Hi all.
I've played with XBMC a little in the past but nothing too in depth. When I saw the Fire TV come out I ordered day one. My main goal is to completely replace all my Windows Media Center machines and switch to XBMC + Fire TV for each location in my house. The reason for this change is I believe that it will be easier to add-on a few features i've been missing with my WMC setup.
So far ive loaded XBMC and configured it. I repurposed a WMC to be my TV/DVR server in the basement using PVR.WMC. I found a few tricks and this is now functioning as my whole house DVR.
My main issues that need addressing are as follows:
Add "Fire TV" apps to XBMC main menu (Amazon Prime movies, Netflix, and Pandora)
Remote Music Channels from the PVR menu in PVC.WMC
BluRay playback
I have all my DVDs/BRs stored in ISO format on a NAS in my basement. DVDs are fine. BR is a challenge. Am I better off converting to MKV? Does anyone know a way to make a library that is also shared with PLEX?
According to this wiki
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
It is possible to add android apps to the xbmc menu if you are using Gotham. I tried doing it and as soon as I went to android application xbmc 13 final just crashes to the fire TV main menu.
nba1341 said:
According to this wiki
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
It is possible to add android apps to the xbmc menu if you are using Gotham. I tried doing it and as soon as I went to android application xbmc 13 final just crashes to the fire TV main menu.
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im having the same issue. it would be a perfect box for me iff i can load the streaming services that are built in (netflix, amazon prime, hulu, pandora) from XBMC.
personally i can skip the entire Fire TV menu and live in XBMC if i can load the very nice a pretty customized fire tv apps from XBMC. kinda like using XBMC as a launcher
KCHASE731 said:
im having the same issue. it would be a perfect box for me iff i can load the streaming services that are built in (netflix, amazon prime, hulu, pandora) from XBMC.
personally i can skip the entire Fire TV menu and live in XBMC if i can load the very nice a pretty customized fire tv apps from XBMC. kinda like using XBMC as a launcher
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Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.
ahoslc said:
Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.
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What version are you running? are you able to load the Fire TV versions of the apps from XBMC?
ahoslc said:
Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.
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I will have to check when I go home it's like a week or 2 old. I can launch all the apps except for Amazon Prime.
Hey all
I'm having some issues with both my fire TV and fire TV stick. I've installed kodi, plus genesis and a few other add ons on each and changed the skin (aeon nox silvo on stick and titan on fire TV gen1), updated the library with some of my favourite shows and over time it seems to be getting slower and slower, particularly when I try to add a new repo, along with freezing during startup updates if I'm trying to do something at the same time, eg. Watch a TV show.
I wondered if anyone else had been having any similar problems? And whether there was any possible fixes?
Thanks all
Hi - I know I can change my country on the respectively Amazon website to download the apps onto my FTV, but I was wondering if there's somewhere I can just download and sideload them?
Apps that have such geo-specific restrictions: ITV (UK), UKTV (UK), NHK World TV (JP)
Or perhaps there's a thread in here somewhere I just missed?
My experience is that's it's not that simple to rip an official Fire TV app from Amazon without having a rooted Fire TV. Sideloaded APK app versions that rely on a usb wireless keyboard / mouse or bluetooth keyboard work without issues. Tried my Android phone and Nexus 7 to get the official apk version that works with the Fire TV off those devices and sideloaded to my FIre TV, but it would always take me to Amazon underground and install it directly without leaving an APK version of it to transfer to the Amazon Fire TV.
If you want to download the apk versions of those channels from one location, you could sideload the aptoide app store, but it can be keyboard dependent as sometimes it'll use a web browser ( I've tried boat browser, firefox, maxthon...take your pick and download them through aptoide ) looking for the apk file of the app you are interested in.
If you go in another direction, you'll find the most efficient way is to install these channels through Kodi using the add-ons for the respective channel. Call Kodi a one stop shop app for all your channel viewing. It saves the hassle of downloading say the ITV apk app and avoids having to use a keyboard to make it work. Highly recommend you familiarize yourself with Kodi if you haven't already. Another official channel on the Fire TV is the MediaHHH app. It's available on the Amazon Fire TV app menu ( At least for U.S viewers ). That's basically all the U.K freeview live channels on an official app and it works perfectly well without a proxy or vpn required which you'll need if you use either the sideloaded apk version of an app or run the add-on channels using Kodi.
My observation is that if you switch say Amazon locations on your Fire TV and download a regional official APP like the BBC iplayer, you'll lose it when you log back in to your local Amazon Fire TV account, but if all you want are the apps in that location then you shouldn't have a problem as long as you add a geo-proxy to your network or VPN access added to your router.
If someone knows how to pull off a rip of an official Fire TV app without root or knows how to get a ripped version from their Android phone / tablet of an official Amazon Fire TV app, not the universal apk ver, I'm all ears on how to do it.
callanish said:
My observation is that if you switch say Amazon locations on your Fire TV and download a regional official APP like the BBC iplayer, you'll lose it when you log back in to your local Amazon Fire TV account, .
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I know for a fact that this not true. You can go it amazon content settings and change your locale to UK. Doing so, will allow you to search and download UK apps to your Fire TV. Once done switch it back to US and you can now search for US apps. The US and UK apps reside side by side and can be launched without issues (assuming you have SmartDNS).
None of the above can be accomplished on a Roku - which is why I really love this device.
Strange. Every time I've tried this in the past, the U.K apps disappeared ( 2 Fire TV's ver 1 and 1 Fire tv stick ), but that was a while ago. Maybe they've changed something in their firmware that allows you to do this now, because I remember hitting a brick wall a while back. and gave up Thanks for the heads up. I'll try it again and see if I can make it work now.
vulcan195 said:
I know for a fact that this not true. You can go it amazon content settings and change your locale to UK. Doing so, will allow you to search and download UK apps to your Fire TV. Once done switch it back to US and you can now search for US apps. The US and UK apps reside side by side and can be launched without issues (assuming you have SmartDNS).
None of the above can be accomplished on a Roku - which is why I really love this device.
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callanish said:
Call Kodi a one stop shop app for all your channel viewing..
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Perhaps you can help me - I use a LG smarphone to download apps from the Playstore and sideload to AFTV2. My issue is that since its a smartphone, the APKs it downloads is suited for a phone screen and not for the TV. Is there a way within Kodi to download different variants of the same APK. Google Playstore URL is the same on any device - except the APK that is made available on the page is dependent on the device requesting the download.
---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------
callanish said:
Strange. Every time I've tried this in the past, the U.K apps disappeared ( 2 Fire TV's ver 1 and 1 Fire tv stick ), but that was a while ago. Maybe they've changed something in their firmware that allows you to do this now, because I remember hitting a brick wall a while back. and gave up Thanks for the heads up. I'll try it again and see if I can make it work now.
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Bear in mind that the approach I used did not involved signing out of my Amazon account. All the downloads happens with my single account (only the locales are switched).
I'm not quite sure what kind of experience you've had with Kodi, but Kodi basically is the hub. The channels aren't apps, they're addons from repositories that run content. When kodi is installed, you either rely on the repository that comes with kodi or you continue to add repositories to increase your content options. Those repositories usually come in Zip form and you can sideload them over to Kodi then install them under system / addons. Another way is to type in the URL for the repository directly. Kodi will then add the repository and after that you can install the plugins from that repository. I'm not quite sure if that even remotely answered your question, but just know that Kodi manages and automatically updates content through the repository and that content is universal, so whatever you add to kodi doesn't require an app to function, so you'll never come across a problem with installing phone vs tablet apps
Okay, if I understand you correctly you're looking for the non-phone apk version of an app. The easiest way is probably just to sideload the aptoide app on to the fire TV and download and install the apk apps from there. Aptoide can be browser dependent if it can't find a version of the app you are looking for and will open up a browser to find the apk file somewhere else for download ( In other words download a browser to the Fire TV - Boat browser for tablets is a good one ). You could try just installing the aptoide app on your LG phone and transfer the apk file to your Amazon Fire TV. I've done that before and all versions were non-phone apps. Downside with the standard APK apps on the Fire TV has always been that most of them are keyboard / mouse dependent requiring a usb / bluetooth - keyboard / mouse or app with a keyboard / touchpad that works with the fire tv.
http://www.aptoide.com/page/apps or look up the aptoide.apk file in google to download it and then sideload it. I've had no issues with aptoide and I've been using it for years.
P.S I'll look into what you mentioned. I've been signing into another Amazon account from the U.K, thus losing all my U.S apps. If I manage the settings on the same Amazon U.S account and do a country change to the U.K, maybe from there I can install the U.K official Amazon Fire TV apps directly to the Fire Tv box without losing my U.S content. That's probably where I was going wrong before.
Edit............That was the problem. The solution was not to sign out and re-sign in. As you mentioned, you just have to change the country under the same Amazon account. Downloaded U.K official Fire TV apps and running great without the need for a keyboard / mouse. Thanks for the tip.
Info for the original poster of this thread. Try this link
http://www.eyeondemand.com/2014/10/24/how-to-combine-us-uk-and-de-apps-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/
vulcan195 said:
Perhaps you can help me - I use a LG smarphone to download apps from the Playstore and sideload to AFTV2. My issue is that since its a smartphone, the APKs it downloads is suited for a phone screen and not for the TV. Is there a way within Kodi to download different variants of the same APK. Google Playstore URL is the same on any device - except the APK that is made available on the page is dependent on the device requesting the download.
---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------
Bear in mind that the approach I used did not involved signing out of my Amazon account. All the downloads happens with my single account (only the locales are switched).
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Click to collapse
vulcan195 said:
I know for a fact that this not true. You can go it amazon content settings and change your locale to UK. Doing so, will allow you to search and download UK apps to your Fire TV. Once done switch it back to US and you can now search for US apps. The US and UK apps reside side by side and can be launched without issues (assuming you have SmartDNS).
None of the above can be accomplished on a Roku - which is why I really love this device.
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So the technique is change the settings on the amazon website or on the ftv?
jarayn said:
So the technique is change the settings on the amazon website or on the ftv?
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You change the country settings on the Amazon Website, purchase / add the apps, then re-sync content on the Amazon Fire TV if required. One of the apps, I think it was the ITV player didn't show up immediately, but since I purchased it ( right term if it's free?? ), I could do a search on the main fire tv menu for the ITV player app and then I downloaded it. With all the U.K apps downloaded, I switched the country settings back to the U.S.
Thanks, got BBC and itv now. BBC is perfect but itv seems to require mouse still.
jarayn said:
Thanks, got BBC and itv now. BBC is perfect but itv seems to require mouse still.
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Don't know if you've tried this, but did you try deleting the app and then re-installing it. i've noticed just installing it over the one you already have won't replace it. The official itv player app doesn't require a mouse, so it must be either reinstalling the apk mouse version, or it hasn't synced the official app to your fire tv.
P.S You could try the STV ( Scottish television version of the Itv Player ) app. Pretty much the same content. One thing I noticed is you give up live content with the official ITV player, whereas you could get that with the mouse version. You can always get the live content of ITV through Kodi anyway.
Thanks, good idea. No live though is crazy, thats the only thing i would want itv for.
I don't want to install Kodi because I have no idea about the security rating of the repositories and packages. So far I only install from Amazon or Google Play (sideloaded).
I now have a single platform access to UK and US apps. Very happy. Cannot do this with any of the other devices.
vulcan195 said:
I don't want to install Kodi because I have no idea about the security rating of the repositories and packages. So far I only install from Amazon or Google Play (sideloaded).
I now have a single platform access to UK and US apps. Very happy. Cannot do this with any of the other devices.
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I agree, it's a great device and what's so great about it is just how open the platform is to allow us to do the things we can do with it. From an Ex-pat point of view, I just wanted to offer some various options that I've been using for receiving U.K content and thankfully you helped me solve one of those problems with getting the official U.K apps. If Kodi isn't your thing, then fortunately there are other ways to watch U.K content without having to go down that road. Alway good to have options, that's what I always say
The official ITV Player app on Fire TV is just a temp solution. It will soon be replaced by a new app called ITV Hub, which will have on demand and live tv for all the ITV channels
neil0129 said:
The official ITV Player app on Fire TV is just a temp solution. It will soon be replaced by a new app called ITV Hub, which will have on demand and live tv for all the ITV channels
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Good to know. Thanks for the info.
I have 4 different implementations of Kodi. 1 on a gbox, one on my PC and then 2 fire sticks (5.0.5.1). All of them are set up identically - Kodi 16.1 + Exodus 1.3.2 + real-debrid.
I have noticed that the fire stick set-ups show much fewer available streams than my PC and gbox set-up. I discovered this because one show (Cosmos, Carl Sagan - I'm a dork) has no streams available on either of the fire sticks but when I pull it up on my PC or gbox, there are over 50 streams listed, 10 of them are real-debrid.
What is it about the fire stick that would block streams where other platforms do not?
I stumbled onto my own solution quite by accident. It turns out that for whatever reason the Kodi installs on fire stick do not automatically include the URLResolver add-on. I found a .zip online, pushed it using adbFire and installed it from Kodi ("install from .zip file" option) but I'm guessing this thing resides on a repo somewhere and could also be installed that way.
BE SURE TO RESTART KODI AFTER YOU INSTALL THE ADD-ON.
(I restarted the whole fire stick but just Kodi will probably be enough.)
Im having the same problem but am unsure how to add a URLresolver, can you explain as im new to this and havnt a clue!
Hmm interesting, I will try this
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anyone had a issue with kodi being super slow when connecting to the internet to search for shows, installing anything, or loading anything. i tried to uninstall kodi and install a new version. Now i can't even get it to connect to install Indigo for TV addons. I have a fire stick and it doesn't seem to have as much of a issue.
Try SPMC. It's a fork of Kodi specifically for Android (FireTV) based systems. I've just installed it myself minutes ago, can notice a slight increase in performance have yet to test any buffering playback quality
Edit: also a good choice for a setup instead of those laggy builds is this guide from Reddit "a tutorial I made on customizing Kodi to look and act like a super powered Netflix" I'm a new user so I can't post the link but google it.
Just uninstall and reinstall if your having issues with your add-ons your prolly doing the process wrong I'm sure you have figured that out by now.
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thor492001 said:
anyone had a issue with kodi being super slow when connecting to the internet to search for shows, installing anything, or loading anything. i tried to uninstall kodi and install a new version. Now i can't even get it to connect to install Indigo for TV addons. I have a fire stick and it doesn't seem to have as much of a issue.
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Yea I'm having the same issue I installed the add-ons using with supreme build wizard
Not slowness, but the movie search tool in exodus has stopped working. Somebody wrote it was an ip problem. I don't know. But right now I cannot search for a movie title.
Kodi is having problems. Maybe they're clamping down on it.