couple months since I tried it when it first was released for the Fire TV, and any HD channel caused severe stuttering. I'm on a wired GBe LAN as well. That'd be great if an update to the app fixed this.
UPDATE: Nevermind, I was referring to the app released by Silicon Dust themselves.

onlinespending said:
you're telling me you can stream HD smoothly with this app? It's been a couple months since I tried it when it first was released for the Fire TV, and any HD channel caused severe stuttering. I'm on a wired GBe LAN as well. That'd be great if an update to the app fixed this.
UPDATE: Nevermind, I was referring to the app released by Silicon Dust themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea the silicondust app is very laggy.
This one streams without a SINGLE lag because it uses MX Player or VLC.
Make sure to sideload VLC media player.
I asked the dev about placing the play button somwhere else. We'll see what happens.
Streams perfectly.

patt2k said:
Just wanted to share my experience today I bought this app since I own HD Homerun while having it on Kodi with PVR was nice it required a server computer to be running while watching.
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Click to collapse
If you don't mind me asking, what setup were you using with Kodi (e.g. server OS, server software, HDHomeRun configuration, etc.). I've got the HDHomeRun Plus / Extend and have not had a lot of luck settings things up.
I tried using TVHeadEnd on an Ubuntu server and Kodi running the TVHeadEnd plug-in. It streams fine only some of the time, but I get frequent crashes, especially when changing channels. In addition, I could not get any PVR functionality to work, nor have I been able to get h.264 transcoding from the HDHomeRun to work.
I then tried using MythTV, but could not get the Kodi MythTV plugin to work -- it would show the stations, but not be able to connect to the streams. (I also had trouble getting the MythTV server configured with the HDHomeRun, but that's not really related to the Fire TV.)
Thanks.

wunderdrug said:
If you don't mind me asking, what setup were you using with Kodi (e.g. server OS, server software, HDHomeRun configuration, etc.). I've got the HDHomeRun Plus / Extend and have not had a lot of luck settings things up.
I tried using TVHeadEnd on an Ubuntu server and Kodi running the TVHeadEnd plug-in. It streams fine only some of the time, but I get frequent crashes, especially when changing channels. In addition, I could not get any PVR functionality to work, nor have I been able to get h.264 transcoding from the HDHomeRun to work.
I then tried using MythTV, but could not get the Kodi MythTV plugin to work -- it would show the stations, but not be able to connect to the streams. (I also had trouble getting the MythTV server configured with the HDHomeRun, but that's not really related to the Fire TV.)
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use any PVR's I simply use Homerun TV and watch it via the app (I added shortcut in Kodi) so it's faster to open it.

I have a HDHomerun plus, adding the dlna server source of the HDHomerun to the files under videos is by far the best quality live streams I have gotten.
Regarding PVR with the Hdhomerun plus, I tried the same things. I finally said forget it and got a simple TV for $100 on woot with lifetime sub. It actually works much better than the reviews led me to believe. I access the recordings through plex.

goodhur said:
I have a HDHomerun plus, adding the dlna server source of the HDHomerun to the files under videos is by far the best quality live streams I have gotten.
Regarding PVR with the Hdhomerun plus, I tried the same things. I finally said forget it and got a simple TV for $100 on woot with lifetime sub. It actually works much better than the reviews led me to believe. I access the recordings through plex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw it being offered free not to long ago (lifetime sub)

I'm missing something. I have it installed, but how do I play a stream? When I click on the channel it takes me to a stream diagnostics screen (signal strength, etc.) How do I play it? Thanks!

ChaOConnor said:
I'm missing something. I have it installed, but how do I play a stream? When I click on the channel it takes me to a stream diagnostics screen (signal strength, etc.) How do I play it? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the trick... you must use "mouse" to point it to play button.
I emailed the DEV and asking him if he can somehow in future make it "play-able" via REMOTE.
Every other part of the app works fine with remote.

patt2k said:
Here is the trick... you must use "mouse" to point it to play button.
I emailed the DEV and asking him if he can somehow in future make it "play-able" via REMOTE.
Every other part of the app works fine with remote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Well that's why I couldn't get it to work. So plug a mouse into the Fire and I should be good then?

ChaOConnor said:
Thanks! Well that's why I couldn't get it to work. So plug a mouse into the Fire and I should be good then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep for now that is what I do. Also in vlc settings turn on full acceleration (hardware) for better playback
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

patt2k said:
Yep for now that is what I do. Also in vlc settings turn on full acceleration (hardware) for better playback
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!

I found out a few days ago that you can adjust the quality stream in the actual HDhomerun view app. When the app is open just keep on pressing the menu button rapidly until the settings comes up then you can select the stream quality.
Also I had a Amazon gift card to burn so I actually bought InstaTV Pro. It comes up as a free app but it is by no means a free app. It cost $10 (which bites) because it has to download codecs. However it works very well.

Plex Media Server on Shield TV

Just announced today *drool*
I've been thinking of upgrading my NAS to a more powerful machine, however, with this, it won't be necessary. Perfect.
https://blog.plex.tv/2016/06/09/nvidia-shield-you-complete-us/
"You read that right: the SHIELD is so powerful that it can not only run our Android TV interface better than just about anything out there, it can also run the full media server, including support for hardware-accelerated video transcoding (H.264, MPEG2 and HEVC)! With multiple simultaneous streams! As for storage, you get up to 500GB right on the SHIELD, and you can easily add more via USB or over the network."
https://shield.nvidia.com/blog/plex-media-server
"With our next software update in a couple of weeks, SHIELD will get a major upgrade that includes Plex Media Server. With this upgrade, SHIELD becomes the first smart TV device to support a more streamlined, mainstream Plex experience - one that combines the Plex media player and the Plex media server into a single, pre-installed, easy to use app. Combined with SHIELD Pro’s 500 GBs of internal storage and 1080p hardware-accelerated transcode, Plex fans will enjoy a seamless, all-in-one experience that enables them to more easily access their media collection."
Right now I am using the Full Android AOSP build, so I hope it can be ported over without too much trouble. I *might* go back to Stock for this though!

This is seriously...big news.

How many simultaneous transcoding streams do you think it can handle?

grievous2004 said:
How many simultaneous transcoding streams do you think it can handle?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can answer that. About 2-3 1080p streams.
Read comments on this page: https://blog.plex.tv/2016/06/09/nvidia-shield-you-complete-us/
Emilio answers:
"Generally speaking about 2-3 1080P stream but it all depends on the files, network, and if there is anything else going on at the same time, whether it can use the hardware decoder or must it use the software (the CPU). It is not an Apples to Apples comparison. a 30BG HD bluray high bitrate rip input file is not going to transcode well as something smaller. Direct Play streams are less intensive than ones that need transcoding obviously"

The apps already been published in the playstore, we just can't install it yet.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb&hl=en

How can we get a 3.2 ROM beta to try? Can anyone post the APK to apkmirror? com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb?
It's interesting that the beta isn't available here for the developer program. https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksdownload#?search=SHIELD%20ANDROID%20TV%20Pro%20Developer&tx=$additional,shield

Plex Server Problem
Got the update today but i have a Problem.. If i try to search for data on an Extertal sd Nothing happens.. The korrekt fordert are just on the intern sd but can that be? I just have one Extertal sd and i dort Want to Mount it to add it to the internat sd. If i try to create a movies Folder on the Extertal sd Nothing happens.. Can i Chance the pad plex Server is Looping for?

Is it possible to uninstall the Plex Server crap through normal means, or is the code baked into the system and not possible to remove?
EDIT: OK it can be disabled like any normal app.

Has anyone figured out how to get the HDHomeRun stuff working? Plex server is amazing, and the HDHomeRun PRIME is amazing.
So far, I have rooted my 3.2 shield TV, and I've installed the HDHRViewerV2-beta-0.07c from http://hdhrviewer.zynine.net/download/ into the folder /data/data/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/HDHRViewerV2.bundle
in that folder is "Contents", so I have
Code:
[email protected]:/data/data/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb[/email]/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/HDHRViewerV2.bundle/Contents # ls -l
ls -l
drwxrwxrwx root root 2016-07-01 03:08 Code
-rwxrwxrwx root root 6458 2016-07-01 19:03 DefaultPrefs.json
-rwxrwxrwx root root 690 2016-07-01 19:03 Info.plist
drwxrwxrwx root root 2016-07-01 03:08 Resources
drwxrwxrwx root root 2013-09-27 22:14 Strings
Does this look right? I'm new to plex server, and I don't see anything for this in the web interface.
Thanks, and I hope we can crack it! Imagine, you get all the cable provider channels DVR unlimited, watch anywhere, and on any device!

Is plex really free? I am trying stream movies on my phone from the shield TV but every 1 minutes or so it stops. I read online saying that there is a monthly fee or a one time fee for life
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Plex media server software is free but the dedicated app for playback usually cost a one time fee like many Android apps. If you do the Plex Pass subscription or one time Plex pass for life payment, then the app is free. I can't remember if the app has a playback limitation because I purchased it the very first day it became available.
Look at the release notes in Google play store to see if it mentions any limitations on the trial version your using. Maybe the information is there.
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

The Plex app for Android is a demo version with a $5 upgrade to the full version. (No idea if that's per household or per device, and if it's the latter, if it's possible to transfer between devices.) Some free alternatives to try are PleXBMC and PlexKodiConnect.

Anyone here know how to change where PMS keeps its appdata? I have a 16gb shield and a 128gb SD that I want to keep the metadata on. I have a NAS with a TON of data, the metadata gets really large. If someone could point me in the right direction I would be willing to make a guide, as I'm sure I'm not gonna be the only one looking for this info.

What's plex do that kodi can't?

Neo3D said:
What's plex do that kodi can't?
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Click to collapse
With plex server now on my shield tv at home, I can load up plex.tv at work, and watch all my movies/tv shows when the boss is not in

Neo3D said:
What's plex do that kodi can't?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With nas, you are your own personal Netflix.
With an hd homerun prime, you can rebroadcast a cable provider channel set to anywhere.
And... You can cast it so you can remove any unused cable equipment and with a Chromecast, any tv becomes hd live capable.

gffmac said:
With plex server now on my shield tv at home, I can load up plex.tv at work, and watch all my movies/tv shows when the boss is not in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to do that but it's not available in the other end do you have any tutorials on how to achieve this? Thanks in advance!

pmgnet said:
With nas, you are your own personal Netflix.
With an hd homerun prime, you can rebroadcast a cable provider channel set to anywhere.
And... You can cast it so you can remove any unused cable equipment and with a Chromecast, any tv becomes hd live capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can You send Sling Tv or Xfinity Go App channels to other connected tvs?

Manster3354 said:
Can You send Sling Tv or Xfinity Go App channels to other connected tvs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use sling. The xfinity app doesn't cast.
I use Plex and I'm attempting to get the hd homerun prime plugin working.

I just tried to set it up but can't figure out how to get it to see my NAS.